Complete civil packages for utility solar near Maumelle, AR: clearing, mass grading, access roads, collection trenching, SWPPP, fencing, and substation civil.
Backwell contracts complete civil site work packages for utility solar EPCs building near Maumelle in Pulaski County, Arkansas. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
Interstate 40 exit 12 on the north bank of the Arkansas River, an easy staging position for work moving west out of the metro. Quarried stone from the Granite Mountain area is a short haul across the river.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Pulaski 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.
Pulaski County sits on the fall line, so the ground changes character across the county rather than staying uniform. West and southwest of Little Rock you are in the Ouachita foothills with shale and Jackfork sandstone bedrock at or near the surface, plus the Granite Mountain nepheline syenite intrusion, a partially buried batholith exposed by erosion across Pulaski and Saline counties. The Arkansas River valley runs through the middle with natural levee and terrace soils including Rilla and its associated loamy alluvium, and east toward Scott and Wrightsville the county flattens into Delta lowland with Perry clay backswamp, very deep, poorly drained, very slowly permeable. Drainage ranges from steep rock controlled creeks in the west to slack, ditch dependent flats in the east.
Bid the west and the east of this county as two different jobs. West side means shallow rock, ripping, possible blasting, rock socketed or predrilled foundations instead of driven pile, and steeper access roads that need real cut and fill plus permanent slope stabilization. East side means Perry clay: soft wet subgrade, undercut and stabilization for haul roads and crane pads, and no infiltration for stormwater. The one advantage that no Delta county has is aggregate: crushed stone is quarried right here, so base course, rip rap and road stone are short hauls instead of freighted in, and that shows up directly in access road and trenching backfill pricing.
Full detail on the Pulaski County market is on the Pulaski County solar civil page.
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. Arkansas licenses commercial construction through the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, which sits under the Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing. A Commercial Contractor license is required to bid or perform commercial work at or above the statutory threshold, generally understood to be 50,000 dollars, with separate classifications that cover heavy construction and highway, street and bridge work, which are the classifications that typically apply to solar civil sitework. Applicants must show construction experience, business capability, and financial statements. Verify the exact classification and threshold with the board at labor.arkansas.gov before bidding.
Construction stormwater. Construction General Permit ARR150000, the NPDES construction stormwater general permit issued by the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment, Division of Environmental Quality, formerly ADEQ. Coverage is required for any land disturbance of one acre or more, and a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan must be developed, implemented, and maintained for the life of construction. A Notice of Intent is filed with DEQ, and large sites of five acres or more require full NOI review rather than automatic coverage. 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 wages apply to utility-scale solar at 1 MW and above through the Inflation Reduction Act wage and apprenticeship requirements, which owners pass down to civil subcontractors through certified payroll obligations. Arkansas has NO state prevailing wage law: Act 1068 of 2017 repealed Ark. Code 22-9-301 through 22-9-315, so state and local public works in Arkansas carry no separate state wage determination. Federally funded work in Arkansas still triggers Davis-Bacon. In practice this means a solar civil contractor in Arkansas needs certified payroll capability for the IRA requirement, not for a state program. 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 Arkansas 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.
Plans, scope, and schedule reviewed and answered promptly.
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