How to Hire a Construction Laborer in Virginia

$21/hr

Recruit for site duties, VDOT traffic assignments and safe excavation support.

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About this Guide

Build a laborer job description around site preparation, material movement, tools and concrete support. For Virginia road and utility contracts, identify flagging and trench duties before recruiting. Find new candidates through training contacts, assess skills under supervision and budget the daily instruction your crew needs.

Who's available right now

Virginia · this week
Live on American Recruits

Verified construction laborers are on the market in Virginia this week

Candidate availability moves week to week. What does not move is the screening: the certifications below are what decide whether someone can be badged onto your site at all.

Search candidates
Available candidates
Steady
Profiles in Virginia
With current OSHA cards
Most
Verified against the document
Typical time to fill
2–4 weeks
Verified and ready to badge

Understanding different hiring levels

The levels are separated by what the state allows a person to do unsupervised, not by how good they are. Hiring the wrong level is the most common and most expensive mistake on a trade requisition.

ACheapest to hireApprentice / helper

Productive under supervision and cheap, but they cannot be left on a task the state licenses, and they need someone qualified with them.

What they'll actually be doing
  • ✓Material handling and site preparation
  • ✓Assist a qualified hand on installation
  • ✓Housekeeping and tool staging
What they can't do yet — legally
  • ✕Cannot work unsupervised on licensed work
  • ✕Cannot sign off their own work at inspection
What they need to hold
OSHA 10Apprentice registration where the state requires it
Worth doing
Paying for their certifications is the cheapest retention mechanism you have — the card raises their rate with you rather than with the next employer.
Where recruiters stall
Hiring at this level to save money and then needing licensed work signed off is what blows the schedule.
Only hire when
Use them where a qualified hand is already on site and the work is supervised.
JWhat most requisitions needJourneyman / qualified

Works unsupervised and can carry a helper. This is the level almost every requisition is actually describing.

What they'll actually be doing
  • ✓Runs work without supervision
  • ✓Builds from drawings
  • ✓Carries one to three helpers
  • ✓Handles inspection on their own work
What they can't do yet — legally
  • ✕Usually cannot pull permits in their own name
  • ✕Cannot act as the licence-holder of record
What they need to hold
Journeyman card where the state issues oneOSHA 30Current trade-specific safety training
Worth doing
Ask what they ran on their own and who supervised it. The answer separates a journeyman from a long-serving helper faster than any certificate.
Where recruiters stall
Employers accept "in progress" as though it were held. It is not — and on a licensed scope it stops the job.
Only hire when
Hire here for anything that has to proceed without a supervisor standing over it.
MFor scope and sign-offMaster / lead

Runs crews across sites, owns compliance outcomes, and where the trade allows, pulls permits and qualifies the work.

What they'll actually be doing
  • ✓Runs crews across more than one site
  • ✓Owns compliance and inspection outcomes
  • ✓Estimates and scopes packages
What they can't do yet — legally
  • ✕Cannot trade as a business without a contractor licence, insurance and usually a bond
What they need to hold
Master or supervisor card where the state issues oneContinuing education current
Worth doing
Local permit experience is worth more than generic years. Ask which jurisdictions they have pulled in.
Where recruiters stall
Paying master rates for work a journeyman could run is the other half of the level mistake.
Only hire when
Hire here when the scope needs sign-off, sequencing or several crews.

What a construction laborer costs in Virginia

Budget $20.94 an hour for a qualified construction laborer in Virginia, from $15.82 at entry level to $27.46 at the top. Add a quarter to a third on top for payroll taxes, insurance and equipment, and price overtime at time and a half.

Hourly range
$15.82–$27.46
Virginia · before burden
See the full construction laborer salary guide →

Legal & compliance checklist

Virginia laborer employees need no occupational license. Apply contractor rules to the business, VOSH protections to tasks, and wage determinations to covered public work. Classify workers correctly.

