Home / Compliance desk

Public works · California

The compliance department you don’t have to hire

Certified payroll, roster checks, and public-works compliance, run every pay period by people who do this all day. For certified payroll, that means done-for-you: we prepare it, check it against the governing determination, and get it submission-ready once you’ve reviewed and e-signed. You get a full compliance function without adding headcount, and every price is published in full on this page: you’ll know what each service costs before you ever book a call.

$175Sub roster check, per sub
$575Roster monitoring starts here
$1,350Certified payroll, done for you, per active job
$995Smallest bid-desk engagement

Who this is for

Contractors and subcontractors on California public works who want certified-payroll compliance handled correctly, every pay period, without building the function in-house. Whether you run a few crews or a full bench, the exposure is the same: a single lapsed certificate or one misclassified hour can become a real financial event. We handle the review, the monitoring, and the paperwork so your team can stay on the job.

Start here · priced per sub, no call required

Sub roster check

Instead of a discovery call or a proposal, you get a dated, sourced scorecard on every sub, pulled from public records, in a form that goes straight into the job file. $175 per sub commercial, $425 per sub public works, three-sub minimum.

What we check on every sub

  • CSLB license: status, classification, and whether the classification actually covers the scope you are giving them
  • DIR public-works registration: active under Labor Code §1725.5, which your CSLB license does not cover and does not extend to your subs
  • Workers’ compensation and certificate currency: in force, and what it actually says
  • Debarment: the DIR debarred-contractor list and the federal SAM exclusions list

What gets checked, and by whom. Certificates and lien deadlines are checked by software. CSLB, DIR debarment and SAM exclusions are checked by a person. Every deliverable marks which lines were checked by software and which by a person.

The terms, in full

  • $175 per sub, commercial scope.
  • $425 per sub, public-works scope. Adds DIR registration, apprenticeship status, and debarment screening.
  • Three-sub minimum per roster.
  • Returned once we have a usable list.
  • Scope and price confirmed in writing before the check starts.

Those prices are real numbers rather than a soft suggestion, and they are applied to everyone the same way. Full detail on the Sub Roster Check page.

Where most contractors start

Four service tiers

Each rung stands alone. You can buy the third without the second. The order is only how contractors tend to arrive: a check, then the watching, then the payroll, then the bid desk. Four rungs are the front door, not the whole firm. The rest of the catalog sits further down this page.

1

Sub Roster Check

The door-opener · one-time

License, DIR registration, insurance currency, debarment. Every sub on your list read out of the public records and handed back as a dated, sourced scorecard. Priced per sub, three-sub minimum.

What’s in the scorecard

$175 per sub, three-sub minimum
$175 commercial · $425 public works
2

Roster & Payables Monitoring

The recurring core · monthly

The watching, continuously. License, insurance and registration status on every sub, tracked as it moves, plus the lien waiver owed against each payment application and the Public Contract Code §7107 retention clock. What lands on your side: a live roster, an alert the day something changes, a monthly report, and the chase letters already drafted for you to send under your own name.

Both tiers and every band

$575 commercial tier, 1 to 10 subs
public-works tier from $850/mo
3

Certified Payroll Review

The high-value attach · monthly, per active job

Your certified payroll, read every week against the DIR determination that governs the job. Base and fringe by craft. Overtime under Labor Code §§1813 and 1815. Apprentice registration and the ratio floor, DAS-140/142 status, travel and subsistence, and the monthly CAC-2 training-fund package. Findings come back with the statute cited and a dollar figure attached; once you review and e-sign, it's submission-ready for DIR eCPR — you submit it with your own PWCR login, or, where a portal accepts an authorized submitter, we file it on your written authorization.

What gets checked, and what doesn’t

$1,350 one active public-works project
2 to 3 projects $3,500/mo · 4 to 6 $6,750/mo
Start with one week: $495 flat
4

Bid & Prequalification Packages

Episodic · flat fee per package

Bid-walk attendance with a written observation report. Package assembly with every listed sub’s license and DIR number verified before it goes in. Agency prequalification packages, and Public Contract Code §4104 substitution requests. Document preparation only. You are always the bidder of record.

