West Virginia Prevailing Wage

West Virginia is a no-state-prevailing-wage jurisdiction. The legislature raised the threshold to $500,000 in 2015 and then repealed the law entirely in 2016 through HB 4005, so there is no longer a state-set wage schedule, no state certified-payroll mandate, and no state administering agency for prevailing wage. For contractors bidding purely state, county, or municipal work in West Virginia, this means you price labor to true market and your own cost structure rather than to a government rate book. That flexibility can sharpen your number, but it also removes a uniform floor, so you must understand local labor availability before you commit a bid.

The critical exception is federal money. The federal Davis-Bacon Act still governs any federally funded or federally assisted construction in West Virginia over $2,000. On those jobs you must pay the applicable Davis-Bacon wage determination for each classification, submit weekly certified payrolls, and absorb the same compliance burden as in any state. Misclassifying a project as 'no prevailing wage' when federal dollars are involved is the most common and costly mistake here, leading to back-wage liability and potential federal debarment.

When estimating, confirm the funding source in the bid documents first. If any federal funding flows through, build Davis-Bacon rates, fringe benefits, and certified-payroll administrative time into your labor cost. For fully state- or locally-funded work, you have pricing latitude, but watch for project-specific wage requirements that an owner or municipality may impose contractually. Repeal-restoration bills have been introduced repeatedly but none has passed, so verify the law's status close to bid date.