Automating Prevailing Wage Compliance with AI

briq Product Team · Workforce Solutions · Feb 2026

How Otto eliminates the manual burden of certified payroll, Davis-Bacon compliance, and multi-jurisdiction wage tracking.

Prevailing wage compliance is one of the most labor-intensive, error-prone processes in construction operations. For contractors working on public projects, it's also non-negotiable — violations carry real penalties.

The challenge is complexity. Wage determinations vary by project location, trade classification, and funding source. A single contractor working across multiple states might be managing dozens of different wage schedules simultaneously.

Otto automates the entire process: pulling the correct wage determination based on project location and funding source, classifying worker hours by trade and task, calculating fringe benefits and overtime, and generating certified payroll reports in the required format.

The system handles the edge cases that trip up manual processes: split classifications (when a worker performs work in multiple trades during a single pay period), apprenticeship ratios (ensuring compliance with registered program requirements), and retroactive wage adjustments (when determinations are updated mid-project).

For contractors running certified payroll manually, the time savings alone justify the investment. But the bigger value is compliance confidence — knowing that every payroll submission is accurate and audit-ready.