Certified payroll subcontractors owe you: how to collect it weekly

To collect certified payroll from subcontractors, ask every sub for the week's report on the same day each week, remind the ones who have not sent it on a fixed schedule, and track each sub and week in one list. Without that list, the reports that never arrived are the ones nobody notices until the draw.

On covered public-works jobs the prime is expected to submit and review its subs' certified payrolls, and an agency can hold up payment when a sub's report is missing or wrong. This guide sets out a weekly routine you can run from a spreadsheet and an inbox, and what changes when a tool runs it.

How do you collect certified payroll from subcontractors every week?

Use one routine for every sub on every job, so nothing depends on memory:

1. List what you expect. One row per sub per project, with the contact email and the first week they are on the job.
2. Send the request on the same day each week, after the week-ending date has passed. Name your company, the project and the week ending, and say where to send the file.
3. Accept the formats subs actually use: PDF, Excel or CSV. Tell them the file size limit.
4. Let a sub say "no work performed" so a quiet week is closed on the record instead of left open.
5. Open each report the day it arrives and log it as received or needing correction.

A request that comes from one familiar address, with the same subject line each week, gets answered faster than one worded differently each time.

When should you remind a sub who has not sent it?

Remind on a fixed schedule rather than when you remember. A workable one is to remind 2, 4 and 6 days after the first request, then stop and call. Three emails make the ask clear; a fourth rarely does more than a phone call to the sub's office does.

Keep the reminders plain, with the same link and the same week ending. Record the date of each one, because your list should show which round each late sub is in. Federal rules ask for the report within seven days of the pay date, so your own schedule should finish inside that window; check your contract and agency for the exact deadline.

What should you track for each sub and week?

A simple status per sub per week keeps the Monday review short:

Add the date of the next action. The most useful single view is every sub for the current week with its status, sorted so the problems are on top.

What does Sub Certified Payroll do with this routine?

Sub Certified Payroll runs it for you. For each active sub on each project it emails the request once the week has ended, naming your company and the week ending, with an upload link that needs no login. The sub can upload a PDF, Excel or CSV file up to 4 MB or answer "no work performed". The link shows only that sub's open weeks, never other subs or earlier files.

Reminders go out 2, 4 and 6 days later; then the week is marked stalled and shows in your Monday digest so you know whom to call. You can also upload a report a sub emailed you directly. Each report is read, you approve it before it counts, and each worker line is checked against the wage table you entered. For the draw, you download the approved reports, a CSV of exceptions and a summary as one ZIP.

It does not file to an agency portal, look up your wage determination, or tell you a report will be accepted. Run the check on the sample job to see the dashboard, a chase email and a correction email with nothing to sign up for.

What should you keep for the draw?

Keep each approved report in week order by sub, the list of exceptions with how each was resolved, and a summary showing every sub and week as ready, resolved or open. When a sub sends a corrected report, keep the earlier one too, with the replacement marked as the one that counts. Records are generally kept for years after the project ends; Sub Certified Payroll keeps them until three years after you mark a project complete, and your contract may require longer.

Once the reports are in, the next job is reading them: the WH-347 review guide goes line by line, and the certified payroll review checklist fits on one page. If you are weighing tools, see software for certified payroll.

FAQ

Does the prime have to review subcontractors' certified payrolls?

On federal prevailing-wage work the Department of Labor's guidance for contractors says the prime submits its subs' payrolls and is expected to review them. Your contract and agency set the specifics, so ask your contracting officer.

How often is certified payroll due?

Certified payroll is a weekly report. Federal rules ask for it within seven days of the regular pay date; state programs and contracts can differ, so check yours.

What if a subcontractor never sends their certified payroll?

Remind on a schedule, then call, and record each attempt. A week listed as stalled with the dates of your requests shows you tried; whether and when to withhold payment is a contract and legal question for you, not something a tool decides.