Built for this category
Not a generic HR tool with a checkbox for your industry. The workflows, terminology, and reports match how your operation actually runs — because the platform was designed for it from the start.
Construction & Engineering
HR, Payroll and Site Workforce Management for African Construction Firms
Site-gate GPS clock-in, daily-wage labour, subcontractor management with retention, OSH compliance, WIBA / Compensation Fund returns, and project-based cost attribution — built for African construction firms running across multiple sites.
12
capabilities
10+
African markets
USD
pricing · local currency view
Mobile · USSD · WhatsApp
every device
Site-gate clock-in (GPS + biometric)
Daily-wage payroll
Subcontractor management
Project / cost-centre attribution
Hazard / site differential rules
WIBA / Compensation Fund premium
OSH / safety compliance
Mobile foreman app
Multi-site rosters
Tap any capability to see the detail · or scroll for the full picture
Connected to payroll
Every event in this module — attendance, leave, timesheet, equipment, incident, performance — flows automatically into the next payroll cycle. No spreadsheet reconciliation, no double entry.
African by design
Statutory rules maintained for 40+ countries, mobile-money payouts, USSD self-service, WhatsApp delivery, multiple languages, offline-capable mobile app for field workers.
The problems we hear most
If any of this sounds familiar,
If any of this sounds familiar,
you're in the right place.
These are the recurring conversations with buyers in this category. We built the platform to retire each of them.
Site labour is daily-paid. Attendance is on a paper register at the gate. By month-end the foreman, site engineer and payroll clerk all have three different numbers.
Subcontractor invoices arrive with a labour breakdown that doesn\'t match what you paid the workers. Reconciliation eats a week of finance time every month.
OSH or NEMA inspectors arrive. Your safety officer audit pack — incident log, training records, PPE issuance — sits in a binder somewhere. Nobody can produce it in 24 hours.
Retention deductions on subcontractor payments — you remember to withhold but forget to release at end of snagging. Relationships suffer; retention liabilities pile up on the balance sheet.
Workers move between projects mid-month. Hours attribute to whichever project the supervisor remembered last. Cost-centre P&Ls are wrong; QS rebills the wrong project.
Hazard pay, dust allowance, working-at-height differential — different rates per site, different categories per worker. Your payroll spreadsheet has 8 tabs and you copy-paste between them.
WIBA / Workmen\'s Compensation premium calculation — different rates per job category. The annual return to NSSF Risk Department or Compensation Fund is a once-a-year scramble.
Project completion bonuses, retention releases at handover, end-of-job severance — your finance manager processes these manually after every milestone meeting.
What's built in
Features your team will actually use.
Specific tools for this category — not generic HR repackaged. Each card describes what the feature does and how it fits the way you work.
01
Site-gate clock-in (GPS + biometric)
Every site geofenced with optional biometric device support. Clock-in proves the worker was at the post. Daily attendance feeds payroll automatically — no paper register, no end-of-month re-typing.
02
Daily-wage payroll
Workers paid per day worked with partial-day rules. Auto-compute weekly or fortnightly payouts. Mobile-money or bank disbursement, same-day or next-day.
03
Subcontractor management
Vendor profile with KYC, contract execution, statutory IDs and payment terms. Labour breakdown per invoice auto-reconciles against site attendance. Retention tracked and auto-released at snagging-period end.
04
Project / cost-centre attribution
Every hour tagged to project, phase and activity. Cost reports per project feed quantity-surveying and client billing — finance reconciliation reduces from days to minutes.
05
Hazard / site differential rules
Per-site, per-category allowance rates (high-rise, underground, marine, hazardous works). Auto-applied based on the worker's clock-in location and job category, every cycle.
06
WIBA / Compensation Fund premium
Automatic premium per worker per job category, with the annual return file ready for NSSF Risk Department, Compensation Fund, or each country's workmen's comp authority.
07
OSH / safety compliance
Mobile-first incident logging for site supervisors. Safety training certifications with expiry tracking. PPE issuance with return tracking. Near-miss reporting. Audit pack on demand.
08
Mobile foreman app
Supervisors record daily attendance, approve overtime, log incidents, request PPE and submit timesheets from their phone. Offline-capable for remote sites — syncs when signal returns.
09
Multi-site rosters
Assign workers to sites by day. Relief rules. Conflict detection. Over-allocation alerts. The dispatcher sees the whole fleet of workers across every active site, in real time.
10
Project milestone bonuses
Link bonus pools to project milestones. Auto-calculate each worker's share when the milestone signs off. Approval workflow before disbursement.
