If your construction company works on public works projects, certified payroll is the paperwork backbone of your prevailing wage compliance. For every pay period and every worker on the jobsite, your company must report hours, classifications, wage rates, and deductions, and certify that report under penalty of perjury.
What certified payroll includes
A certified payroll report lists every laborer and mechanic who worked on the project that week. For each worker it shows the craft classification, hours worked each day, the hourly wage rate, fringe benefits paid, gross wages, deductions, and net pay. On federally funded construction the standard form is the WH-347 from the Department of Labor. Most states with prevailing wage laws use their own equivalent, and California requires electronic submission through the DIR eCPR portal.
The statement of compliance
Attached to every report is a signed statement of compliance. This is the part enforcement agencies read first, because the signature certifies that the payroll is correct and complete and that every worker was paid the required prevailing wage. A false certification is not a paperwork problem. It exposes the signer and the company to serious penalties.
When reports are due
On federal Davis-Bacon projects, certified payroll is due weekly. On California public works it is uploaded to DIR eCPR at least monthly, and many awarding bodies and general contractors require it weekly, often through a portal such as LCPtracker. Late or missing reports can hold up progress payments for the whole project, which is why general contractors chase their subcontractors so hard for them.
The mistakes that cost contractors money
The most common certified payroll errors on construction projects are misclassified workers, wrong wage determinations, fringe benefits reported incorrectly, apprentices listed without proper registration, and missing weeks that nobody noticed until closeout. Each one compounds week after week and worker after worker until a small error becomes a five figure problem.
Get help before it becomes a penalty
If certified payroll is eating your office's week, or you are not confident your reports would survive an audit, we review, prepare, and submit certified payroll for contractors on public works projects. Take our free 60 second risk check or contact us to talk through your project.