Municipal Earthwork Services for Public Infrastructure in Texas and Oklahoma
Public work is bought under statute, built to a published specification and answered for in public. IRONWILL Earthworks performs site preparation, excavation, grading, drainage and subgrade work for cities, counties, school districts and the general contractors who build for them across Texas and Oklahoma, and we carry the bonds, the wage records and the test documentation a public contract requires.
NCTCOG and TxDOT items, by the number
Density and moisture tests filed as the lifts go in
Traffic control through our partners, dust held down
Bonded, wage records open, quantities documented
Public work is bought by statute, and the statute shapes the job
A city, county or school district in Texas cannot simply hire the earthwork contractor it likes. Above the competitive threshold, a governmental entity buys construction through one of the methods in Chapter 2269 of the Government Code: competitive bidding to the lowest responsible bidder, competitive sealed proposals, a construction manager-agent, a construction manager-at-risk, design-build, or a job order contract1. For a municipality that threshold is a contract requiring more than one hundred thousand dollars of municipal funds2. The same figure governs a county3, and a school district buys construction services through a Chapter 2269 method once its purchases reach one hundred thousand dollars in the aggregate in a twelve month period4.
The method decides who we answer to and how. Under competitive bidding the entity advertises, opens the bids in public and awards to the lowest responsible bidder1; a municipality must publish the notice once a week for two consecutive weeks, the first publication before the fourteenth day ahead of the opening2. Under competitive sealed proposals or construction manager-at-risk the entity ranks offerors against criteria and weights it published in the request, and it must make its evaluations public no later than the seventh day after award1. The statute names what may be weighed: price, experience and reputation, quality, the effect on the entity's ability to comply with historically underutilized business rules, the offeror's safety record, its proposed personnel, and whether its financial capability fits the size of the project1. Historically underutilized business certification is the Comptroller's program, and it includes firms owned by service-disabled veterans12. We bid public earthwork as a subcontractor to general contractors under every one of these methods, and directly to owners where the scope is site work alone.
The thresholds that decide how a public earthwork contract is bought and secured are set by the Legislature, not by the owner, and they are the same on every public site we work.
| What it decides | Threshold (dollars) | Where it is written |
|---|---|---|
| A municipality must buy through competitive sealed bids or proposals, a reverse auction, or a Chapter 2269 method | A contract requiring more than 100,000 from municipal funds | Local Government Code Sec. 252.0212 |
| A county must use competitive bidding or proposals, a reverse auction, or a Chapter 2269 method | An expenditure exceeding 100,000 | Local Government Code Sec. 262.0233 |
| A school district must use a best value method, with construction bought under Chapter 2269 | Purchases of 100,000 or more in the aggregate for each 12 month period | Education Code Sec. 44.0314 |
| Performance bond, in the amount of the contract | A contract in excess of 100,000 | Government Code Sec. 2253.0215 |
| Payment bond, in the amount of the contract | In excess of 50,000 for a municipality; in excess of 25,000 for other governmental entities | Government Code Sec. 2253.0215 |
| A municipality must contact at least two historically underutilized businesses on a rotating basis | An expenditure of more than 3,000 but less than 100,000 | Local Government Code Sec. 252.02152 |
| The governing body must approve each order under a job order contract | Any job, task or purchase order that exceeds 500,000 | Government Code Sec. 2269.4031 |
| A school district change order may not raise the contract by more than 25 percent | Contracts with an original value of 1 million or more | Education Code Sec. 44.04114 |
The earthwork items we perform under the public specification
Most North Texas cities build to the NCTCOG Public Works Construction Standards, now in an Amended Fifth Edition (2023), whose specifications run from site protection and preparation through roadway construction, underground conduit and structures7. Roadway work for the state runs to TxDOT's 2024 Standard Specifications8. These are the items we perform under either book.
Quantity takeoffs from the plan set by pay item, a read of the geotechnical report, and a bid tab in the form the owner's estimate uses.
Right of way preparation, tree protection where the plans or a city ordinance require it, and grinding on site instead of hauling.
Removal of pavement, structures and abandoned lines in the right of way, with the survey and the notifications public work requires before demolition.
Pads for schools, stations and public facilities built to the geotechnical report's undercut, moisture and select fill requirements.
Street and parking subgrade, treated where the plans call for it, under flexible base placed to Item 247 or the city's equivalent8.
Excavation support: the digging, hauling and backfill around the shoring that specialist partners design and install.
SWP3 controls installed and inspected under the TCEQ construction general permit, which requires the plan in place before construction begins10.