11
Subcontractor on/off-boarding
KYC, contract execution, statutory ID capture, payment terms, retention rules — all in one workflow. Off-boarding closes open retentions and final payments cleanly.
12
Mobile-money disbursement
Daily-wage workers paid via M-PESA, MTN MoMo, Airtel Money or Orange Money — same-day or next-day, no bank account required. Bank fallback for senior staff.
Why modules aren't enough
Every event is wired to the next.
Most HR systems sell modules as separate products — and then your team spends every month reconciling between them. SmartHR Africa is one system. Each event in this category flows automatically into the right downstream process.
Site-gate clock-in
Daily-wage payroll
GPS-verified clock-ins at each site become attendance hours, computed automatically against the site shift template. No paper register, no end-of-month re-typing across 25 sites.
Foreman mobile attendance
Project cost attribution
Hours tagged at clock-in feed cost reports per project, phase and activity. QS sees true cost per project — reconciliation drops from days to minutes.
Subcontractor invoice
Auto-reconciliation
Labour lines on a subcontractor invoice reconcile against site attendance automatically. Variance flags before payment, not after.
Retention deduction
Auto-release at snagging end
The system flags retention releases as they become due. Nothing slips; balance-sheet retention liability stays accurate.
Incident log
OSH compliance pack
Every incident logged on the supervisor mobile app is timestamped, GPS-tagged and routed for review. The full audit pack assembles on demand for inspectors.
Project milestone sign-off
Bonus pool distribution
Each milestone's bonus pool computes per-worker shares automatically based on the contribution rules you set; approval workflow before disbursement.
Where this matters most
Live across 10 African markets.
Statutory compliance, local-currency payroll, and salary disbursement options in every market we support. Click through to your country page for in-region pricing, statutory rates, and a calculator.
Yes. Each site is a configurable entity with its own geofence, rosters, supervisors and cost code. Cross-country site work attributes correctly to the right country entity for statutory purposes.
Each clock-in event records the actual site. Hours attribute to whichever site the worker was at, not whichever the manager remembered. Cost reports stay accurate without manual cleanup.
Yes. Subcontractor invoices break into labour, materials and overhead lines. Labour reconciles against site attendance; materials reconcile against delivery notes; retention applies to total per your contract terms.
Yes. Per-subcontractor profile stores retention rate, snagging period and release trigger. The system flags retention releases as they become due — nothing slips, nothing sits on the balance sheet for two years.
Each site has a category (high-rise, underground, marine, etc.) and an allowance rate. The system applies the correct allowance based on where each worker clocked in, every cycle, automatically.
Yes. Premium calculation by job category is automatic. The annual return file is generated in the exact format NSSF Risk Department / Compensation Fund expects.
They don't need to be. The mobile foreman app is the only interface — tap to clock in workers, log incidents, approve overtime, request PPE. Designed to be usable on a phone with one hand, on a building site.
Yes. Mobile-money disbursement is integrated with M-PESA, MTN MoMo, Airtel Money and Orange Money. Same-day or next-day depending on the volume and provider.
Typically 4–6 weeks. Week 1 — site geofencing and supervisor training. Week 2 — worker import and biometric enrolment. Week 3 — subcontractor migration. Week 4 — pilot site payroll. Weeks 5–6 — full rollout.
Pricing
Simple USD pricing.
Pay per employee, monthly. Local-currency price on every country page — converted at our locked monthly rate.
Starter
Core HR for growing teams
$10.00
/month base
+ $0.50 /employee/month
- Employee records & profiles
- Leave management
- Web attendance with GPS
- Document management
- Employee self-service portal
- Mobile app access
- Email support
Most Popular
Professional
Full HR + payroll, statutory compliance built in
$50.00
/month base
+ $1.50 /employee/month
- Everything in Starter
- Full local-currency payroll
- Statutory compliance (PAYE / NSSF / NHIF / etc.)
- Performance management
- Recruitment & onboarding
- Expense claims & loans
- Training & certifications
- WhatsApp & SMS notifications
- Priority support
Business
Multi-country operations, full automation
$100.00
/month base
+ $3.00 /employee/month
- Everything in Professional
- Multi-country dashboard
- Projects & timesheets (NGO/donor reporting)
- Biometric device integration
- API access
- White-label option
- Dedicated account manager
- SLA-backed support
See pricing in your local currency on any country page →
See it work on your data.
30 minutes with our team. Bring your countries, your headcount, and the questions your finance and HR leads keep asking — we'll walk you through every module relevant to your operation.