Licence & verificationMust haveVerify against the issuing board, not the résumé.0 / 3
0 / 3
Safety & site accessMust haveWithout these they cannot be badged onto most sites.0 / 3
0 / 3
Employment & insuranceMust haveGetting the status wrong is the expensive mistake here.0 / 3
0 / 3
Practical & schedulingSite-drivenDriven by the site rather than by law, but they still stop a start date.0 / 3
0 / 3

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Where to find them in Virginia

Approach Local 980's training fund, PVCC Workforce Services and ABC-VA about candidates and training connections.

Union Apprenticeship

Laborers' Training Trust

Discuss recruitment through Local 980. Member training combines 400 instructional hours with site experience.
Typical length4,000 work hours
What it costs$0 member tuition
College Candidates

PVCC Workforce Services

Ask Workforce Services about introductory construction students learning tools and materials handling. Full tuition precedes funding assistance.
Typical length12 sessions
What it costs$1,098 full tuition
Safety Network

ABC-VA

Ask Dulles staff about industry connections and OSHA 10. Published member/nonmember fees include materials.
Typical length2 sessions
What it costs$210–$315

Screen them properly

Certificates get a candidate past the first filter. These are the questions that separate the ones who can do the work from the ones who have the paperwork, and they change by level.

Interview questions that actually filter

01What did you do on your last site, task by task?
Why it matters: A specific answer tells you what they have actually held in their hands. A vague one usually means they watched.
02Who signed your hours, and can we call them?
Why it matters: Undocumented hours are the single most common problem at this level, and it is the employer who discovers it later.
03Which tools do you own?
Why it matters: It is a proxy for commitment to the trade, and it tells you what you will be supplying on day one.

Red flags on the résumé

!

Certifications listed with no issuing body or date

!

A license described as 'in progress'

!

No supervisor anyone can call

!

Three or four employers inside a year

!

Long gaps with no explanation offered

!

Cards that lapsed and were never renewed

How long the hire takes

A realistic schedule for a certified construction laborer, from writing the requisition to a badged start. The screening steps are where time is actually lost.

Day 0

Scope and post the role

Day 2–7

Shortlist and verify cards

Day 7–10

Interview and reference

Day 10–14

Offer and drug screen

Day 14–21

Site orientation and badging

Rates by sector

Budget Virginia crews using national sector references, adding benefits and supervision costs separately.

01 / 03$24.08/hr

Highway and Bridge Construction

VDOT assignments need traffic-ready crews. Separate certified flagging from materials support when screening applicants and planning shift coverage.

+ Defined specifications
+ Infrastructure experience
– Traffic exposure
– Weather interruptions
02 / 03$24.01/hr

Nonresidential Building Construction

Building-site laborers support deliveries and several trades. Specify reporting locations across Virginia projects and test staging around occupied work areas.

+ Varied assignments
+ Trade coordination
– Delivery congestion
– Site transfers
03 / 03$22.47/hr

Utility System Construction

Underground installation requires laborers who follow trench controls. Assign excavation supervision and equipment boundaries before placing hires on utility crews.

+ Civil skills
+ Focused crews
– Excavation hazards
– Ground changes

Questions employers ask

When is workers' compensation required?▾
When you regularly employ more than two full- or part-time workers. The Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission counts applicable subcontractor crews toward that threshold, even when they carry their own policies.
Which public jobs need prevailing wages?▾
State-funded public works contracts over $250,000 and projects in localities that adopt prevailing wage ordinances. Virginia's Department of Labor and Industry sets the rates, so match laborer duties to its classifications. Federal Davis-Bacon requirements apply to covered federal work.
Can I request an applicant's previous pay?▾
No. Virginia Code § 40.1-28.7:12 bars employers from seeking applicants' wage history. Set a good-faith pay range for the role and include it in every public and internal posting.

Hire a Construction Laborer in Virginia

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May 2025 BLS Virginia employee wages for Construction Laborers, SOC 47-2061; employee wages, not contractor or staffing-agency billing rates, excluding premium pay and benefits.

Last updated October 29, 2026. Rates are market estimates, not guarantees.