Schedule, submittals, certified payroll and the daily record a public owner's inspector expects to open.
Every public scope also carries the items that never get a page of their own: rough and final grading, stabilization, import and export of material, and backfill behind the curbs. The traffic control that lets a street stay open while it is rebuilt we bring in through traffic control partners and keep inside our scope. We sequence it all as one contract, because that is how the owner's inspector and the prime contractor's schedule see it.
What a public owner and its inspector get from us
On a public job the record of the work is a deliverable. Embankment placed under TxDOT's density control provision goes in lifts no thicker than sixteen inches loose or twelve inches compacted, and each lift is tested for density and moisture before the next is placed: at least 98 percent of maximum density where the plasticity index is 15 or below, 98 to 102 percent at or above optimum moisture for a PI between 15 and 35, and 95 to 100 percent at or above optimum for a PI over 358. The in-place test is Tex-115-E, run at random locations the engineer selects13. We stake the lifts, call for the tests, and keep the results with the station numbers they cover.
The wage record is a deliverable too. A worker on a public work in Texas must be paid not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for the locality, which the public body sets by its own survey or by adopting the U.S. Department of Labor's Davis-Bacon determination6. A contractor or subcontractor who pays less owes the public body sixty dollars for each worker for each day of underpayment, and must keep a record of every worker's occupation and actual wages open to the owner's inspection6. Ours is kept current through the job, not reconstructed at closeout.
Grades held to the plan section and checked in the field with GPS and laser equipment
Embankment tested lift by lift under density control
Schedule and quantities reported the way the pay estimate reads
Traffic control by our partners, to the 2025 TMUTCD, beside live lanes
Competent-person inspection of every open excavation, daily and after rain
Payroll, test results and daily reports filed as the work goes in
Public projects we support
We work for cities, counties, school districts, water and river authorities and the general contractors who hold their contracts, on the facilities Chapter 2269 covers and on the roads, drainage and flood control projects its civil works subchapter treats separately1.
Public work is public in the literal sense: the street stays open, the dust stays down, and the neighbors are owed a site left safe every evening. Texas air rules prohibit discharging any air contaminant in a concentration and duration that interferes with the normal use and enjoyment of property14, so water trucks and sweeping are a scheduled part of a public grading scope rather than a response to a complaint. Where an excavation could endanger an adjoining building, wall or structure, federal rules require a support system such as shoring, bracing or underpinning, and a competent person inspects the excavation daily and after every rainstorm15.
Bidding or planning a public project?
Send the plans, the project specification and the bid or notice to proceed dates. We will return quantities by pay item, the testing and traffic control the specification actually requires, and a sequence for building the work beside the people who use it.
Municipal site work across Texas and Oklahoma
We support public construction for cities, counties, school districts and public agencies across Texas and Oklahoma, from our office in Dallas. Most cities in the metroplex have adopted the NCTCOG standards in whole or in part7, and most hold their own Phase II stormwater permit for the storm sewer system they operate, which is why a city inspector is checking the SWP3 alongside the state's permit11.
If the project belongs to a city, a county or a district in Texas or Oklahoma, ask. We bid public work across both.
Project name, location and owner
Plans and project specification
Bid or notice-to-proceed dates
Traffic control requirements
Testing and documentation requirements
Municipal earthwork FAQ
What types of public projects does IRONWILL Earthworks support?
Streets, intersections and roadway embankment; school and district facility sites; parks and trail systems; fire, police and EMS station pads; libraries, community centers and government buildings; and the drainage and site work that goes with each. We work directly for the owner and as the earthwork subcontractor to the prime.
Which specification do you build to on a city job?
Whichever the contract names. In this region that is usually the NCTCOG Public Works Construction Standards, Amended Fifth Edition, sometimes with a city's own supplement7, and for state roadway work the TxDOT 2024 Standard Specifications8. The pay items, tolerances and test methods come out of that book, and our takeoff is built by item number so the owner's estimate and ours read the same way.
How is traffic handled when you rebuild an open street?
Under a traffic control plan drawn to Part 6 of the Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices; the 2025 edition took effect on January 18, 20269. We do not self-perform traffic control. Our traffic control partners set and maintain the devices, which on TxDOT work must have passed the crashworthiness testing in Item 5028, and we keep their work inside our scope and our schedule. Phasing keeps a lane or an access open wherever the plan requires it, and the plan is part of the submittal, not an afterthought.
Do you work as a subcontractor to general contractors on public bids?
