COVER STORY
A NEW
OUTLOOK
Watson Drill Rigs charts
a new path for the future
with the introduction
of CAT-based hydraulic
rotary machines
By Mark Halsall
In 2009, one of the best-known names in North America’s
drilled shaft industry, Watson Drill Rigs, became part of
the Trevi Group of companies.
Ten years later, the Watson clan, which started their
family business in Fort Worth, Texas, nearly 100 years ago,
repurchased Trevi’s majority share. While the Watson
family never stopped managing the company, regaining
full ownership restores the Watsons’ ability to direct the
company’s future.
Doug Watson, president and CEO of Watson Drill Rigs,
who along with his father David, bought out the Trevi Group’s
ownership share in December 2019, says the move enables
his fourth-generation manufacturing firm to get back to
what’s always been a core strength – its personal connections
with customers.
“With Watson Drill Rigs being fully family-owned again,
this allows us to ensure direct relationships with our customers
rather than being pressured to put in middlemen. That’s
what the company was built on – that direct feedback loop
between the company and the customer,” Doug said.
“This allows us to continue to do business the way we
believe in. We are now autonomous again and we can go back
to our roots of building tough machines, providing lifelong
factory-direct support and making sure that we have those
close-knit relationships with customers.”
Watson Drill Rigs offers a diverse lineup of truck- and
crawler-mounted drilling rigs with mechanical and hydraulic
rotary torque capacities ranging from 40 to 300 kilonewtonmetres
(30,000 to 220,000 foot-pounds). They are used for a
wide range of construction applications in the foundation,
utility, oilfield, transportation and earth retention industries.
Doug and David Watson are proud to be
50-50 owners of their family company
PHOTOS: WATSON DRILL RIGS
PILING CANADA 19