What is crew payroll and what does it include?
Crew payroll is the recurring — almost always weekly — payment for the labor on a jobsite. The tradition behind it is simple: the foreman kept a tally sheet and marked a line for each day a worker showed up. That attendance record is still the heart of the calculation today.
Payroll is built from three figures per worker: the days they worked during the week, their daily wage (the agreed pay for one day of work) and the amount that results from multiplying one by the other. To that you add, when it applies, any work paid by piecework, which is calculated separately. The payroll for the whole crew is simply the sum of the individual amounts.
How do you go from the attendance log to days worked?
The attendance log is the daily record of who showed up to work. From it you get, for each person, the number of days in the week they actually worked. The key is recording half days and absences correctly, because that’s where payroll usually stops balancing.
- Full day = 1: the worker put in their full shift.
- Half day = 0.5: they showed up late and only worked the morning, or left mid-shift. It counts as half a day, not a whole one.
- Absence = 0: they didn’t show up; that day isn’t paid (except for whatever your agreement or local law provides in specific cases).
- Weekly total: when you close the week, you add up each worker’s days (for example, 5 full + 1 half = 5.5 days).
Step by step: how to calculate crew payroll
The procedure is always the same, and it’s worth doing in the same order so you don’t skip piecework or the attendance log, which are the two most common sources of error.
- 1Close out the week’s attendance log
Gather each worker’s daily attendance and confirm it with the foreman. Mark full days, half days (0.5) and absences. This record is the backing for everything you’re about to pay.
- 2Count the days worked per person
Add up each worker’s days for the week, counting half days as 0.5. Example: Monday to Friday full and Saturday half = 5 + 0.5 = 5.5 days.
- 3Set each worker’s daily wage
The daily wage is the agreed pay for one day of work, and it varies by trade: a laborer doesn’t earn the same as a journeyman mason or a foreman. Use the wage agreed with each person.
- 4Calculate the amount from the wage
Multiply the days worked by each person’s daily wage: amount = days × wage. That’s the week’s attendance-based pay for that worker.
- 5Add piecework separately
If there was also piecework (paid by the work completed, not by the day), calculate it on its own: quantity of finished work × piecework unit price. Don’t mix it into the days × wage math.
- 6Build the total amount and the crew’s payroll
For each worker, add their wage-based pay plus whatever piecework they’re owed. Add up every worker and you get the crew’s total payroll for the week.
How is piecework paid, and why isn’t it paid by the day?
Piecework is a different pay scheme from the daily wage: instead of paying by the day worked, you pay by the work completed. You agree on a price per unit of finished work — per square meter of plaster, per thousand bricks laid, per piece — and pay according to how much was completed, regardless of how many days it took.
That’s why piecework doesn’t go into the days × wage math: someone working by piecework is paid for what they produced, not for showing up. Mixing the two criteria is a classic mistake that inflates the payroll. A single crew can have people on a daily wage and people on piecework; each is calculated by its own rule and then the amounts are added together.
- Daily wage: paid by the day worked (days × wage); basis = the attendance log.
- Piecework: paid by the work completed (quantity finished × piecework price); basis = the measurement of what was done.
- Never pay the same worker for the same work both ways: for that task it’s either the daily wage or piecework.
Worked example for a crew
Say you have a crew of three people in one week. The attendance log gives: a journeyman mason with 5.5 days worked and a $600 wage; a laborer with 6 days and a $400 wage; and a second laborer with 4 days (absent two) and a $400 wage.
Wage-based pay: mason = 5.5 × $600 = $3,300; laborer 1 = 6 × $400 = $2,400; laborer 2 = 4 × $400 = $1,600. Wage subtotal = $3,300 + $2,400 + $1,600 = $7,300.
On top of that, the mason did 30 m² of plaster by piecework at $50/m² = $1,500, paid separately. Their payroll for the week is $3,300 + $1,500 = $4,800. The crew’s total payroll = $7,300 + $1,500 = $8,800. Notice how the piecework was added outside the days × wage math.
What to hand over when you close out payroll
Payroll doesn’t end with the calculation: you need to leave a clear record of what was paid, both for the worker and for cost control and the project’s accounting. A solid payroll package heads off disputes and makes review easy.
- A pay stub per worker with: name, trade, days worked, daily wage, wage-based amount, piecework (if any) and total amount.
- The week’s attendance log signed or validated by the foreman, as backing for the days paid.
- The crew’s total payroll, to charge it to the labor cost of the work front or the project.
- Proof that each worker received their pay (a signed receipt or the transfer confirmation).
How to run payroll with Matterial
Running payroll by hand — closing the attendance log, counting half days, cross-checking wages and adding up piecework — is slow and easy to throw off balance when the crew grows or there are several work fronts. The key is to capture attendance on the spot and have the days worked, the wage and the piecework turn into an amount automatically, without re-entering anything into a spreadsheet.
With the attendance log and the wages in one place, every week produces a balanced payroll, with its pay stub per worker and the labor cost already charged to the project — which is exactly what gives you real control over what you spend on people.