Prevailing wage and public works customers
Prevailing wage jobs come with certified payroll, retainage, and payment timelines set by statute, and some owners still find ways to stall.
Public work pays by the book — eventually
Prevailing wage jobs come with certified payroll, retainage, and payment timelines set by statute, and some owners still find ways to stall.
On public and prevailing wage work, the paperwork is half the job. Contractors on Union Break report how owners and general contractors actually behaved: whether certified payroll was accepted without games, whether retention was released on the statutory schedule, and whether change orders were processed in weeks or in quarters.
Before you bid the next public job, search the owner's address and the GC's track record. The reports here are firsthand accounts from the trades that already did the work.
Can I report a general contractor, not just a property owner?
Reports are tied to the jobsite address, and the narrative names who caused the problem — owner, GC, or property manager — so the history follows the address and the people on it.
Does Union Break track lien deadlines?
No. Union Break is a review network, not a lien service. For deadlines, see the Instruction Manual article on mechanics liens and talk to your attorney.
Searches worth running
- prevailing wage
Reports from public and PW jobs.
- retainage
Retention held past the statutory schedule.
- certified payroll
Paperwork disputes and delays.
Other topics
- Customers who pay late
Pays on time is one of the five stars every report scores, and it is the star that sinks the most jobs.
- Scope creep and change orders
Reasonable requests and decision speed are two of the five stars, and together they predict change-order pain.
- Good customers to work for
The top band on Union Break means the crew would take the call again.
- Jobsite reviews by trade
A roofer's two-day job and a remodeler's eight-week job are rated by very different pressures.
- Customer reviews for union contractors
Union contractors carry real labor costs and real benefit obligations — a slow-paying customer hurts a signatory shop more than anyone.
- What customers should know about union shops
Union Break is written by the trades, but customers read it too — and the pattern in the reports is consistent.