HISTORY
Bronson Drilling was formed in June of 2002. I had worked briefly at other drilling companies, using a variety of drilling
equipment, as well as in the consulting field as a project manager.
The best way to start a business is to do it with $12,000, no credit history, no loan, no cell phone, no business plan, little
experience, few contacts, and the inability to understand the difference between "sales" and "profit." Knowing that this was
the best way to proceed, I set up the business, got a phone, got some credit cards, and spent all of my money (I had heard
that you have to spend money to make money). The first big purchase was a truck, a Dodge Ram 50 mini-pickup. I was
going to build my own rig. The truck lasted a few months. After I put a new clutch in, the gas tank started falling off. The
fisherman that had owned it before me had done a nice job of rusting the whole bottom, so there was no real way to weld
the tank on. I fixed it with rope and tape. Finally I donated it for what I believed, incorrectly, to be a sizeable tax write-off.
I'd given up on building my own rig, after spending a bunch of money on parts. Fortunately I was able to finagle a van that
worked, sort of, along with a rig that also sort of worked, from my previous employer, for good terms.
It used to say on this page that "the business quickly became successful" because I thought that sounded more impressive
than to say "the business was a disaster and everyone made fun of me for two years." Now, though, I think enough time has
passed that I need have nothing to prove. Let's be frank with each other: business sucked. It was a recession, or what used
to pass for a recession back then, and I had no clue what I was doing. My old rig, the Banana Splits Machine, was falling to
pieces more and more each day. It could only mount a 35-lb jackhammer, weighted down with a couple hundred pounds of
pig iron weights, so I would lift a 75-lb hammer onto the rods by hand, drop the 35-lb hammer with the pig iron on top of it,
and turn on the 75-lb one. This got me a lot of odd looks and two torn rotator cuffs. Finally it became too dangerous to
operate, which means it was pretty bad, and so I junked it for another big tax write-off that ended up being no tax write-off
at all.
The wheels used to fall off my trailer regularly and go flying off into the woods. One time this happened during a blizzard in
the dark out on the Pike in Charlton, sending up a shower of sparks that lit the way for those following me.
The van I used as a tow vehicle used to overheat almost every day and blow a hose off, emptying the radiator. I got really
good at pulling over before the engine fried, filling it with water, and fixing the hose, which got shorter and shorter.
I did a lot of odd jobs, demo, and moving furniture. The few drilling-related jobs I did were all wierd ones, like a 12-day
pump test in Lynn in sub-zero weather where I worked the night shift every night. Each night the big LED thermometer at
the convenience store next door would drop from 20 degrees, to ten, to five, and then finally to zero, where it would stay,
stuck, as the temperature continued to drop and I put on layer after layer of clothing. The first week of the pump test also
featured drilling every day, Monday through Friday, as well as the pump test at night - resulting an a 120-hour non-stop
"workday," 8 AM Monday through 8 AM Saturday. This project was the topic of an article I wrote in National Driller (the
most widely read publication in the drilling industry) entitled "Job From Hell." Later I had at least four other periods of 50 or
more consecutive hours of work. It's always in the wintertime. Obviously you sleep a little, but you have to do it on the
clock, or it doesn't count as work.
The original Mykrowell rig, the beloved John Deere Banana Splits Machine With A Torpedo On Top, was replaced in
October, 2005, by the current AMS Powerprobe. There was a two-month lag time between the death of the Banana Splits
and the arrival of the Powerprobe. In that time I did every probing job with the 75-lb jackhammer, by hand, with jobs
almost every day, and only once did I have any trouble getting the job done. The Powerprobe, however, was a welcome
arrival.
Today, Bronson Drilling has over sixty clients, most of them steady, repeat clients. We are fully insured, and licensed by the
MA DEP Well Driller Registration (Well Driller #880M); the MA Department of Public Safety (hoisting license); the
National Ground Water Association (Certified Well Driller); OSHA (HAZWOPER); and the DOT (medical monitoring
exam).
After working on only 8 projects in 2002, we now send our rigs out on about 150 projects per year.
