Recent Backwell Work
A look at the equipment, conditions, and field conditions we handle across Central New York, from winter emergency calls to solar corridors and commercial site work.
Commercial stormwater contractor for detention basins, outfalls, storm sewer mainline, curb and gutter drainage, and SWPPP implementation. NYSDEC SPDES-compliant, bonded and insured across Onondaga, Oswego, Madison, Cayuga, and Oneida counties.
Backwell is a commercial storm drainage contractor based at 4830 W Seneca Tpke in Syracuse, NY, building detention basins, storm sewer mainline, outfall structures, and curb and gutter drainage for GCs, developers, industrial owners, solar EPCs, and municipal agencies across Central and Upstate New York. Stormwater work is where earthwork, civil utilities, and environmental permitting converge, and on a commercial site, the storm drainage package is often the critical path item that has to close out before paving and final vertical work can begin. Backwell prices and sequences storm drainage as an integrated scope , SWPPP implementation, pipe installation, structure setting, basin construction, outfall stabilization, and final certification , not a loose collection of line items handed off between trades.
Central New York's climate drives the design loads. Onondaga, Oswego, and Madison counties sit in the lake-effect snow belt off Lake Ontario, which delivers high seasonal precipitation, long snowmelt runoff events, and intense convective storms in summer. Syracuse averages roughly 40 inches of annual rainfall and over 120 inches of seasonal snow in the northern counties, and the NYSDEC Stormwater Management Design Manual rainfall distributions that commercial detention basins are sized against reflect this exposure. Layered on top of the rainfall picture is the clay-heavy glacial till that dominates subgrade across the region , favorable for holding water in a detention basin, unfavorable for infiltration practices without geotechnical verification, and demanding for subgrade preparation under storm structures. Backwell plans around these realities instead of bidding a generic storm scope and catching them on the first rain event.
Backwell's storm drainage practice covers the five project types that show up repeatedly on commercial and municipal bid sheets in Central New York.
Dry detention basins, wet retention ponds, extended detention ponds, and multi-cell treatment basins form the backbone of stormwater management on commercial sites above one acre of disturbance. Backwell excavates to subgrade, installs the clay or geosynthetic liner when the design calls for one, sets the riser and barrel outlet structure, constructs the emergency spillway with the specified rip-rap class or concrete protection, and stabilizes all slopes to the stabilization schedule in the SWPPP. Basin volume is verified against the approved plan by cross-section survey before vegetation is established, and as-built survey is provided to the engineer for record drawings at project closeout.
Backwell installs storm sewer mainline in RCP (NYSDOT Item 603, AASHTO M170), HDPE smooth-interior dual-wall (Item 605, AASHTO M252 and M294), CMP, and ductile iron sizes from 6 inches through 96 inches. Precast catch basins, manholes, inlets, area drains, trench drains, and drop inlets are set to grade with mortared or sealed joints, and grade rings are adjusted to finish paving elevation after base course. Where the spec requires it, Backwell performs mandrel testing on flexible pipe and low-pressure air or vacuum testing on sanitary-adjacent storm lines, plus video inspection of mainline runs before acceptance.
Outfall construction is where storm drainage design most often meets NYSDEC Article 15 stream-crossing permitting and NYSDEC Article 24 freshwater wetlands review. Backwell installs concrete headwalls, cast-in-place or precast, with wing walls and cutoff walls to engineer spec; places the specified rip-rap class over geotextile for energy dissipation; and handles turbidity curtain, stream diversion, and sandbag cofferdams where the project crosses a classified stream. Culverts and cross-pipes under roads and access drives are installed with bedding, haunching, and backfill compaction per the design detail, with final grade tied into the road surface.
Storm drainage on a commercial parking lot or roadway starts at the pavement surface. Backwell forms and places concrete curb and gutter to NYSDOT Item 609 specifications, installs inlet basins at the low points, sets curb-inlet castings flush with finished pavement, and ties the surface drainage network into the underlying storm sewer. On parking lot rehab work, Backwell removes and resets existing curbing, corrects ponding areas by adjusting subgrade or adding supplemental drainage, and coordinates with the paving contractor so the final asphalt overlay drains cleanly to the inlets.
Bioretention cells, sand filters, infiltration trenches, grass swales, and subsurface storage systems are built on commercial sites where the design engineer has specified green infrastructure practices to meet the NYSDEC water quality volume and runoff reduction requirements. Backwell handles the soil media installation, underdrain piping, stone storage layer, and planting preparation. Subsurface storage chambers (ADS StormTech, Cultec, and equivalent systems) are installed with the manufacturer's required stone envelope, isolator row with inspection port, and QA documentation retained for the record drawing set.
