For payroll and controllersHours that are right before they reach payroll.
Appello is construction payroll and job costing software for the payroll administrator and controller at a union or merit trade contractor. Each timesheet row gets its rate from the worker's agreement, trade level and wage region, with overtime, travel, board and parking on the record. Supervisors approve, you lock the week, and approved hours export to your payroll system. The same approved hours cost the job at the full labor rate, feeding WIP and QuickBooks Online.
What changes for payroll and the controller
Payroll stops being a lookup exercise, and job cost stops waiting for it.
Rates resolved on every row
Agreements with dated versions, trade levels and wage regions set each rate. Approved days keep the rates they were approved at.
Rate parts and wage regions
Each wage rate is built from its parts — base, vacation pay, health and welfare. Overtime is its own rate, not a multiplier.
Approvals and week lock
One or two levels of approval. Foremen approve or send back with a note from the phone. A locked week can't be edited.
Exports to your payroll system
Only approved hours export, to Sage 50 (Canada and US), QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Payroll4Construction, ComputerEase, Dayforce Powerpay, Avantage or a plain CSV.
Job cost at full labor cost
Approved labor lands on the job's cost codes at the full rate, next to bills and expenses. Earned versus burned shows what's slipping.
WIP and QuickBooks Online
WIP as of any date with over and under billing. Invoices go to QuickBooks Online, and paid status comes back.
A week in Appello
Vanos Insulations went from three payroll administrators to one. This is the week that made it possible.
- 1MondayLast week's timesheets are in. Rows with problems go back to the worker with a note.
- 2TuesdayFinal approvals done, lock the week. Nothing changes after the lock.
- 3WednesdayExport the approved week to your payroll system and run payroll there.
- 4ThursdayLabor is already on each job. Check the job cost report, then WIP for month-end.
- 5FridayAn agreement renewed? Add the new version with its start date. Earlier hours keep the old rates.
What Appello leaves to your payroll and accounting systems
- Running payroll, printing checks and direct deposit.
- Tax withholding, remittances and year-end forms.
- US certified payroll (WH-347) forms — Appello does not fill them in.
- The general ledger and financial statements.
- Overtime rule sets split hours automatically in bulk crew entry only. There is no PDF timesheet export.
Questions payroll and controllers ask
Does Appello run payroll?
No. Appello works out hours and rates, takes them through approval and exports a locked week to your payroll system. Your payroll provider or software still runs pay, withholds and remits taxes, and handles year-end forms. Appello's job is to make sure the hours it receives are already right, so nobody re-keys or re-checks timesheets.
Which payroll systems does Appello export to?
Sage 50 (Canada and US), QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Payroll4Construction, ComputerEase, Dayforce Powerpay, Avantage or a plain CSV. Each company picks its payroll system once, and the matching export appears on the payroll report. Only approved hours export, and once a week is locked those hours can't be edited, so the file always matches what was signed off.
Can Appello produce US certified payroll reports?
No. Appello does not fill in WH-347 certified payroll forms. It does keep wage regions with each rate split into base, vacation pay and health and welfare, and it exports approved hours by job, so your payroll system or certified payroll service starts from correct hours and rates rather than paper timesheets.
How does labor cost reach job costing?
When a timesheet is approved, its hours land on the job's cost codes at the full labor rate, next to bills and expenses. The job cost report compares that with the budget from the estimate, and earned versus burned shows which codes are spending ahead of progress. WIP then uses the same costs for over and under billing.
See it on one of your own jobs.
Built for the trades who actually do the work.
Checked against the product 2026-10-13. Customer figures are from each company's published case study.