Journeyman pipefitters under UA Local 10 in Richmond, VA earn $34.65/hr in base wages, or $53.35/hr as a total package with fringe benefits, effective May 2025.
UA Local 10 runs its own dispatch and out-of-work list — call the hall to confirm hours, books and what to bring. Gulfstream is a private recruiter and does not control hall referral.
The Local 10 pay scale for 2026 is $34.65 per hour for journeymen in Richmond, VA, or about $69,300 a year at 2,080 hours. The total package, including employer-paid fringe benefits, is $53.35 per hour. That is the rate in force for 2026, effective 5/10/25.
| Local 10 journeyman hourly wage | $34.65 / hour |
|---|---|
| Total package (wage + fringe benefits) | $53.35 / hour |
| Annualized at 2,080 hours (base wage) | $69,300 / year |
| First-period apprentice (≈45–50% of scale) | $15.59–$17.33 / hour |
| Wage sheet effective | 5/10/25 |
| Classification | Combo |
A Local 10 apprentice in Richmond, VA starts at roughly $15.59 an hour — about 45% of the $34.65 journeyman scale — and steps up each period, reaching around $25.99 an hour by the fourth year and full scale on turning out. These are the standard percentage steps of scale, not a wage sheet Local 10 has published; confirm the exact schedule with the JATC.
| 1st period (year 1) | 45% of scale | $15.59 / hour | $31,185 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd period (year 2) | 55% of scale | $19.06 / hour | $38,115 |
| 3rd period (year 3) | 65% of scale | $22.52 / hour | $45,045 |
| 4th period (year 4) | 75% of scale | $25.99 / hour | $51,975 |
| 5th period (year 5) | 85% of scale | $29.45 / hour | $58,905 |
| Journeyman (turned out) | 100% of scale | $34.65 / hour | $69,300 |
UA Local 10 runs its own referral procedure and books are signed at the hall — call 804-231-4233 to confirm dispatch hours, required documents (union card, certifications, ID) and current list standing before traveling in. Contact details are imported from the UA, SMART and IBEW public directories. Gulfstream is a private recruiting firm, is not affiliated with the local, and does not control hall dispatch.
United Association Local 10 represents the skilled plumbers, pipefitters, and HVAC technicians serving Central Virginia and the Greater Richmond metropolitan area. As a charter member of the UA, this local provides the specialized labor force necessary for large-scale commercial developments, industrial processing facilities, and essential public infrastructure. The organization maintains a focus on rigorous training through its Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee, ensuring that signatory contractors have access to a pool of mechanics capable of executing complex piping systems and mechanical installations that meet high-pressure and high-purity standards. The Richmond market serves as a critical hub for the regional economy, requiring a reliable supply of licensed tradespeople to support ongoing growth.
Since 2014, Gulfstream Strategic Placements has monitored the labor dynamics within the Richmond jurisdiction, where the demand for qualified UA members is driven by healthcare expansions, data center construction, and government institutional projects. Local 10 functions as a central resource for collective bargaining, safety advocacy, and workforce development in a territory that spans from the Piedmont region to the Tidewater outskirts. By providing a structured career path and standardized labor costs, the local stabilizes the mechanical contracting environment. For the individual tradesperson, membership offers access to portable benefits and a network of signatory employers who prioritize quality craftsmanship and job site safety in accordance with national UA standards.
The wage structure for UA Local 10 is defined by a journeyman base rate of $34.65 per hour as of May 2025. When accounting for the full fringe benefit contribution, the total taxable and non-taxable package reaches $53.35 per hour. Apprentices typically begin their progression at a percentage of the journeyman rate, often starting around 45% to 50% and receiving incremental raises every six to twelve months as they complete required classroom hours and on-the-job training milestones. This tiered system allows contractors to blend labor costs while providing a clear financial incentive for apprentices to advance toward their master licenses. Final compensation varies based on specific job classifications, such as foremen or general foremen, who receive additional premiums above the base scale for supervisory responsibilities.
The wage structure for UA Local 10 is defined by a journeyman base rate of $34.65 per hour as of May 2025. When accounting for the full fringe benefit contribution, the total taxable and non-taxable package reaches $53.35 per hour. Apprentices typically begin their progression at a percentage of the journeyman rate, often starting around 45% to 50% and receiving incremental raises every six to twelve months as they complete required classroom hours and on-the-job training milestones. This tiered system allows contractors to blend labor costs while providing a clear financial incentive for apprentices to advance toward their master licenses. Final compensation varies based on specific job classifications, such as foremen or general foremen, who receive additional premiums above the base scale for supervisory responsibilities.
