Huh?
Huh?
Are you trying to make your payroll harder? And have a four page payroll certification? If he's a Journeyman pay him the rate, foreman or lead man pay him that rate and if he's enrolled in an apprentice program pay him according to the percentage chart. If he's just a helper you can go the laborer way but you may run into an issue with him making more than an apprentice in some places.
You are adjusting your chargeable rate for your guys because it's prevailing or DB, so why nickel and dime the rates? If that's what you think will make or break the job, don't forget the Federal Government caps material markup at 15% and change orders at 10% and you do not want to go through that audit. Personal experience here, and it's not fun and if you are found to be doing it you get barred from doing Federal work for up to 5 years. They go through the PO's estimating software, contact vendors, it's frustrating. We do 95% of our work for the Army and Navy and I'll tell you right now that a $2000 difference in labor is pitons compared to what you can lose in potential work. Especially this year because there is only 6 months for them to deplete their budgets.
All that said, when we have a job that is scheduled for 40 man hours, and we have 2 men on the job who are equally qualified, we do split the Foreman VS Journeyman hours between them to keep them even. But they all agree to it beforehand, because they all care about each others financial well being and no one gets greedy. Don't try it with guys you don't know real well.