Prevailing wage work

Definition

Public and publicly funded jobs that must be paid at rates the government sets, not the shop's own.

Why It Matters

Prevailing wage changes the arithmetic twice. Labor on those jobs costs more, so the margin looks thin against private work unless the bid was built for it, and the certified payroll reporting is a real administrative burden that usually sits with one person. It also creates a two-tier pay problem inside one crew, since electricians who work a public job at the set rate notice what the private jobs pay. Ask what share of the backlog is prevailing wage and who files the certified payroll.