Pick a trade and state to see real hourly rates.
Current BLS California employee wages for Riggers, SOC 49-9096; May 2025 cross-industry estimates exclude premium pay and benefits, and are not contractor rates.
Last updated October 21, 2026. Rates are market estimates, not guarantees.
Hiring guide · California
Hire for your loads, lifting gear and required supervision.
Rigging crews inspect gear, choose hitches and control construction loads. California permits trainees under direct visual supervision. Define the loads, lifting gear, site access and required daily oversight first, then assess candidates against those duties. These recruitment routes support apprenticeship hiring, candidate inquiries and crew development.
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.
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.
Productive under supervision and cheap, but they cannot be left on a task the state licenses, and they need someone qualified with them.
Works unsupervised and can carry a helper. This is the level almost every requisition is actually describing.
Runs crews across sites, owns compliance outcomes, and where the trade allows, pulls permits and qualifies the work.
Budget $41.22 an hour for a qualified rigger in California, from $25.57 at entry level to $61.45 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.
See the full rigger salary guide →California requires qualified riggers or directly supervised trainees. Contractor licensing concerns the business. Employers retain responsibility for hazard instruction, safe lifting arrangements, employment classification and insurance when hiring a rigging crew.
Contact Local 12 dispatch, the district's Tri-Valley Career Center and Crane Tech about hiring or training.
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.
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
A realistic schedule for a certified rigger, from writing the requisition to a badged start. The screening steps are where time is actually lost.
Budget for each lifting assignment using national employee benchmarks alongside California project and employment requirements.
Pipe and utility equipment placement needs coordinated lifting near installation crews. Screen candidates for load control, excavation interfaces and changing access.
Building frames require coordinated deliveries and secure component support. Ask candidates to explain gear selection and release decisions for comparable structural loads.
Crane hire and site preparation involve different load shapes and workspaces. Match references and practical assessment to the assignments you are staffing.
Post a role and reach OSHA-certified candidates in your area.
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