How to Hire a Rebar Worker in Virginia

$27/hr

Hire for accurate bar placement, stable assemblies and coordinated pours.

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About this Guide

Recruit workers who can turn reinforcement drawings into correctly supported steel before concrete placement. This guide pairs Virginia hiring duties with apprenticeship, college and safety offices. It helps employers distinguish experienced placers from beginners who need supervision, then compare wage budgets across three construction settings.

Who's available right now

Virginia · this week
Live on American Recruits

Verified rebar workers 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 rebar worker costs in Virginia

Budget $26.50 an hour for a qualified rebar worker in Virginia, from $22.58 at entry level to $35 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
$22.58–$35
Virginia · before burden
See the full rebar worker salary guide →

Legal & compliance checklist

Virginia licenses contracting businesses, generally above $1,000 with exemptions. Employees have separate employment protections. Plan VOSH hazard instruction and reinforcement protection, then assess compensation coverage using employees and applicable subcontractor workers.

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

Contact Local 5's apprenticeship office, PVCC Workforce Services and HCCA's training office about reinforcement recruitment needs.

Union apprenticeship

Ironworkers Local 5

Ask the Virginia-serving apprenticeship office about reinforcing candidates and contractor participation. Discuss personal training expenses.
Typical length4 years
What it costs$0 tuition
College foundation

PVCC Workforce Services

Contact PVCC Workforce Services about introductory students for supervised reinforcement roles. Full tuition precedes eligibility-based aid.
Typical length12 sessions
What it costs$1,098 full tuition
Safety course

HCCA

Ask the Manassas training office about OSHA 10 participants. Member/nonmember pricing applies. Assess placement skills separately.
Typical length10 hours
What it costs$240–$355

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 licence 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 rebar worker, 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 reinforcement labor around these national employee medians and the Virginia scope you need.

01 / 03$30.77/hr

Nonresidential Building Construction

Building frames need placers who follow staged reinforcement details. Assess drawing accuracy and coordination with formwork crews on Virginia assignments.

+ Repeated stages
+ Coordinated crews
– Pour deadlines
– Trade interfaces
02 / 03$29.03/hr

Highway and Bridge Construction

VDOT bridge reinforcement calls for careful bar protection and placement. Hire for deck and pier experience with specified reinforcement systems.

+ Infrastructure experience
+ Bridge skills
– Access planning
– Weather exposure
03 / 03$27.83/hr

Foundation and Structure Contractors

Foundation packages require reliable bar sorting and support placement. Match candidates to the footing and wall reinforcement in your contract.

+ Focused packages
+ Placement practice
– Delivery timing
– Material handling

Questions employers ask

Must we guard exposed rebar on our sites?▾
Yes, wherever workers could fall onto it. VOSH, Virginia's state OSHA plan, applies the rule that protruding reinforcing steel must be guarded to eliminate impalement hazards. Inspect covers as work progresses.
Does ACI field certification demonstrate rebar placement skills?▾
No. VDOT accepts ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician Grade I for testing fresh concrete on its projects, not for placing reinforcement. Assess drawing, spacing, support and tying skills directly.
Are VDOT reinforcement contracts exempt from contractor licensing?▾
Yes. Virginia law exempts highway and bridge work undertaken for VDOT from the contractor licensing chapter. Procurement conditions and safety duties still apply.

Hire a Rebar Worker in Virginia

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Current BLS Virginia employee wages for Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers, SOC 47-2171; excludes premium pay and benefits, with structural steel erection covered separately.

Last updated October 26, 2026. Rates are market estimates, not guarantees.