The 55 minutes is the Department of Labor's own average per certified payroll, and you file one for every week of covered work [DOL WHD: Form WH-347]. Paid options range from stand-alone tools priced per report, to payroll plans with a certified payroll report, to construction payroll services priced by quote. If your agency or prime contractor requires a compliance portal such as LCPtracker, LCPtracker says there is no cost to contractors.
Certified payroll costs at a glance
| Option | What you pay | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| WH-347 by hand | Free form; about 55 minutes per weekly payroll on DOL's estimate | A contractor with one short job and few workers |
| Payroll plan with a certified payroll report | QuickBooks Workforce Elite: $134 a month plus $17 per employee | A company that wants to move its whole payroll |
| Add-on to your payroll provider | Points North for RUN Powered by ADP: $175 a month plus $7.50 per report, $995 setup | ADP RUN customers with steady prevailing-wage work |
| Construction payroll service | eBacon, Payroll4Construction: prices not published | A contractor that wants a company to run all payroll |
| Compliance portal required by the agency or prime | LCPtracker says there is no cost to contractors | Anyone whose project already uses one |
| Stand-alone certified payroll tool | LCPcertified: $12 per report, or $145 a month for up to 5 active projects | Subcontractors reporting on their own |
| Simple Certified Payroll | $490 a year or $49 a month for up to 2 active projects | Small subcontractors on Davis-Bacon jobs |
The sections below explain each option, what is and isn't in the price, and where each source says so.
What you are paying for
Every option produces the same thing: a weekly payroll for each week of covered work, with a signed Statement of Compliance [29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(A)]. You can use DOL's optional WH-347 or any other format that has the same information [29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(B)], so no tool is required.
What you pay for is the work around the form:
- Finding the right rates. The wage determination in your contract sets the basic rate and fringe for each classification [29 CFR 5.5(a)(1)(i)].
- Checking each worker's pay against them, including fringe and overtime. Underpaid workers are owed back wages with interest [29 CFR 5.5(a)(1)(vi)], and contract payments can be withheld to cover them [29 CFR 5.5(a)(2)(i)].
- Filling in the form, which repeats much of what is already in your payroll.
- Keeping it all for 3 years after the prime contract is completed [29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(G)].
A cheaper option usually means you do more of this yourself. A pricier one usually means a company does more of it for you, often as part of running your whole payroll.
Option 1: fill out the WH-347 by hand
Cost in money: nothing. The form, its instructions, an annotated guide, and an online fillable version are on DOL's WH-347 page [DOL WHD: Form WH-347].
Cost in time: DOL estimates an average of 55 minutes per response, including time for reviewing instructions, gathering the data, and completing and reviewing the form [DOL WHD: Form WH-347]. That is DOL's average, not a promise: a crew of twelve with two classifications each will take longer than a crew of two.
At that average, one project with covered work every week of the year takes about 48 hours of form work (52 × 55 minutes). Two projects at once double it, because each project gets its own numbered payroll [DOL WHD: Form WH-347 instructions].
What the time doesn't include is the check itself. You look up each classification in the wage determination, compare the basic rate, add up plan credits and cash in lieu against the fringe, and work out overtime at 1.5 times the basic rate [29 CFR 5.5(b)(1)]. Our guide to filling out the WH-347 walks through each column with a worked example.
Good fit if: you have one short job, a few workers in one classification each, and time in the office to do it carefully.
Option 2: certified payroll from your payroll provider
Some payroll plans include a certified payroll report, and some providers sell one as an add-on.
QuickBooks. Intuit says certified payroll reporting is available only in QuickBooks Workforce Elite, and that it comes out as an Excel spreadsheet that matches the WH-347. Some fields, including the project ID and the wage determination number, still need to be entered by hand (Intuit: Certified payroll report in QuickBooks Workforce). Workforce Elite is listed at $134 a month plus $17 per employee a month, with 50% off for the first 3 months (QuickBooks payroll pricing). You set up each classification's hourly rates yourself as pay types (Intuit: Set up certified payroll reports).
ADP. Points North's Certified Payroll Reporting for RUN Powered by ADP is listed on ADP's marketplace at $175 a month plus $7.50 per report a month. Setup is $995 for the Basic edition, which includes the federal WH-347 report, and $1,495 or $4,995 for editions with state and municipal reports (ADP Marketplace listing).
What to check before you choose this route: whether your current plan includes the report or you would need to upgrade, whether the rates come from the wage determination or from what you typed in, and which fields you still fill in by hand.
Good fit if: you are already on that provider, your prevailing-wage work is steady, and the monthly cost is small next to your payroll.
Option 3: a construction payroll service or suite
Construction payroll companies run your whole payroll (paychecks, taxes, fringe, union reports) and produce certified payroll as part of it.
- eBacon says it generates the WH-347 and state certified payroll reports from payroll, and assigns the wage determination to each project (eBacon: prevailing wage). It does not publish prices; you request a demo.
- Payroll4Construction lists certified payroll in print and electronic formats, prevailing wage calculations, and formats for LCPtracker and other portals among its features (Payroll4Construction: features). Its quote page shows your price after you fill in a form (Payroll4Construction: quote).
