The short answer: on the Front Range of Colorado, if you’re drilling into the Dawson aquifer and staying under 400 feet, plan on spending about $20,000–$25,000. If you’re drilling into the Denver, Arapahoe, or Laramie-Fox Hills aquifers, plan on $40,000–$55,000 depending on your area. In easy conditions with a small air rig it can be far less; in mountain rock drilling it can cost $60–80 per foot. About 75% of the homes we build in Colorado are on well water, so this comes up in nearly every land conversation we have.
Call a well driller before you buy the land
Before we even discuss the specifics of installing a well: if you’re considering a lot to build on, call a well driller before you buy, and give them the address and legal description. A driller can pull up the lot on a map and see which aquifers you have access to, and look at every well within a few miles of your lot. Based on your aquifer and what your neighbors have, they’ll know whether you’ll be able to have only “inside water” (water to supply the inside of your home) or enough for outside water and irrigation too — and they can make an educated guess on drilling depth and ground conditions. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s usually very close; you’ll often have conditions similar to your neighbors.
What drives the cost
- What area you’re located in. Ground conditions vary enormously across Colorado — that’s why local drillers quote by exact location, not by a flat price per foot.
- How deep we have to drill. On average in Colorado we drill to about 400 feet; deeper aquifers cost substantially more.
- Which drilling machine the job needs. The bigger the rig, the higher the cost. If you’re lucky enough to need only a small air driller in easy ground, a well might cost a fraction of the typical price. Mountain lots that require hammer drills — or even blasting through rock — sit at the expensive end.
Do I need a permit? Who issues it?
In Colorado, well permits are issued by the Colorado Division of Water Resources. You fill out an application, prove ownership of the land with a copy of the deed, pay a fee, and in about six weeks your permit is approved. Permits carry “conditions of approval” — common ones include:
- You must drill within 200 feet of the exact spot specified on the application.
- You cannot pump more than 15 gallons per minute (the state maximum).
- You may only drill into the aquifer specified, at the specified depth.
- You must install plain and grouted casing between certain intervals.
- Irrigated area and annual withdrawal (in acre-feet) are capped.
Colorado is very serious about water. Occasionally the state will even require a geophysical log with a downhole camera, or a meter with an annual usage report.
Where is the water, anyway?
The water we drill into comes from underground rivers — aquifers. And like every river, they have thicknesses, ups, downs, curves, and bends. That’s why drilling is an educated guess: your neighbor a mile down the road may have plenty of water while you can’t find any, because the underground river bends where you can’t see it.
What if we can’t find water?
Sometimes you can just drill deeper — but not always. There are areas near Fountain, Hanover, and east of Highway 94 where you’ve got one shot to hit the water just right. In a scenario like that, we’d usually have known the odds were slim before drilling, because the neighbors’ well records would show the same issue. When you truly can’t get water, the option is a cistern with hauled water — and be aware that few companies offer potable water delivery anymore.
Do wells run dry?
Usually not. Most “dry well” service calls turn out to be very old wells whose casings have collapsed. Modern wells are solid: properly sealed, 42 feet of upper steel, drilled deep into the aquifer, airtight — they last a very long time. The aquifers that genuinely run out tend to be shallow alluvial ones, the kind farmers used to dig by hand.
Ongoing costs after drilling
Once you’ve paid for the permit and the well, you never pay anyone for the water itself. The pump runs on electricity (typically 500–2,500 watts), and like any mechanical system, parts wear out: pressure switches and capacitors every 5–10 years (cheap parts), and the pump itself eventually — several thousand dollars, though manufacturers say 7–10 years and I routinely see 15–20. I personally replaced one that had lasted 42 years. And remember: all those years, you never had a water bill. One more benefit — as long as you stay within your permit’s limits, drought-year watering restrictions don’t apply to you.
What’s a normal flow rate? When do I need a cistern?
In the Pikes Peak region, wells average 10–15 gallons per minute. In some places — Black Forest, Cathedral Pines — wells can produce far more than you can use, though the state caps you at 15 GPM. More commonly we see 5–10 GPM, which you can live on, but it can affect quality of life; that’s when we install a cistern, giving you a large reserve that replenishes all day. And in Colorado, if your well test shows 5 GPM or lower, most lenders will require a cistern before they’ll fund your construction loan.
We only install concrete cisterns, standard size 1,500 gallons; if you need more, we manifold two or three inline. The well pump fills the cistern on a float valve; a second pump in the cistern supplies the house.
Is well water as good as city water?
In Colorado, generally excellent. The building department (in our area, Pikes Peak Regional Building Department) requires a potability test before issuing a certificate of occupancy, so you’ll know about any bacteria or contaminants before you move in. Minerals like iron can affect taste, and filtration systems remove them completely. There’s no fluoride in well water — and no chlorine either. Many wells need no filtration at all.
The most common mistakes
- Not checking water rights ownership at closing. If you buy in a subdivision on a municipal well, you’re owed a percentage of water — make sure the documentation transfers into your name. I’ve seen many closings where the seller stayed the legal owner of the water rights.
- DIY well repairs. Homeowners trying to increase well pressure have literally blown up pressure tanks. Leave the system to a well professional.
- Panicking over pressure drops. The most common service call — “our pressure dropped” — is a plugged sediment filter about 80% of the time. No water at all is usually a burned-out pressure switch: a very cheap fix.
Why Colorado is different
In Kansas you can drill a shallow well through sand and shale and produce tons of water — drillers there quote a price per foot over the phone. Colorado has sandstone and clays; water is not plentiful and it’s hard to drill. In the mountains you may be blasting and hammer-drilling at $60–80 per foot for a well that produces a quarter of a gallon per minute. That diversity is exactly why the first call you make should be to a well driller with your lot’s legal description — and if you’re already working with a builder, we leverage our drilling relationships to expedite the whole process. Research done ahead of time prevents expensive mistakes.
Thinking about a specific piece of land? This is the kind of homework we do with clients before they buy — see how our process works or explore the areas we build in.
