Complete civil packages for utility solar near Farnham, VA: 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 Farnham in Richmond County, Virginia. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
East of Warsaw on VA 3 toward Kilmarnock, in the middle of the sandy upland farm ground. There is no active rail anywhere on the Northern Neck, so all crushed stone has to be trucked in from Fall Line quarries near Fredericksburg or Richmond.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Richmond 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.
Richmond County is on the Northern Neck between the Rappahannock River and the interior of the peninsula, entirely Coastal Plain, built on a stack of marine and fluvial terraces stepping down toward the river. Uplands are gently rolling with sandy, well drained loamy soils: the Catpoint series has its type location three miles west of Warsaw, and the general character of Northern Neck upland soils is moderately acid, yellowish brown, very deep, and sandy enough to drain freely. The Rappahannock shoreline includes steep bluffs, most notably the Fones Cliffs, cut into soft diatomaceous silt and clay of the Calvert Formation, which slump and undercut readily. Interior flats between the drainages hold poorly drained wet soils and nontidal wetlands, and the sandy uplands sit over shallow perched and surficial aquifers.
Digging is easy and blasting is essentially never required, so the risk moves to water and stability rather than to rock. Trenching in cohesionless sand below the water table means sloughing walls and continuous dewatering, so trench boxes and a dewatering plan belong in the base bid, not in a change order. Anything within sight of the Rappahannock falls under Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act buffers on top of normal erosion and sediment control, and the bluff sections are actively unstable, so setbacks and no disturbance zones need to be laid out before the first tree comes down. Access roads build well on the sandy terraces with local borrow, but the wet interior flats need geotextile, stone, and often timber mat to carry pile rigs.
Full detail on the Richmond County market is on the Richmond 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. Yes. Virginia requires a contractor license issued by the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR), Board for Contractors. The relevant tier for utility scale solar civil work is the Class A contractor license, which carries no monetary limit on individual project size or annual revenue. The relevant classification for site work, earthwork, and road work is Highway / Heavy (H/H); the qualified individual sits for a trade exam tied to VDOT specifications. Class A applicants must show net worth of $45,000 or post a $50,000 surety bond, and each classification or specialty held requires its own qualified individual with documented experience. Source read: https://virginiacontractorauthority.com/virginia-contractor-license-types and https://www.kmlawyers.com/virginia-dpor-licensing-requirements-for-construction-contractors/
Construction stormwater. The General Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (VPDES) Permit for Discharges of Stormwater from Construction Activities, commonly called the Construction General Permit or CGP, codified at 9VAC25-880. It is issued by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) under the State Water Control Board, and is administered locally through Virginia Stormwater Management Program (VSMP) authorities. The current reissuance runs July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2029 and applies to land disturbing activities of one acre or more. Sources read: https://www.deq.virginia.gov/water/stormwater/stormwater-construction and https://law.lis.virginia.gov/admincode/title9/agency25/chapter880/section70/ 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 qualifying facilities of 1 MW or greater that claim the full investment or production tax credit, so certified payroll is the practical default on Virginia utility scale solar regardless of state law. On top of that, Virginia has its own prevailing wage statute at Code of Virginia section 2.2-4321.3, sometimes called the Little Davis-Bacon Act, administered by the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI). The state statute reaches public works contracts of $250,000 or more that are paid in whole or in part with state funds, or contracts with a locality that has adopted a prevailing wage ordinance. Privately owned utility scale solar is generally not a public works contract, so the state statute usually does not attach and the federal IRA requirement is the governing one. Sources read: https://doli.virginia.gov/programs/labor-law/prevailing-wage-law/ and https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title2.2/chapter43/section2.2-4321.3/ 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 Virginia 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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