Complete civil packages for utility solar near Silverton, 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 Silverton in Swisher County, Texas. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
County seat of Briscoe County immediately east of Swisher, near Mackenzie Reservoir and the Tule Canyon breaks where terrain changes from flat plain to steep canyon and haul routes narrow to State Highway 86 and 207.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Swisher 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.
Swisher County sits on the Llano Estacado, one of the flattest large surfaces in North America, with a nearly level plain broken only by thousands of shallow playa basins and by the canyon breaks at the northeast where Tule Canyon and Palo Duro Canyon drain toward the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River. The soil is dominated by Pullman clay loam, a dense clayey Bt horizon over Ogallala caliche typically within three to six feet of the surface, with Olton and Estacado soils on slightly better drained positions and Randall clay in the playa floors. There is no integrated stream network across the plain: runoff moves to playas and either infiltrates slowly or evaporates, and Mackenzie Reservoir on Tule Creek is the surface storage in the area.
Grading is simple in the sense that the ground is flat and there is almost no clearing, mostly cropland and grass with no trees, but the two controls are the Pullman clay and the caliche below it. The clay is dense and slow draining, becomes greasy and untrafficable after rain, and holds water on the surface because there is nowhere for it to run, so schedule around wet periods and plan on drying and moisture conditioning. Below it, caliche will slow trenching and pier drilling, and rock trenching production rates should be carried. Playas cannot be treated as ordinary low spots: they are the drainage system, they hold water for weeks, and roads or arrays that block or fill them create both a permitting and a hydrology problem, so route access roads around them. The caliche makes good base material where it can be won on site. Erosion control is dominated by wind, not water, so dust suppression and rapid cover are the priorities, with sediment controls sized for ponding rather than for channel flow.
Full detail on the Swisher County market is on the Swisher 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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