UA Local 10 maintains jurisdiction over a significant portion of Central Virginia, centered on Richmond and extending into surrounding counties. The territory covers a diverse landscape including dense urban construction in the capital city and industrial corridors along the James River. Members dispatched through the hall work under the Master Labor Agreement, which governs travel pay, shift differentials, and work rules across the chartered counties. The jurisdiction encompasses commercial HVAC installations, hospital plumbing systems, and industrial process piping for manufacturing plants. Contractors operating within these boundaries must adhere to the local's dispatch procedures, ensuring that labor is allocated efficiently to meet project timelines while maintaining high standards of workmanship across the central Virginia region.
The signatory landscape for Local 10 is comprised of diverse mechanical primes and specialized subcontractors capable of handling multi-million dollar contracts. These firms range from large national mechanical contractors who mobilize for major industrial projects to regional plumbing and HVAC shops focused on commercial service and tenant fit-outs. Signatory contractors benefit from the JATC training pipeline, which mitigates the risk of labor shortages in the skilled trades. This collaborative environment ensures that large-scale projects, such as regional healthcare campuses or university expansions, are staffed with mechanics who possess verified certifications in welding, medical gas, and backflow prevention. Hiring typically fluctuates based on capital project cycles and local industrial maintenance schedules.
Members have access to a variety of industry-recognized certifications including UA Weld Certifications, Medical Gas Installer, Backflow Prevention, and OSHA 30 safety training. These credentials are vital for working on specialized job sites such as hospitals and industrial plants within the Richmond market. Continuous education ensures journeymen remain competitive as technology in the mechanical trades evolves.
Travelers and transferees are generally accepted based on the current volume of work in the Richmond jurisdiction. A member in good standing from another local must typically provide a travel letter and contact the Business Manager or Dispatcher to be placed on the out-of-work list. Preference is usually given to local members before travelers are dispatched to signatory contractors.
The apprenticeship is a five-year program where students work full-time for a signatory contractor during the day and attend classes during the evening or on designated blocks. This allows apprentices to earn the $34.65 journeyman rate eventually while accumulating no student debt. The curriculum covers everything from advanced mathematics to hands-on welding and CAD/BIM drawing.
Key drivers in the Richmond area include data center construction, pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, and state government building renovations. The presence of major universities and large healthcare systems also provides a steady stream of complex mechanical and plumbing work. These projects require the high level of skill and safety compliance that UA Local 10 members are trained to provide.
UA Local 10 is seated in Richmond, Virginia (VA). We hold published wage sheets for 5 locals across Virginia — compare nearby scales before you take a call.
We are a mechanical, plumbing and electrical construction recruiting firm serving Richmond and the rest of Virginia, including contractors signatory to UA Local 10. Our office is in South Corona, California and we place union-scale tradespeople and field leadership nationwide.
Gulfstream Strategic Placements, 4160 Temescal Canyon Road, Suite 401, Corona, CA 92883. Phone (951) 208-7780. Email hello@gulfstreamsp.com. Monday–Friday, 7:00 AM–5:00 PM Pacific.View our verified Google Business Profile
Journeyman scales as last published by each local. Rates change every contract cycle — confirm with the hall.
The Local 10 pay scale for 2026 is $34.65 per hour for journeymen in Richmond, VA, or about $69,300 a year at 2,080 hours. The total package, including employer-paid fringe benefits, is $53.35 per hour. That is the rate in force for 2026, effective 5/10/25.
Journeyman pipefitters under the UA Local 10 agreement make $34.65 an hour in base wages, or $53.35 an hour counting the fringe package, per the wage sheet effective 5/10/25. Overtime, shift premiums, and travel or subsistence pay are added on top under the local's CBA.
$34.65 per hour base wage and $53.35 per hour total package for a journeyman in Richmond, VA, effective 5/10/25. Annualized at 2,080 hours that is roughly $69,300 before overtime.
