Complete civil packages for utility solar near Lee, 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 Lee in Madison County, Florida. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
On US 90 at I-10 near the Suwannee County line, the eastern gateway for equipment moving in from Live Oak and the Suwannee valley limerock mines.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Madison 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.
Madison County sits in the Northern Highlands of north Florida, rolling to gently sloping upland between the Withlacoochee, Suwannee and Aucilla Rivers. The uplands carry the sandy over loamy soils of the southeastern Coastal Plain: Norfolk, Orangeburg, Faceville, Dothan, Fuquay, Lucy and Troup, with deep sandy Blanton and Lakeland soils on the sandhill rises and Pelham, Plummer and Meadowbrook soils in the drains and flats. The Hawthorn Group confining unit thins toward the south and southeast, and as it thins near the Suwannee and Withlacoochee the ground turns karstic with sinks, swallets and steepheads along the river bluffs. Surface drainage is genuine here, unlike peninsular Florida, with defined creeks running to the three rivers.
Because there is actual relief and actual clay content, this is real cut and fill work with real erosion exposure. The loamy subsoils compact well and hold slopes, but bare grade will gully in a summer thunderstorm, so silt fence, check dams, slope drains and temporary seeding have to be installed and maintained rather than treated as paperwork. Clearing runs heavy in the planted pine and hardwood bottoms and light in open farm ground. Grading windows are weather dependent because the clay loam subsoils are unworkable wet. Trenching is generally easy in the sandy uplands but can hit limestone near the river corridors, and river bluff and steephead areas bring steep grades and setback constraints. Base rock is not produced locally in volume, so plan haul from the Suwannee valley limerock mines or crushed stone from south Georgia.
Full detail on the Madison County market is on the Madison 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.
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