- FOUNDATION, the construction accounting suite behind Payroll4Construction, says its pricing is customized to the modules you choose and does not list a price (FOUNDATION: pricing).
Good fit if: you want to hand off payroll entirely, have a larger crew, or work union and open-shop jobs across several states.
Option 4: a compliance portal your agency or prime requires
Many agencies and prime contractors collect certified payroll through a portal such as LCPtracker. An electronic system like this must accept a legally valid electronic signature, keep payrolls for at least 3 years after the prime contract work is completed, and allow another method for contractors who can't use it [29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(A)].
Who pays. LCPtracker's contractor user guide says: "There is no cost to Contractors for this service or for online training" (LCPtracker: Contractor User Guide Overview). The agency or prime holds the license; its price for them is by quote (LCPtracker: contact sales).
What it still costs you: time. The portal receives and checks your payroll, but someone still enters or uploads each week's data. LCPtracker says payroll can be typed in or uploaded from major accounting and payroll systems.
For jobs without a portal, LCPtracker sells LCPcertified to subcontractors: $12 per report, or $145 a month for up to 5 active projects, with yearly plans from $1,300 for up to 10 active projects (LCPtracker: LCPcertified).
Good fit if: your project already requires the portal. Use it; you can't skip it.
Option 5: Simple Certified Payroll
We built Simple Certified Payroll for small subcontractors on Davis-Bacon jobs who already run payroll somewhere else and need the weekly WH-347 done right. It does one job: turn your week into a checked, filled WH-347.
What it costs. Two plans, both with the full tool (pricing):
- Starter: $490 a year, or $49 a month, for up to 2 active projects.
- Crew: $790 a year, or $79 a month, for up to 10 active projects.
Every plan has unlimited workers and weeks. Mark a project finished when the work ends and it stops counting toward your limit, while its weeks stay available to read and download. Cancel any time.
What saves you time:
- Your payroll export comes in as a CSV. Upload the file from QuickBooks, Gusto, ADP or a spreadsheet, match its columns once, and we remember the match for next week. Then set each worker's classification and daily hours in the grid.
- The wage determinations are already loaded. Enter the project's county and type of construction, and we list the active Davis-Bacon wage determinations for it from SAM.gov, refreshed weekly, with only the classifications that apply in that county. Pick the one in your contract.
- Next week starts from last week. Workers and rates copy over in one click, and payrolls are numbered in order per project.
- One PDF to sign. The filled WH-347, the Statement of Compliance and the fringe benefit table download as one PDF, ready for your certifying official.
What saves you a rejected payroll. Every line is checked as you type against the wage determination you selected: the basic rate, the fringe (plan credits, cash in lieu, or pay above the basic rate), and overtime at 1.5 times the basic rate. Anything short shows in red with the amount per hour, before anyone signs.
A mistake the check catches (fictional example)
All names and numbers are made up.
- The wage determination lists Electrician at a basic rate of $40.00 and a fringe of $20.00.
- Your electrician works 40 hours straight time and 4 hours overtime. You pay $42.00 an hour and $63.00 for overtime, and the health plan credit is $12.00 an hour.
It looks fine: the rate is above scale and the overtime is 1.5 times what you pay. But the fringe is short. Pay above the basic rate can count toward fringe [DOL WHD: Fact Sheet #66E], so you have $12.00 + $2.00 = $14.00 against $20.00 required. The line shows:
Fringe is owed for every hour, overtime included [DOL WHD: Fact Sheet #66E]. That is 44 × $6.00 = $264.00 owed to one worker for one week, caught before the payroll goes out instead of after an agency review.
The math against doing it by hand. At DOL's average of 55 minutes per form, one project with weekly covered work is about 48 hours a year of form work. Starter is $490 a year for up to 2 such projects. Weigh that against what an hour of your office's time costs, and against the back wages a missed line can bring [29 CFR 5.5(a)(1)(vi)].
You review every line and sign the Statement of Compliance yourself. See the plans or see how a week goes.
How to pick
- Does your agency or prime require a portal? Then you use it. Ask whether you can upload your payroll file instead of typing each week.
- Do you want someone else to run your whole payroll? Get quotes from construction payroll services.
- Are you happy with your payroll provider? Check whether its certified payroll report is in your plan, and what it costs to upgrade.
- Do you just need the weekly WH-347, checked and filled? Compare per-report and per-year prices for the number of weeks you expect to file. Our comparison of certified payroll software puts the main options side by side.
FAQ
How many certified payrolls will I file in a year?
One for each week in which you perform covered work on the project [29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(A)], numbered in order, with the last one marked final [DOL WHD: Form WH-347 instructions]. A job with covered work every week of the year means 52 payrolls; two such jobs mean 104.
Do I have to buy software to do certified payroll?
No. The WH-347 is optional, and any format with the required information is allowed [29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(B)]. Software saves time and catches mistakes, but it is not required.
What does a mistake on certified payroll cost?
Underpaid workers are owed the difference plus interest [29 CFR 5.5(a)(1)(vi)], compounded daily [29 CFR 5.10(a)], and contract payments can be withheld to cover it [29 CFR 5.5(a)(2)(i)]. Falsifying the Statement of Compliance can lead to civil or criminal prosecution [29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(F)]. More in what is certified payroll.