Running the Business · Part 2
Public works: DIR registration, prevailing wage, certified payroll, and apprentices. A separate world; know it before you bid
A school district's plumbing repair, a city's park restroom, a county building's water heater: public work looks like private work and is governed by an entirely different body of law. Above $1,000 you must pay the prevailing wage the state sets for the plumber's craft in that county, which is usually far above the private market. Above $25,000 you must be registered with the Department of Industrial Relations before you bid, submit certified payroll records for every worker every week, and, above $30,000, employ apprentices at a fixed ratio. This lesson lays out the thresholds, the registration, the paperwork, and the arithmetic, so the decision to bid public work is made with the rules in front of you rather than discovered in the first payroll audit.
What the full lesson covers
- Prevailing wage applies to every public works project over $1,000 (Labor Code 1771). The rate is set by the Director of Industrial Relations for the plumber's craft in that county, includes fringe benefits, and is public; you pay it whether or not you bid it.
- DIR registration (Labor Code 1725.5) is required to bid or work on public projects over $25,000 (construction, alteration, demolition, installation, repair) or $15,000 (maintenance): an annual fee of up to $800, renewed by July 1, plus proof of workers' compensation. Unregistered contractors cannot be listed on a bid (1771.1).
- Certified payroll records (Labor Code 1776) for every worker, every week, submitted electronically to the Labor Commissioner (1771.4). Underpayment carries per-worker, per-day penalties (1775) and can lead to debarment.
- Apprentices at no less than one hour for every five journeyman hours, plus training fund contributions, on contracts of $30,000 and up (Labor Code 1777.5). A one-truck plumber with no apprentice cannot lawfully take a $40,000 public job alone.
- The math: prevailing wage plus fringe, plus the payroll burden on that wage, plus the office time for certified payroll. Bid it on those numbers or do not bid it.
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