Your first Davis-Bacon job: what to get, set up, and do, from bid to final payroll

A checklist for a subcontractor's first federally funded project: what to pull from the bid documents, what to get from the prime before week 1, what to collect from each worker, and the weekly routine.

Download the PDFFree. No email. One page, US Letter.

Most first-job problems trace to something that was not collected at the start. Work the list top to bottom; the weekly section is the only part that repeats.

Before you bid

Find the wage determination in the bid documents; note its number, modification number, and type of construction
Find the labor standards clauses (FAR 52.222-6 through -15, or 29 CFR 5.5, or HUD-4010)
Confirm the prime contract is over $2,000 (Davis-Bacon) and note whether it is over $100,000 (CWHSSA overtime)
Check each classification you will use exists on the determination; list any that do not, for a conformance request
Price the bid at basic + fringe for each classification, with overtime at 1.5 × basic
If the state has a prevailing wage law and state money is in the project, price the higher of the 2 rates

From the prime, before week 1

The wage determination with all modifications, and any conformance approvals already issued
The prime's payroll cutoff day and how the file is delivered (portal, email, paper)
Which identifying number the prime's system expects (last 4 or employee ID)
Whether the prime wants a one-time worker information form with full details for its own records
The project name, contract number, and site location exactly as the prime files them
Who at the prime reviews payrolls, and who to call with a question

Set up once

Enter each classification and its basic and fringe rate from the determination, once, to pull from every week
Decide how fringe is paid: to plans, cash, or split; compute the hourly plan credit with annualization
Set the payroll week ending day and do not change it
Submit SF-1444 conformance requests through the prime for any classification not on the determination
Register with the state portal too if the project has state money in a state with its own law

For each worker at hire

Full legal name, Social Security number, address, phone, and email, kept in your records, never on the payroll
Assign the identifying number that will appear on every payroll
Classification(s) the worker will perform
For apprentices: program registration, the worker's individual registration, current period and percentage, program fringe rule
Written authorization for any voluntary deduction (401(k), union dues, insurance)
Enrollment in each fringe plan you will take credit for

Every week

Collect hours by day, by worker, by classification, from timecards or daily logs
Split at 40 for the week counting all jobs; overtime at 1.5 × basic; fringe on every hour
Run the pre-signing checklist; sign the Statement of Compliance; deliver by the prime's cutoff
File a no-work payroll for any idle week if the prime or portal wants one (the regulation requires payrolls only for weeks with covered work); keep the numbering unbroken either way
Keep a copy of every payroll as submitted

Records, for 3 years after the prime finishes

Payrolls and statements as submitted; timecards by day, project, and classification
Contract, subcontract, wage determination and modifications, conformance approvals
Fringe plan documents and remittances; apprenticeship registrations; deduction authorizations
Ask the prime for the project completion date at closeout and write it on the folder

Sources

Checked against the regulations 2026-09-07. Not legal advice; your contract and the wage determination control.