Managing the Complexities of Construction Payroll with Deltek ComputerEase

Business accounting is complex and stressful, and doing so for a construction company is no exception. With the constant regulatory changes and updates, coupled with the ever-changing landscape that is accounting in the construction industry, it’s important to stay vigilant and proactive in how users account for their business and pay their people. Vice President John Meibers and Senior Director of Payroll Services Christopher Pelfrey discussed what they believe are best practices for contractors to better manage their business to keep their accounting accurate and up-to-date. Whether construction payroll is done in-house, outsourced to an external payroll service, or through a professional employment organization (PEO), taking advantage of these tips can save time and money by avoiding rework and adjusting more than needed at month-end.

Be vigilant against and avoid common scams. As a best practice, don’t trust anything unless you can verify it. Be aware of common scams to steal money and information and have a back-up plan. Scams that can target you and your employees include W-2 phishing scams, wire fraud scam targeting direct deposit information, fraudulent requests for direct deposit changes and viruses. In the event your business does incur an attack, your backup plan can help offset potential damages. When preparing your backup plan, check the frequency of your backups and verify the location of them – make sure these backups are happening offsite in multiple locations to increase the security of your data.

Understand the complexities around payroll across multiple state lines. If you have a job out of state, make sure you understand the requirements in that geography - is your job in a place with state income tax and/or local income taxes? There are sizeable penalties for filing your W-2s incorrectly, so when you’re bidding a job outside of your typical or local jurisdiction, have constant communication between your payroll and bidding teams to be aware of any local additional taxes for out-of-town jobs. Just by doing this step proactively helps to avoid losing profitability on the job.

Be mindful of child support withholdings for your employees. This is a very large topic in general for construction payroll. It’s important to remember that a majority of clients have withholding requirements. It is the employer’s responsibility to accurately withhold, which can be difficult with hourly employees. Pay attention to IWOs and state requirements and make sure you’re using an accounting software that has formulas preset to withhold properly.

Stay compliant with filing. It sounds simple, but filing reports accurately and on time can avoid headaches in the future. A helpful tip is to add employee election verifications on certain elections they make for payroll to avoid mistakes from what they elected to what was filed. By making sure employees are classified correctly and calculating fringe credits for each employee, you can prevent owing more cash at the month and year-end.

Identify, track, and manage evolving legislation. There is constant updating to tax and payroll legislation, both on state and federal levels. Being able to identify future impacts to your business can prevent a reactive approach to paying taxes. Surround yourself with experts in their domains and engage them often. Legislation changes fast; therefore, it’s best you can too, so try to remain flexible to understanding things can change quickly. Focus on what can be done, but don’t get lost in what can’t. While it’s critical to stay up to date and proactive on keeping your business up to date on legislation, there are resources available to you to help get back on your feet if you fall behind.

Stay ahead of the industry labor shortages. Many construction companies continue to find it difficult to fill salaried and hourly craft positions. This issue can impact the business by delaying jobs and having to pass on taking, what could be, profitable jobs. As a result, many contractors are taking on less, but larger and high-paying jobs in a narrowed geographical region. Be aware of these labor shortages and have a plan to build your teams in the event you’re awarded a job that you do not currently have the manpower to complete.

Attract and retain talent. In this industry with the labor shortages everyone is feeling, it’s critical to create a team and culture that is reflective of the workforce you need. Ensure that the workforce you need can identify with your company. Develop new talent by staying engaged with the best talent you know so that it is easy to include them when needed. For those within your organization that you want to retain and grow, create a mentorship and/or apprenticeship program to develop new skilled laborers, and establish a clear career path for your employees. Invest in developing novice talent into your most skilled and loyal talent. You may only need some of your best talent for specific jobs throughout the year, so be sure to establish a bench and stay in front of the talent that allows you to perform best and most profitably even if they are not always on your payroll.

How DCE Payroll Services Can Help

Navigating the constantly changing legislation requires a construction payroll partner that has the experience and ability to keep your business compliant in this environment. Let our experts facilitate payroll, taxes and garnishments and consult on union requirements, workers’ comp, and certified payroll topics. Ensure your employees are paid on time when not using a bank by leveraging our direct deposit services that fully integrate with your Deltek ComputerEase. Buy yourself time and let us handle all of your year-end forms and delivery so that you can focus on your business.

With the vast knowledge of construction and Deltek ComputerEase customers, we ensure accurate and timely delivery. A seamless integration with Deltek ComputerEase removes redundancies and gives you time to focus on bottom line activities. From end-to-end, Deltek ComputerEase provides one comprehensive payroll experience—with all of your support on the same team.