Horizontal Directional Drilling in Greenville, Spartanburg & Upstate SC

Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is a trenchless method of installing underground utilities — water lines, gas lines, electric cables, fiber optics, and conduit — without digging an open trench. A specialized drill rig bores a steerable pilot hole underground along a planned path, then pulls the utility line back through the bore. The only surface disturbance is a small entry pit and a small exit pit. HDD has been our primary installation method since 1965.

For most residential and commercial projects, yes. Directional boring preserves driveways, landscaping, lawns, and hardscape that open-cut trenching would destroy. It's faster (most residential jobs finish in a single day), requires less crew and equipment, eliminates expensive surface restoration after installation, and causes significantly less environmental disruption. Trenching makes sense for very short runs in open ground where surface disruption is acceptable — but if there's a driveway, road, creek, or mature landscaping in the way, HDD is the right choice.

Yes — boring under driveways, roads, sidewalks, parking lots, creek beds, and landscaped areas is exactly what horizontal directional drilling is designed for. Instead of cutting through concrete or asphalt and paying for expensive patching, we bore directly underneath the surface without disturbing it. Our Ditch Witch JT-5, JT-520, and JT-2020 fleet handles all obstacle types in the clay, rock, sand, and mixed Piedmont soils common across Upstate SC.

We install water lines, gas lines, electric service and conduit, fiber optic cable, telecommunications conduit, sewer and drainage pipe, and irrigation lines using horizontal directional drilling. Pipe diameters from 1 inch through 12+ inches are routinely bored. Whether you need a single residential water service line or a full commercial conduit package, our fleet handles it.

Yes, Sloan Underground Construction installs all five: water lines, natural gas lines, electric lines and power conduit, fiber optic cable, and utility conduit. We also install sewer and drainage lines and irrigation systems. This full range is why utility contractors, municipalities, and developers hire us as a dedicated underground boring subcontractor — one call covers every underground utility type.

We serve 15 cities across the Carolinas including Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Pickens, Oconee, Laurens, Newberry, Saluda, Abbeville, Greenwood, Union, Aiken, Lexington, Richland County (Columbia metro), and Asheville, NC. Based in Greenville — our trucks don't drive in from out of state. Call (864) 386-1649 or view our full service area directory.

Most residential directional drilling jobs — a single bore for a water, gas, electric, or fiber line under a driveway or road — complete in a single day, often 4 to 8 hours from setup to cleanup. Commercial projects or longer multi-run bores typically take 2 to 3 days depending on soil conditions, bore length, and the number of utility passes. We give you a firm timeline during the free estimate so there are no surprises.

Cost depends on bore length and depth, utility type, soil conditions, pipe diameter, and whether the bore crosses under roads, driveways, or waterways. Residential driveway bores typically start around $1,500–$3,500 for short runs. Longer bores, commercial runs, or bores through rocky terrain scale to $4,000–$20,000+. We provide free, no-obligation written estimates — usually within 24 hours.