Kansas Prevailing Wage

Kansas repealed its state prevailing wage law in 1987, making it one of the earlier states to eliminate such requirements. For contractors bidding public work in Kansas, this means there is no state wage determination governing state, county, or municipal projects. You are free to price labor at your actual market rates, which can produce a more competitive bid, but it also means your estimating team carries full responsibility for getting labor costs right without a published schedule to lean on.

Federal funding remains the key carve-out. The federal Davis-Bacon Act still applies to any construction project that receives federal funds and exceeds $2,000. On these jobs you must pay the U.S. Department of Labor prevailing wage determination for the project's county and trade classifications, and you must file weekly certified payroll with the contracting agency. Highway projects using federal aid, HUD-funded developments, and federally assisted infrastructure all trigger Davis-Bacon even when a Kansas public body administers the contract.

Practically, confirm the funding source in the bid documents before pricing labor. Where federal dollars are present, build the correct wage and fringe rates into your estimate and account for the administrative cost of certified-payroll compliance. On purely state, local, or private Kansas work, price to your market. The most damaging estimating error is treating a federally funded Kansas job as an open-market bid, then facing prevailing-wage back-pay liability and reporting requirements that were never budgeted.