Certified payroll service for California public works subs

What "done for you" means here, spelled out, including the parts most services leave vague: who signs, what gets filed where, and what it costs.

A certified payroll service prepares your weekly federal Form WH-347 and your California DIR eCPR from the payroll you already run. Willful falsification of the WH-347's Statement of Compliance is a federal crime: the Department of Labor's own WH-347 form page states that the statement is subject to the penalties in 18 U.S.C. 1001, a fine, possible imprisonment of not more than five years, or both. The DIR eCPR declaration has to be signed by you under penalty of perjury, per Labor Code section 1776(a), affirming the information is true and correct and that you have complied with Sections 1771, 1811, and 1815. No service can sign either declaration for you. This page covers what a done for you service includes, what it costs, and how it compares to a consultant or a documentation firm.

Who this is for

Subcontractors with 5 to 50 workers on California public works projects.
Payroll already running in QuickBooks, ADP, Paychex, Gusto, or Sage, or anything that exports a spreadsheet.
Owners and bookkeepers who want the filings off their desk without changing how payroll runs.

Prime contractors running a multi subcontractor rollout, and crews over 50 workers, are a custom setup. Call us or use the form and we will scope it. New to public works, or catching up on a backlog: see certified payroll help for small contractors.

What you get every week

Federal Form WH-347, filled and formatted, with the Statement of Compliance.
California DIR eCPR XML that passes validation.
Classifications and rates sanity checked against the project's published prevailing wage determination.
A weekly reminder so a filing never slips.
Confirmation and a copy for your records, every week. A clean audit trail, ready to hand an auditor.
A human review on every single file. Nothing goes out on autopilot.
Zero change to how you run payroll. We never touch wages, taxes, or your money.

What gets filed, and where

The federal WH-347. On federally funded work the certified payroll is weekly, on the Department of Labor's Form WH-347 with its Statement of Compliance. We produce it from your export every pay period. WH-347 vs the DIR eCPR, compared.

The California eCPR, directly to DIR. Labor Code section 1771.4 requires each contractor and subcontractor to furnish certified payroll records directly to the Labor Commissioner, electronically, at least monthly, meaning once every 30 days while work is performed and within 30 days after the final day of work, or more often if the contract with the awarding body says so. Many contracts say weekly. We prepare, validate, and upload, and you complete the review and sign step, because the declaration under penalty of perjury has to be yours.

The GC's portal is not the state. DIR's own eCPR FAQ says it plainly: "Submitting CPRs to other agencies does not put you in compliance with the state unless you submit eCPRs directly to DIR" (DIR eCPR FAQ). If a general contractor makes you file in LCPtracker, Elation, PRISM, OCPS, or eMars, that is the awarding body's side. We cover the DIR side on every project and confirm at setup exactly where each project's filings have to go. More on LCPtracker vs DIR.

Apprenticeship paperwork when a project needs it. The DAS 140 and DAS 142 forms, and the training fund contribution paperwork that goes with them. Training fund contributions are due by the 15th of the month after the month the work was performed, per the Division of Apprenticeship Standards. Tell us at setup which projects need them. More on DAS 140 and DAS 142.

How a week works

You send one payroll export. The report you already run. About two minutes on your side.
The engine maps it. Your crafts, your fringes, your overtime, mapped once at setup and reused every week. Software checks every rule the portal enforces.
A person reviews it. Classifications and rates against the project's published determination, hours against the week, the arithmetic, the fringe lines.
You review and sign the eCPR. Two minutes. We walk you through it the first time.
Copies land in your records. The WH-347, the eCPR file, and the confirmation, archived for the audit trail.

Certified payroll service providers in California

"Certified payroll service" covers three kinds of company. A certified payroll consultant advises and prepares filings as a billed engagement, and sometimes files on your behalf as part of it: examples are CPWIS, Contractors Prevailing Wage (contractorsprevailingwage.com, archived June 9, 2025; the live site returned a server error each time we checked, most recently September 4, 2026), and Public Works Consultant (publicworksconsultant.com), both quoted by phone. A documentation service covers one region: One2S Compliance runs a managed certified payroll documentation service for Los Angeles area public works, including DAS 140 and DAS 142 filings and monthly CAC2 training fund submissions (one2scompliance.com). Compliance software is a licensed platform you drive yourself; our pricing roundup shows who publishes rates. WellStanding is the fourth kind: a flat fee, done for you service that produces the WH-347 and the DIR eCPR every week at one published price, statewide. See all four options compared.

Provider	Where they focus	Who files the DIR eCPR	Who signs	Pricing
CPWIS	Statewide prevailing wage consulting	Depends on the engagement, ask directly	You, always	Quoted by phone
Public Works Consultant	Certified payroll and Davis-Bacon consulting	Depends on the engagement, ask directly	You, always	Quoted by phone or email
One2S Compliance	Los Angeles area public works documentation	Not stated on their service page, ask directly	You, always	Quoted by request
WellStanding	Statewide, flat fee	We prepare, validate, and upload	You, in a two minute review	$995 setup, then $249 or $449 per month

What it costs

$995 one time setup. We map your payroll export, your crafts, and your projects. Happens once, same week you sign up. Then $249 per month, flat for crews up to 25 workers, every project, every weekly filing, WH-347 and DIR eCPR, done. Crews of 26 to 50 workers: $449 per month, still flat, still everything. No contract. Cancel anytime. Between public works jobs, pause your account and pay nothing until the next award. Your first weekly filing is free, done before you pay us anything.

What it does not include

Running payroll, withholding taxes, or moving money. That stays with your payroll system and your accountant.
Legal advice. We cite the statute and follow it; an attorney interprets it for your situation.
Your public works contractor registration with DIR. It stays in your name. We check it is current at setup and remind you before renewal. How registration works.

What to send at setup

One payroll export from your system, any recent week.
Your project list: awarding body, contract, DIR project number where you have it, and any portal the GC uses.
Your classifications and any fringe or CBA details.
If you are behind, the weeks you missed. Back filings are one of the most common ways subs start with us. How catching up works.

Questions

Do you submit the eCPR to DIR for us?

We prepare, validate, and upload. The state requires the signature under penalty of perjury to be yours, so the last click is a two minute review and sign, and we walk you through it the first time. No typing, no XML, no portal wrestling. The completed WH-347 comes to you for your records and your prime.

We are behind on filings for a project. Can you catch us up?

Yes, and you are not the only one. Back filings are one of the most common ways subs start with us. We map your export, generate the missed weeks, and get you current before it becomes a payment problem.

Do we have to change payroll systems?

No. We never process wages, touch taxes, or move money. We take the export from the payroll you already run and produce your compliance filings. QuickBooks, ADP, Paychex, Gusto, and Sage exports work out of the box, and anything that exports a spreadsheet can be mapped.

What is the difference between a certified payroll service and a certified payroll consultant?

A consultant such as CPWIS or Public Works Consultant bills an engagement and quotes by phone. A certified payroll service like WellStanding does the same recurring work, WH-347 and DIR eCPR, at one published flat price instead. Either way, the sign off stays with you.

Is a certified payroll service the same as compliance software?

No. Software such as LCPtracker or eBacon gives you a platform, and you still enter the data and drive the filing. A certified payroll service takes your existing payroll export and produces the finished WH-347 and DIR eCPR for you, with a person reviewing it first.

Do certified payroll services only work in one city or region?

Some do. One2S Compliance, for example, focuses on the Los Angeles area. WellStanding works statewide, since the DIR filing goes to the same state system and the WH-347 follows the same form everywhere in California.