How to Use Prevailing Wages
This page shows the practical, real-world steps for using prevailing wages at every stage of a job—from bidding through payroll and reporting. You can follow these best practices using whatever estimating, time, and payroll systems you already have, without committing to new software up front.
Use the sections below as a table of contents to jump directly to the task you’re trying to complete.
📐 Estimate & Bid
- Add prevailing wages (base + fringe) to your estimate
- ProEst
- Sage Estimating
- B2W
- Manual estimate (Excel)
- Prepare your bid submission
- Reference wage determinations
- Attach wage determinations (optional)
📌 Post & Save
- Print required job-site wage poster
- Download prevailing wage determinations (PDF)
- Save prevailing wages for audit (folder checklist)
⏱ Capture Hours
- Set up prevailing wage job & classifications in your time system
- Paychex
- Paylocity
- Paycor
- ADP
- Generic instructions
💵 Pay Employees
- Cash-in-lieu vs benefit offset (decision guide)
- Apply prevailing wages in payroll
- Paychex setup guide
- Inova setup guide
- Other / general setup guide
- Common payroll mistakes to avoid
📄 Create Certified Payroll
- Export required data for Certified Payroll
- Pay stub guide (by payroll system: Paychex, Inova, etc.)
- Hours guide (by time system: Paychex, Inova, etc.)
- Matching hours to wage determinations
- Complete your certified payroll report
- Choosing the correct report (WH-347 or state form)
- Classifications & hours
- Base rate vs. fringe
- Deductions & net pay
- Pre-submission checklist
- Common rejection reasons
- What auditors actually verify