(1) Prevailing wage projects will use either the heavy, highway, or building construction prevailing wage rates. In certain cases, multiple wage schedules should be included in the bid document.

(2) A guideline referred to as the "20% test" can generally be followed to determine when the heavy, highway, or building construction prevailing wage rates should be used for construction contracts.

(a) This guideline is applied when, for example, a project is principally a contract for heavy or highway construction, but building construction is a "significant component" of the project (where the budget for building construction exceeds 20% of the total anticipated construction contract amount) . The project engineer should then include both the heavy or highway construction rates and building construction rates in the bid document.

(b) The same "20% test" concept would apply to a project which is principally a contract for building construction, but also includes more than 20% of the contract price for non-building construction activity. In such cases, the contract should include both the building construction rates and heavy or highway construction prevailing wage rates in the bid document.

(c) In a project of a mixed nature where the 20% guideline applies, a contractor may pay the higher of the rates (on a craft-by-craft basis) for all work performed under the contract. However, in a project of a mixed nature, the contractor is not required to pay at a rate higher than is applicable for the craft for the type of work being performed.

(3) Only one schedule of rates (either building construction, heavy construction or highway construction) is issued if a particular type of construction activity is merely "incidental" in comparison to the overall character of the entire project. For the purpose of this rule, "incidental" means that the work in question either constitutes less than 20% of the total contract price, or the work in question costs less than $1,000,000.