Construction job costing software for specialty subcontractors
For specialty subcontractors (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, HVAC and fire protection) with about 10 to 200 people whose job cost still lives in a spreadsheet. We build a web system that shows every job's margin while the job is running, turns the crews' hours into job cost without retyping, and, for public and prevailing-wage work, produces the weekly certified payroll from the same hours. A typical build costs $8,000 to $25,000 at a fixed price, and hosting and support start at $350 a month.
Last reviewed: November 5, 2026
What subcontractors need that a spreadsheet handles badly
A job-cost workbook tells you a job lost money after the job is over. The same few gaps cause it.
- Margin you see too late. Actual cost is typed in weeks after it happens, so a job that is fading looks fine until the last invoice.
- Hours typed twice. Foremen's paper sheets are retyped into payroll and again into the cost sheet, and the two never quite agree.
- Committed cost nobody sees. Purchase orders sit in a folder, so the budget looks healthier than it is.
- A first public job. Prevailing-wage work adds a weekly certified payroll, with every worker's rate and fringe checked against the wage determination and apprentices kept to their ratio, usually rebuilt by hand each week.
Procore's own writing concedes that specialty contractors are still relying on Excel.
What we build for a subcontractor
The system follows a job from budget to closeout. The demo shows each piece working for a fictional mechanical subcontractor, Stanwick Mechanical.
- A jobs board: every job's contract, budget, actual cost, open purchase orders, forecast at completion and projected margin, beside the margin it was bid at. A job losing margin is flagged with the reason. In the demo, one job's ductwork crew has used 112% of its hours at 70% complete, and the job has faded from 14% to about 8%.
- Job cost by cost code: budget, actual, committed and forecast for every code and cost type (labor, material, subcontract, equipment, other). The project manager types what's left on a line and the projected margin moves at once. Every figure opens the entries behind it.
- Timesheets that become job cost: a crew's week, approved by the project manager, posts labor at the loaded rate (wages, overtime, burden and fringe), with no retyping.
- Purchase orders and vendor invoices: committed cost becomes actual when the invoice is posted.
- A photo of a paper timesheet, read by AI: the foreman sends a phone photo of the crew sheet. The AI reads every entry as written, the system matches nicknames to workers and works out overtime, and anything unclear is listed first and left empty rather than guessed. The foreman checks it beside the photo and confirms it. Nothing becomes job cost on the AI's word alone.
- Excel everywhere: any list exports as it is on screen, figures as numbers.
You own all of it: the code, the data and the address.
Certified payroll from the same hours
For public and prevailing-wage jobs, the system prepares the weekly certified payroll from the hours already in job cost, and checks it before anyone signs:
- each worker's rate and fringe against the wage determination;
- apprentices at their share of the journeyworker rate;
- the apprentice ratio, day by day;
- hours not yet approved.
When it finds a problem, it says so. In the demo, a pipefitter who moved from a private job is paid $1.25 under the rate; one click pays the $50 back, posts it to the job and clears the check. Then both pages of the payroll print, laid out after the January 2025 Form WH-347. The AI also reads a wage determination PDF into classifications, rates and fringes, and sets them beside the version on file, so only what changed needs checking.
Four facts to know:
- The system prepares; you sign. The Statement of Compliance needs your signature in ink or a legally valid electronic signature. The system never certifies anything.
- Form WH-347 itself is optional. What a contractor must submit is the payroll information with a signed Statement of Compliance. The Department of Labor revised the form in January 2025, its first substantive change since 2011 (DOL, Form WH-347).
- No taxes are computed. Deductions come from your payroll service, which stays as it is.
- No Social Security numbers are kept, only each worker's own number.
What it costs, and how long it takes
A subcontractor's system is a fixed-price build, typically $8,000 to $25,000, then hosting and support from $350 a month. The price depends on which of the pieces above you need and how your current workbook is laid out, and you see it in writing before anything starts.
| Blueprint | From $1,500: the written plan and the fixed price for the build, credited in full to it |
|---|---|
| Build | Fixed price per phase; most projects $8,000 to $25,000 |
| Included | The first 3 months of Standard support |
| After that | Support plans from $350 a month, hosting included, month to month |
Your spreadsheet keeps running beside the new system until the day you switch, so payroll and billing never stop.
How it compares with the alternatives
| Option | Cost | Fits best when |
|---|---|---|
| A job-cost workbook | Time | A few jobs, one person keeping them |
| A certified payroll tool | From about $79 a month; free tiers exist | You need the payroll only, not the job cost |
| A construction platform | Priced by annual construction volume, quoted | You want a large platform and its price fits your volume |
| Rowhouse Systems | $8,000 to $25,000 once, then from $350 a month | You want job cost and certified payroll from one set of hours, in a system you own |
Standalone certified payroll tools run from about $79 a month, as listed by SaaSworthy, and none of them does job costing. LCPtracker offers a free single-contractor tier for certified payroll alone. Prices change, so check each vendor's own quote.
See it working
The demo is Stanwick Mechanical, a fictional mechanical subcontractor with several jobs running, some of them public work. Sign in with one click, follow a crew's week into job cost and into the certified payroll, and watch the check catch an underpaid worker before anyone signs. The data resets every night, so you can't break anything.
Questions
We already run payroll through a payroll service. Does this replace it?
No. The system takes your payroll service's figures and never computes taxes. It adds the job cost and the certified payroll checks your payroll service doesn't do.
Can it start from our job-cost spreadsheet and our cost codes?
Yes. Your cost codes, jobs and budgets come over from your current workbook as part of the build, so the system starts with your jobs, not an empty screen.
What does a foreman have to do differently?
Very little. Send a photo of the paper crew sheet, or type the hours on a phone or tablet. The AI reads the photo, and the foreman confirms it.
Does it handle apprentices and the daily ratio?
Yes. Apprentices are paid at their share of the journeyworker rate, and the ratio is checked day by day before the payroll is signed.
What happens when the wage determination changes?
The AI reads the new wage determination PDF into rates and fringes, the system sets them beside the version on file, and payroll checks only what changed.
Our prime contractor wants payrolls through a portal. Does this help?
The system produces the payroll information and both printed pages. It doesn't replace a portal an agency or prime contractor requires; you enter or upload what the portal asks for from it.
Can we see margin by job before the job is over?
Yes. That's the point of the jobs board: forecast at completion and projected margin for every job, updated as hours, invoices and cost-to-complete come in.
What does it cost, and who owns it?
A fixed-price build, typically $8,000 to $25,000, then from $350 a month for hosting and support. The system, the code and the data are yours, with an export to Excel at any time and a full copy if you ever leave.