Erosion control and SWPPP
Storm water compliance is the part of a job that costs nothing when it is done on time and a great deal when it is not. A notice of violation on a permitted site is a per-day number, and it starts on the day the inspector saw the problem, not the day you fixed it.
What we install
- Silt fence, fiber roll, and gravel bag barriers
- Inlet and outlet protection at every drainage structure
- Stabilized construction entrances and tire wash
- Concrete washout and material storage areas
- Hydroseed, straw mulch, tackifier, and erosion control blanket
- Check dams, diversion berms, and temporary swales
- Winterization of open trench, stockpiles, and exposed slopes
The plan is the contract
A construction site over an acre needs coverage under the state general permit and a SWPPP written by a qualified person. The plan says which practices go where, who inspects, how often, and what the records look like. Our job on that plan is to install what it says, keep it working, and document it in a form that survives an inspection two years later.
We work under your QSD and QSP or bring our own. Either way the site inspection log, the rain event reports, and the photos exist and are current, because in an enforcement action the paperwork is the defense.
The October deadline
The wet season here runs October 1 through April 30 and the standard is that a site must be prepared for a storm at all times inside it. In practice that means the erosion control has to be installed in September, on a dry site, by a crew that is not also trying to finish the paving.
We schedule it that way deliberately. Installing silt fence in the rain on a site that already has a problem costs about twice as much and works about half as well.
What erosion control runs
| Item | Range |
|---|---|
| Silt fence, installed | $4 to $9 per LF |
| Fiber roll, installed and staked | $4.50 to $10 per LF |
| Inlet protection | $150 to $450 each |
| Stabilized construction entrance | $2,500 to $6,500 each |
| Hydroseed | $0.10 to $0.28 per SF |
| Erosion control blanket, installed | $0.85 to $2.20 per SF |
Unit ranges are what this kind of work has been going for in the Sacramento Valley, put here so you can sanity-check a budget. They are not a bid. Quantities, access, haul distance, and the spec move every one of them.
Questions we get
If the project disturbs one acre or more, or is part of a larger common plan that does, yes: coverage under the state Construction General Permit and a SWPPP. Under an acre, your city or county usually still has a local erosion control requirement that looks similar but smaller.
We can provide a QSP for the implementation and inspection side, or work under yours. The SWPPP itself is written by a QSD, which is a design role, and on most projects that is the civil engineer who did the plans.
That is what the winterization line in the bid is for: stabilize the exposed areas, protect the inlets, cover the stockpiles, and get the open trench closed or bermed before the front arrives. We watch the forecast in the wet season and we will call you on a Thursday about a Sunday storm.
Yes, along with straw, tackifier, and blanket. Seed mix follows the plan, and where there is no plan we use a valley mix that actually germinates here rather than a bag of whatever.
Photos are stand-ins until our own job photos are up: public domain images from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Park Service, plus freely licensed photos from Wikimedia Commons (CC0 and CC BY-SA 4.0).
Request a bid: erosion control and swppp
Scope, rough quantities, the town, and when the site is available. If there is a bid date on it, put the date and time in and we will confirm receipt the same day.
- The yard
- (530) 555-0142
- Bids and plan sets
- bids@northstateconstruction.com
- Where we work
- Butte, Glenn, Tehama, Colusa, Shasta, Sutter, and Yuba counties
- Yard at 4180 Midway, Chico, CA 95928
CSLB Class A General Engineering · license pending, expected June