Help
Short answers to the questions we get. New here? Start with the step-by-step guide.
Getting set up
Where do I start?
The step-by-step guide takes you from company details to a signed WH-347. The first job takes about an hour; after that a week takes minutes.
Do I need an AI key or any connector?
No. Everything runs without one: wage determinations are read from the PDF, subcontractor payrolls and timesheets are read from PDFs, scans and photos, and every check runs on the server. Under Connectors you can optionally add your own Anthropic key, which adds a second read of each uploaded document and a plain-English explanation of flags.
Who should be a user?
Your payroll or compliance person (Compliance role: runs and signs payroll), project managers (Project manager: approves hours), and foremen (Foreman: logs hours from the phone). Tick Signer for whoever certifies the WH-347. Each person gets an email to choose their own password.
Which week-ending day do I use?
The job asks for it at setup. Use the day your payroll week ends (most contractors use Saturday or Sunday). Every certified payroll for that job then runs on that cycle, and the app refuses a week that ends on another day.
Wage determinations
How do I load the wage determination?
On the job, tab 1: upload the determination from the contract (PDF or text). Every trade, base rate and fringe is read out; low-confidence lines are marked so you can check them against the document before you confirm. Nothing is used on a payroll until you click Confirm.
What are the “Rates” descriptions and footnotes?
Click Rates on a confirmed determination. Each line shows its group or tier description (the “GROUP 1: …” text from the determination) and the paid-holiday and vacation notes for that group, so the office can pick the right line when a trade has several.
What if a trade I need is not on the determination?
Open Conformances (SF-1444) on the job and click New request. It drafts the SF-1444 conformance request with your proposed rate; once the agency approves, the classification is added to the job and any weeks paid at a lower rate are flagged for restitution.
Does the app watch for modifications?
Yes. Every night each job's determination is checked against SAM.gov; a newer modification or an active successor shows on This week until you dismiss it.
Crew and hours
How are hours entered?
Three ways, all into the same list: foremen log them on the phone app (it works offline and sends when it has signal), the office types a week into the grid under Enter the week, or you Drop a timesheet (CSV, Excel, PDF or a photo) and confirm the match.
Why does last week's crew appear on the new week?
Anyone who had hours last week is carried onto the next week's grid with blank hours, so the office only types numbers. Click ✕ on a row to drop someone; Copy last week's hours fills the numbers in too.
How do I enter a site superintendent or other salaried person?
Add them under Workers with Salaried super / not a laborer or mechanic ticked and a title (for example SUPER/salary). They need no trade: their hours save under no classification, count on daily reports, and print on the WH-347 with hours and no rate when the job's “list exempt supervisors” setting is on. A week with only supers, or no labor at all, still builds and signs.
Why was an entry refused?
Because its trade is not on the job's confirmed determination, the worker is an unregistered apprentice, the day is already on a certified payroll (open a revision first), or the same worker already has hours that day under that trade (change that entry instead of adding a second one).
Who approves hours?
A project manager or the compliance person. On the grid, Approve as I save approves in the same click; otherwise approve from the list, by worker or entry by entry. Approved hours can be sent back if something changes; certified hours cannot.
Pay and the checks
Where does pay come from?
Either import your payroll system's CSV export for the week (columns are matched by name and remembered), or click Fill in pay and the pay grid fills itself the way the Excel WH-347 does: rate and cash fringe from the determination, gross from the approved hours, FICA at 7.65%, each worker's withholding percentage from their record, and net. Type over any box.
What does the app check before signing?
Every line against the determination: base rate, total compensation with fringe, overtime rate and hours over the daily and weekly thresholds (including California double time), apprentice registration, rate and ratio, gross for this project against the hours, net against deductions, payroll numbering and missing weeks. Each flag names the rule and links to the regulation.
Why is withholding a percentage?
The app is not a payroll system and carries no tax tables. Each worker's Tax withholding % is a starting figure the office sets from the pay stub; the register import brings the exact figures when you have them.
Fringe: cash, plan, or both?
Enter the cash-in-lieu per hour and the plan credit per hour separately. The check adds them to the base rate and compares the total to the determination's base plus fringe; a plan credit needs the plan name and administrator for box 4(b).
Signing and filing
Why can't I sign yet?
Signing, Social Security numbers and files that contain them need two-factor sign-in. Turn it on under My account (about two minutes with any authenticator app).
How is the WH-347 signed?
The signer types their name and password; the PDF carries the Statement of Compliance, the date in Eastern time, a document hash and a verification code. The hours and pay on it lock. Anyone can confirm a copy is unaltered at the /v/<code> link printed on it.
I made a mistake on a payroll I already signed.
Never edit it. Click Revise: fix the hours or pay, and sign the revision. It keeps the same payroll number and marks the original as revised. If a worker was underpaid, the restitution notice is drafted for you with the back wages.
How are payrolls numbered?
From the certified sequence: the first payroll you sign in the app is No. 1 (or the number you set at job setup if earlier weeks were filed elsewhere), and each signed payroll takes the next free number even if drafts were started out of order. The final payroll is marked FINAL.
What goes to the agency?
The signed WH-347 PDF, by email from Send to agency or as a download. For a pay application, Pay application backup prints the certified-payroll status letter with every prime and sub payroll for the period as one PDF.
Subcontractors
How do subs send their payrolls?
Invite each sub by email from tab 4 of the job. They get a free login that shows only your jobs, upload their weekly WH-347 (PDF, scan, photo or the DOL Excel template), and it is checked against your job's determination on arrival. Missing weeks get reminders; you see a digest.
What if a sub just emails me a PDF?
Drop it into Sub payrolls. The form is read without any AI, the checks run, and the sub is matched by business name. Head counts are compared with your super's daily log for the same days.
Do subs pay anything?
No. The portal comes with Pro; subs never pay.
States
Which state rules apply?
Pick the work-site state on the job. Federal Davis-Bacon always applies; the state's own prevailing-wage law, threshold and daily-overtime rule are added from the state registry. Starter covers one state, Pro all of them.
Which state filings are built in?
New York e-CPR (NYSDOL upload file), California eCPR (DIR XML) and New Jersey MW-562. Each export is checked against that agency's file rules before you download it, and each flag cites the statute.
Account, records and security
How long are records kept?
Closing a job starts its retention clock (3 to 10 years, set under Company; Davis-Bacon requires 3). Thirty days before the end you get a notice; then the job's records are purged. Download the audit binder any time before.
Can I change the company name or FEIN?
Until the first certified payroll, yes. After that both are locked, because they are printed on signed forms; use Request a change on the Company page with the paperwork and we apply it.
Where is my data?
On servers in the United States (files in North America), encrypted at rest, with Social Security numbers encrypted separately and shown only as the last four. Every change is written to an audit log you can download. Details are in the privacy policy and data processing terms.
How do I reach a person?
hello@certifywage.com. A person reads it; office hours are Eastern time.
Didn't find it? hello@certifywage.com.