The company behind the name
Big Dog Drilling, L.L.C. is a family-owned pier drilling company in Rockwall, Texas, northeast of Dallas. Its directory profile says it started in June 2004 with one Texhoma rig drilling house foundation piers and grew into commercial and residential work. Listed services include casing, coring, drilling, belling and slurry work. The crews work mainly around Dallas-Fort Worth and also travel to jobs in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
One note to avoid confusion: an unrelated oil and gas company in West Texas uses a similar name. This page is about the Rockwall foundation contractor. We did not find an official website for it, so none is linked.
Where a crane enters a pier job
On a house slab, a pier crew might never need a crane. Commercial foundations are different. Once piers get deep and wide, the reinforcing cages get long and heavy, belled shafts need tools changed out, and casing has to be set to hold back caving soil or water. Those tasks bring a crane to the site, and with it the need for qualified people on the hook.
For a pier crew, the ground-level jobs carry most of the risk:
- Choosing slings and hitches for a cage that will flex as it rises.
- Attaching tag lines and keeping hands away from pinch points as the cage drops into the hole.
- Signaling the operator when the hole, not the cage, is what the operator can see.
- Keeping the crane off soft ground near open shafts and slurry.
Belled piers add another step. The belling tool is heavier than a straight auger and has to be swapped while the shaft stays open, so tool changes become planned picks rather than casual ones. Slurry work keeps the crane near wet, unstable ground for longer, and the crane's outriggers or tracks need mats and distance from the shaft edge.
Training that matches pier work
Start with rigging and signaling
The 28-hour rigger and signal person course is the most useful single class for a pier crew. Students learn rigging hardware ratings, how sling angles multiply tension, how to estimate a load's weight, and the standard hand signals, and they prepare for the NCCCO Rigger Level I and Signalperson exams. A newer hand who mainly needs the basics can take our 4-hour Level I Rigger/Signal Person class, a Miller Crane Works qualification rather than an NCCCO card.
Add an operator where needed
If the company assigns its own employee to run a hydraulic crane on commercial jobs, that person needs NCCCO certification for the crane type. A driller who already handles heavy equipment may move through the 40-hour fixed/swing cab course; someone with no crane time is better served by the 120-hour version.
From Rockwall to Seagoville
Rockwall sits east of Dallas off I-30, and our yard at 304 Tunnell St is south of there, reached by heading toward US-175 or I-20. It is close enough for a daily commute, which helps a small, family-run crew: people go home at night and are back on rigs as soon as the course ends.
Training and NCCCO practical testing happen only at our Seagoville yard. There is no on-site option at a job.
For crew members who will also travel to jobs in Oklahoma, Arkansas or Louisiana, the NCCCO certifications our courses prepare for are national credentials, not Texas-only ones, so the same card goes with them across state lines. Certification is awarded by NCCCO after the written and practical exams, and it must be renewed every five years.
Enrolling a Big Dog crew
Visit company classes to see how we handle group enrollment, or get in touch to talk through who needs which course. Employer payment is common, and the funding options page lists tuition for every course if the company wants to budget ahead.