Every package and price

$995 bid walk + written report
bid package $2,250 · prequal $3,400

What lands in your inbox

One finding, exactly as it reaches you

This is rung three, certified payroll review, in miniature: a held line reads like this (the worker, the craft, the number, and the statute behind it) before you decide anything.

Certified Payroll Review · Finding 4 of 18 Week ending 2026-08-15 · Job No. 22-114
Sample
WorkerWorker •41
Craft / classificationElectrician · Journeyman
FindingFringe paid $19.10/hr against $27.30/hr required by the governing determination
Gap, this week$328.00
Lab. Code §1773.1 ↗
HELDDoes not clear. Correct and resubmit; the certification stays yours.
Illustrative sample, not a client record. Dollar exposure estimates are conservative planning figures produced from the statutory ranges, not predictions and not legal opinions. Aeternus Dynamics is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.

The rest of the firm

Everything else we offer

These four are what a small GC on public work needs first, nearly every time. Everything else we do is further down, priced the same way.

Consulting, bidding and government work

  • Owner’s-representative & construction consultingOwner’s-rep oversight, program controls and operational advisory, plus CPM scheduling support, estimating and quantity takeoff, and document control for RFIs and submittals.
  • Government contractingFederal and state pursuit and bid-list work, SAM.gov registration, set-aside, 8(a) and MBE certification support, and facility-maintenance opportunity sourcing.
  • Permits & the counterSubmittals lodged, plan-check corrections tracked and routed, documents collected and delivered, with a dated status record for your file.

Reporting, vendors and property

  • Reporting & certificationDBE/MBE participation reporting, OSHA safety recordkeeping, worker classification under AB 5, and I-9 and E-Verify administration.
  • Property managers & vendorsVendor compliance for property managers, and subcontractor sourcing and bid-list assembly when your list is short a trade.
  • Payables, insurance & renewalsPreliminary notices and lien deadlines, lien-release and payment-application compliance, certificate-of-insurance tracking, and registration and licensing renewals.

See the full service catalog

Every price on this site is the price. Government filing fees, DIR registration fees, and agency portal fees pass through at documented cost with the receipt attached, never marked up.

Rate card effective 2026-08-19 · quotes valid 30 days

The part most firms leave out

What runs behind the desk

Who does the work

Aeternus Dynamics is a California minority-owned firm. The LLC is active with the Secretary of State; you can search the register to confirm its standing and read the filing. It is principal-led: the person who takes your call makes the judgment calls and puts their name on the work.

Behind that are three years consulting for a licensed California general contractor on both sides of this paperwork, bidding and administering public work and auditing the certified payrolls that came out of it: bid walks, complete public-works bid packages start to finish, subcontractor onboarding, and owner’s-representative work. Every certified payroll is read against the governing DIR wage determination before it is filed, and every finding is traceable to the statute or federal rule behind it: held, cited, and quantified rather than merely flagged.

Certificates and lien deadlines are checked by software; license, DIR, debarment and exclusion lookups are checked by a person. Every deliverable marks which lines a machine checked and which a person did; we never present one as the other.

What you can test before paying anything

  • The Sub Roster Check.A real deliverable on your own subs, priced per sub, no meeting booked. It is the product done once, not a discount on it.
  • Termination for convenience.Three-month minimum on the recurring lines, then thirty days’ written notice, written into the engagement letter. If it is not working, you leave.

What we are not, stated plainly

Aeternus Dynamics LLC holds no CSLB contractor license. Nothing on this site is an offer or advertisement to perform construction, repair, improvement, or the supervision of means and methods, and none of it may be read that way (Business and Professions Code §§7027.1, 7028). Every service described here is documentation, verification, monitoring, review, preparation, or filing submitted on the client's own authorization and certification.

On work we perform for you, you are the bidder of record and the contractor of record: we never sign your bid, never sign as your contractor of record, and never perform, direct, schedule, or supervise any physical work. We never represent you before the Department of Industrial Relations, the Labor Commissioner, or DLSE, and we do not respond to a Civil Wage and Penalty Assessment on your behalf. We do not opine on whether an insurance policy is adequate; that is your broker’s job. We do not place or broker bonds. We do not file, serve, or enforce a lien: we track the statutory deadlines and prepare preliminary notices, releases and payment-application documents for you or your counsel to execute. We do not issue legal conclusions.

