How Much Does Construction Payroll Software Cost?
Most construction payroll software costs $40 to $500+ per month depending on team size and features. A small crew of five can get by for under $50/month. A 30-person operation with certified payroll and multi-state filing will pay $200 to $500+. Enterprise platforms for general contractors running 100+ employees can run over $1,000/month once you factor in add-ons.
I spent years running roofing crews before building Piece Work Pro. During that time, I tried a lot of payroll tools. Most of them were built for office workers, not contractors. The ones that actually understood construction charged a premium for it. Here is what I learned about what things really cost — and where the money goes.
Price Tier Breakdown
Free and Low-Cost: $0–$50/month
This tier works for small crews — one to ten employees — doing straightforward payroll without certified payroll or multi-state requirements.
Piece Work Pro starts with a free Solo plan and scales to $10/user/month on the Team plan ($8/user/month if you pay annually). For a 5-person crew, that is $40–$50/month. It's purpose-built for piece rate pay, so you get job costing, time tracking, and multi-rate pay structures without bolting on expensive add-ons. If your crews get paid per unit — per square, per linear foot, per window — this is where you start.
QuickBooks Payroll Simple Start comes in around $37.50/month plus $6/employee/month. For five employees, you are looking at roughly $67.50/month. It handles basic payroll and tax filing but does not understand piece rate pay or job-level costing out of the box. You will spend time on workarounds.
Mid-Range: $50–$150/month
This is where most contractors with 5–25 employees land. You get more automation, better reporting, and some construction-aware features.
Gusto starts at $40/month base plus $6/employee/month. A 10-person crew runs about $100/month. Gusto is polished and easy to use. But it's a general payroll platform. No piece rate support. No job costing. No certified payroll. You are paying for a great user experience that was not designed for your industry.
QuickBooks Payroll Premium runs $75/month base plus $8/employee/month. For 10 employees, that is $155/month. You get same-day direct deposit and time tracking included. Still no native piece rate support, but the QuickBooks ecosystem gives you more accounting integration.
busybusy targets construction specifically with GPS time tracking and job costing. Pricing starts around $99/month for small teams. It handles time tracking well but payroll processing requires integration with another platform, adding to your total cost.
High-End: $150–$500+/month
Larger operations with 25–100+ employees, multi-state filing, and compliance requirements end up here.
ADP Run pricing is not published — you have to call for a quote. But contractors typically report $150–$300+/month for 20–30 employees depending on the package. ADP is a payroll giant with deep compliance features. The downside: it's built for every industry, which means construction-specific features like job costing and piece rate pay are either missing or require expensive add-ons.
Paychex Flex also requires a custom quote. Expect $150–$400+/month for mid-size crews. Like ADP, it's a full-service payroll provider with strong tax compliance. But you will need additional modules (and additional cost) for construction-specific features like certified payroll and workers comp tracking.
Buildertrend is a project management platform that offers payroll as an add-on. Base plans start around $199/month, and payroll features push the total higher. If you are already using Buildertrend for project management, the integration is convenient. But you are paying project management prices for payroll.
Enterprise: $500+/month
If you are running 100+ employees across multiple states with union reporting, certified payroll, and complex job costing, you are in enterprise territory.
Procore is the industry standard for large general contractors. Pricing is project-volume based and typically runs $500–$1,000+/month. Payroll is handled through integrations rather than natively, so add integration costs on top.
Foundation Software is purpose-built for construction accounting and payroll. Plans start around $500/month and scale up. It handles certified payroll, union reporting, multi-state compliance, and deep job costing. This is serious software for serious operations — but the price tag matches.
Construction Payroll Software Comparison
Here is a side-by-side look at what each tool offers and what it costs. Pricing reflects published rates as of early 2026 for a crew of approximately 10 employees.
| Software | Est. Monthly Cost (10 employees) | Piece Rate Pay | Time Tracking | Job Costing | Certified Payroll |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piece Work Pro | $80–$100 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| QuickBooks Simple Start | $97 | No | Limited | Limited | No |
| QuickBooks Premium | $155 | No | Yes | Limited | No |
| Gusto | $100 | No | Yes | No | No |
| busybusy | $99+ | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| ADP Run | $150–$250 (est.) | No | Add-on | Add-on | Add-on |
| Paychex Flex | $150–$300 (est.) | No | Add-on | Add-on | Add-on |
| Buildertrend | $249+ | Limited | Yes | Yes | No |
| Procore | $500+ | No | Integration | Yes | Integration |
| Foundation Software | $500+ | Limited | Yes | Yes | Yes |
A few things jump out from this table. First, piece rate pay support is rare. Most payroll platforms assume everyone is hourly or salaried. If you pay per unit of work — per square of shingles, per foot of gutter, per window installed — you need software that was built for that. Second, "add-on" appears a lot in the ADP and Paychex columns. Those base prices climb fast once you start adding the features construction companies actually need.
What Construction Payroll Software Should Include
Not every payroll tool is built equal, and construction has specific requirements that generic platforms miss. Here is what to look for:
Time tracking with GPS. You need to know when your crew clocked in, where they were, and which job they worked on. Paper timesheets are a liability. A good construction payroll tool ties hours directly to jobs.
