For the past couple of months, South East Queensland contractor SEQ Trenchless has been using the new Vermeer D24 horizontal directional drill (HDD) for underground infrastructure.
With a compact footprint, features such as an automatic rod exchange and a class-leading rod capacity of 150m, the 100hp (75kW) D24 HDD is giving contractors such as SEQ Trenchless access to improved efficiency and easy troubleshooting. SEQ Trenchless was set up in 2018 by co-owners Josh Taylor and Shaun Newbigging, with both having spent decades in the underground infrastructure construction industry.
Speaking with Trenchless Australasia, Taylor said his family ran a business in the industry, which meant that straight out of school he was working with trenchless technologies.
After selling the family business and spending a couple of years working in gas fields and consultancy, he and his business partner decided to set up their own business and have spent the past seven years growing within this niche.
“Predominantly we operate around the southeast corner of Queensland,” Taylor said.
“We started with just with one rig and have grown from there, but we haven’t wanted to go too big too quickly. We cover a range of different services, so we do comms and electrical work as well as water, sewer and gas for a multitude of different contractors.”
He said SEQ Trenchless works with both utilities directly and with civil construction firms, undertaking the drilling works for pipe installation.
“They might be working on a new subdivision and are bringing the power in or an extension to the gas network for example,” he said.
SEQ Trenchless has been operating a number of Vermeer machines, including a D23x30 S3 drill and D36x50 drill. Taylor said they bought the new Vermeer D24 in November last year from Vermeer Australia as an upgrade to the D23x30.
“Our D23x30 drill was our little workhorse,” he said. “It was a great size – we had it out every day and used it for everything from a short road crossing for a water service to stretches up to 200m of 180mm HDPE.
“We were looking at upgrading that, and had looked around at other options, but Vermeer’s newer model D24 had good specs and a very similar footprint to the previous one, which suited our truck setup and the way we run.”
Having been operating the D24 for the past couple of months, Taylor said it’s had a strong start with the team, particularly the new automatic rod exchange feature that completes the rod changeout sequence with the push of a button.
“It’s quiet, we like the controls and operation is similar to the D23x30,” he said.
“One of the features on it is the automatic rod exchange, which allows us to concentrate on other things and reduces operator fatigue. It also works out well as far as wear and tear on the gear as well – it’s a bit more consistent.
“The automatic rod exchange is useful when training someone new, but even with experienced operators you can hit a button and then use that time to think about what’s next in the job, how much mud we’ve got left, etc. It gives you that couple of seconds to let the machine do its thing while you plan ahead.”
With a width of 142cm, Vermeer said this is the narrowest footprint machine in its class – something that Taylor points out is an advantage for work in tighter access areas.
“We’re just finishing up an electrical upgrade at a school and then we’re going on to some street lighting, so that’s a benefit,” he said.
“The other benefit is transport as we have it on a truck with toolboxes down the side.”
He said that there are a range of additional tweaks from the D23x30 S3 model on the D24 that have addressed a couple of pain points, with the vice setup “a lot better”.
“The front plate, the rod loading arms and the frame are all a little bit more robust, but that hasn’t impacted the size of the machine,” he added.
“Another standout for us is that they are backing it up with a 3,000-hour warranty on it – previously the warranty was 1,000 hours. The self-diagnosis system is also an option there for us to use when diagnosing issues or when working remotely with technicians.”
Overall, he said this is an improvement on his older drill and the support from Vermeer Australia has been a key reason why he continues to choose Vermeer equipment.
“Vermeer Australia have provided good support and parts availability and access to their technicians is a fairly big selling point for us,” he said.
For more information, visit vermeeraustralia.com.au or seqtrenchless.com.au