Payroll for how crews actually work
Done right and on time by a payroll-certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor
What happens every pay period
With SmithWorks Back Office™, your records are kept and filings are done. No guessing, no hassle.
- Your crew clocks in on their phones from the job site, tagged to the job. You approve the hours.
- I calculate wages and overtime.
- You approve.
- Employees get paid by direct deposit.
- Your federal and state payroll taxes are paid.
New hire? I help with new hire paperwork and W-9 collection so you’re set for 1099s and W-2s at year’s end, well before the January deadline.
What I don’t do: tax returns. Your CPA keeps your taxes, and I make sure payroll never gives them (or you) a surprise.
The SmithWorks Back Office difference
What I offer that other payroll specialists don’t:
- Hands-off payroll for owners. I don’t sell you software to run. Your crew taps in and out on their phones, you tap “Approve,” and I do the rest.
- Cleaner wage reporting. Your bookkeeper and CPA get clean numbers, so you’ll be ready when the workers’ comp auditor calls.
- Labor cost by job, not by guess. Hours come in tagged to the job the crew was on. Your one-page monthly report shows what each job really cost you in wages, so you bid the next one with real numbers.
- Threshold monitoring. I watch headcounts that trigger new rules and subs who start to look like employees. You hear from me before you hear from the state.
One page, once a month
This is what the report looks like for a 10-person electrical crew. The company and numbers are made up. The format, the local comparisons, and the last paragraph are what you get every month.
The month in four numbers
- Total labor
- $48,753
- Wages as a share of revenue
- 30%
- Overtime share of hours
- 6%
- Loaded cost per hour
- $31
Wages plus employer taxes and workers’ comp. 10 people, 4 payrolls.
$42,029 on $138,000 invoiced. U.S. electrical contractors run about 28%.1
91 of 1,571 hours. August was 4%.
On a $26 average wage, taxes and comp only. U.S. construction averages a $36 wage and $52 all in, with health and retirement.2
By job
| Job | Reg hrs | OT hrs | Gross wages | Taxes + comp | Total labor | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Alfred warehouse buildout | 412 | 38 | $12,194 | $1,951 | $14,145 | 29% |
| Cypress Gardens Blvd retail TI | 296 | 22 | $8,554 | $1,369 | $9,923 | 20% |
| Winter Haven custom home | 268 | 14 | $7,514 | $1,202 | $8,716 | 18% |
| Haines City panel upgrades | 230 | 11 | $6,409 | $1,025 | $7,434 | 15% |
| Dundee service calls | 184 | 6 | $5,018 | $803 | $5,821 | 12% |
| Shop, training, travel | 90 | 0 | $2,340 | $374 | $2,714 | 6% |
| Month | 1,480 | 91 | $42,029 | $6,724 | $48,753 | 100% |
Against Polk County
- Your crew’s median wage is $26.00 an hour. The Lakeland–Winter Haven median for electricians is $26.40; for helpers, $17.98.3
- Lowest rate on payroll is $17.50 an hour. Florida minimum wage moved to $15.00 on September 30. Nobody is near it.
- Headcount is 10. The next set of employer rules starts at 15.
- W-9s on file for 5 of 6 subs. One to collect this month, not in January.
What I’d do this month
Lake Alfred warehouse buildout ran 38 overtime hours. The time-and-a-half premium alone was $494, about 4% of that job’s wages, with taxes and comp on top. If the bid assumed straight time, that came out of margin. Rotate a second crew before the next warehouse job, or bid the overtime in.
Detail by employee attached.
The report changes with the business. One owner may want to see turnover and who has gone longest without a raise. Another may want revenue per employee or to see who calls out on Mondays. You tell me what you need to see, and that’s what the report will show.
SmithWorks Back Office pricing
You get one service, priced simply:
- A one-time setup fee of $750 for a clean start at the quarter, $1,250 for a mid-year conversion
- A flat monthly base, plus a per-employee rate with a small per-contractor fee for subs paid through payroll
A 10-person crew paid weekly runs about $325 a month, everything included. No contract.
The bottom line: I run payroll the way your company actually works, not the way the software wants it to. Every crew is different, and I set up payroll around your crew versus a one-size-fits-all template.