Compliance
The exposure that surfaces at audit
On public and bonded work, compliance is not administrative tidiness. It reaches the contract. Getting classification or certified payroll wrong brings back-pay liability, and on government work it can put your eligibility for the next job at risk.
Where it goes wrong
Subcontractor and payroll compliance
Certified payroll is unforgiving
Public work requires wage reporting on a set cadence, against determinations that vary by trade and by locality. Late or incorrect filings draw penalties, and on some contracts they hold up payment on work you have already completed.
An undocumented sub becomes your employee, and his pay becomes your payroll
This is the exposure most contractors underrate. A sub who cannot be documented as genuinely independent gets reclassified at audit, and his payments are added to your payroll base. On a contractor running several million through subs, that arrives as a single assessment rather than a series of small corrections, and it is not fixable once the auditor has scheduled.
Classification is decided by conduct, not paperwork
Whether a crew is employed or subcontracted turns on how the work is actually directed, not on what the agreement says. Direction, scheduling, tools, and who carries the business risk all weigh on it. Construction gets examined closely, and a reclassification reaches back across prior periods with payroll tax and penalties attached.
Missing documents surface at the worst moment
W-9s, lien waivers, and current insurance certificates are easy to collect at the start of a relationship and difficult to chase afterwards. They tend to be missed precisely when a payment, a lien deadline, or a claim depends on them.
Comp and liability audits are won before they start
Workers compensation rates vary sharply by class code, and crews on the wrong code cost real money at audit. General liability audits work the same way: uninsured subcontractors get picked up in your exposure base. Both are decided by documentation you either have on file or do not.
What this covers
What arrives, and when
- Certified payroll prepared and filed on the cadence each contract requires
- Prevailing wage determinations tracked by trade and locality as work crosses jurisdictions
- Subcontractor onboarding: W-9s, lien waivers, and insurance certificates collected and kept current
- Year-end 1099 preparation and filing, reconciled to what you actually paid
- Worker classification reviewed, with the genuinely close calls escalated to a specialist
- Workers compensation audit support, with class codes reviewed before the audit rather than during it
- General liability audit support, so uninsured subs are not picked up in your exposure base
This sits inside one engagement rather than being sold as a line item. What it costs depends on your contract volume, your entity and payroll-state count, and how much of the compliance substrate sits with us. We scope it against your numbers and put it in writing before you commit.
How the engagement worksQuestions
What contractors ask about this
What is certified payroll?
On public and federally funded projects, contractors must report the wages paid to each worker on the job, on a set schedule, against a wage determination that specifies minimum rates by trade and locality. The report certifies that the required rates were paid. Requirements vary by jurisdiction and by contract, and they are enforced.
How do I know if a crew member is an employee or a subcontractor?
It turns on how much control you exercise over how the work is done, not on the label in an agreement. Direction, scheduling, tools, and whether the person carries their own business risk all matter. Construction is examined closely on this. We review your arrangements, flag the risky ones, and bring in the right specialist when a call is genuinely close, because it is a legal determination rather than a bookkeeping one.
What happens if worker classification is wrong?
A reclassification generally reaches back across prior periods, bringing payroll taxes that should have been withheld, interest, and penalties. On public work it can also raise questions about contract eligibility. The exposure grows with time, which is why a review before an audit is worth far more than a defence during one.
Do you collect subcontractor documentation for us?
Yes. W-9s, lien waivers, and insurance certificates are collected at onboarding and kept current as they lapse, and year-end 1099s are reconciled against what you actually paid. It runs as part of the compliance substrate rather than as something you have to remember to request.
The rest of the engagement
This does not work on its own
WIP reporting and bonding capacity
Work-in-progress schedules, over- and under-billing analysis, and bonding capacity support for commercial contractors. Presented the way a surety underwriter reads it.
CFO advisory for contractors
Cash forecasting on draws and retainage, contract margin against estimate, and decision modelling for commercial construction contractors. Advisory that comes out of running the function.
Construction tax strategy
Revenue recognition method election, look-back, equipment timing, entity structure, and multi-state exposure for commercial construction contractors.
Find out what your position actually looks like
Bring your current schedule and your last two years of statements. We will tell you what a surety sees, what is holding your capacity down, and what the work to fix it looks like.
Talk through your position