Engineering Tip: Don't Go Cheap On Cement
Cementing a well is expensive, but do you know what is more expensive? Fixing bad cement. It's not just a little bit more expensive, it's massively more expensive. Stupid expensive.
In most cases, cementing a well is not rocket science. You mix the cement slurry and pump it down the well and circulate it up the backside. While this is a fairly straight-forward process, you only get one chance to get it right. And if you don't get it right, you will be in a world of financial hurt. You can end up with gas migration issues or a wellbore full of cement that has to be drilled out. This leads to an expensive workover project that will give you all kinds of heartburn.
I once worked for a company that drilled about 100 wells with the same cement design, only to find out that the design was flawed. Each and every cement job had to be repaired at an enormous cost. And do you know what they learned from this process? Don't go cheap on cement.
Take time and think about each cement design before you pump it. Each well should have it's own custom-designed cement, even if it looks a lot like the previous cement design. Don't design cement once and then pump the same design 100 times. And don't hire the redneck down the street to pump the job. Be an adult and hire a proper service company (they can usually help you design your cement if need be). All of this will add to the cost, but I promise you that you will save money in the long run.