Yes, and that is most of our public work. A prime contractor on a Texas public work must furnish a performance bond when the contract exceeds one hundred thousand dollars and a payment bond above fifty thousand for a municipality5, so we furnish the prime what its bond is answerable for: quantities and schedule input during bidding, and the wage records, test results and daily reports during construction.
How do you handle erosion control and stormwater compliance?
Under the TCEQ construction general permit TXR150000, in effect from March 5, 2023 through March 5, 2028, a site that disturbs one acre or more must have its stormwater pollution prevention plan developed and implemented before construction begins, with a Notice of Intent filed through STEERS for large sites of five acres or more10. We install and maintain the controls in the plan, keep the inspection log with them, and coordinate with the city's own stormwater inspector, since cities hold their own permits for the storm sewer systems they operate11.
What areas do you serve?
Public agencies across Texas and Oklahoma from our Dallas base, including Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Prosper, Celina, Denton, Sherman and Greenville, and the school and utility districts inside them.
Sources
Every number and every rule on this page is cited here. Reviewed September 17, 2026.
- Texas Government Code, Chapter 2269: Contracting and Delivery Procedures for Construction ProjectsTexas Legislature, Texas Constitution and StatutesThe delivery methods (Secs. 2269.101, .151, .201, .251, .301, .351, .401), the award criteria in Sec. 2269.055, the public evaluation rule in Sec. 2269.056, and the job order approval threshold in Sec. 2269.403.
- Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 252: Purchasing and Contracting Authority of MunicipalitiesTexas Legislature, Texas Constitution and StatutesThe municipal competitive threshold in Sec. 252.021, the notice rule in Sec. 252.041, the award rule in Sec. 252.043, and the historically underutilized business contact rule in Sec. 252.0215.
- Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 262: Purchasing and Contracting Authority of CountiesTexas Legislature, Texas Constitution and StatutesThe county competitive threshold in Sec. 262.023.
- Texas Education Code, Chapter 44: Fiscal ManagementTexas Legislature, Texas Constitution and StatutesSchool district purchasing methods and threshold in Sec. 44.031, and the change order cap in Sec. 44.0411.
- Texas Government Code, Chapter 2253: Public Work Performance and Payment BondsTexas Legislature, Texas Constitution and StatutesThe performance and payment bond thresholds and amounts in Sec. 2253.021.
- Texas Government Code, Chapter 2258: Prevailing Wage RatesTexas Legislature, Texas Constitution and StatutesThe right to prevailing wages (Sec. 2258.021), how the rate is determined (Sec. 2258.022), the per-worker per-day penalty (Sec. 2258.023) and the open payroll record (Sec. 2258.024).
- Public Works Construction Standards, North Central TexasNorth Central Texas Council of Governments, 2023The Amended Fifth Edition, its specification divisions 100 through 800, the standard drawing divisions, and the list of municipalities that have adopted it.
- 2024 Standard Specifications for Construction and Maintenance of Highways, Streets, and BridgesTexas Department of Transportation, 2024Item 110 grade tolerances, Item 132 embankment lift thickness and the Table 2 density control requirements by plasticity index, Item 247 flexible base, Item 502 crashworthiness of traffic control devices, and Item 506 controls under the construction general permit.
- Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (TMUTCD)Texas Department of Transportation, 2025The 2025 edition, effective January 18, 2026, and Part 6, Temporary Traffic Control.
- Stormwater General Permit for Construction Activities (TPDES General Permit TXR150000)Texas Commission on Environmental QualityThe one acre and five acre thresholds, the SWP3 required before construction begins, the Notice of Intent through STEERS, and the permit term of March 5, 2023 to March 5, 2028.
- Stormwater Permits for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s)Texas Commission on Environmental QualityGeneral Permit TXR040000 for Phase II small municipal separate storm sewer systems, the permit a city holds for the storm sewer system it operates.
- Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) ProgramTexas Comptroller of Public AccountsThe state certification program, including its certification of service-disabled veteran owned businesses.
- Tex-115-E, Measuring In-Place Density and Moisture Content of Soils and Base MaterialsTexas Department of Transportation, Materials and Tests Division, 2025The in-place density test embankment is accepted on, and Part IV, the random selection of test locations.
- Texas SIP: 30 TAC 101.4, Nuisance (General Air Quality Rules)U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyThe text of the Texas nuisance rule that governs construction dust.
- 29 CFR 1926.651, Specific Excavation RequirementsCode of Federal Regulations, U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2023Paragraph (i), support systems where an excavation endangers adjoining structures, and paragraph (k), daily inspection by a competent person and after every rainstorm.