Commercial storm drainage in New York is bid against a layered specification stack. On NYSDOT right-of-way work or projects where the design engineer has adopted NYSDOT specifications by reference, pipe and structure work is governed by the current NYSDOT Standard Specifications , Item 603 for reinforced concrete pipe, Item 605 for plastic (HDPE) drainage pipe, Item 604 for corrugated metal pipe, Item 608 for concrete sidewalk and driveways, Item 609 for concrete curb, and Item 655 for manholes and catch basins. Municipal projects layer local MS4 program requirements on top, and industrial sites layer the owner's design criteria. Backwell reads the spec stack before bidding, flags conflicts to the engineer, and bids the most stringent applicable requirement.
Material submittals, lot and heat-stamp documentation, manufacturer certifications, concrete mix designs, aggregate gradations, and geotextile certifications are submitted through the engineer's submittal process. Testing , mandrel for HDPE, low-pressure air for PVC, pressure testing for force mains, concrete compressive strength breaks, aggregate compaction testing, and subgrade proof-rolling , is performed by third-party testing labs coordinated by Backwell or the owner. As-built survey of all installed storm sewer inverts, rim elevations, and basin cross-sections is captured for the record drawing package.
Any commercial site disturbing one acre or more of land in New York is covered under the NYSDEC SPDES General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Construction Activity, GP-0-20-001. The owner files the Notice of Intent (NOI) and certifies the SWPPP, but the contractor executes the SWPPP in the field , and on most projects, field execution is where SPDES compliance succeeds or fails. Backwell has trained Qualified Inspectors on staff who perform weekly and post-rain-event SWPPP inspections, maintain the inspection log, flag deficiencies for repair within the permit's 24-hour correction window, and coordinate with the project engineer on any SWPPP amendments.
Erosion and sediment control measures , silt fence, reinforced silt fence, sediment traps, temporary sediment basins, inlet protection, stabilized construction entrances, check dams, and temporary seeding and mulching , are installed per the SWPPP plan sheets before earth disturbance begins and maintained through final stabilization. Permanent stabilization is verified before Notice of Termination filing. Backwell participates in pre-construction SWPPP meetings with the owner, engineer, and , on MS4 projects , the municipal MS4 coordinator to align on inspection frequency, reporting format, and any local stormwater ordinance requirements that exceed the state permit.
Storm drainage production on a commercial site depends on matching equipment to pipe size, trench depth, and site access. Backwell's storm drainage equipment package includes hydraulic excavators in the 30,000 to 95,000 lb class for mainline trenching and structure setting, laser-guided trench boxes for worker protection in deep runs, vibratory plate compactors and jumping jacks for pipe haunching, and ride-on pad-foot and smooth-drum rollers for backfill compaction. Precast structures are set with a hydraulic crane or excavator-mounted rigging at the engineer's specified elevation and grouted in place with non-shrink grout.
Trench safety is executed to OSHA 29 CFR 1926 Subpart P. Every storm drainage crew operates under a written excavation plan identifying the soil classification, the protective system in use (sloping, benching, shielding, or shoring), the access and egress plan, and the competent person responsible for daily trench inspection. One-call mark-outs are placed with Dig Safely New York at least two business days before excavation. Dewatering is handled with diesel trash pumps and well-point systems where groundwater is present, and dewatered flow is routed through a dewatering bag or sediment trap before discharge.
Backwell holds NYSDOT contractor prequalification at the level needed for the storm drainage, site work, and structure installation work types the company bids. Insurance includes general liability, excess/umbrella, contractors pollution liability (CPL), professional liability where required, and commercial auto at commercial-construction-grade limits. Certificates of insurance naming the owner, engineer, and GC as additional insureds are issued at contract award. Performance and payment bonds through Treasury-listed sureties are posted on public projects and on private projects where the owner requires surety; single-project and aggregate bond capacity letters are provided at bid time. Backwell maintains active profiles in ISNetworld, Avetta, and Veriforce for industrial owner prequalification on solar, data center, and manufacturing sites.
Storm drainage is almost never a direct-to-owner scope , it shows up as a subcontract under a civil engineer's specs, a GC's schedule, or an EPC's site package. Backwell works with general contractors and construction managers on commercial office, retail, and industrial ground-ups; solar EPCs on utility-scale photovoltaic sites where basin and outfall scope is often the largest civil line item; developers on multifamily, warehouse, and mixed-use projects; municipal engineering departments on storm sewer replacement, CSO separation, and MS4 compliance work; state agencies on NYSDOT right-of-way drainage and bridge-approach storm work; industrial owners on plant expansions, pad additions, and SPDES-permitted process drainage; and design engineering firms on design-build or progressive-design-build storm packages.
