How to read a Davis-Bacon wage determination

The wage determination is the rate sheet for your job. Every line on your certified payroll gets checked against it, so a misread here turns into an underpayment or a rejected report later. It is a dense document, but it follows the same layout every time.

General and project wage determinations

A general wage determination is published by the Department of Labor for a type of construction in a set of counties. It has no expiration date and stays valid until it is revised, superseded or canceled. New annual editions come out early each year, and the number shows the year.

A project wage determination is written for one specific project, at an agency’s request, usually when no general determination covers that county and type of construction. It is effective for 180 days. If it is not incorporated into a contract in that time, it is void.

Most subcontractors work from a general determination. Your contract tells you which one applies.

Decode the header

The top of the document gives a General Decision Number, the state, the construction type, the counties covered, and a table of modifications. For example, a header might read MS20260043 05/18/2026. The number is the state, the year and a sequence number. The date in the heading matches the latest modification in the table, and modification 0 is the original.

To find one, search the wage determinations section of SAM.gov by number, or pick the state, county and construction type. Earlier modifications show as inactive on SAM.gov, but you can still open them. That matters for the next question.

Which version applies to your contract

Your contract should name the determination, usually by number and modification or date. Once a determination is in the contract, it generally applies for the life of the contract. A few rules from 29 CFR 1.6:

On sealed bid jobs, a revision issued at least 10 calendar days before bid opening is part of the solicitation and contract. One issued later, but before bid opening, still counts, unless the agency finds there was not enough time to notify bidders.
On other jobs, a revision issued before award is effective.
After award, new modifications generally do not apply. Exceptions include a contract change that adds substantial new work or time, an exercised option, and long-term contracts that update on each anniversary.

So do not just pull the latest version. Ask the prime for the decision number and modification in your contract, open that exact revision, and save a PDF in the job file. If the wrong determination was attached, the agency is responsible for fixing it, and the fix is generally retroactive to award, so raise it early.

Construction types

Each general determination covers one or more of four types, as the Department of Labor describes them:

Building: sheltered enclosures with walk-in access for housing persons, machinery, equipment or supplies.
Residential: single family houses, townhouses and apartment buildings of no more than four stories.
Highway: roads, streets, highways, runways, parking areas and most other paving work not incidental to building or heavy construction.
Heavy: the catch-all for projects that are not building, residential or highway, such as dredging, dams and bridges.

If a contract includes more than one type of construction, it should incorporate a determination for each type expected to be substantial, and the agency designates which work each one covers. If you cannot tell which one covers your scope, ask.

Reading a rate line

Each block starts with an identifier line, such as ELEC0480-011 01/01/2025. The letters say where the rate came from:

Four letters plus a local number (like ELEC0480) is a union rate that prevailed in the survey. The date is when that union rate took effect.
SU is a survey rate: either one non-union rate that prevailed, or a weighted average of the survey data.
UAVG is a weighted union average.
SA is a rate adopted from a state or local government.

Below the identifier, each classification shows a Rates column (the base hourly cash rate) and a Fringes column (the hourly fringe). For example, with made-up numbers, a row might read ELECTRICIAN ... $30.00 11.00. That is a minimum of $41.00 for every hour worked in that classification: $30.00 in base pay, with the $11.00 fringe met by cash, bona fide plan contributions or a mix. See Davis-Bacon fringe benefits and the hourly credit.

Read each classification title and its scope text in full. In a multi-county determination, the same classification can list different rates for different counties. Workers are paid by the work they actually perform, not by job title or skill level. If someone splits a day between two classifications, you can pay each rate for the time spent in each, but only if your records show the split.

Footnotes and notes

Footnotes sit under a classification and can add to what you owe. In real determinations they have covered paid holidays, vacation pay, extra pay for certain vehicles, and health and pension amounts stated per week instead of per hour. When a fringe is not expressed hourly, the regulations let you pay the benefit as stated, or pay another bona fide fringe benefit or its hourly cash equivalent.

Notes at the top and bottom matter too. One common line says welders receive the rate for the craft performing the operation to which welding is incidental. Others cover executive order minimum wages, which apply only to some contracts.

When your trade is not listed

Near the bottom, a note says unlisted classifications needed for work not covered by the listed ones may be added after award only as provided in the contract’s labor standards clauses. That process is called conformance. It is allowed only when:

The work is not performed by any classification on the determination.
The classification is used in the area by the construction industry.
The proposed rate, including fringes, bears a reasonable relationship to the rates on the determination.

It cannot be used to split or subdivide a listed classification to avoid it. The request goes through the contracting officer to the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, usually on Standard Form 1444. On a subcontract, ask the prime how they want to handle it. The Division has 30 days to approve, modify or reject it, or to say it needs more time. The approved rate is owed from the first day anyone worked in that classification, so start the request before the work does.

Before your first payroll

Get the decision number and modification from your subcontract.
Open that exact revision and save a copy to the job file.
Confirm the state, county and construction type match the job site.
Highlight every classification your crew will perform, and read its scope text and footnotes.
Write down the base rate and fringe for each, and note any fringe that is not hourly.
List any work with no matching classification and ask the prime to start conformance.
Load the rates into payroll as that job’s rate table.
Check that the determination is posted at the site.

Where Payrung fits

Payrung is being built to load the wage determination for each project, match your crew’s work to its classifications, and flag hours that fall short of base plus fringe before you submit a report. If you would like early access, join the waitlist.

This guide is general information, not legal or payroll advice. Confirm requirements with your contracting agency or a qualified advisor.