We talk to subcontractors every week, and one complaint comes up more than any other: certified payroll is killing them.

One contractor on Reddit put it bluntly: “Weekly certified payroll is killing me. We are a small sub with 15 guys and I spend 6+ hours every Friday just on the paperwork.” Another on a construction forum said they’ve “lost money on every job just trying to stay compliant with Davis-Bacon.”

The Problem Is Getting Worse

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and CHIPS Act have created a surge in Davis-Bacon covered projects. More federal contracts means more certified payroll requirements. And the Department of Labor isn’t letting up—willful violations carry serious penalties.

Yet the tools available to small subcontractors haven’t kept pace. The main options are either expensive enterprise software requiring lengthy implementation, or cheaper tools that still demand manual data entry for every worker’s hours and rates. One contractor noted that their certified payroll software “works but requires manual entry of every worker’s hours and rates. For a 5-person crew, that’s 30 minutes of data entry per week.”

Thirty minutes sounds small until you multiply it across a full crew, week after week, year after year.

We’ve Built a Better Way

PayrollProof AI solves exactly this problem. Instead of retyping data you’ve already captured, our AI extracts information directly from your existing timesheets—whether you upload a photo or import a CSV from QuickBooks. Worker names, hours, rates, classifications—all pulled automatically into the WH-347 form.

You review what the AI has extracted, make any needed adjustments, and submit. What used to take 6+ hours now takes about 20 minutes.

We’ve also built in template memory for worker classifications. The AI learns how you’ve classified roles before—like ‘Electrician’ versus ‘Laborer’—so you’re consistent across submissions. A single misclassification could cost a small contractor their business. We take that risk seriously.

Built for the Segment Others Ignore

We’re not trying to replace your payroll system or require you to change how you work. We’re designed to fit alongside your existing timesheet process and handle the tedious certified payroll filing that’s been eating your Friday afternoons.

For small subcontractors, certified payroll compliance shouldn’t require a full-time administrative staff or expensive consultants. It should take minutes, not hours. That’s what we’re building.

If you’re a federal subcontractor spending more than an hour a week on certified payroll, we’d love to show you how much time you could get back.