Buying a Rig Today — What Should You Actually Consider?

Buying a drilling rig is a big decision, and the biggest mistake we see is people buying on the wrong things — chasing maximum depth or the lowest sticker price, instead of the rig that will actually make them money. Here is what genuinely matters.

1. What depths do you actually drill — honestly?

Across Africa, around 95% of boreholes fall between 30 and 200 metres. If that is your work, a rig built for that range will out-earn a deeper, heavier machine every time. Our SAR100 is built exactly for this band: 200 m, 4,800 Nm of torque. Only buy depth you will actually use.

2. Can you get it onto the site?

A rig that cannot reach the job earns nothing. The SAR100 sits on a ~4-ton truck, fits under a carport and through a suburban gate, and drives to site in one trip — no lowbed.

3. What will it cost to run?

Fuel is where margins live or die. An oversized compressor burns roughly 40% more fuel than a right-sized one for the same job. A SAR100 also runs with one operator and one assistant, where bigger rigs need three or four.

4. Can you get parts and support?

Ask where the parts come from, how long they take, and whether a competent local mechanic can fix it. We design and build our rigs ourselves in Mokopane, for African conditions — field-serviceable, no fragile electronics to chase.

5. Who built it, and for what?

A rig built for European or Asian conditions is not built for hard rock, rough roads and remote sites. Ask where it was engineered and whether it was built for the work you do.

6. Resale and finance

A well-built rig from a known maker holds its value. And you rarely need to pay cash — we can structure finance so the rig pays for itself out of the work it does. Model your own numbers on the finance calculator.

The short version

Buy the rig that fits 95% of your work, gets onto site, runs cheap, and that you can keep running. For most drillers in Africa, that is the SAR100. When the job genuinely calls for more, talk to us about the SAR200, A200, Spider V5 XXL or TT300.

Call Neels on 083 854 2781 or +27 (0)10 500 1605, or email sales@drillbuilders.com.