Complete civil packages for utility solar near Archbold, OH: 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 Archbold in Fulton County, Ohio. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
On SR 66 with a Turnpike interchange and a substantial manufacturing base that supports fabrication, crane, and trucking needs locally. Sits in the heavy Hoytville and Fulton clay belt where subgrade governs the schedule.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Fulton 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.
Fulton County is Great Lakes lake plain, part of the historic Great Black Swamp, with dead flat lacustrine clay in the west and center and glacial lake beach ridges of the Oak Openings sand belt through the east near Swanton and Delta. The clay flats map as Hoytville, Fulton, Nappanee, and Blount, all high plasticity and very slowly permeable, and the Fulton series takes its name from this county. The sand ridges map as Ottokee, Tedrow, Oakville, and Granby, which are loose, droughty, and often shallow to a seasonal high water table. Drainage is entirely artificial through county ditches and tile under Ohio drainage law, running to Bean Creek and the Tiffin River in the west and Swan and Ottawa Creeks in the east, all within the Maumee basin.
Hoytville and Fulton clays are about the worst fine grained subgrade in the state: near zero infiltration, they pump and rut under the first loaded truck and they do not dry quickly, so plan full stone haul roads on geotextile or geogrid from mobilization and expect real winter and spring shutdowns. There is almost nothing to clear, but the ditch and tile network is dense and legally protected, so every crossing needs county engineer permitting, a tile repair plan, and spoil handling for sticky clay that will not compact at natural moisture. On the sand ridges the problem inverts to caving trench walls and shoring requirements, while erosion control across the county is about sediment basins, ditch checks, and street cleanliness rather than slope stability.
Full detail on the Fulton County market is on the Fulton 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. Ohio does not issue a statewide general contractor, excavation, or sitework license. The Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board, under the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Industrial Compliance, licenses only five commercial specialty trades: electrical, HVAC, refrigeration, plumbing, and hydronics. Commercial civil sitework, earthwork, and grading require no state trade license, so qualification comes through local registration where a county or municipality requires it, permits, insurance, and owner or EPC prequalification. Contractors bidding state highway work separately need Ohio Department of Transportation prequalification.
Construction stormwater. Ohio EPA NPDES Construction Storm Water General Permit, currently designated OHC000006, issued by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Division of Surface Water. Coverage requires a Notice of Intent and a site specific Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan for earth disturbance of one acre or more, including smaller areas that are part of a larger common plan of development, which covers essentially every utility scale solar site. 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 through the Inflation Reduction Act to projects of 1 MW AC and above that claim the full investment or production tax credit, along with the apprenticeship hour requirements, so nearly every utility scale solar site in Ohio is a certified payroll job. On top of that, Ohio has its own prevailing wage law under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4115, administered by the Ohio Department of Commerce, Bureau of Wage and Hour Administration, but it attaches to public improvements financed with public funds and does not automatically apply to privately financed solar. In practice some Ohio solar applicants have voluntarily committed to prevailing wage or labor agreements as part of their OPSB cases, for example the labor agreement reported in the Sloopy Solar case in Clark County, so bidders should read the certificate conditions and the EPC contract, not assume. 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 Ohio 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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