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Salary Guides / Virginia
Scaffold Worker Salary in Virginia
Virginia carpenter wages give scaffold applicants a starting range for comparing erection duties, paid hours and benefits.
What Scaffold Workers Earn in Virginia
Virginia's broader carpenter employee benchmark spans $18.38–$35.70/hr, or $38,230–$74,250 a year. It includes scaffold builders alongside other carpenters. Offers for scaffold erection need their own discussion of systems, supervision and paid hours. Premium pay and benefits sit outside these figures. Ask how material staging, alterations and dismantling fit into the working day when comparing two crew offers. Keep the agreed base range separate from allowances when reviewing the written offer.
Hourly rates by level in Virginia
What each rung of the trade is paid, before overtime and per diem.
Where do you stand?
Enter your hourly rate to see how it compares to other scaffold workers in Virginia.
What are you making?
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Use your base rate, not what you take home after overtime.
You're right around the middle
$28.00 is above roughly 46% of this market. The top quarter starts at $36.00, and the median sits at $29.00.
Calculate pay with extra credentials
Pick your level, add certifications, select shift — the estimate updates live.
1Your level
2Certifications you hold
3Shift & work type
4Overtime & per diem
An estimate, not an offer. Overtime is paid at time and a half past forty hours.
Who pays the most in Virginia
These national carpenter medians cover three construction settings relevant to scaffold crews. Ask Virginia employers about their actual scaffold assignments, crew responsibilities and schedules.
Nonresidential Building Construction
Commercial building crews coordinate scaffold access with several trades. Richmond suppliers serve this work. Ask who pays for waiting and who authorizes alterations as the building moves through its construction phases.
Residential Building Construction
House construction and remodeling bring smaller access layouts. Virginia presumes employee status unless independence is demonstrated. Discuss loading, site transfers and dismantling hours when a building contractor offers work as a subcontractor.
Other Specialty Trade Contractors
Scaffold erection and dismantling sit within this broad specialty group. Norfolk's scaffold service firms offer a local starting point for employer inquiries. Ask which systems you will handle and how travel affects the working week.
Which states pay scaffold workers the most
Median hourly across every state with a published guide for this trade. Cost of living is not netted out — compare take-home, not just the rate.
What each certification is worth
Sorted by payback speed.
| Certification | Rate bump | Extra / year | Cost | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EAS Carpenters Technical Centers Apprenticeship (journeyperson) | +$4.43 | $9,214 | $0 | 0 weeks |
| OSHA 30-Hour Construction | +$0.92 | $1,914 | $159 | 5 weeks |
| OSHA 10-Hour Construction | +$0.31 | $645 | $59 | 5 weeks |
| Supported Scaffold User | +$0.12 | $250 | $35 | 8 weeks |
| Aerial/Scissor Lift (MEWP) Operator | +$0.08 | $166 | $59 | 19 weeks |
| Suspended Scaffold User (4-hr) | +$0.12 | $250 | $100 | 21 weeks |
What overtime actually adds
Past forty hours the rate is time and a half. Built from the rate above. At $26.77/hr.
Questions workers ask
How must a registered scaffold apprenticeship raise my pay?▾
Who pays for fall-arrest gear on suspended scaffolds?▾
Does a day rate cancel overtime on scaffold jobs?▾
See Open Scaffold Worker Jobs in Virginia
Verified positions matching this trade and location.
Current BLS Virginia employee wages for Carpenters, SOC 47-2031; a broader benchmark that includes scaffold builders, excludes premium pay and benefits, and is not scaffold-only.
Last updated October 26, 2026. Rates are market estimates, not guarantees.