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California

Cost control on California construction

What governs valuation, variation, retention and the reporting of cost against value.

13 authorities, 9 statutory, 12 free to read.

StatutoryFree to readrates change on published effective dates, typically quarterly

California City and County Sales and Use Tax Rates, and the address-based rate lookup

California Department of Tax and Fee Administration

combined state, local and district sales and use tax rate by location

No combined rate should ever be hardcoded into an estimate or invoice template. Two sites in the same county can carry different totals, and district rates change on their own effective dates.

StatutoryFree to read

California Public Contract Code

California Legislature (leginfo)

public works bidding proceduressubcontractor listing and substitutionbidder's securityadditive and deductive alternatesretention limits and releaseprogress payment deadlinesclaims resolution proceduresdelay damagesact of God risk allocationuniform cost accounting thresholds
StatutoryFree to readcurrent; reduced-rate provisions added for judgments entered on or after 1 Jan 2023

Code of Civil Procedure s.685.010 — interest on money judgments

California Legislature

legal rate of interest on money judgmentsthe rate referenced by public works prompt payment provisions

Matters because PCC 20104.50 imports this rate for late local agency payment rather than stating its own. The construction prompt payment penalties elsewhere (2 percent per month) are separate and considerably heavier.

StatutoryFree to readissued periodically; determinations carry their own effective and expiry dates

General Prevailing Wage Determinations

California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Statistics and Research

applicable prevailing wage rates by craft and countypredetermined increasesemployer payment components of the wage package
StatutoryFree to readcurrent

Government Code s.927 et seq. — California Prompt Payment Act (state agencies)

California Legislature

state agency payment timing and late payment penalties

Deliberately left as a gap rather than seeded with a plausible number. State agency payment timing is genuinely different from the local agency rule under PCC 20104.50 and the two must not be conflated in a payment application's due-date calculation.

StatutoryFree to readcurrent; s.1725.5 version consulted carried an operative date of 1 July 2026

Labor Code, Division 2, Part 7, Chapter 1 — Public Works (ss.1720–1861)

California Legislature

prevailing wage obligation and thresholdDIR public works contractor registrationcertified payroll records and submissionpublic works overtimeapprenticeship obligationsunderpayment penalties

The definition of 'public work' at s.1720 reaches further than publicly owned projects, catching some privately built work receiving public funds or subsidy. Confirm the trigger before pricing a job open-shop, this is the most expensive misclassification available in California.

StatutoryFree to readcurrent

Public Contract Code — public works payment, retention and claims (ss.7107, 7201, 10261.5, 20104.50, 4100 series)

California Legislature

public works retention cappublic works retention releaselocal agency progress payment timingsubcontractor listing and substitution

Public and private California retention rules differ on both the cap and the release clock, and the difference is the most common cross-contamination error when a contractor moves between sectors. PCC 9204's claim procedure deserves its own rule set in a claims-focused lane.

De facto standardPaywalledcurrent AIA release

AIA Document G702 Application and Certificate for Payment, and G703 Continuation Sheet

American Institute of Architects

private commercial application and certificate for paymentschedule of values continuation sheet

The most widely used private payment application form in California commercial work, which is why the equivalent template here mirrors its column logic, scheduled value, percent complete, completed and stored to date, retention, previous certificates, current payment due, without reproducing its expression.

De facto standardFree to read

Caltrans Construction Manual

California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

measurement documentation and source documentsprogress payment administrationworking day and controlling activity determinationadverse weather and non-working dayschange order administrationforce account verification
De facto standardFree to read1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027

Labor Surcharge and Equipment Rental Rates (Cost of Equipment Ownership)

California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

equipment rental rates for force account worklabour surcharge ratescost of equipment ownership

This is the rate source that makes Californian force account pricing mechanical rather than negotiable, and it is free and machine-readable in CSV form, which makes it unusually tractable for encoding. The labour surcharge percentage remains unconfirmed and is a priority read alongside the force account markups in the Standard Specifications.

De facto standardFree to readcurrent

Publication 9, Construction and Building Contractors

California Department of Tax and Fee Administration

plain-language guidance on construction contractor sales and use taxworked examples of lump-sum and time-and-material billing

Guidance rather than law, but it is where the invoice-face conventions are most clearly demonstrated. Where the publication and the regulation appear to diverge, the regulation governs.

The rest of the California register

Code complianceContract administrationEstimatingPlanning and programmeDocument controlSite engineeringAll of California

The register tells you what. The back office does it.

AEC Stack carries the registrations, the insurance certificates, the payment notices and their deadlines, and the documents a buyer wants before they let you start. Across Canada, built deepest for Ontario.

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