Precision at Its Finest: B&T Drainage Nails an Ultra-Precise Bore with F5 Falcon Technology

The project was a 195-foot drainage bore across Georgetown Road, a busy state highway in a rural area near the Indiana border. They had to install 12” PE pipe to drain water off nearby fields.

At first glance, it looked like a simple job: just a lone stretch of road cutting through endless cornfields. And the ground conditions were classic Midwest: mostly clay with a touch of sand.

But appearances can be deceiving. This project in Westville, Illinois turned out to be one of the most precise and challenging bores you could imagine.

Beneath the idyllic, flat surface, lay a complicated web of buried utilities and tight clearances that demanded absolute precision.

Along their drill path were:

• A pressurized water main that had to be exposed, inspected, and reburied with exact backfill specs under a state inspector’s watchful eye,
• Five buried conduits packed tight under the other side of the highway,
• A giant power line sitting atop a massive concrete base—creating passive and active interference—and
• Yet another water main lurking beyond the conduits.

Essentially, they faced a maze of underground obstacles and had to execute with extraordinary precision, leaving virtually no room for error.

That’s why they called in the experts: B&T Drainage, led by owner John Boyer. The drain title farmer hires John a dozen times each year because John is the only contractor in the area who uses directional drills to less than one percent. You read that right—less than one percent. In fact, John drills to a tenth of a percent! That’s not just good drilling—that’s expert craftsmanship.

So how did B&T do it?

The kind of precision needed doesn't happen by accident. John and crew relied on the right tools, techniques, and technology to get the job done.

TOOLS: Thanks to Troy Janssen at Vermeer Midwest, John’s team ran a Vermeer D60x90. They also ran large pipe fusion equipment. Fusing 12” PE pipe sections for drainage takes patience and skill. As anyone in the field knows: you can’t rush pipe fusion if you want it done right.

TECHNIQUE: B&T employed a new technique we haven’t seen before—using a grade rod. At the end of each rod drilled, the team would place a Lincoln survey rod overtop of the drill head’s location to take exact depth measurements, allowing John to achieve pinpoint accuracy.

TECHNOLOGY: For tracking, B&T relied on the Falcon F5+ with an iGPS hood to bring serious locating power to the table. Plus, Territory Manager Brian Mattson was on site, helping B&T update to the latest Aurora software, which John noted “kept pitch readings even steadier through the trickiest parts of the bore.” They also data logged their bore to present an as-built report once the job was done.

The Results

With their skill combined with the right tools and technology, B&T Drainage was able to nail this ultra-precise bore in less than half a day—which included two pullbacks (first with a 12” reamer, then with a 16” reamer).

When precision really matters, it’s about having the guys and gear you can trust to deliver. B&T Drainage made the seemingly impossible look easy.

Special thanks to Brian Mattson for bringing us this incredible story from the field and to Vermeer Midwest for helping us lead our customers to success!