Building a Shooting Range at Camp Williams
Camp Williams is not the kind of job site where you figure things out as you go. The Utah National Guard’s primary training installation sits south of Salt Lake City, and every contractor who works there knows that military specifications are not suggestions. When AccuRite was awarded a contract to build out a new shooting range facility at Camp Williams, we understood what we were signing up for.
The Project
The scope covered full site preparation for an active-use shooting range. That meant clearing and grubbing the range corridor, precision grading of the firing line and target areas, constructing earthen berms and ballistic backstops to proper height and compaction standards, and installing drainage that would hold up through Utah’s freeze-thaw cycles.
Earthen backstops on a shooting range are not a simple pile of dirt. They need to be built to specific geometry, compacted in lifts to prevent erosion and penetration, and tied into the surrounding grade so water does not undercut them over time. We brought in our larger excavation equipment for the heavy moving and finished the berms with motor grader passes to hold tight tolerances on the slopes.
The drainage work was equally specific. Water that pools in a range corridor is a safety problem, not just a nuisance. We cut positive drainage away from the firing positions and routed runoff through designed channels that keep the range usable even after significant rain.
Working on a Military Installation
Camp Williams comes with requirements that most commercial jobs do not have. Security clearances, escort protocols, restricted areas, and daily coordination with installation personnel are all part of the process. Our crews followed base access procedures without exception, and we kept a project manager on site for every active work day.
The timeline was set by the Guard’s training calendar, not by our schedule preferences. Certain phases of the year are heavy with training activity, and that drove our work windows. We planned accordingly and did not miss a deadline.
Military contracts also carry documentation requirements beyond what a typical commercial job involves. Submittals, daily reports, material certifications, compaction testing records. Our team handled all of it because that is what holding an E100 contractor license and working on government contracts requires.
Licensing and Contract Capability
AccuRite holds an E100 General Engineering Contractor license, which is the license class required for public works and government projects in Utah. Without it, a contractor cannot legally bid or perform work on projects like Camp Williams.
The E100 also signals to government agencies that a contractor has met the financial, experience, and bonding requirements that public work demands. It is not a license that every excavation company holds. We pursued it specifically because we wanted to be able to serve military, municipal, and federal clients.
Results
The shooting range came in on schedule and passed all specification reviews. The Utah National Guard’s facilities team signed off without requiring rework, which is the standard we hold ourselves to on every government project.
Work at Camp Williams reinforced something we already believed: government clients come back to contractors who do what they say they will do and document it properly. Compliance is not an obstacle to doing good work; it is part of doing good work.
If your organization is looking for an excavation contractor with government project experience, contact AccuRite or learn more about our government project capabilities. We serve clients throughout northern Utah, from Ogden to Salt Lake City and everywhere in between.