Apprentice rates are lower for a reason, and Washington attaches rules to every one of them. Registration, supervision ratios, step-level pay, and what it really costs you when a foreman covers the ratio.

There's a version of prevailing wage compliance that works fine. One project, a handful of direct subs, a staff member who's familiar enough with the requirements to keep things moving. A compliance system that might be a little informal but hasn't caused any problems. Then the company grows. Two projects become four. One state becomes two. That handful of subs becomes thirty across multiple tiers, multiple wage determinations, and multiple submission deadlines every week. An

Washington State’s prevailing wage framework is built on a chain of responsibility that runs from the contracting public agency to the general contractor to every subcontractor at every tier. Obligations flow downward through each layer of the contracting hierarchy, and so does exposure. A compliance failure anywhere in the chain can create liability at every level above it.

This is the story of how Naylor Construction Consulting (NCC) saved a client north of $11 million a year on a single project just by making sure the compliance program was built for that project, not for someone else's comfort.

Since July 1, 2026, Oregon's HB 2688 has applied prevailing wage law to certain off-site fabrication. If your shop builds custom mechanical, plumbing, electrical, or structural iron systems for public works projects, you now owe prevailing wage rates, certified payroll, and a public works bond for that work. If you're a GC, you have a new category of subcontractor to manage. The whole rule turns on one word the Legislature never defined: bespoke. Here's what's covered and wha

Oregon Senate Bill 426 (SB 426) — passed in 2025 and made effective January 1, 2026 — makes general contractors ("GCs") jointly and severally liable for unpaid wages owed by any subcontractor at any tier on their construction projects. Workers can now sue you directly — and recover their attorney fees — for wage violations committed by a sub you've never met. That's not a hypothetical. That's the law — effective now on Oregon construction projects. What Changed — and Why It M