Drilling's back!
equipment, as well as in the consulting field as a project manager.
The best way to start a business is to do it with $12,000, no credit history, no loan, no cell phone, no business plan, little
experience, few contacts, and the inability to understand the difference between "sales" and "profit." Knowing that this was
the best way to proceed, I set up the business, got a phone, got some credit cards, and spent all of my money (I had heard
that you have to spend money to make money). The first big purchase was a truck, a Dodge Ram 50 mini-pickup. I was
going to build my own rig. The truck lasted a few months. After I put a new clutch in, the gas tank started falling off. The
fisherman that had owned it before me had done a nice job of rusting the whole bottom, so there was no real way to weld
the tank on. I fixed it with rope and tape. Finally I donated it for what I believed, incorrectly, to be a sizeable tax write-off.
I'd given up on building my own rig, after spending a bunch of money on parts. Fortunately I was able to finagle a van that
worked, sort of, along with a rig that also sort of worked, from my previous employer, for good terms.
It used to say on this page that "the business quickly became successful" because I thought that sounded more impressive
than to say "the business was a disaster and everyone made fun of me for two years." Now, though, I think enough time has
passed that I need have nothing to prove. Let's be frank with each other: business sucked. It was a recession, or what used
to pass for a recession back then, and I had no clue what I was doing. My old rig, the Banana Splits Machine, was falling to
pieces more and more each day. It could only mount a 35-lb jackhammer, weighted down with a couple hundred pounds of
pig iron weights, so I would lift a 75-lb hammer onto the rods by hand, drop the 35-lb hammer with the pig iron on top of it,
and turn on the 75-lb one. This got me a lot of odd looks and two torn rotator cuffs. Finally it became too dangerous to
operate, which means it was pretty bad, and so I junked it for another big tax write-off that ended up being no tax write-off
at all.
The wheels used to fall off my trailer regularly and go flying off into the woods. One time this happened during a blizzard in
the dark out on the Pike in Charlton, sending up a shower of sparks that lit the way for those following me.
The van I used as a tow vehicle used to overheat almost every day and blow a hose off, emptying the radiator. I got really
good at pulling over before the engine fried, filling it with water, and fixing the hose, which got shorter and shorter.
I did a lot of odd jobs, demo, and moving furniture. The few drilling-related jobs I did were all wierd ones, like a 12-day
pump test in Lynn in sub-zero weather where I worked the night shift every night. Each night the big LED thermometer at
the convenience store next door would drop from 20 degrees, to ten, to five, and then finally to zero, where it would stay,
stuck, as the temperature continued to drop and I put on layer after layer of clothing. The first week of the pump test also
featured drilling every day, Monday through Friday, as well as the pump test at night - resulting an a 120-hour non-stop
"workday," 8 AM Monday through 8 AM Saturday. This project was the topic of an article I wrote in National Driller (the
most widely read publication in the drilling industry) entitled "Job From Hell." Later I had at least four other periods of 50 or
more consecutive hours of work. It's always in the wintertime. Obviously you sleep a little, but you have to do it on the
clock, or it doesn't count as work.
The original Mykrowell rig, the beloved John Deere Banana Splits Machine With A Torpedo On Top, was replaced in
October, 2005, by the current AMS Powerprobe. There was a two-month lag time between the death of the Banana Splits
and the arrival of the Powerprobe. In that time I did every probing job with the 75-lb jackhammer, by hand, with jobs
almost every day, and only once did I have any trouble getting the job done. The Powerprobe, however, was a welcome
arrival.
Today, Bronson Drilling has over sixty clients, most of them steady, repeat clients. We are fully insured, and licensed by the
MA DEP Well Driller Registration (Well Driller #880M); the MA Department of Public Safety (hoisting license); the
National Ground Water Association (Certified Well Driller); OSHA (HAZWOPER); and the DOT (medical monitoring
exam).
After working on only 8 projects in 2002, we now send our rigs out on about 150 projects per year.
Drilling's back!
THEN
NOW