Prevailing wages in some central Washington counties have increased 40% from a year ago for carpenters, and some construction industry professionals here say they’re concerned about the impact of the wage hike on Eastern Washington contracting companies.
Brad DePew, Spokane general manager at Lenexa, Kansas-based Performance Contracting Inc., says that historically, wages in the central Washington counties of Okanogan, Kittitas, Chelan, Douglas, and Yakima mirrored Eastern Washington’s wage rate. Prevailing wage rates, which are those the state requires on public projects, are updated twice yearly, in February and in August.
However, on Sept. 1, the prevailing wage rate for carpenters in those central Washington counties jumped dramatically to $71.53 per hour, from $51.25, due to change in state law involving collective bargaining agreements and how they are applied in different parts of the state.
DePew says, “My biggest concern is that these five counties, which are probably some of the poorest in the state of Washington, have budgets for schools, hospitals, jails, and community centers, and their budgets for a trade like carpentry that does everything from the framing to the roofing, have gone up $20 an hour (per carpenter). It’s a pretty hefty poke overnight.”
Brad Mickelson, president of Modern Dry Wall Inc., says central Washington’s prevailing wage has been the same as Eastern Washington’s “without...
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