Prevailing Wage Software for Small Contractors

What prevailing wage software actually does

If you won a public-works contract, your award almost certainly came with a wage determination and a requirement to submit certified payroll — a weekly, per-project report proving you paid every worker at least the prevailing wage for their classification. On federal and federally-assisted jobs that report is the federal Form WH-347 and its Statement of Compliance. Prevailing wage software exists to build that report for you instead of wrestling a spreadsheet every Friday.

Good prevailing wage software does three concrete things:

• Generates the report.It lays out each worker's name, last four of their Social Security number (never the full SSN), classification, daily and total hours, rate of pay, gross earned, deductions, and net pay in the exact WH-347 columns — plus the signed Statement of Compliance the agency requires.
• Does the fringe and overtime math. Prevailing wage is a package — a base hourly rate plus a fringe rate — and the overtime rule trips up almost everyone. It should compute both without you touching a calculator.
• Validates before you sign.It should flag the mistakes auditors look for: a total package below base plus fringe, a classification that doesn't match the determination, or hours that don't add up.

The overtime and fringe math, in one example

The single most common error is calculating overtime on the whole wage package. Under Davis-Bacon, overtime is 1.5 × the basic hourly rate, plus the fringe at straight time — the fringe is never multiplied by 1.5.

Say a laborer's determination is a $20.00 base and $8.00 fringe, you pay the fringe as cash, and they work 50 hours in the week (40 straight, 10 overtime):

• Overtime hourly rate = (1.5 × $20.00) + $8.00 = $38.00
• The wrong method, 1.5 × ($20.00 + $8.00), gives $42.00 — and overpays by $4.00 an hour

Separately, the fringe check is the #1 audit issue. The total you provide — cash wages plus contributions to bona-fide plans plus any cash-in-lieu — has to meet base plus fringe. Fall short by even a few cents an hour across a crew and you're looking at back wages and withheld payment. Software that does this arithmetic for you removes the most expensive mistake in the process.

Why the enterprise tools are overkill for a small sub

The names you hear most — LCPtracker, eMars, and similar platforms — are genuinely capable, but they were built for the awarding agency and the general contractor, not for a two-truck electrical sub. That shows up in three ways:

• Price. Expect roughly $175–$400 a month, often on top of a one-time setup or onboarding fee in the $995–$4,995 range.
• Complexity. They are compliance-management systems with role hierarchies, prime/sub relationships, and configuration screens designed for someone whose full-time job is compliance. The learning curve is steep.
• Time. Subs who use them commonly report 8–15 hours per pay period keying and reconciling data — for a report that covers a handful of workers.

If you run a small crew and file for one or two active projects, most of that horsepower is billed to you and never used.

What a small subcontractor actually needs

Strip it down and the real requirements are short:

• A fast WH-347 — enter hours and rates, get a print-ready report
• A fringe check that catches a shortfall before you sign
• Copy-last-week, so a recurring crew doesn't mean re-typing everything
• A fair, predictable price with no setup fee and no annual contract

Certiwage vs. the enterprise incumbents

See the full breakdown on the pricing page, or compare feature-by-feature in our certified payroll software guide.

An honest caveat: some agencies mandate a portal

This matters, so we'll be direct about it. A number of awarding agencies requirecertified payroll to be uploaded through a specific system they've chosen — a state portal or a named vendor. If your contract mandates one, you have to submit there; no third-party tool changes that.

Certiwage is the prep layerunderneath. It gets the numbers right and produces a clean, correct report and Statement of Compliance you can file, mail, or hand off — and you enter that data into the mandated portal instead of doing the arithmetic inside a system you find slow and confusing. Always confirm your project's required submission method before you file. For the step-by-step, see how to do certified payroll.

Who it's for

Certiwage is built for the small construction subcontractor — electrical, mechanical, painting, concrete, landscaping — who won a Davis-Bacon or state prevailing-wage job, maybe their first, and needs to file correct certified payroll every weekwithout paying enterprise prices or learning enterprise software. If you have hundreds of workers across dozens of primes and a dedicated compliance department, the big platforms may earn their keep. If you don't, you're probably overpaying for capacity you'll never touch.

One note on what we are not: Certiwage is a document-preparation tool, not legal or payroll advice, and it isn't affiliated with the U.S. Department of Labor. You supply the classifications and rates off your own wage determination, and you're responsible for verifying the report before you sign it.

The fastest way to judge whether it fits is to build one — enter a crew's hours and rates in the free WH-347 builder and see the fringe-checked report come out the other side.