Is your California public works job exempt from certified payroll
Three different dollar lines decide three different things on a small public job, and California law does not use one number for all of them. A $22,000 repair contract and a $22,000 maintenance contract land on different sides of the same rule. Here is each threshold, what it actually exempts, and what it does not.
The short answer
If your contract is $1,000 or less, prevailing wage does not apply at all, under Labor Code section 1771. Above that, prevailing wage applies, but two more thresholds change what paperwork you owe. If your contract is $25,000 or less for construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work, or $15,000 or less for maintenance work, you do not have to register as a public works contractor, and because of that you do not have to file electronic certified payroll records (eCPR) directly with the Labor Commissioner, under Labor Code section 1725.5, subdivision (f), and Labor Code section 1771.4, subdivision (a)(4). You still have to pay the prevailing rate and keep certified payroll records for at least three years. Nothing here exempts a general contractor's own bid amount from the small subcontracts inside it, and nothing here touches the separate $30,000 apprenticeship line in Labor Code section 1777.5, subdivision (o), covered below.
The three thresholds, side by side
| Threshold | What it turns off | What stays on | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 or less, any work type | Prevailing wage itself. No determination rate applies, no certified payroll, no registration. | Nothing. The contract is fully outside this chapter of the Labor Code. | Labor Code 1771 |
| $25,000 or less for construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair. $15,000 or less for maintenance. | Public works contractor registration (PWCR), and with it the duty to e-file eCPR directly to the Labor Commissioner. | The prevailing rate itself, and the duty to keep Labor Code section 1776 payroll records for at least three years, produced on request. | Labor Code 1725.5(f), effect on filing at 1771.4(a)(4) |
| Under $30,000, for a general contractor's own contract, or a specialty contractor's contract not bid through a prime | The apprenticeship ratio requirement: no duty to employ or request apprentices at the statutory ratio for that contract. | Prevailing wage, registration if the contract is above the $25,000/$15,000 lines, and certified payroll. | Labor Code 1777.5(o) |
Read the table by contract size, in order. A $900 service call is fully exempt. A $12,000 plumbing repair owes prevailing wage and recordkeeping but no registration or eCPR. A $28,000 repair job owes registration and eCPR on top of that. A $50,000 new construction subcontract owes all three, registration, eCPR, and the apprenticeship ratio. The apprenticeship line runs on its own track: it is not stacked with the registration thresholds, and it uses a different number.
What the $25,000 / $15,000 exemption actually says
The statute is Labor Code section 1725.5, the contractor registration requirement. Subdivision (f) reads: this section "does not apply to work performed on a public works project of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or less when the project is for construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work or to work performed on a public works project of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) or less when the project is for maintenance work." That is a registration exemption, stated in registration's own section. It says nothing, by itself, about payroll filing.
The link to eCPR filing is a separate cross-reference in Labor Code section 1771.4, subdivision (a)(4): "If the contractor or subcontractor is not registered pursuant to Section 1725.5 and is performing work on a project for which registration is not required because of subdivision (f) of Section 1725.5, the unregistered contractor or subcontractor is not required to furnish the records specified in Section 1776 directly to the Labor Commissioner but shall retain the records specified in Section 1776 for at least three years after completion of the work." Two clauses do the work here: the eCPR e-filing duty is gone for this contract, but the same records you would have filed still have to be kept, for at least three years. Nothing in either subdivision touches the rate you owe workers. Prevailing wage still applies above the $1,000 line in section 1771, on every dollar of a $12,000 or a $22,000 contract.
This is also a recent line to get right. Section 1725.5 subdivision (f) became operative on July 1, 2026, so anything you read written before that date may describe an earlier version of the registration statute. Check the date on any source, including this one.
What is measured, and what is not
The threshold runs on the entire contract between the awarding body and the prime contractor, the master contract, not on any individual subcontract carved out of it. DIR's own Public Works FAQ states it directly: "Keep in mind that this amount is for the entire contract between the Awarding Body and the Prime Contractor. If the subcontract is less than this amount but the master contract is more than this amount then it would not fall under the small project exemption." A subcontractor holding a $22,000 slice of a $4 million school job cannot check that $22,000 figure on its own. The master contract is $4 million, far above the $25,000 or $15,000 line, so the exemption does not apply, and that subcontractor still has to register and file eCPR on its own $22,000 piece. The exemption only reaches a contract where the prime contract itself, not a slice of it, sits at or under the line. Splitting one job into smaller purchase orders runs into the same settled anti-parceling rule, and DIR's own FAQ applies that rule to this $25,000/$15,000 registration line, not only to the $1,000 prevailing wage line. Directly under its $25,000/$15,000 small project exemption bullets, DIR's Public Works FAQ states: "The law does not permit jobs to be parceled in order to avoid the applicable thresholds. If the awarding body knows that total yearly project costs or projects awarded to the same vendor will exceed the applicable threshold, that vendor must be registered with the DIR as a public works contractor." Treat splitting a job to land under the $25,000 or $15,000 line, or running several small contracts with the same awarding body for related work, as the same parceling DIR warns against, not a safe workaround.
If you are not sure which side of the line your contract falls on, the safer read for a subcontractor is to register anyway. Registration costs $400 to $1,200 for one to three fiscal years, per DIR's contractor registration page and detailed further in our contractor registration guide, against a $2,000 penalty registration fee for bidding or working unregistered when registration turns out to have been required, under Labor Code section 1725.5, subdivision (a)(2)(E)(ii).
A quick worked example
- A $19,000 HVAC repair contract, direct with a city. Above $1,000, so prevailing wage applies: pay the determination rate. Below $25,000, so no PWCR registration and no eCPR e-filing. Keep your section 1776 records for three years. No apprenticeship duty either way, since it is also under $30,000.
- The same contract as $27,000. Prevailing wage applies. Now above $25,000, so register for a PWCR number and file eCPR directly to DIR, on the schedule covered in our deadlines guide. Still under $30,000, so no apprenticeship duty yet.
- The same contract as $32,000. Everything above applies, plus the apprenticeship ratio requirement under Labor Code 1777.5, meaning DAS 140 and DAS 142 paperwork enters the picture. See our DAS 140 and DAS 142 guide for what those forms do.
Federal projects use a different number entirely
Everything above is California state law. If your project also carries federal funding or federal assistance, Davis-Bacon coverage and the WH-347 run on federal thresholds and federal rules, not these. A project can be exempt from the California registration and eCPR duty at $22,000 and still owe a weekly federal WH-347 if federal dollars are in the funding stack. Check the contract's own compliance clauses for which layers apply; our guide on DIR registration on federal only projects covers the reverse case, where only the federal layer applies.