Construction payroll schedules
Construction firms favor weekly or biweekly cycles to keep cash moving to crews working unpredictable hours. Prevailing-wage compliance, certified payroll filings, and union benefit reporting all key off the same pay-period boundaries.
Recommended cadence
Construction-specific payroll considerations
Construction is the one industry where weekly pay still dominates, especially for trade crews. The reasons are practical: crews work unpredictable hours, prevailing-wage compliance keys off the workweek, and the union benefit funds that touch most commercial work expect weekly contributions. Biweekly is a common compromise for general contractors that run their own field crews; semi-monthly is rare outside the office staff.
Certified payroll filings (federal Form WH-347 on Davis-Bacon work, plus state-level equivalents in California, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois) are due weekly regardless of your underlying pay frequency. Build your schedule so the WH-347 deadline lands a comfortable distance from your pay date.
Where to look next
Pick the frequency that fits your workforce, then jump to the calendar for your state and year. The schedules already account for federal holiday observance and weekend bank closures.