Complete civil packages for utility solar near West Branch, MI: 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 West Branch in Ogemaw County, Michigan. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
County seat sitting directly on I-75 with its own interchanges, the single best heavy haul position in the northeast lower peninsula. Fuel, motels, equipment service, and MDOT permitted routing all run through here, and local sand and gravel pits work the outwash within a few miles.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Ogemaw 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.
Northern lower Michigan at the headwaters of the Rifle River, which drains south to Saginaw Bay. The landform is pitted sandy outwash plain broken by moraine ridges, with the Ogemaw Hills rising in the north and the Rifle River Recreation Area holding lake and swamp country in the northeast. Soils are predominantly sandy: Grayling sand and Graycalm loamy sand on the droughty plains, Rubicon and Kalkaska sand under the pine and northern hardwood uplands, Croswell and Au Gres sands where the water table is nearer the surface, and Roscommon mucky sand with Lupton and Tawas muck in the conifer swamps and river swales. There is very little integrated surface drainage on the plains because the sand takes everything, so the hydrology to design for is the seasonally perched water table in the low ground.
Clearing is aspen, jack pine, and red pine with heavy stump volume, and the grub spoil is sand plus root mat with no fill value, so plan on site disposal. Excavation is fast and rock free, but every haul road and crane pad needs geotextile and a graded aggregate cap because loose sand will not carry a loaded truck, and trench walls in clean sand will not stand without a box. Erosion control is dust and wind first, and the swamp crossings and Rifle River tributaries drive both the wetland permitting and the case for winter frozen ground work.
Full detail on the Ogemaw County market is on the Ogemaw 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. Michigan does not issue a statewide general contractor or commercial building license. LARA licenses residential builders and maintenance and alteration contractors for residential work only, so commercial civil sitework, earthwork, grading, and access road construction do not require a state contractor license. Specialty trades that do require state licenses include electrical, mechanical, and plumbing, which matters for the electrical scope on a solar site. Local units of government and some counties require contractor registration or permits, and contractors performing state funded public work must register with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
Construction stormwater. Construction stormwater in Michigan is administered by the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Water Resources Division, under the NPDES program paired with Part 91 Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control of NREPA. Any earth change disturbing one acre or more with a point source discharge to waters of the state requires NPDES coverage. Sites disturbing one to five acres receive automatic Permit by Rule coverage once a Part 91 SESC permit is issued by the county or municipal enforcing agency. Sites disturbing five acres or more, which is every utility solar site, must obtain the Part 91 SESC permit and then submit a Notice of Coverage (NOC) application to EGLE Water Resources Division with the approved SESC plan, site location map, and fee. A certified storm water operator must inspect the site weekly and within 24 hours of a rain event that produces a discharge. 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 registered apprenticeship requirements apply to solar projects of 1 MW AC and larger that claim the full Inflation Reduction Act credit rate, so certified payroll is standard on Michigan utility solar. On top of that, Michigan reinstated a state prevailing wage act, 2023 PA 10, effective February 2024 for state funded construction. The larger factor for solar is Public Act 233 of 2023: an applicant for an MPSC siting certificate must pay workers on construction and construction maintenance of the energy facility no less than the prevailing wage and fringe benefit rates determined under 2023 PA 10 or Davis-Bacon, whichever is higher, and must use apprenticeship programs registered with the U.S. Department of Labor. Contractors bidding Michigan solar civil work should assume certified payroll, prevailing wage rates, and registered apprentice ratios. 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 Michigan 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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