From Opportunity to Output: What the Next Decade of HDD Will Require
Market demand may create the opening, but field execution will determine which HDD contractors turn the next decade into profitable growth.
The HDD industry has no shortage of reasons to be optimistic. Fiber expansion, power infrastructure, utility replacement, grid hardening, and demand for less-disruptive installation methods all point to a strong decade ahead. Across North America, underground infrastructure is not becoming less important. It is becoming more essential.
An article in Trenchless Technology described the coming period as a “decade of opportunity” for underground infrastructure, pointing to fiber broadband expansion, the $42.45 billion BEAD program, private investment, electrification, data centers, renewable energy, and power-related infrastructure as major drivers.
A strong market may bring more contracts, but it does not remove the jobsite inefficiencies or strengths that determine whether those contracts become profitable. The HDD industry has always depended heavily on jobsite experience. A capable operator, locator, mud tech, or foreman is not built overnight. That experience is also becoming harder to scale. A recent Trenchless Technology article described the HDD labor challenge directly: as HDD remains in high demand, “there simply aren’t enough experienced drillers available to keep up.” NUCA’s 2025 labor backgrounder also notes that the construction industry needed 439,000 additional workers in 2025 beyond normal hiring requirements, with 499,000 more projected for 2026.
The next decade will require faster knowledge transfer. That means capturing and sharing experience through training, tooling guides, compatibility charts, product videos, maintenance instructions, ground-condition recommendations, and clear explanations of correct use.
Being a founding member of the HDD industry, we have observed this pattern across multiple market cycles over the past 80 years: the rapid HDD growth of the 1990s, the dot-com fiber boom and bust, infrastructure swings, and today’s renewed demand around fiber, power, utilities, and grid resiliency. The lesson has been consistent: when the market accelerates, the contractors who benefit most pay close attention to jobsite productivity.
The goal is not to remove every challenge from HDD. Ground conditions will still change. Difficult bores will still require judgment, patience, and experience. The goal is to remove avoidable friction that prevents good crews from doing good work. Opportunity gets attention, but the next decade of HDD will be won by focusing on jobsite productivity and output.
