Comparison

Workforce.com vs Project Payroll CrewTime for construction

Workforce.com is a workforce management platform with native payroll in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, and it is genuinely sophisticated at demand forecasting and labour cost modelling. Architecturally it is the closest thing on this list to what we do, because it owns both the workforce layer and the payroll layer. That is the right shape. The difference is the industry the product was designed around: retail, hospitality and healthcare, rather than construction.

15 minutes, your EBA, no sales script.

Who each one is for

Different tools, built for different environments

Both products are good at what they were designed for. The question is which environment you actually run payroll in.

Workforce.com

Multi-location retail, hospitality and healthcare

  • Businesses forecasting how many people they need on a given day against expected demand.
  • Multiple retail or hospitality locations with large casual teams and variable trade.
  • Labour cost modelling as a percentage of sales, shift by shift.
  • Independent review coverage points to roughly 51 employees and up across multiple locations as the sweet spot, and calls it over engineered for very small teams with simple scheduling needs.

Project Payroll CrewTime

Multiple sites and moving crews

  • Builders who already know who is on site on Tuesday, and need the rules attached to those hours to be right.
  • Crews paid under an enterprise agreement sitting on top of the award.
  • Site allowance by project value band, multi-storey by floor, RDO accrual and banking, fares and travel.
  • Labour costed to cost codes as the week runs, not reconciled afterwards.

Compared

Workforce.com and Project Payroll CrewTime, capability by capability

  • Owns workforce and payroll

    Workforce.com
    Yes, native payroll in Australia, the US and the UK. Same architectural shape as us, and we will say so
    Project Payroll CrewTime
    Yes, capture, interpretation, pay run, STP and super in one chain
  • Industry it was designed around

    Workforce.com
    Retail, hospitality and healthcare, where demand varies and rosters flex to it
    Project Payroll CrewTime
    Construction only, where the crew is known and the pay rules are the hard part
  • Core differentiator

    Workforce.com
    Forecasting how many people you need on a given day against expected demand, and modelling the labour cost of that
    Project Payroll CrewTime
    Interpreting the agreement that prices the hours those people already worked
  • Published pricing

    Workforce.com
    Pricing in Australia is quote based and not published
    Project Payroll CrewTime
    $15 per employee per month, published, with the payroll engine, the agreement build and CrewTime included
  • Enterprise agreement interpretation

    Workforce.com
    Award based pay conditions configured in the platform
    Project Payroll CrewTime
    We read your specific enterprise agreement clause by clause, build it into the engine and keep it current when rates move
  • Site allowances and construction specifics

    Workforce.com
    Allowances configured from roster and shift settings
    Project Payroll CrewTime
    Site allowance by project value band, multi-storey by floor, height and confined space from condition flags raised on the day
  • Multi job days with cost codes

    Workforce.com
    Shifts sit against locations and departments
    Project Payroll CrewTime
    One day splits across jobs, each block lands on the right cost code
  • Offline first punch

    Workforce.com
    Built for connected venues
    Project Payroll CrewTime
    Clock on with zero signal, queued and synced when coverage returns, plus a shed kiosk
  • RCTI for labour hire

    Workforce.com
    Not part of the product
    Project Payroll CrewTime
    Labour hire worker type with recipient created tax invoices generated from captured hours
  • Site diary and client docket sign-off

    Workforce.com
    Not part of the product
    Project Payroll CrewTime
    Equipment, works, weather, photos and client sign-off on the same record as the hours, with a docket PDF per job per day

This is the fairest comparison on the site, because Workforce.com made the same structural choice we did: own the capture layer and the pay layer so there is nothing to reconcile. If you run venues, forecast demand and want payroll in the same place, they are a serious option. If you run jobs, pay under an agreement and need site allowances and RDO banking priced correctly, that is the problem we chose. Their Australian pricing is quote based and not published, so no figure is quoted here.

Where we are different

What construction native actually means

  • How many, versus how it is paid

    Demand forecasting answers how many people you need on Tuesday. A builder already knows: the crew is assigned to the job. The hard question is whether the allowances, the RDO accrual and the agreement rules attached to those hours are right.

  • Your agreement, built and verified

    Configuring award conditions yourself keeps the interpretation risk with you. We read your agreement clause by clause, build it in the engine, and test it against synthetic pay runs before go live.

  • Published price, no demo required

    The rate is on the pricing page and the compliance audit is free and self serve. You can work out what we cost before anyone speaks to you.

  • Australian construction obligations

    Cbus and Incolink, redundancy fund contributions, RDO calendars, fares and travel, LAFHA and payday super are core, not configuration on a venue rostering platform.

More on the capture side in CrewTime, the pay rules in the EBA knowledge hub and the numbers on pricing.

Workforce.com comparison questions

Is Workforce.com bad for construction?

No, and it is the closest product on this list to what we built, because it owns both workforce management and payroll. Its strengths are demand forecasting and labour cost modelling for retail, hospitality and healthcare. Construction pay rules come from an enterprise agreement, and that is what we specialise in.

What does Workforce.com cost in Australia?

Their Australian pricing is quote based and not published, so we do not quote a figure. Our rate is published on the pricing page.

Would Workforce.com suit a small builder?

Independent review coverage suggests it fits best from roughly 51 employees and up across multiple locations, and describes it as over engineered for very small teams with simple scheduling needs. That is worth weighing if you are a 15 person crew.

Do you do demand forecasting?

No, and we do not pretend to. Rostering in CrewTime covers swing patterns, fortnight views, qualifications and R and R. Forecasting headcount against expected trade is a retail and hospitality problem, not a construction one.

What does Project Payroll cost?

Pricing is published on our pricing page, per employee per month, plus a one off setup fee per enterprise agreement we read and build.

Reviewed August 2026. Comparison based on publicly available information.

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Send us your agreement and we will show you the difference.

Tell us the award and agreement you pay under and how many on the tools. We come back with the rules we would build and what it costs.

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