Anyone ever drive, dig, drill or wash their own well?

I have considered putting a handpump on my well as insurance for power outages etc. but my well is too deep for a standard handpump and the ones for deep wells are very expensive. I know there is water closer to surface here as most of my neighbors have shallow wells. My well is newer and government regs demand that newer wells be over a certain depth. I am considering the idea of putting in a shallow well for "irrigation" purposes so I could use a standard handpump. Anyone ever put in their own well? My soil is sandy loam and I don't think it would be too difficult.