I should add a note here- it seems that a few of these guys in the West Branch are charging premium prices for well drilling for what they may percieve as small jobs that they might not want to hassle with, since it may be less than 1k in total. Maybe that accounts for the price gouging? In any event, I ahve located a list of ALL the well drillers in MI and have a listof at least 20 who are less than a hour drive away. We'll see what I find??
