Davis-Bacon and prevailing wage for electrical contractors

Davis-Bacon covers federal and federally funded construction contracts over $2,000. On those jobs you owe every electrician at least the wage plus fringe listed for "Electrician" on the job's wage determination, which you find on SAM.gov by state, county and construction type. You file certified payroll every week, and only registered apprentices can be paid apprentice rates.

This is general information, not legal advice. On a specific contract, ask the contracting officer or an employment lawyer. For the rest of the hiring rules, see hiring law basics for electrical contractors.

01Which jobs are covered

A job is covered when it's a contract "in excess of $2,000 for the construction, alteration, or repair" of public buildings or public works, under the Davis-Bacon Act or one of its Related Acts, per the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL Wage and Hour Division). DOL describes it as covering "contractors and subcontractors performing on federally funded or assisted contracts."

In plain terms, three kinds of work pull you in:

• Direct federal work. A post office, a VA clinic, a military base.
• Federally assisted work. A city, school district or housing authority job paid partly with federal money. These come under the Related Acts, and the bid package will say so.
• Subcontracts on either. If the GC is covered, so is the electrical sub. The prime is responsible for collecting every sub's certified payroll.

Two federal add-ons ride along. On contracts over $100,000, the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act requires time and a half for hours over 40 in a week, and the clause flows down to subs. And the 2023 Davis-Bacon final rule took effect October 23, 2023, though a June 24, 2024 nationwide preliminary injunction blocks three of its provisions, per DOL.

02How to find the electrician rate on SAM.gov

The electrician rate lives in a "wage determination" (WD) on SAM.gov, and the one that binds you is the WD in your bid package or contract. Use SAM.gov to read it, or to check rates before you bid.

1. Go to SAM.gov wage determinations and pick Davis-Bacon.
2. Filter by state and county where the work is.
3. Pick the construction type: Building, Heavy, Highway or Residential. Most commercial electrical work falls under Building.
4. Open the newest modification, unless your contract names a specific WD number and modification. Then use that one.
5. Search the page for "ELEC" and read every electrician line, since one WD can carry different rates for different counties.

03Reading one wage determination, line by line

Here's the electrician section of Colorado's 2026 Building WD, CO20260001, modification 1, published May 18, 2026 (SAM.gov, CO20260001):

What each piece tells you:

• "ELEC0068-007." The WD's own key explains that a four-letter code that doesn't start with SU, UAVG, SA or SC means "a union rate was prevailing" in the survey. ELEC is the electricians, 0068 is the local number, 007 is DOL's internal number. The date is when that negotiated rate took effect.
• "SU" codes. An SU identifier means a single non-union rate prevailed, or the rate is a weighted average of everything reported in the survey. SU rates "typically remain in effect until a new survey is conducted," and that can take decades. Minnesota's 2026 Residential WD for 15 southern counties (MN20260001, modification 1) still lists an electrician rate from a 1990 survey: $14.05 plus $4.23 fringe (SAM.gov, MN20260001). That's a legal floor, not the market. No licensed hand works for it.
• "UAVG." No single rate prevailed, but all the data was union, so DOL averaged it.
• The scope note. Several Colorado lines say the classification includes low voltage wiring, fire alarm, phone, computer and temperature control work. If your guys are pulling cable on a covered job, check which line they fall under before you set their rate.

That table is also the easiest way to learn local union scale without calling the hall, which helps when you check whether your journeyman pay rate is competitive. Read it as one data point. It's straight wage plus fringe for public work, not what every shop in town pays.

04What "fringe" means for your bid and your check

The fringe column is money you owe on top of the wage, and you can pay it as benefits, as cash, or a mix. Under 29 CFR 5.5, contractors pay the "basic hourly wages and bona fide fringe benefits (or cash equivalents thereof)" at the WD rates.

Here's a worked example on the first Colorado line, $46.80 wage plus $19.53 fringe, $66.33 total. The numbers for your shop are made up to show the math.

Say you pay your J-man $42.00 an hour and your health plan and 401(k) match work out to $9.00 an hour in bona fide fringe for him.

1. Wage gap: $46.80 minus $42.00 is $4.80. His base on this job goes to at least $46.80.
2. Fringe gap: $19.53 minus $9.00 is $10.53. You pay that as cash on the check, or put more into the plan.
3. Cash on his check: $46.80 plus $10.53 is $57.33 an hour.
4. Check the total: $57.33 cash plus $9.00 benefits is $66.33. It matches the WD.