Overtime calculations. Federal and state overtime rules are not optional. Your software needs to calculate overtime automatically based on the rules in your state — including daily overtime in states like California. Getting this wrong means back-pay claims and penalties.
Job costing. Every dollar of labor should tie back to a specific job. If you do not know your labor cost per job, you do not know if you are making money. This is the single biggest blind spot in generic payroll tools.
Multi-rate pay structures. Many construction workers earn different rates on different jobs or different tasks. A roofer might earn one rate for tear-off and another for install. Your payroll software needs to handle this without manual calculations every pay period.
Certified payroll and prevailing wage. If you do any government-funded work, you need certified payroll reports (WH-347 forms). Prevailing wage requirements vary by project and jurisdiction. Not every contractor needs this, but if you do, bolting it on later is painful and expensive.
Workers comp tracking. Workers comp premiums are based on job classifications and payroll amounts. Software that tracks this automatically saves you from audit surprises and ensures you are not overpaying on premiums.
General Payroll Software vs. Construction-Specific Tools
This is the biggest mistake I see contractors make. They sign up for Gusto or ADP because the UI looks clean and the reviews are good. Three months later, they are exporting payroll data to spreadsheets to do job costing manually.
General payroll software like Gusto, ADP, and Paychex was built for companies where everyone works at the same location, earns the same rate, and clocks the same hours. That is not construction.
Here is what general payroll tools typically lack:
- No job costing. Labor costs are tracked as a lump sum, not per job. You cannot see that the Smith renovation cost $4,200 in labor while the Johnson remodel cost $6,800.
- No piece rate pay. These tools assume hourly or salary. If you pay per square, per unit, or per task, you are stuck doing math outside the system and entering flat amounts manually.
- No certified payroll. Government-funded projects require WH-347 forms with specific prevailing wage documentation. General tools do not generate these reports.
- No multi-rate support. When a worker earns $25/hour on one job and $32/hour on a prevailing wage job in the same week, general tools make this difficult.
- No field-friendly time tracking. Your crew is on job sites, not sitting at desks. You need mobile clock-in with GPS, not a desktop time clock widget.
Construction-specific tools cost more upfront in some cases. But the time you save on manual workarounds — and the money you save by actually knowing your job costs — pays for itself fast.
Hidden Costs to Watch For
The advertised price is rarely the full price. Here are the fees that show up after you commit:
Per-payroll-run fees. Some platforms charge every time you run payroll. If you run weekly payroll for your crews (as most contractors do), that is four charges per month on top of your base price. Ask if the quoted price includes unlimited payroll runs.
Tax filing fees. Basic plans sometimes include federal tax filing but charge extra for state filings. If you operate in multiple states, each additional state filing can add $10–$30/month.
Setup and migration fees. Enterprise platforms like Foundation Software and Procore often charge $500–$2,000+ for initial setup, data migration, and onboarding. This is a one-time cost, but it stings.
Integration costs. If your payroll tool does not include time tracking or job costing, you will pay for separate tools and integrations. A time tracking app at $8/user/month plus a job costing tool at $50/month adds up. Suddenly your "$40/month payroll" costs $170/month.
Year-end fees. W-2 preparation and filing, 1099 generation, and year-end reporting sometimes carry additional charges. Confirm what is included before tax season arrives.
Contract lock-in. Some providers offer lower monthly rates in exchange for annual contracts. That is fine if you are committed. But if you need to switch mid-year, early termination fees can run $200–$500+.
The best way to avoid surprises: ask for the total annual cost for your exact team size, including all fees, before you sign anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest construction payroll software?
Piece Work Pro offers a free Solo plan for one user. For small crews, the Team plan at $8–$10/user/month is among the lowest-cost options that include piece rate pay and job costing. QuickBooks Simple Start is another budget option, though it lacks construction-specific features.
Can I use regular payroll software like Gusto for my construction company?
You can, but you will run into limitations quickly. Gusto handles basic payroll well but does not support piece rate pay, job-level costing, or certified payroll. If your operation is simple — all hourly, single job site — it might work. For anything more complex, you will end up supplementing with spreadsheets.
Do I need certified payroll software?
Only if you work on government-funded projects that require prevailing wage compliance and WH-347 reporting. Many residential and private commercial contractors never need certified payroll. But if you bid on public projects, it's a requirement — not optional.
Is it worth paying more for construction-specific payroll?
In most cases, yes. The cost difference between a general tool and a construction-specific tool is often $50–$100/month. If that tool saves you two hours per week on manual job costing and payroll workarounds, you are saving far more than you are spending. And accurate job costing means you stop underpricing jobs — which is where the real money is.
How do I switch from my current payroll software?
Most payroll transitions happen at the start of a quarter or calendar year to keep tax reporting clean. Export your employee data, year-to-date earnings, and tax withholdings from your current provider. Import that data into your new tool. Run one parallel payroll cycle (process in both systems) to verify the numbers match. Then cut over. Budget two to four weeks for the transition.
Find Out What Your Crew Really Costs
Payroll software pricing matters, but knowing your true labor cost matters more. Between base wages, payroll taxes, workers comp, and insurance, your actual cost per employee is 20–35% higher than what you pay in wages alone.
Try our free Payroll Calculator to see what your crew really costs — no signup required.