Backwell's storm drainage book is concentrated in Onondaga, Oswego, Madison, Cayuga, and Oneida counties, with regular work in Seneca, Wayne, and Cortland counties. Commercial sites in Syracuse, Liverpool, Cicero, Camillus, and DeWitt run against Onondaga County MS4 requirements and, where NYSDOT right-of-way is touched, NYSDOT District 3 standards. Oswego, Fulton, Pulaski, and the rural Oswego County corridor feeding Lake Ontario are prime solar farm territory, where detention basins, access-road culverts, and SWPPP scope make up the largest civil line items on a 5-megawatt-plus photovoltaic build. Utica, Rome, and New Hartford projects run under Oneida County and NYSDOT District 2, with heavy industrial corridors and aging municipal storm sewer that regularly need replacement or capacity upgrades. Madison County , Cazenovia, Hamilton, Morrisville, Oneida , picks up institutional and college-adjacent work with preserved-stream and wetland sensitivities that demand disciplined erosion control and NYSDEC coordination.
Backwell is a self-perform civil contractor. That means the crew that installs the storm sewer mainline also runs the excavator that shapes the detention basin, places the curb and gutter at the surface inlets, and ties the whole system into the paving grade. There's no handoff between the pipe crew and the earthwork crew and the curb crew , it's one company coordinating sequence against the SWPPP plan and the GC's schedule. That matters on storm drainage because the wrong sequence on a commercial site creates silt-laden runoff events, DEC notices of violation, and schedule impacts that cost the owner far more than the storm scope itself.
The other differentiator is NYSDEC permit fluency. Backwell bids storm drainage against the NYSDEC Stormwater Management Design Manual, the SPDES General Permit GP-0-20-001, Article 15 stream permits, Article 24 freshwater wetland permits, and , where relevant , Section 401 Water Quality Certification and Article 24 adjacent-area review. The bid price reflects what the permit actually requires, not a stripped-down number that turns into change orders as soon as the DEC inspector shows up on site. GCs and owners who have been burned before know the difference.
Storm drainage integrates tightly with commercial site preparation, grading, excavation, underground utility installation, erosion and sediment control, parking lot construction, and road construction. Backwell also self-performs rock excavation, environmental remediation, land clearing, solar farm site prep, and commercial demolition.
Any site disturbing one acre or more falls under the NYSDEC SPDES General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Construction Activity, GP-0-20-001. Sites that cross, disturb, or discharge to classified streams trigger Article 15 stream protection permits. Projects adjacent to freshwater wetlands trigger Article 24 review. Federal waters trigger Section 404 permitting with the Army Corps of Engineers and Section 401 Water Quality Certification from NYSDEC. Backwell coordinates field execution with whichever permit package the project engineer has assembled.
Self-perform. Backwell places concrete curb and gutter, sidewalk, and driveway aprons to NYSDOT Items 608 and 609. The same crew that installs the storm sewer and sets the inlet castings finishes the curb at the top of the inlet, which is the only way to guarantee the castings sit flush with the final curb line and drain as designed.
Detention basins from roughly 5,000 cubic yards of excavation up through basin packages in excess of 50,000 cubic yards on solar farm and industrial sites are within Backwell's routine book. Equipment, operators, and trucking capacity are sized to the specific project at bid time and referenced in the schedule-of-values.
Trash pumps for surface water, sump pits for modest groundwater, and well-point systems for continuous deep dewatering are all standard. Dewatered flow is always routed through a sediment bag or sediment trap before discharge, and the discharge point and treatment method are documented in the SWPPP or in a project-specific dewatering plan where required by the permit. Discharge to a classified stream requires specific coordination with the engineer and NYSDEC.
Yes. Culvert upsizing, storm sewer replacement with larger-diameter pipe, and capacity upgrades on aging municipal systems are a regular part of Backwell's book. Upsizing typically requires hydraulic review by the design engineer, may require a NYSDEC Article 15 permit if the culvert crosses a stream, and on NYSDOT right-of-way requires permit coordination with the region.
Backwell's SWPPP inspection services are provided as part of a storm drainage or site work contract where Backwell is the self-performing contractor. Backwell does not currently provide third-party SWPPP inspection as a standalone service on projects where another contractor holds the civil scope.
Backwell is part of a Central New York family of service companies. When a commercial site needs ongoing property management after construction, our sister company RenPro Property Management handles leasing, rent collection, and maintenance across 100+ properties in Syracuse, Oswego, Auburn, and Utica. Learn more about our network of companies.
A look at the equipment, conditions, and field conditions we handle across Central New York, from winter emergency calls to solar corridors and commercial site work.