On its own contracts, Aeternus Dynamics does bid and contract directly with public agencies as bidder of record, for the services it lawfully performs, which are compliance administration, documentation, verification, monitoring, and consulting. It is a California minority-owned limited liability company. The line is construction, not bidding: without a CSLB license, construction, repair, improvement, and the supervision of means and methods are outside its scope for every buyer, public or private.

Aeternus Dynamics is a compliance and advisory firm, not a law firm, not a CPA firm, not an insurance producer, and not an engineering firm. Nothing here is legal advice. Our full scope limits are in the Terms & Disclosures, which form part of every engagement.

Questions we get asked first

Common questions

Are you a licensed contractor?

No. Aeternus Dynamics LLC holds no CSLB contractor license and does not advertise, offer, bid, perform, or supervise construction, repair, or improvement work of any kind. Every service on this page is documentation, verification, monitoring, review, or preparation. On work we do for you, you remain the bidder of record and the contractor of record: we never sign your bid. On its own contracts, Aeternus does bid and contract directly with public agencies for the compliance and administrative services it lawfully performs; what it never bids or performs, for anyone, is construction.

Why are your prices published?

Because a price you cannot see is a price you cannot plan around. Every rate for the four Compliance Desk services is on this page, so you know what the work costs before you book a call. If a number doesn't fit your project, you find that out in ten seconds instead of after a meeting.

Do you contract with public agencies directly?

Yes. Aeternus Dynamics is a California limited liability company, active on the Secretary of State register, and it bids and contracts in its own name for the services it lawfully performs: compliance administration, documentation, verification, monitoring, and consulting. What it never bids or performs, for any buyer, is construction: the firm holds no CSLB license, so construction, repair, improvement, and the supervision of means and methods sit outside its scope entirely.

What do I get to test before I commit?

The Sub Roster Check is a real deliverable on your own subs, priced per sub, before you have booked a meeting or committed to anything recurring. The recurring lines run on a three-month minimum and then terminate for convenience on thirty days’ written notice, written into the engagement letter. Certified Payroll Review is billed monthly per active project.

Do I have to change my payroll or project-management software?

No. We do not replace your payroll system, your accounting package, or your project-management platform, and we do not ask you to migrate anything. We work from what you already produce.

Will you submit my certified payroll to the agency portal for me?

On the Certified Payroll plan, we prepare the payroll, check it against the governing determination, and return findings with the Labor Code citation. Once you review and e-sign, DIR's eCPR portal has no authorized-submitter option, so you make that submission yourself with your own PWCR login and we walk you through it; on LCPtracker, eMars, or another agency portal that does accept an authorized submitter, we submit it on your written authorization. The certification is still a sworn statement only you can make, so nothing goes out until you've signed off, and you remain the employer of record throughout.

Is any of this legal advice?

No. Aeternus Dynamics is not a law firm, does not provide legal advice, does not represent anyone before DIR or DLSE, and does not issue legal conclusions. Findings are delivered with the statute cited, so that you and your counsel can act on them.

Who actually reads my payroll: a person or software?

Both, in that order. The mechanical checks run first, then a person reads every finding before it reaches you, makes every judgment call, takes the phone call and signs off. Every deliverable tells you which lines were checked by software and which by a person.

Do you work statewide?

Yes, across California. For bid walks and on-site work outside the Los Angeles region a stated travel surcharge may apply, priced in the open rather than buried in a quote.

Can I buy just one of the four?

Yes, each line stands alone. If you take both monitoring and certified payroll for the same client, the smaller of the two is discounted 10%, because the roster, the wage determinations, and the standing call are already paid for once.

Configure and sign it yourself Pick the services, see the estimate, sign online.

Aeternus Dynamics uses AI-assisted tools to help prepare and check compliance documents; all deliverables are reviewed by a qualified human before submission or use. Aeternus Dynamics is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Prices on this page are the current published rates for the four Compliance Desk packages, effective 2026-08-19. Every price on this site is this rate card's price. See our Terms & Disclosures.

Send your sub list

$175 a sub on commercial scope, $425 on public works, 3-sub minimum, and no call needed. A spreadsheet, a PDF, a photo of the bid tab, or the names typed into a box all work.

Start the roster check

Or email it to hello@aeternusdynamics.com