Before you drill, deepen, or decommission a well on your own land, Oregon's Water Resources Department wants a $10,000 bond on file — unless you hire a licensed well constructor. Ours is $300 flat, 3% of the bond amount, with one soft credit pull that never touches your score.
















Your landowner well permit waits on this bond. Here's the whole process:
Business or property-owner details and an effective date. The only extra step is a one-time consent to a soft credit pull.
Most of these clear quickly; if underwriting needs anything, you hear from an underwriter within 48 hours. The credit check is a soft pull that never affects your score.
Your executed bond arrives by email, ready to file with your landowner well construction permit application. Wet-ink originals mailed when the Department insists.
$10,000 bond × 3% = $300, one-time per term. Fixed amount, fixed price, multi-year if you want it.
Oregon lets a landowner construct, alter, convert, or abandon a water supply well on their own land without a Water Supply Well Constructor's license — but only with a landowner permit and a $10,000 bond on file first. The bond is a compliance guarantee that the work meets Oregon's well-construction standards.
It's a three-party arrangement: you (the principal), the surety carrier, and the State of Oregon (the obligee). If your well work violates ORS 537.505 to 537.795 or the Water Resources Commission's construction rules and someone is harmed — including the state, by having to remediate — they can recover against the bond.
The bond covers each well for three years after the well report is filed. Only the owner of record, an immediate family member, or a non-well-drilling full-time employee may run the rig under a landowner permit. If the surety pays a claim, you repay the surety — so do the work to standard and the bond is a formality.
These are the actual underwriting fields, including a one-time consent to a soft credit pull. Submit once and your bond is typically issued within 1–2 business days.
Start the application →If yours isn't here, the bond team can usually answer within the hour.
$300 flat, five-minute application, e-signed bond in 1–2 business days. Free until issued.