Complete civil packages for utility solar near Plain City, 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 Plain City in Madison County, Ohio. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
North end on US 42 straddling the Madison, Union, and Franklin county lines, tied to the Columbus metro fabrication and equipment rental market. Handy for crew housing and short haul support on projects in the northern townships.
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 on the Darby Plains, a Wisconsinan ground moraine that is among the flattest surfaces in Ohio, with dominant slopes of 0 to 2 percent and only a few low till knolls breaking the grade. Till overlies Silurian dolomite, and the dominant soils are Kokomo and Brookston silty clay loams in the swales and flats with Crosby, Celina, and Miamian on the slight rises. This was historic wet prairie, so natural drainage is poor and nearly every field is on a systematic clay and plastic tile grid outletting to county ditches. Surface water drains to Big Darby and Little Darby Creeks and to Deer Creek, and the Darby system carries state and national scenic river status, which raises sediment scrutiny well above the Ohio baseline.
There is almost nothing to clear beyond fencerows and windbreaks, so the real work is drainage, not volume: the ground is so flat that establishing positive fall and outlet elevations governs the grading plan more than cut and fill balance. Kokomo and Brookston are high plasticity and lose bearing fast when wet, so haul roads and crane pads want geotextile or geogrid with imported stone rather than compacted native, and spring and late fall are stand-down risks. Collection trenching will cut field tile continuously, so tile locating, cut logs, and a same day repair crew belong in the schedule, and erosion control has to work in near flat ditches using basins, skimmers, and check dams instead of relying on grade.
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. 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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