Catch certified payroll upload problems before Friday turns into a portal fire drill.
PayrollProof turns weekly timecards, payroll exports, job codes, classifications, and fringe notes into a submission-ready certified-payroll packet with exceptions called out before DIR, LCPtracker, or an agency portal rejects it.
Weekly public-works packet
Job 24-118 · pay period ending Friday
7
exceptions
Setup
1 job
Cadence
weekly
Goal
fewer rejects
Narrow customer
Small construction contractors, subcontractors, and outsourced bookkeepers newly handling prevailing-wage jobs.
Best fit: 5-75 employee contractors with weekly payroll, a payroll provider, public-works reporting duties, and no dedicated compliance team.
Paid problem
One bad weekly packet can delay payment, trigger rework, or force expensive compliance help.
The cost is staff time, rejected uploads, consultant back-and-forth, delayed draw/payment confidence, and the risk of incomplete records when the agency or GC asks questions later.
Validation test
One redacted payroll week in. One certified-payroll preflight packet out.
The waitlist tests whether contractors will share redacted weekly inputs and pay for a focused pre-submission review before a full product is built.
Day-in-the-life pain
Payroll is done, but the certified report still does not tell a clean story.
The office admin has weekly timecards, a payroll-provider export, jobsite notes from the superintendent, fringe benefit assumptions, employee classifications, and a portal deadline. Normal payroll may be correct, but the certified-payroll upload asks different questions. A missing craft code, wrong job number, or undocumented fringe note can turn a routine week into rework, consultant calls, and a packet nobody trusts.
Input
Upload the week’s timecards, job list, employee classifications, fringe notes, payroll-provider export, and the agency or LCPtracker/DIR template you need to submit.
Checks
PayrollProof flags missing job codes, classification mismatches, overtime/fringe gaps, employee rows that do not tie to payroll, and fields that will likely fail portal upload.
Output
You get a certified-payroll packet: clean upload file, exception list, backup checklist, reviewer notes, and a submission-ready evidence folder for the job record.
Why the workaround breaks
Certified payroll crosses payroll, jobsite detail, wage rules, templates, and portal quirks.
Spreadsheets and payroll exports can calculate pay. They are weaker at answering the weekly submission question: are these rows complete, tied to the right job and classification, backed by the right documents, and ready for the exact portal or agency asking for them?
Portal preflight
Catch the blank fields, wrong job identifiers, classification drift, and fringe-rate notes that tend to break DIR, LCPtracker, or agency-specific certified-payroll uploads.
Payroll-export reconciliation
Tie payroll-provider exports back to timecards and jobsite records before the weekly report is submitted, instead of discovering mismatches after rejection.
Prevailing-wage exception queue
Separate clean rows from rows needing human review: apprentice status, overtime, multi-rate days, travel time, fringe handling, and subcontractor-specific notes.
Backup packet builder
Collect the timecard, payroll run, job assignment, and reviewer signoff into one folder so a small contractor can answer follow-up questions without reconstructing the week.
Bookkeeper-safe handoff
Give outsourced bookkeepers and small construction office admins a repeatable checklist without asking them to become prevailing-wage attorneys.
Evidence, not proof
Public threads show small construction offices asking for help around certified-payroll complexity.
Reddit r/Bookkeeping · certified payroll help
A construction payroll specialist says the company is new to prevailing-wage jobs and is having trouble uploading certified payroll reports to LCPtracker and DIR, asking for programs or outsourcing help.
Open source →
Reddit r/Bookkeeping · prevailing wage pricing
A bookkeeper compares payroll-company pricing specifically because prevailing-wage jobs require certified payroll reports, signaling extra admin complexity beyond normal payroll.
Open source →
Reddit r/Construction · GC risk thread
A Southern California GC considering prevailing-wage work hears they need extremely detailed jobsite records and may need a compliance consultant to review certified payroll and documents.
Open source →
Reddit r/Bookkeeping · cumbersome setup
A new construction bookkeeper describes the certified-payroll workflow as cumbersome, made harder by an outside payroll provider and the need to coordinate the reporting process.
Open source →
Objections
This is not a pretend replacement for payroll providers, consultants, or wage-law expertise.
The validation test is narrower: do small contractors and bookkeepers want a fast weekly packet that catches obvious certified-payroll submission gaps before the deadline?
Doesn’t payroll software already do this?
Sometimes it produces a report. The evidence points to the messy handoff around payroll exports, agency templates, portal upload, jobsite detail, and confidence that the packet will pass review.
Why not hire a compliance consultant?
For complex public works programs, you should. PayrollProof tests a lighter weekly preflight for small contractors that need fewer rejections and cleaner packets before paying consultant rates for every run.
Is this legal advice?
No. The landing page validates a document-prep and exception-review workflow. Legal or wage determinations stay with the contractor, payroll provider, consultant, or counsel.
Is the signal proven?
No. These are public complaints and advice threads. Demand is validated only if real contractors or bookkeepers share redacted weekly inputs and ask for a sample packet.
Early waitlist offer
Send one redacted payroll week. Get a sample certified-payroll preflight packet.
Early users get a concierge review of one public-works payroll week, a rejection-risk checklist, and a sample packet layout. Demand is validated only if contractors or bookkeepers share real redacted inputs and ask to repeat it for the next payroll run.