DAVIS-BACON CIVIL CONTRACTOR JOB COSTING: MULTIPLE DETERMINATIONS, OPERATOR CLASSIFICATIONS, DOT BILLING.
Davis-Bacon civil job costing has three differences from commercial civil work: more than one wage determination can apply on a single project, equipment operators have to be classified by equipment type rather than as one operator classification, and DOT billing timing needs its own cash forecast model. These aren't compliance subtleties. They're financial control requirements that change job cost accuracy and cash flow management on every public job you run.
SPM builds the structure three ways at once. Operator cost codes get split by equipment type, quantity tracking gets tied to the DOT pay items so the cost to complete and the monthly progress estimate speak the same units, and the DOT billing cycle gets its own line in the 13 week cash forecast. Get those three right and the certified payroll, the job cost report, and the pay estimate all reconcile to each other. Get them wrong and you find out at the audit, or at the end of the job when the cost report and the billing disagree.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Davis-Bacon civil job costing is the cost structure a civil contractor runs on federally funded work, where cost codes track wage classification by equipment type and quantities track by DOT pay item instead of by one labor line.
Large DOT and municipal civil projects are where this turns up in the numbers first, because they carry the most classifications and the longest quantity lists. A contractor running one blended wage rate and one labor cost code across a multi determination project is wrong in two directions at the same time: wage exposure on some of the classifications, and a job cost report that can't be tied back to either the certified payroll or the pay estimate.
THREE DIFFERENCES PRIVATE WORK DOES NOT HAVE.
Multiple wage determinations on a single project
Large DOT or municipal civil projects can carry more than one applicable wage determination: one for highway and heavy construction, one for building construction if the project includes structures, and one for residential if the project sits next to residential development. When crew members perform work that falls under different determinations, they have to be paid the applicable rate for the classification of work being performed. A civil contractor who runs one blended wage rate across all work types on a multi determination project may be underpaying some classifications and building wage liability while doing it.
Equipment operator classifications must match the equipment type
Davis-Bacon wage determinations classify equipment operators by equipment type, so bulldozer, scraper, excavator, and motor grader are all separate. A single crew member who operates several pieces of equipment during the workday has to be paid the applicable rate for each equipment type operated, or the highest applicable rate for the day if that's what the determination requires. Tracking operator classification by equipment type instead of as one operator classification is both the compliance requirement and the job cost requirement.
DOT progress billing has different timing than commercial pay apps
State DOT and federal civil projects usually bill on a different process than commercial construction: a monthly progress estimate based on measured quantities completed, submitted by a specific date, reviewed by the engineer of record, and paid on a government payment schedule that can run 30 to 60 days from submission. The billing cut-off date, the quantity measurement process, and the payment timing on DOT work are all different from a commercial pay application. That difference has to be modeled separately in the cash forecast.
HOW TO SET IT UP CORRECTLY.
Separate cost codes get built for operator working bulldozer, operator working motor grader, and operator working excavator. Hours are tracked by equipment type off the daily timecard. The certification goes out at the applicable rate for each classification, which means the job cost report and the certified payroll are built from the same entry and not from two records that have to be squared up later.
The job cost system for civil prevailing wage work tracks quantities in the same units as the DOT pay items, so cubic yards, linear feet, square yards, and tons all carry straight through. When the cost to complete and the monthly progress estimate use the same units, the financial picture holds up under a question. When they don't, every conversation about the job turns into a translation exercise nobody trusts.
DOT payment timing is modeled explicitly in the 13 week cash forecast: the quantity measurement date, the submission date, the engineer review period, and the expected payment date. The cash model for DOT work doesn't borrow the payment cycle assumptions used for commercial work, because those assumptions are off by weeks on public jobs and the weeks are the whole problem.
DOT and federal prevailing wage projects are subject to wage compliance audits by the Wage and Hour Division. The certified payroll records, the actual pay records, and the job cost records all have to agree with each other. When the certified payroll carries one set of hours and the job cost carries a different set, that discrepancy is a compliance flag. Build the systems to reconcile from the start rather than reconciling them later against somebody else's deadline.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Three tiers, priced by your trailing twelve month revenue. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No hourly billing, no payroll, and no add-ons.
Pricing
| Last 12 months revenue | Monthly fee |
|---|---|
| Up to $1M | $1,900 to $2,900 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $3,900 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $5,700 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $7,100 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $8,500 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $11,000 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $13,500 |
| $18.5M+ | Quoted individually |
Range reflects the three tiers below. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No payroll. No hidden line items.
You stop guessing.
You get the CFO work. Job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a meeting every month that ends in decisions rather than a report.
Your bookkeeper keeps doing the books.
You stop touching the books.
Everything in Core, and we run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Nobody in your office is answering coding questions or chasing a reconciliation at month end.
We do the books. No payroll.
Every job shows its margin while it's still running.
Everything in Executive, plus the job costing and WIP platform set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed for you every month. You never have to learn it.
We do the job costing.
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