eBacon is the only fully integrated platform covering all three functions that make prevailing wage compliance work: construction payroll, certified payroll reporting, and fringe benefits management. Most platforms handle one of those three in isolation. eBacon built them as a single integrated system — so the data flows between functions automatically instead of being manually reconciled across three separate tools.
SPM and eBacon chose to partner because we serve the same contractor and cover different parts of their business. eBacon owns the payroll and compliance layer. SPM owns the financial management layer. Neither does what the other does.
BY JOSH LUEBKERPublished: December 2025Updated: June 2026
THE TRIANGLE OF COMPLIANCE
THREE FUNCTIONS. ONE PLATFORM.
Prevailing wage compliance has three moving parts that all depend on each other. Get one wrong and the other two fall apart. eBacon was built specifically to integrate all three under one roof — the only platform in the industry that does.
01
Construction Payroll
Time and attendance capture. Full HRIS for the employee life cycle from onboarding through termination. General ledger and job costing integration so labor costs land in the right place automatically. Wage determination rate management including pre-determined increases built into the system. Apprentice ratio tracking that flags compliance issues before they become violations. Fringe benefit statements generated with every payroll run.
02
Certified Payroll and Prevailing Wage Compliance
Automated generation of WH-347, CA-A131, WH-38, MW-562, DAS 140/142, CAC Training Fund contributions, Statement of Non-Performance, and other required forms. Direct upload integrations to LCP Tracker, eComply, Prism, EMARS, Elation, and WA LNI — so reports go where they need to go without manual re-entry. Because payroll and certified payroll share the same data source, the reports are accurate by default rather than reconciled after the fact.
03
Fringe Benefits Management
Fringe credit calculation for all allowable employer benefits. A bona-fide fringe trust that maximizes tax savings for contractors and employees on prevailing wage projects. The only trust in the industry that allows weekly distributions — which matters for contractors who run payroll weekly and need fringe contributions to move on the same schedule. For prevailing wage contractors, the fringe layer is where most compliance errors and cost leakage happen. eBacon's integrated trust closes that gap.
WHY IT MATTERS
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THESE THREE ARE SEPARATE.
Payroll and Certified Payroll on Different Systems
When payroll is processed in one platform and certified payroll reports are generated in another, someone has to manually reconcile them. Every week. That reconciliation is where errors happen — wrong wage rates, missed fringe credits, classification mismatches. On a federal project, those errors can trigger a DOL audit, wage restitution, and debarment from future public works contracts. eBacon processes payroll and generates certified payroll reports from the same data set. There is nothing to reconcile because the source is shared.
Fringe Benefits Managed Outside the Payroll System
Prevailing wage law requires contractors to pay a total package — base wage plus fringe benefits — that meets the prevailing wage determination. When fringe benefits are administered separately from payroll, the calculation of whether the total package meets the requirement is done manually, usually by someone who is not a prevailing wage expert. Errors in that calculation result in wage deficiencies that the contractor has to make up out of pocket — often years later when an audit surfaces them. eBacon's integrated fringe trust calculates the package automatically and documents it in the same system as the payroll run.
Job Costing That Does Not Connect to Payroll
On prevailing wage projects, labor cost per job is more complex than standard work — multiple wage rates by classification, fringe benefit allocations that vary by project, certified payroll hours that have to match the job costing hours exactly. When the payroll system does not connect to the job costing system, the PM is working with labor cost data that is incomplete, delayed, or manually assembled. eBacon's GL and job costing integration pushes labor costs to the right job and cost code automatically, so the job cost report reflects actual prevailing wage labor cost without manual manipulation.
WHO EBACON SERVES
THE PREVAILING WAGE CONTRACTOR.
eBacon was built for commercial contractors who work on government-funded projects — federal, state, and local — where prevailing wage law applies. That includes public works construction, infrastructure, transportation, education, and any project that receives federal or state funding under Davis-Bacon and related acts.
The contractor who needs eBacon is running crews on projects where every worker's classification, wage rate, and fringe benefit allocation is subject to audit. They are submitting certified payroll reports to multiple agencies on multiple forms, managing fringe trust contributions weekly, and tracking apprentice ratios to stay in compliance with ratio requirements. Generic payroll software was not built for that complexity. eBacon was.
WH-347
Primary Federal Form
The standard certified payroll report required on federal Davis-Bacon projects. Generated automatically by eBacon from the same payroll data used to cut checks.
