Indiana Prevailing Wage

Indiana repealed its Common Construction Wage law effective July 1, 2015, eliminating the wage boards that previously set local rates and ending the ability of local governments to require prevailing wages on their projects. For contractors bidding state, county, or municipal work in Indiana today, this means there is no state wage schedule to follow. You price labor at your own market rates, which can make Indiana bids leaner but puts the full burden of accurate labor estimating on your team.

Federally funded construction is the exception that still governs. The federal Davis-Bacon Act applies to any project receiving federal funds that exceeds $2,000, requiring payment of the U.S. Department of Labor wage determination for the relevant county and trade classifications, plus weekly certified payroll submitted to the contracting agency. Because many Indiana projects, particularly highways, transit, and federally assisted housing, draw federal dollars even when administered locally, you must check the funding source before assuming open-market pricing applies.

The practical estimating discipline is straightforward: identify funding early in the bid process, apply Davis-Bacon wage and fringe rates where federal money is present, and add the cost of certified-payroll administration to those line items. On purely state, local, or private Indiana work, price competitively to market. The most common and costly error is bidding a federally assisted job at open-market labor rates, then discovering certified-payroll and prevailing-wage obligations after award, which erodes margin and exposes you to back-wage liability.