On a 40-hour week that's $2,653.20 per electrician ($66.33 x 40) before payroll taxes and comp, which you still owe on the cash part. Bid labor at that number, not at your shop rate. A shop that bids a covered job at its normal $42 wage and $9 in benefits, and finds the WD later, is $15.33 an hour short per hand ($66.33 minus $51.00), or $613.20 a week ($15.33 x 40).

Tell your hands up front that the prevailing rate is for this job only, so the drop when it ends isn't a surprise.

05Certified payroll: every week, signed

On covered work you send certified payroll for every week any covered work happens, and the prime is responsible for turning in every sub's. That's straight from 29 CFR 5.5: payrolls go in "weekly, for each week in which any DBA- or Related Acts-covered work is performed."

What goes on it, per the same rule:

• Each worker's classification for the work actually done, hourly wage, and fringe paid or cash equivalent.
• Daily and weekly hours, total and on the covered job.
• Deductions and actual wages paid.
• On the copy you send in, an identifying number such as the last four of the Social Security number. Keep the full records yourself.

You can use DOL's optional Form WH-347 or any format with the same information. Each payroll needs a signed "Statement of Compliance" saying the records are complete and every worker got the full weekly wages earned. The rule warns that falsifying it "may subject the contractor or subcontractor to civil or criminal prosecution." Keep payrolls and basic records for at least 3 years after all the work on the prime contract is done.

Two habits that keep foremen out of trouble:

1. Split the time by classification. If a hand runs conduit half the day as an electrician and digs a trench the other half as a laborer, you can pay each rate only if your payroll "accurately set[s] forth the time spent in each classification." No split, no lower rate.
2. Post the WD and the Davis-Bacon poster (WH-1321) on site, where the crew can see them. The rule requires it.

06Apprentices: registered or paid as journeymen

Only apprentices individually registered in a program approved by DOL's Office of Apprenticeship or a recognized State Apprenticeship Agency can be paid less than the electrician rate on a covered job. That's 29 CFR 5.5(a)(4), and it's where open shops get burned.

The rule in practice:

• Not registered, full rate. "Any worker listed on a payroll at an apprentice wage rate, who is not registered" must be paid the full WD rate for the work done. Your green second-year who isn't in a registered program gets $46.80 plus $19.53 on that Colorado line, same as your J-man.
• Over the ratio, full rate. The apprentice-to-journeyworker ratio on the job can't exceed what your registered program allows. Anyone over the ratio gets the full rate.
• Probationary hands. Someone certified as eligible for probationary employment can be paid apprentice rates for the first 90 days.
• Fringe. Apprentices get fringe the way their program says. If the program doesn't say, they get the full fringe on the WD.

Helpers are their own problem. If the WD doesn't list a helper classification, a helper needs a "conformance" approved through the contracting officer, or he's paid as whatever classification his work matches.

The math for a typical crew of 2 J-men and 2 green hands on that Colorado line: if the green hands aren't registered, all four cost $66.33 an hour. Registering them in a program, union or open shop, is what makes a lower rate legal. The steps are in how to start a registered electrical apprenticeship program, and state supervision limits are in apprentice to journeyman ratio rules by state.

07State prevailing wage laws

Many states have their own prevailing wage law for state and local public work, with their own thresholds, rates and payroll forms. DOL keeps a table of them, but it was last revised January 1, 2023 (DOL state prevailing wage laws).

Since then at least one state has changed. DOL's table lists Michigan with no law, but Michigan passed Public Act 10 of 2023, "Prevailing wages on state projects," effective February 13, 2024 (Michigan Legislature, Act 10 of 2023).

Leaving Michigan out, DOL's 2023 table lists these states with no general prevailing wage law: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Federal Davis-Bacon still applies on federally funded jobs in all of them.

Thresholds where state laws exist vary a lot. A few from the same 2023 table:

Before you bid state or local public work, confirm the current threshold and rate schedule with the state labor department. These numbers change, and the table is old.

08Hiring for a covered job

A prevailing wage job changes who you can afford to put on it. With every hand at or near the electrician rate, a crew heavy on unregistered helpers stops saving you money. A covered job is the place for your best journeymen and your registered apprentices, at the ratio.

It can also help you man the job. The rate is public and fixed, and hands read it as a real number, so say it plainly in the ad: "Prevailing wage job. Electrician rate $46.80 plus $19.53 fringe. Runs about 6 months." (Example ad, using the WD numbers.)

If you're short-handed now, apply here and we'll see if we can put 5 licensed electricians in front of you in 14 days.

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