Florida repealed its state prevailing wage law, which means most state and local public work carries no wage determination. Federal work is a different matter entirely, and a contractor who prices federal work at their normal rates has usually made an expensive mistake.
Florida repealed its state prevailing wage statute in 1979. Since then, state-funded construction in Florida has generally carried no state-mandated wage determination.
This makes Florida different from many states, and it is the source of most confusion on the subject. A contractor working exclusively on county and municipal work in Florida may go years without encountering a wage determination, then bid a federally funded project and discover an entire compliance regime they have never dealt with.
The rule that matters: the funding source determines whether prevailing wage applies, not the location or the type of owner. A county project can carry federal wage requirements if federal money is in it.
The Davis-Bacon Act requires payment of locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits on federal construction contracts above a low threshold. Related Acts extend the same requirement to construction assisted by federal funds through a wide range of programmes.
In practice, Davis-Bacon or a Related Act applies when:
That third case matters most in Florida. A county facility built partly with federal grant money can carry full Davis-Bacon obligations even though every other county project you have done carried none.
The solicitation will say. Look for:
If any of these appear and you are unfamiliar with the requirements, price accordingly and factor in the administrative burden. If none appear on a project you suspect has federal money in it, ask the procurement officer directly before bidding rather than after.
The wage determination lists rates by classification — roofer, electrician, labourer, operator — for the locality. Each worker must be paid at least the listed rate for the classification of work they perform, plus fringe benefits either as benefits or as additional cash wages.
Classifying workers correctly matters. A worker performing roofer duties must be paid the roofer rate regardless of their job title, and misclassification is among the most common findings in a compliance review.
Weekly certified payroll reports, usually on form WH-347, must be submitted for the duration of the work. Each includes every worker on site, their classification, hours, rates, deductions, and a signed statement of compliance.
This is a genuine administrative burden. For a small contractor without payroll software configured for it, expect meaningful weekly hours, and price that into the job.
The wage determination must be posted where workers can see it. Payroll records must be retained, typically for three years after completion, and produced on request.
Apprentices may be paid less than the journeyman rate only if enrolled in a registered apprenticeship programme and only within the programme's permitted ratios. Paying a helper an apprentice rate without registration is a violation.
Underpayment findings result in back wages owed to affected workers, and funds can be withheld from contract payments to cover them. Persistent or wilful violations can lead to debarment from federal contracting for up to three years, which for a firm building a public-work practice is a serious outcome.
Most violations are not fraud. They are misclassification, incorrect fringe calculations, or apprentice ratios applied wrongly by a contractor who had not done federal work before.
Two adjustments contractors miss when bidding their first Davis-Bacon job:
The wage differential. Determined rates may exceed what you normally pay, sometimes substantially, and the fringe benefit component is easy to overlook. Compare rate by rate against your actual payroll before pricing.
The administrative cost. Weekly certified payroll, classification tracking and records retention take time every week. That is a real cost and it belongs in the number.
A contractor who prices a federal job at their normal rates and discovers Davis-Bacon after award is looking at a margin that has already gone.
Although Florida has no state prevailing wage law, individual local governments have at times adopted their own wage or responsible-contractor ordinances applying to their projects. These vary, they change, and they are specified in the solicitation when they apply.
The practical instruction is the same as everywhere else on this page: read the wage and labour section of the solicitation before pricing, every time, even in a county where the last ten jobs carried nothing.
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