A Local 10 apprentice in Richmond, VA starts at roughly $15.59 an hour — about 45% of the $34.65 journeyman scale — and steps up each period, reaching around $25.99 an hour by the fourth year and full scale on turning out. These are the standard percentage steps of scale, not a wage sheet Local 10 has published; confirm the exact schedule with the JATC.
About $15.59 an hour, or roughly $31,185 a year at 2,080 hours, based on the standard 45% first-period step of the $34.65 journeyman rate effective 5/10/25. Apprentices also earn benefit contributions and paid classroom progression; the JATC sets the exact percentage.
Around $22.52 an hour at the standard 65% third-period step, moving to about $25.99 an hour in the fourth period and $34.65 an hour at full journeyman scale. Confirm the published step schedule with the Local 10 training center.
The current UA Local 10 journeyman rate is $34.65/hour, with a total package of $53.35/hour including fringe benefits, effective 5/10/25. At 2,080 hours that works out to roughly $69,300 per year in base wages before overtime. Rates change with each CBA cycle — confirm with the Local 10 business office before relying on the figure.
The $34.65/hour figure is the base journeyman wage that lands on the paycheck. The $53.35/hour total package adds employer-paid fringes — health and welfare, pension, annuity, apprenticeship training, and industry funds. Contractors bid work off the total package, so that is the number that matters when comparing plumbers & pipefitters labor costs across locals.
Apprentices under the UA Local 10 agreement are paid a graduated percentage of the journeyman rate, typically starting near 40–50% in the first period and stepping up each six-month or annual period until reaching 100% at turnout. Against the current $34.65/hour journeyman rate, a first-period apprentice would be in the $15.59–$17.33/hour range. The exact percentage schedule is set by the local's JATC.
UA Local 10 is headquartered in Richmond, VA and dispatches plumbers & pipefitters manpower throughout its chartered jurisdiction. Work performed inside that territory falls under the local's collective bargaining agreement and wage schedule, even when the contractor is based elsewhere and travels in.
Most locals require applicants to be at least 18, legally able to work in the U.S., hold a high school diploma or GED, pass a basic math/aptitude assessment and a drug screen, and be physically able to perform plumbers & pipefitters work. Some Local 10 programs give preference to applicants inside the jurisdiction or to veterans. Eligibility rules are set by the local's Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (JATC), so confirm the current criteria with the hall before applying.
Apprenticeship applications go through the UA Local 10 JATC, not through a contractor or a recruiter. Applications typically open in defined intake windows each year: you submit the application with proof of age, education, and residency, sit for an aptitude test, and then interview. Ranked applicants are placed on an eligibility list and indentured as signatory contractors call for apprentices. Gulfstream Strategic Placements does not process apprenticeship applications — contact the Local 10 training center directly.
Plumbers & Pipefitters apprenticeships generally run four to five years — roughly 8,000–10,000 hours of on-the-job training plus several hundred classroom hours per year. Apprentices earn a paycheck the entire time, stepping up through the wage periods until they turn out as journeymen at 100% of scale.
Signatory contractors hire through the local's hiring hall, so working under the UA Local 10 agreement generally means being a member or being organized in through the local's process. Journeymen from other locals can travel in by signing the out-of-work book, subject to the local's referral rules and manpower needs. Non-union plumbers & pipefitters professionals are usually placed with open-shop contractors instead — we recruit for both.
Rates move with the collective bargaining agreement, typically on a fixed anniversary date each year of a three- to five-year contract, with negotiated increases split between the base wage and the fringe package. The figures on this page reflect the 5/10/25 schedule; check with the Local 10 business office for any increase that has taken effect since.
Wage rates vary widely by local and market. Use the Union Pay Scale Explorer to sort every UA and SMART local by hourly wage, total package, and annualized pay so you can benchmark Local 10 against neighboring jurisdictions and other plumbers & pipefitters markets.
The UA Local 10 hall is at 701 Stockton St Richmond, VA 23224, serving Richmond, VA and the surrounding jurisdiction. Hall phone: 804-231-4233.
UA Local 10 runs its own referral procedure and books are signed at the hall. Call the hall at 804-231-4233 to confirm dispatch hours, required documents (union card, certifications, ID) and current list standing before traveling in — Gulfstream does not control hall dispatch.
UA Local 10 can be reached at 804-231-4233. Contact details are imported from the union's public directory listing — confirm hours with the hall.