Insulator (Heat & Frost / Asbestos Worker) prevailing wage, Northern California (47 counties)

When does this rate change?

• A project pays the rates in effect on its bid advertisement date for the life of the job, plus any increase DIR set in advance (DIR FAQ).
• DIR issues new determinations on February 22 and August 22, and they take effect 10 days later. This rate is from determination NC-3-16-1-2026-2, issued August 22, 2026; DIR's expiration date for it is August 1, 2027.

Scheduled increases

DIR has already set these increases. Work on or after each date is paid the higher rate. DIR often leaves part of an increase "to be allocated to wages and/or employer payments" and confirms the split when it comes due, and it can reduce a scheduled increase in a later notice, so check DIR's increase page before you pay it.

The double asterisk after DIR's expiration date means the next rate is already set. If the work runs past that date you have to pay the new rate, and DIR says to build it into contracts signed now (DIR FAQ, Q8).

Source: DIR increase PDF

Every insulator rate in Northern California

As DIR lists them. The highlighted row is the one this page leads with.

Davis-Bacon insulator rates in these counties

The counties share DIR's rates, but not always the same federal wage determination. When a California awarding body runs a federally funded or assisted project, DIR's rates must be paid where they are higher than the Davis-Bacon rates (DIR public works FAQ).

How Northern California compares

The main insulator rate in every county that has one, and how the pay splits here and in the nearest counties. All bars use the same scale.

Which county is in which insulator group

Every California county with a insulator rate. Counties DIR treats alike share one page; the rest have their own. You pay the rate for the county where the work is done, even if your shop is somewhere else.

2 groups of counties with identical DIR rates, and 0 counties with rates of their own.

California insulator prevailing wage by county, with a map

Footnotes on this rate

DIR's footnotes, in DIR's words. Several change the rate itself: zone pay, a percentage added to the total, or which overtime hours get which rate.

• a Includes an amount withheld for dues check off and for vacation.
• b Pursuant to Labor Code sections 1773.1 and 1773.8, the amount paid for this employer payment may vary resulting in a lower taxable basic hourly wage rate, but the total hourly rates for straight time and overtime may not be less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages.
• c Included in the straight-time hourly rate.
• d Includes $0.45 per hour worked for Industry Promotion, $0.01 per hour worked for Occupational Health and Research, $0.02 per hour worked for Vacation/Holiday Administration and $0.01 per hour worked for Preservation Trust.
• f $322.29 (ZONE 1) and $252.54 (ZONE 2) per hour for work on Labor Day.

DIR's other marks: # means an apprenticeable craft, * means in effect until superseded, ** means the next rate is already set.