Complete civil packages for utility solar in Pima County, Arizona: clearing, mass grading, access roads, collection trenching, SWPPP, fencing, and substation civil.
Backwell is a civil site work general contractor serving utility solar EPCs building in Pima County, Arizona. We contract the complete civil package under one agreement, with Backwell superintendents and lead operators on site.
Pima County is the Tucson load center, served by Tucson Electric Power and by Trico Electric Cooperative, both of which have been adding solar paired with batteries. The projects here are smaller cooperative scale sites rather than the several hundred megawatt plants seen in Yuma and La Paz. Trico has brought the Chirreon and Avion solar and storage facilities online in the county. For a civil contractor, Pima is a repeat volume market of mid size sites and a practical base for southern Arizona work.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Pima County:
Project details come from public filings and reporting and are listed to show where the work is. Backwell is not affiliated with these projects or their developers.
Sonoran desert basins, the Tucson basin, Avra Valley and Altar Valley, rimmed by high sky island ranges: the Santa Catalinas, Rincons, Tucson Mountains, Baboquivari and Santa Ritas. Bajada slopes are long and gravelly, valley floors are deep alluvial fill. Typical soils include Sasabe sandy clay loams in the Altar Valley, White House soils with strongly developed red clay argillic horizons on older fan terraces, Pinaleno and Bucklebar gravelly soils on the piedmont, Mohave and Sonoita sandy loams on valley fill, Cave soils that are very shallow over an indurated caliche hardpan, and Anthony, Comoro and Grabe soils on the Santa Cruz and Rillito floodplains. Hydrology is ephemeral, dominated by the Santa Cruz and its tributary washes, with steep, quick monsoon response off the mountain fronts. Portions of the Tucson and Avra basins have historic subsidence from groundwater withdrawal, now partly offset by CAP recharge.
Cactus and protected native plant salvage is a substantial line item here, more than almost anywhere in the state, and saguaro relocation timing can drive mobilization. Cave and similar shallow soils mean caliche hardpan close to surface, so expect ripping, hammering or shooting for both grading and trenching, and expect pile refusal on the upper bajada. The White House red clay argillic horizons are plastic and expansive relative to typical desert soil, which matters for foundation pads and for road subgrade stability. Bajada slopes carry real gradient, so mass grading quantities and cut slope stability matter more than on the Pinal or Yuma flats, and access roads should follow contour rather than fall line. Monsoon runoff off the Catalinas and Santa Ritas is flashy and carries large debris load, so wash crossings need scour depth analysis and armoring, not just a culvert. Pima County has its own stormwater and native plant ordinances layered on top of the state program, so permitting takes longer than in rural counties.
We price the package as one scope under one contract, so the EPC has a single point of responsibility for the civil critical path instead of managing separate clearing, earthwork, and utility subcontracts.
Backwell superintendents, project managers, and lead operators run every site. We mobilize company equipment for the core scope and scale each project with leased production fleets, qualified regional subcontractors, and agency-placed field staff, all under Backwell supervision and a single contract.
Contractor licensing. Yes. Arizona requires a contractor license issued by the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC). For commercial civil sitework the relevant classification is the commercial A General Engineering license, which covers fixed works, streets and roads, power and utility plants and related infrastructure, and which also carries the scopes of the A-4 through A-19 subclassifications including A-5, excavating, grading and oil surfacing. A contractor may alternatively hold a specific A subclassification such as A-5 rather than the full A. Licensure requires documented trade experience, passing the Business Management exam and the applicable trade exam, and a license bond.
Construction stormwater. AZPDES Construction General Permit (CGP) for Stormwater, issued by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). Coverage is required for construction disturbing one acre or more, or less than one acre if part of a larger common plan of development or sale, and it also covers temporary concrete, asphalt and material plants set up exclusively for the permitted project. The operator files a Notice of Intent with ADEQ certifying that a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan has been developed and will be followed. Backwell carries the SWPPP scope, installs and maintains the controls, keeps the inspection log, and closes the permit out with final stabilization.
Prevailing wage. Federal Davis-Bacon prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements apply through the Inflation Reduction Act to projects of 1 MW and larger that claim the full investment or production tax credit, so certified payroll is standard on utility-scale solar in Arizona. On top of that, Arizona has no state prevailing wage law for state or locally funded public works, and Arizona statute preempts local governments from adopting their own prevailing wage ordinances. In practice the wage determination governing an Arizona solar site comes from the federal IRA requirement or from the owner or EPC contract, not from a state schedule. Davis-Bacon also applies directly on federally funded or federally assisted work. For projects claiming the full ITC or PTC, Backwell produces Davis-Bacon certified payroll, pays the applicable wage determination, and supports apprenticeship labor-hour compliance.
All Arizona solar civil work or the national utility solar civil page.
Send plans, a scope of work, and the schedule through the form below or call (315) 400-2654. We review the civil package, walk the site if it is at that stage, and return a scoped proposal with a schedule of values, stated fill allowances, and unit rates for overages. A one-page capability statement is available for prequalification files.
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