Complete civil packages for utility solar near Cameron, TX: 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 Cameron in Milam County, Texas. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
County seat at the junction of US 77 and US 190, the north south and east west truck routes through the county, with Little River bottoms just south of town.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Milam 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.
Milam County is Post Oak Savannah over the Wilcox Group and Carrizo Sand, a belt of sandy uplands and lignite bearing clays and sands that has been strip mined at Rockdale for decades. Typical soils are deep sands and sandy loams such as Padina and Silawa, and clayey subsoil claypan soils such as Axtell and Tabor, all with acidic sandy surfaces over dense clay B horizons. The Brazos River forms the east boundary and the Little River and San Gabriel River cross the county, leaving broad terraces and bottoms with loamy alluvial soils such as Ships and Weswood.
Clearing here is real work, not fencerow work: post oak, yaupon and blackjack thicket with root balls that grub slowly and produce large mulch and burn volumes. The sandy surface layer builds and drains well, but it is only a foot or two thick over a dense claypan, so cuts frequently expose plastic clay that behaves nothing like the topsoil above it. Sand cuts ravel and rut under haul traffic when dry and slick when wet, so plan on stabilizing and watering. Trenching moves fast in sand but needs shoring discipline because the sands are cohesionless and can be saturated near the river terraces. Erosion control matters more than the flat relief suggests, since exposed sand moves quickly in high intensity storms, so stage clearing, keep track out controls tight, and seed early. Old lignite mine reclamation ground can have variable fill and settlement history and should be investigated rather than assumed.
Full detail on the Milam County market is on the Milam 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. Texas does not issue a statewide general contractor or general engineering contractor license, so commercial civil sitework requires no state contractor license. Licensing in Texas is trade specific: electrical work is licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, plumbing by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, and sealed design work requires a Texas Professional Engineer registered with the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. Cities and counties can require their own contractor registration, bonds and permits, so registration is handled jurisdiction by jurisdiction. Out of state contractors register with the Texas Secretary of State to transact business and should confirm Texas Comptroller franchise tax standing.
Construction stormwater. Construction stormwater in Texas is permitted under the TPDES Construction General Permit, number TXR150000, issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Utility-scale solar sites disturbing five acres or more are large construction activity and require a Notice of Intent, a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, a posted site notice and a Notice of Termination at completion. Sites between one and five acres are small construction activity with a site notice and SWPPP. TCEQ is the delegated permitting authority in Texas, not EPA Region 6. 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 apprenticeship requirements apply through the Inflation Reduction Act to solar facilities of 1 MW AC and larger that claim the full investment or production tax credit, which covers essentially every project on this list. That means Davis-Bacon rates for the county, weekly certified payroll, and qualified apprentice labor hour percentages flowed down to subcontractors. Texas has no state prevailing wage law that reaches privately owned solar projects. Texas Government Code Chapter 2258 requires prevailing wage only on public works contracts let by the state or a political subdivision, with rates set by the awarding public body, so it does not apply to private utility-scale solar. In practice the IRA requirements are the operative wage and recordkeeping driver on Texas solar. 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 Texas 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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