The basics
If you're a general contractor working on public jobs in Maryland, you've dealt with certified payroll. It's a federal and state requirement that ensures workers on government-funded projects are paid the prevailing wage rate for their trade and location.
Every week, contractors and subs submit certified payroll reports — WH-347 forms — documenting hours worked, classifications, and wages paid. The reports are signed under penalty of perjury.
Where it goes wrong
The problem isn't that GCs don't know certified payroll exists. The problem is that the process is manual, distributed across dozens of subs, and easy to get wrong.
Common issues we see:
- Wrong classifications. A plumber's apprentice gets classified as a journeyman, or vice versa. The wage rate is wrong, and now there's a violation.
- Missing subs. A sub brings on a lower-tier sub who doesn't submit certified payroll. The GC is still liable.
- Late submissions. Certified payroll is supposed to be submitted weekly. In practice, it gets batched, delayed, and sometimes forgotten entirely.
- Prevailing wage changes. Wage determinations change. If you're using last year's rates on this year's job, you're underpaying.
The consequences
Prevailing wage violations carry real penalties. At the federal level (Davis-Bacon), contractors can be debarred — barred from bidding on federal work — for up to three years. Maryland's state prevailing wage law carries similar enforcement mechanisms.
Beyond penalties, it's a reputation issue. GCs who can't demonstrate clean compliance lose trust with owners and agencies.
How AI changes this
We built a system that reads daily reports and determines whether certified payroll is required for each sub on the job. It cross-references contract requirements, funding sources, and wage determinations automatically.
Instead of relying on a PM to manually check every sub every week, the AI flags gaps before they become violations.
The bottom line
Certified payroll isn't optional on public work, and manual tracking isn't reliable at scale. If you're a Maryland GC running public jobs, your compliance process is either automated or it's a liability.