Need DB/ certified payroll primer

[ishium 80439]

This is response to a few threads I was reading/ searching on here plus the fact that I'm being asked to bid a small job that is prevailing wage/ certified payroll.

The thing is most of this is Greek to me. In all of my years in the trade I have never worked on a prevailing wage job and I have never bid one. I understand the basic concept but was wondering if anyone could give a basic outline, that is not written in legalese, about the process and how it works.

Some of the starter questions I have are where do I find the wage scales (this job is in Denver)? Who/ what/ how to certify payroll? Is that something I just tell my accountant about and they run with it? From an owner point of view what are some pitfalls that I should be aware of? It always seems like I am hearing about owners trying to skate around paying these wages- if you use the same % markup for your costs and your costs are higher don't you make more money anyway? What is the motivation for trying to dodge this if everyone you are bidding against is on the same playing field?

If someone who has knowledge of this could post some sort of basic outline (or if you know of a link) about how this works I would be deeply grateful. I imagine I'm not alone in not understanding this all. And as you post pretend that you are trying to communicate with a slightly evolved chimp- big words confuse me :grin:.

 

[TxShocker]

Some of the starter questions I have are where do I find the wage scales (this job is in Denver)?

Every DB job I have done, the specs have this info in it.

Who/ what/ how to certify payroll? Is that something I just tell my accountant about and they run with it?

We turn in weekly payroll reports (that we do ourself) to the GC who then turns them in to the Gov. Usually about every 3-5 weeks someone with the Gov. comes around the job site and questions my men on what they make.

 

[marti smith]

ishium,

The Dept of Labor has most of the info your accountant will need, and can assist in getting any info that they don't have.

You will need to bid the job according to the scale wages.

Years back I worked for a booger that did not pay us full wages (keeping the residual for himself) and we turned him in to the state. As you would guess, he was required to pay us and we all got a fat check after a few months. I do not know if he was fined or not, and this is a possibility. Of course there was an RIF immediately following the return of our wages.

The weekly payroll is submitted for accountability reasons, and it is a lot of red tape and paperwork to set up, but thereafter it's just like any other item on the checklist.

 

[macmikeman]

Find yourself a reputable payroll services firm in your area, set up a meeting with them, and get a good quote for all your costs from them. Use that number in your bid with proper markup. Legwork.....

 

[macmikeman]

I know an electrical contractor in my town who spent all his weekends at a govt. retreat for several years because he got convicted of purposely cheating on paying Davis Bacon. It is risky business to try to cheat.

 

[fbhwt]

This is response to a few threads I was reading/ searching on here plus the fact that I'm being asked to bid a small job that is prevailing wage/ certified payroll.

The thing is most of this is Greek to me. In all of my years in the trade I have never worked on a prevailing wage job and I have never bid one. I understand the basic concept but was wondering if anyone could give a basic outline, that is not written in legalese, about the process and how it works.

Some of the starter questions I have are where do I find the wage scales (this job is in Denver)? Who/ what/ how to certify payroll? Is that something I just tell my accountant about and they run with it? From an owner point of view what are some pitfalls that I should be aware of? It always seems like I am hearing about owners trying to skate around paying these wages- if you use the same % markup for your costs and your costs are higher don't you make more money anyway? What is the motivation for trying to dodge this if everyone you are bidding against is on the same playing field?

If someone who has knowledge of this could post some sort of basic outline (or if you know of a link) about how this works I would be deeply grateful. I imagine I'm not alone in not understanding this all. And as you post pretend that you are trying to communicate with a slightly evolved chimp- big words confuse me :grin:.

Check these places, it helped me

http://www.gpo.gov/davisbacon/referencemat.html#top
http://www.gpo.gov/davisbacon/index.html

 

[fbhwt]

More good information

More good information

This is response to a few threads I was reading/ searching on here plus the fact that I'm being asked to bid a small job that is prevailing wage/ certified payroll.

The thing is most of this is Greek to me. In all of my years in the trade I have never worked on a prevailing wage job and I have never bid one. I understand the basic concept but was wondering if anyone could give a basic outline, that is not written in legalese, about the process and how it works.

Some of the starter questions I have are where do I find the wage scales (this job is in Denver)? Who/ what/ how to certify payroll? Is that something I just tell my accountant about and they run with it? From an owner point of view what are some pitfalls that I should be aware of? It always seems like I am hearing about owners trying to skate around paying these wages- if you use the same % markup for your costs and your costs are higher don't you make more money anyway? What is the motivation for trying to dodge this if everyone you are bidding against is on the same playing field?

If someone who has knowledge of this could post some sort of basic outline (or if you know of a link) about how this works I would be deeply grateful. I imagine I'm not alone in not understanding this all. And as you post pretend that you are trying to communicate with a slightly evolved chimp- big words confuse me :grin:.

Check this site http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/esa/title_29/part_5/29CFR5.2.htm

 

[fbhwt]

DB/Prevailing wage info

DB/Prevailing wage info

ishium 80439 private message me if you need more info, I'm up to my eyebrows with DB and prevailing wage stuff.

 

[ishium 80439]

Thanks for the info. I need to wade through some of this to determine what other questions I may have.

fbwht- as soon as I figure out what I don't know I will probably PM you. FWIW this is a small job so I think my headaches will be minimized which is nice when confronting something like this for the first time.