Complete civil packages for utility solar near Hereford, 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 Hereford in Deaf Smith County, Texas. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
County seat on US 60 and US 385 with the BNSF Amarillo to Clovis transcontinental main line through town, which makes it the best rail served delivery point on the southwestern High Plains. Large feedyards and agricultural industry mean heavy truck infrastructure already exists.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Deaf Smith 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.
Deaf Smith County is high, flat Llano Estacado surface at roughly 3,700 to 4,200 feet, with a nearly level plain pocked with playa basins and no through flowing streams across most of it. Soils are dominated by Pullman clay loam with its dense clayey subsoil over Ogallala caliche, with Olton loams on slightly sloping positions and Randall clay in the playa bottoms. Tierra Blanca Creek and Palo Duro Creek head in the county and drain east toward the Canadian and Red River systems, but for most sites the effective hydrology is playa to playa with slow infiltration into the Ogallala aquifer, which supports heavy center pivot irrigation and the large feedyard industry around Hereford.
Almost no clearing to speak of: cropland, grass and center pivot infrastructure rather than trees. The work is controlled by the Pullman clay above and the caliche below. The clay is slow draining and moisture sensitive, so pads and roads want moisture conditioning and the schedule has to respect a wet week costing you the site. Caliche within a few feet of the surface slows trenching and drilled pier work but supplies excellent on site base rock, which is a real cost advantage on long collection road networks. Playas are the drainage system and must be avoided or bridged rather than filled, since blocking them shifts ponding onto neighboring farmland. Existing irrigation wells, pivot points and buried irrigation mains need to be located before trenching. Wind is the dominant erosion agent, so dust control, staged disturbance and quick cover matter more than silt fence.
Full detail on the Deaf Smith County market is on the Deaf Smith 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.
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