Findlay Well Drilling1200 State Road 25 W, Lafayette, Indiana, United States

Findlay Drilling is one of the oldest well drilling firms in this area ran by the same family. It all began with Harold Lister in 1929. Harold had learned the well drilling trade from relatives on his wife’s side of the family. He designed and built his first well drilling rig himself. At that time, almost all well drillers, including Harold, simply painted their name on the door of their rig and they were in business. Harold persevered and in 1948 his new son-in-law, Robert Findlay was hired to work for him. Robert was very quick to learn the trade and found that he loved being a driller. During this time Robert also gained a very deep respect for Harold, who treated him like a son. Eventually Harold decided he wanted to slow down and semi-retire. Naturally, Robert took over the business and in 1962 bought a new rotary drilling rig. The rotary drill method was much faster than the old way of drilling. That rotary drilling rig was the first in this area. Robert eventually changed the name of the business to Findlay Drilling and incorporated the company. In the late 60’s Robert’s son, Jeff, began working part time on the weekends while still in high school. After Jeff graduated in 1970, he came to work full time for the company. Findlay Drilling, Inc. has always been a leader in new technology. In the early 70’s, when steel casing prices rose, we began experimenting with plastic pipe. In turn, we were the first in this area to perfect its use and eventually the other drillers in this area followed suit. In 1992, we decided to purchase an additional drilling rig for larger diameter wells. That machine could drill up to 24” diameter wells. It wasn’t long before we realized there was a lot of demand for a rig of that size. We were soon getting calls wanting an even larger drilling capacity; therefore, in 1997 we purchased the largest and only 40” concentric drilling rig in the U.S. This machine was capable of drilling 40” diameter wells to a depth of 1,000 feet. Due to our drilling capabilities, we were asked to bid jobs in Hong Kong, Guam and other areas outside of this country. It became apparent to us that if we continued in this direction, our business of residential, farm and commercial irrigation would eventually suffer. It was an easy decision to get out of the industrial – municipal well market. We sold the large rig and equipment to one of the largest municipal drilling firms in the U.S. Although we have had some very interesting experiences throughout the course of the business, Findlay Drilling, Inc. is now at the size we want. Findlay Drilling, Inc. is now large enough to handle the toughest jobs, but small enough to be price competitive and personal with our customers.