Complete civil packages for utility solar near Bradenton, FL: 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 Bradenton in Manatee County, Florida. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
I-75, US 41 and US 301 converge here for crews, rental fleet and materials, and it is the permitting seat for county work.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Manatee 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.
Manatee County runs from Tampa Bay and the Manatee River estuary east across flatwoods and prairie toward Myakka City and Duette. The coastal and central flatwoods carry EauGallie, Myakka, Immokalee, Wabasso and Pomello fine sands with a spodic hardpan typically 20 to 40 inches down, and the sloughs and depressions carry Felda, Pompano, Delray, Floridana, Chobee and the Manatee and Bradenton series, which are poorly drained loamy soils with a shallow water table. East county rises gently onto the DeSoto Plain headwaters of the Myakka River, where Hawthorn Group phosphatic sediments come near the surface and Mosaic mines ore at Wingate Creek. Drainage is short and flat: the Manatee, Braden, Little Manatee and Myakka Rivers plus a dense network of agricultural ditches.
Palmetto flatwoods grubbing is heavy and bulky, while the improved pasture and old row crop ground east of I-75 clears fast. Grading is low volume but water driven: the spodic hardpan perches water, the wet season table is at or near surface, and agricultural ditch networks already control the site hydrology, so the drainage design has to work with them rather than around them. Access roads over the loamy poorly drained units need separation fabric and imported base because those soils lose strength when saturated. Trenching means dewatering for most of the year below three feet. Near the Hawthorn contact in the east, expect harder, clayier digging and occasional phosphatic hardpan. Erosion control is driven by discharge to Tampa Bay and Myakka River basins, both under close FDEP and Southwest Florida Water Management District scrutiny.
Full detail on the Manatee County market is on the Manatee 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. Contractor licensing in Florida runs through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the Construction Industry Licensing Board. Pure earthwork on a solar site, meaning clearing, grubbing, grading, and access roads, is generally not a separately certified state trade by itself, but once the scope includes underground storm drainage, water, or sewer, Florida requires a Certified Underground Utility and Excavation Contractor license, a Division I state certification. Vertical or structural work such as O and M buildings or structural foundations pulls in a Certified General or Building Contractor license. A state Certified license is valid statewide, while a Registered license is limited to the local jurisdiction that issued it, and out of state firms must qualify their business entity with DBPR and typically also pull a local business tax receipt in the county of work. Confirm the exact classification with DBPR for each specific scope before bidding.
Construction stormwater. NPDES Stormwater Construction Generic Permit, commonly called the CGP, issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection under Rule 62-621.300(4), Florida Administrative Code. Coverage is required for construction that disturbs one acre or more, or less than one acre if part of a larger common plan of development, and that discharges to surface waters of the state or to an MS4. A Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan must be prepared before the Notice of Intent is filed, and a complete NOI plus fee must be submitted at least two calendar days before construction begins. Fees are $250 for small construction, one to five acres, and $400 for large construction, five acres or more. Source: https://floridadep.gov/water/stormwater/content/construction-activity 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 at 1 MW AC and larger through the Inflation Reduction Act wage and apprenticeship rules that unlock the full tax credit rate, so certified payroll and registered apprentice ratios are the practical requirement on effectively every utility scale solar job in Florida. There is no state level prevailing wage requirement on top of that. Florida repealed its state prevailing wage law in 1979, and Section 255.0992, Florida Statutes, further prohibits counties, cities, and other local governments from imposing their own wage rate requirements on public works construction contracts. In practice, plan for Davis-Bacon driven certified payroll on the solar work and nothing additional from the state or a county. 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 Florida 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.
Reply in hours, not days.