About Drill Tech Drilling & Shoring, Inc.

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Founded in 1994, Drill Tech Drilling & Shoring, Inc. has grown from a small California business into a nationwide geotechnical construction powerhouse with over 500 employees and offices across multiple states. Specializing in tunneling, shafts, deep foundations, ground improvement, and earth retention, Drill Tech has established a reputation for handling complex, schedule-sensitive projects across the U.S.

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The Challenge: Delivering Schedule-Critical Tunnel Projects Under Pressure

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Drill Tech’s work often involves projects where scheduling precision is not just a preference—it’s a necessity. Two recent projects highlight this need:

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1. Colgate Tunnel Retrofit at New Bullards Bar Dam

Located in Yuba County, California, the New Bullards Bar Dam is the 5th tallest dam in the United States, standing 645 feet tall and capable of storing nearly one million acre-feet of water. Drill Tech, as part of a joint venture with Obayashi, was awarded a $77 million contract by the Yuba Water Agency in January 2025 to retrofit the Colgate Tunnel and penstock pipe.

The Colgate Tunnel is nearly 26 feet in diameter and carries water almost five miles from the dam to power generation facilities. The project scope includes:

• Removing rocks and debris from the tunnel.
  
• Repairing and reinforcing the tunnel’s structure.
  
• Installing a newly anchored valve and thrust block system at the top of the penstock pipe to improve downstream protection and future maintenance access.
  

The pressure on scheduling is immense. Brian Harris, Project Executive at Drill Tech, explains, “for every day that this dam is offline, Yuba Water is forfeiting significant power generation revenue, and the pressure to hit our schedule exactly will be intense.”

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2. Low Emittance Injector Tunnel (LEIT) at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

The second project is equally challenging in a different way. At the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, CA, Drill Tech is constructing the Low Emittance Injector Tunnel (LEIT), part of the LINAC Coherent Light Source II High Energy (LCLS-II-HE) upgrade—a critical enhancement to the world-leading X-ray laser facility at SLAC.

Key project elements include:

• Building a 220-foot-long reinforced concrete tunnel, fully waterproofed to prevent groundwater intrusion.
  
• Constructing a two-story west portal entrance operations facility and an east egress stairwell.
  
  
• Connecting new tunnel facilities to existing LINAC housing via a transfer tunnel.
  
  
• Integrating mechanical, electrical, life safety, security, and fire protection systems.
  

The schedule complexities here are multi-faceted. As Harris notes, “SLAC is an operating lab, so there are only certain periods available when the laser and ongoing operations can be shut down so we can execute our work. Moreover, given that we will be drilling just 15 feet from critical existing infrastructure, this project will be particularly challenging.”

The Solution: Planera’s Visual, Collaborative CPM Scheduling Platform

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To manage these demanding projects, Drill Tech made the strategic decision to transition from traditional scheduling tools like Microsoft Project to Planera.

Planera’s construction scheduling solution provided several critical advantages:

• Visual, CPM-Based Scheduling: Planera’s platform delivers the precision of Critical Path Method scheduling in an intuitive, visual format, helping teams map out complex project dependencies.
  
• Ease of Use vs. Traditional Tools: Coordinating this project’s schedule was no small feat, with numerous subcontractors and tight deadlines to manage. Planera made the process far smoother than Drill Tech experienced with Microsoft Project, allowing them the clarity and control they needed.
• Enhanced Team Collaboration: Particularly on projects as intricate as SLAC’s LEIT tunnel, involving multiple disciplines and stakeholders, Planera’s collaborative features allow diverse team members to participate in developing, reviewing, and adjusting project schedules.‍
• Cross-Functional Scheduling: Planera’s collaborative nature was essential for integrating input from a wide range of specialists—critical for ensuring that work could progress efficiently and safely, especially when operating in live environments like SLAC.

The Impact: Confidence and Clarity in High-Stakes Scheduling

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By implementing Planera, Drill Tech gained:

• Increased Scheduling Accuracy and Reliability: Essential for both energy revenue protection at the Colgate Tunnel and operational continuity at SLAC.
  
• Streamlined Project Management: Allowing Drill Tech to coordinate across teams and subcontractors with clarity and confidence.‍
• Risk Mitigation: Reducing the likelihood of costly schedule overruns and ensuring adherence to tight operational windows.

As Nitin Bhandari, CEO of Planera, reflected, “working with Drill Tech on such challenging projects offers an excellent opportunity to put our software to the test. We are confident that our visual, collaborative approach to construction scheduling offers a better user experience than that of traditional scheduling solutions, and we’re excited by the chance to partner with Drill Tech on projects for which nailing the schedule is so essential.”