Weekly
Fringe Distribution Frequency
eBacon's bona-fide fringe trust is the only trust in the industry that allows weekly distributions — matching the payroll cycle most construction contractors run.
6+
Compliance Upload Integrations
LCP Tracker, eComply, Prism, EMARS, Elation, WA LNI. Reports upload directly — no re-entry, no manual file transfer.
WHERE SPM FITS
THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINANCIAL PICTURE.
Payroll and certified payroll compliance are one layer of a contractor's financial operation. eBacon owns that layer completely. The other layer — job costing against the estimate, overhead rate calculation, cash flow forecasting, WIP reporting, billing velocity, and monthly CFO advisory — is what SPM handles.
On prevailing wage projects specifically, SPM manages the financial implications that certified payroll creates: the overhead rate adjustment for prevailing wage bids, the fully burdened labor rate calculation that includes fringe allocations, the job costing structure that separates prevailing wage work from private work in the monthly financial reports, and the cash flow implications of public works payment cycles which typically run 60 to 90 days longer than private commercial contracts.
EBACON HANDLES
Payroll and Compliance
Time and attendance. Construction payroll processing. Certified payroll report generation and filing. Prevailing wage rate management and apprentice ratio tracking. Fringe benefit trust administration and weekly distributions. GL and job costing data feed.
Job costing aligned to the estimate. Overhead rate calculation including prevailing wage fringe. WIP reporting. 13-week cash forecasting. Billing velocity and collections. Monthly CEO Report. CFO advisory. Everything from bookkeeping through strategy — completely done for the contractor.
Certified payroll is a weekly payroll report that contractors on prevailing wage projects are required to submit to the contracting agency — typically on federal form WH-347 or a state equivalent. The report documents every worker's name, classification, hours worked, rate of pay, and fringe benefit contributions for that week. It is a sworn statement by the contractor that every worker was paid at or above the prevailing wage determination for their classification. Errors, omissions, or misclassifications can result in back wage liability, penalties, and debarment from future public works projects. eBacon automates the generation and filing of certified payroll reports directly from payroll data so the report matches the check every time.
A bona-fide fringe trust is an IRS-approved trust fund that allows contractors to meet prevailing wage fringe benefit obligations while maximizing tax savings. Under prevailing wage law, contractors must pay a total compensation package — base wage plus fringe benefits — that meets the wage determination. That fringe can be paid as cash on top of wages, or contributed to a qualifying trust that provides benefits. Contributing to a bona-fide trust reduces payroll tax liability on the fringe amount for both the employer and the employee. eBacon operates the only bona-fide fringe trust in the industry that allows weekly distributions, which matches how most construction payroll runs. Most trusts require monthly or quarterly contributions, which creates a mismatch for contractors who need to document weekly fringe credits on their certified payroll reports.
eBacon supports direct uploads to LCP Tracker, eComply, Prism, EMARS, Elation, and WA LNI — the major compliance portals used by state and federal agencies to receive certified payroll reports. Instead of exporting a report from payroll, reformatting it, logging into a portal, and uploading manually, eBacon pushes the report directly. For contractors working on multiple projects with multiple agencies, the time savings on certified payroll administration alone typically justifies the platform.
Prevailing wage projects require a fully burdened labor rate that includes fringe benefit contributions — which are typically higher than what a contractor pays on private work. If the estimate and job costing system do not separate prevailing wage labor from private work labor, the overhead rate calculation is blended and inaccurate for both. SPM builds the job costing structure to track prevailing wage and private work separately, calculates the correct fully burdened rate for each, and ensures the overhead rate in prevailing wage bids reflects the actual cost structure — not a blended rate that underprices the work.
No. Neither SPM service tier includes payroll processing or certified payroll reporting. Those functions stay with your payroll processor. For contractors on prevailing wage projects who need a construction-specific platform that handles certified payroll, fringe benefits, and compliance reporting in one integrated system, eBacon is the partner we work alongside. SPM handles the financial management layer above the payroll function — job costing, overhead rate, WIP, cash flow, and monthly CFO advisory.
Josh Luebker
Fractional CFO · The Construction CFO · eBacon Partner
Former commercial construction PM and master electrician. 150+ projects, $300M+ in volume. Founder of Sulphur Prairie Management. Author of CONTROL: The Construction Financial Operating System.
About Josh → |
LinkedIn → |
SPM on eBacon's Partner Page →
SPM handles the job costing, overhead rate, cash flow, and CFO layer. 30 minutes free. We will tell you exactly what is broken before we talk about anything else.
