Why in-house builds at all?
Most drilling rigs operating in Switzerland come from Germany or Italy. Good machines, no doubt. But they're built for standard drilling — for level sites, good access, normal geology. The Alps are a different world. Slopes of up to 30 %, driveways 1.80 m wide, transports over narrow passes — that calls for machines you can't buy off the shelf.
That's why we've been developing our own drilling rigs since the 1990s. On platforms that already master the Swiss high country: Aebi for the steep slopes, Unimog for the range. We build the mast, the hydraulics, the control system — tuned for what we actually encounter in the Sarganserland and surrounding cantons.
What changes with iteration five
Iteration number five, internal codename "AP-5", has been in progress since February. Three focuses:
- Lighter mast. We're switching from steel to a steel-aluminium composite. Estimated weight saving 180 kg — at equal stiffness. Makes the rig safer on extreme slopes.
- Sharper hydraulics. New proportional valves with finer pressure regulation. Noticeable in soft loose rock, where the probe would otherwise sag too quickly.
- More digital control. Real-time telemetry of drilling parameters to the tablet. Borehole documentation isn't logged afterwards — it's generated live during drilling.
When will it be ready?
Commissioning is planned for September 2026. That would be in time for the autumn season, when we traditionally do most of the single-family-home drillings in the pre-Alpine region. If everything runs smoothly. With in-house builds you never quite know.
We'll report back as soon as the machine pulls the first cuttings to the surface.