How to deceive customers in the construction of wells?

Most often, wells are built from concrete rings. The technology is considered simple and relatively inexpensive. The Internet, advertising publications and posts of holiday villages are full of ads in which the "experienced" and "hereditary" craftsmen offer very cheap and fast, as well as with a guarantee to dig a well. Alas, the result in most cases is completely not consistent with the promises. There are many opportunities for deceiving a client when digging a well, and unscrupulous performers do not miss out on their benefits.

A few words about well construction technology

In short, the well construction process looks like this:

1. Choose a place.
2. Dig a round hole a little wider than the concrete ring.
3. Lower the ring into the pit and continue excavation.
4. When the ring sinks deep enough (below ground level), the next ring is mounted on it.
5. Continue digging and installing rings until water appears.
6. Pump out part of the dirty water.
7. Install the bottom filter.
8. Make out the top of the well and arrange a clay castle.

In details well construction process presented on video:

It looks simple, but in reality, each stage requires close attention and knowledge of certain nuances. If the customer does not know these subtleties, they can easily deceive him.

The most popular types of cheating

Deception # 1 - fraud with size

Concrete rings vary in height and diameter. Inexperienced in the construction business to the customer, this difference at first glance may not be noticeable. For example, instead of rings with a height of 0.9 m, the team buys and puts rings with a height of 0.8 m. It would seem that the difference of 0.1 m is not so great.

Concrete products enterprises produce concrete rings of various sizes. The difference of only 10 cm is not easy to notice at first glance, and unscrupulous masters take advantage of this

However, imagine a situation where a well needs 10 or more concrete rings (which is not so rare). For the same amount of work when using slightly smaller rings, the customer will have to pay more, because for a well 10 meters deep you will need 12 rings 0.9 meters high or 13 rings 0.8 meters high. The team receives payment for the number of rings installed, and the customer pays for an extra ring due to a slight difference in size. The deeper the well, the more unnecessary expenses.

Another way to fool a customer is to use rings of a different diameter. For example, if you need to dig a well, careless performers use rings of the second repair size. Their diameter is 10 cm smaller than the diameter of the concrete rings of the first size. The difference between rings of different sizes is difficult to notice without measurements.Therefore, workers can dig a well in just one ring, and put two or even three, requiring appropriate payment. To simulate violent activity, excavated soil is scattered around the well in an artistic mess.

Please note that the workers invited to repair the well sometimes simply remove the washed sand from the bottom, and then require payment for a full repair, although in fact a normal cleaning was carried out.

Cheating # 2 - poor quality building materials

Regarding the quality of the concrete rings that are used to create or repair the well, unreliable foremen find several more opportunities for unfair saving. Not only rings that are too short or too narrow are purchased, but also simply the cheapest that you can find. As a result, damaged structures are delivered to the site, with cracks and other damage. The team leader assures that in the course of work all the shortcomings will be eliminated. In fact, the use of broken rings for drinking wells is strongly discouraged. Very soon, such a well may simply fail, and the customer will have to pay extraordinary repairs.

Damaged concrete rings should not be used for drinking wells, despite the low cost, as they can quickly fail.

Using damaged concrete rings can be dangerous during work. Such a ring, mounted below, may burst under pressure of the entire structure and injure workers.

Even if the rings look new and whole, they may still not be suitable for a drinking well. The edge of industrial concrete rings is treated with lubricants according to production technology. Water in a well made of such structures is soon covered with a rainbow film. This is a thin layer of diesel fuel, which from the edge of the ring enters the water. To prevent this from happening, you should purchase special concrete rings designed for drinking wells. Such designs cost more, but they are safer. Due to poor-quality materials, a well can fail so seriously that repair will be practically impossible.

Cheating # 3 - Advertising Tricks

Advertisements with offers of services for digging a well can be found a great many. Toward the beginning of the season, their number is still increasing. The advertisement contains many promises: tight deadlines, a high professional level, low prices, all kinds of guarantees, etc. All this may turn out to be an absolute lie, even the belief that this is a team of “hereditary wells” who have been working in this area for years, they ate a dog, etc. In practice, there are not so many really good teams or firms of this type. Most often, customers are seduced by low prices and blindly believe in advertisements. In fact, they get a team of squinting shabashnikov who:

• work slowly;
• digging crookedly;
• spoil the material;
• miss the aquifer;
• They assure that the water “will come by itself”;
• leave work unfinished;
• require additional payment, etc.

Most often, the work after such unfortunate craftsmen has to be redone partially or completely. If the design flaws are discovered during operation, all promises of guarantees remain only words. There are cases when only a small amount of water appeared in the dug well. The work manager vowed that the water would become more literally in a few months, and if not, the team would immediately arrive and dig it up quickly. As a result, the team leader simply disappeared, turned off the phone and left the client alone with his problematic well.

Unscrupulous performers often require additional payment for services, the cost of which is already included in previous expenses. For example, they ask to pay for loading and unloading concrete rings, their transportation, etc.There are situations when the team leader demanded payment for the installation of an extra ring, which was broken by his own employees in the process.

How can I protect myself from cheating?

First you need to arm yourself with at least basic devices: tape measure and plumb. Using the first one, concrete rings can be measured in height and diameter. Using the second one, you can check the correct installation of concrete rings and the correspondence of the well shaft to its vertical position. For this, some attentive customers are not too lazy to even go down to the bottom of the well. Such an attitude will make it clear to careless covens that this client is not so easy to deceive. They will either work harder or simply “disappear from the horizon”.

Regular roulette will help to avoid cheating during the construction of the well. It is used to measure the height of a concrete ring and its diameter. You can also check the quality of work using a building plumb

The second step is a thorough check of all settlement documents, prices and expenses. Even before the invitation of the brigade, it would not hurt to collect information on the average cost of services and materials in their region. In this case, it will be possible to reasonably ask: “Why is it so expensive?” This will make the team leader understand that attempts to wind up the price will not work.

To check the quality of work on digging a well, it will not hurt the customer to go down to the finished mine to check the condition of the joints between the concrete rings, their exact vertical position, etc.

If a well was dug in the spring, during the summer period, the water level can critically decrease in it. This phenomenon is due to the fact that in spring there is more water in the wells due to the influence of the flood. A good company in this situation will provide the necessary services and dig a well to the desired depth.

Finally, it’s best to choose a good team. To do this, one should evaluate the reputation of the performers, their experience, look at the finished wells, listen to the reviews and recommendations of real people who have already received high quality services. Of course, digging a well is not a simple matter, and even experienced craftsmen are not immune from failure. But knowing the basic methods of cheating will help you find good performers and get a great well, full of clean water.