I used to bid some PW jobs in N.Y. state myself. Prevailing wage is this(or was this). You have to bid the job and pay what a union paperhanger in your area would get and also include the benefit package to be paid. In other words, if the prevailing wage is 20 bucks an hour and the bene. pack(insurance, school, etc., etc.) is 4 per hour you have to bid at 24 bucks an hour. Never got any of those jobs, cause of the loopholes. See, owners can come in an make themselves partners of the company and as such don't have to pay PW cause they have no employees. Lost out a job once near Binghamton where the bid was less than half of anyone else....they were partners. Not only that, the school let them live in a trailer on the parking lot...don't know how they made out, but there was no way they were gonna meet specs. Hope this helps more than it confuses. pd