HRMS Software for Construction Companies in India (2026)

A construction company runs HR across places that keep changing. Project sites open and close every few months, site engineers and supervisors move between them, a head office handles billing and procurement, and a large share of the people on site are often engaged through labour contractors rather than on the company's own payroll. Attendance has to be proven at a site that may not have existed last quarter, and pay often carries site allowances on top of salary. HR software built for a single office rarely handles this well.

This guide covers what a builder, contractor or infrastructure company in India should check in an HRMS, and where PeopleVio fits and doesn't. Construction has heavy compliance and labour-management needs that PeopleVio does not cover, so the honest section matters more here than in most industries.

What's different about HR in construction

• Sites that come and go. Every new project is a new place to take attendance, and finished sites need to be closed off.
• People who move between sites. Engineers, supervisors and safety officers often cover two or three sites in a week.
• A mixed workforce. Salaried staff on your own payroll work alongside daily-wage workers engaged through labour contractors.
• Site allowances and incentives. Site allowance, outstation allowance and project-completion incentives sit on top of base salary.
• Expenses from the field. Travel between sites, local purchases, lodging and meals, usually with paper receipts.
• Tools and equipment in circulation. Laptops, survey instruments, phones, safety gear and power tools issued to individuals.
• Heavy compliance. PF, ESI, Professional Tax, the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) rules and contract-labour obligations all apply.

What to prioritize

1. Attendance tied to a site. Proof that a person was actually at the project, whether through a biometric machine at the site office or a verified phone check-in.
2. Easy site setup. Adding a new site and retiring an old one should take minutes, not a vendor ticket.
3. Variable pay in payroll. Site and outstation allowances and incentives added per person per month.
4. Expense claims that reach payroll. Approved claims paid in the next run, not settled in cash and forgotten.
5. Asset tracking. Who has which instrument, laptop or tool, and what needs to be collected when they leave.
6. Statutory and labour compliance depth. PF, ESI, BOCW and contract-labour rules are central in construction, so verify exactly what each vendor covers.
7. Contractor and daily-wage management, if a large share of your site workforce is engaged through contractors.

How the main options fit a construction company

Platform	Fit
Keka	Strong for larger organisations with a proper HR team; more setup than a mid-sized builder may need
greytHR	Long-established in India with a compliance focus, common with multi-branch employers
Zoho People + Zoho Payroll	Works well if you already use Zoho; payroll is sold separately, so compare the combined cost
Zimyo, Qandle	Broader suites that list shift rosters, biometric integration and statutory payroll, at higher price points
PeopleVio	Fits companies that want site attendance, leave, payroll with allowances, expenses and assets for their own staff in one portal at a flat per-employee price, with the limits below

Where PeopleVio fits a construction company

• Every site as a location. An admin adds each project site as a location with a radius, and removes it when the project ends. When locations are configured, employees must be within range of one of them to check in or out.
• Server-verified phone check-in. The server measures the distance from the coordinates the phone sends, so a site check-in can't be faked from the device alone. Our geofenced attendance guide explains how it works.
• Biometric machines at larger sites. Machines that use the ZKTeco protocol (ZKTeco, eSSL, Realtime, Mantra and similar) push each punch to PeopleVio live through Cloud Server (ADMS). Machines that can't push can send punches through an API, and punch logs can be imported as CSV. See our connection guide.
• One attendance calendar. Machine punches and phone check-ins land in the same records, so payroll reads one source.
• Attendance corrections with approval. If a site had no network or a check-in was missed, the employee submits a correction request with the times and a reason, and it applies only after an admin approves it.
• Comp off for weekend and holiday work. Site deadlines often mean working a weekly off. The employee requests a compensatory day and redeems it once approved.
• Allowances and incentives as custom pay components. Site allowance, outstation allowance and completion incentives are added per employee for the month, on top of the Basic, HRA and allowance structure. They are added unprorated.
• Payroll prorated for attendance, with PDF payslips emailed to each employee.
• Expense claims into payroll. Engineers and supervisors submit claims with receipts, and approved claims are added to the next payroll run as a reimbursement.
• Asset management. Issue laptops, instruments, phones and tools to an employee, mark them returned or sent for repair, with a history on each item.
• Offer letters and resignations. Project hiring is handled with drafted, tracked offers, and resignations are employee-initiated and admin-approved.

An honest note on what PeopleVio doesn't do

Construction leans heavily on the areas below, so read this before shortlisting:

• No contract-labour or contractor management. There is no way to manage workers engaged through labour contractors, track contractor wage registers, or handle contract-labour compliance. For most construction companies this is the biggest gap.
• No BOCW compliance and no Professional Tax. PF and ESI for your own staff are calculated with the EPFO and ESIC modules; BOCW and PT stay with your accountant or a separate tool.
• Monthly salary payroll only. Payroll works on a monthly salary structure prorated for attendance. There is no separate daily-wage, piece-rate or muster-roll pay model.
• No per-worker site assignment. Employees can check in at any configured location, so you can't restrict a person to one specific site.
• No shift scheduling, rotation or overtime. Attendance follows a configured office timing with a late grace period.
• No project costing or labour-hour allocation to projects. PeopleVio doesn't split salary cost across projects or produce project-wise labour reports.
• No installable mobile app. It is a responsive web app, so site staff check in and file claims from a phone browser.

If most of your site workforce is contract or daily-wage labour, a platform built for contractor and labour compliance is the better match. If you want to run your own salaried staff well, from site engineers and supervisors to the head office team, PeopleVio covers the essentials.

A worked example: an 80-person builder with four active sites

Suppose a mid-sized builder has 40 site engineers, supervisors and foremen across four projects, 15 store and safety staff at the sites, and 25 people in the head office. Site labour is engaged through contractors and handled separately.

• Sites: each of the four projects is added as a location with a radius. When a project is handed over, its location is removed and a new one is added for the next site.
• Larger sites: the two biggest sites get a biometric machine at the site office that pushes punches live.
• Payroll: one monthly run, with site and outstation allowances entered as custom pay components, and approved travel and purchase claims paid as reimbursements.
• Assets: every laptop, total station and company phone is tagged and assigned, so an exit checklist starts with what to collect.
• Cost: at 80 employees the 26 to 100 band applies, ₹49 per employee per month on monthly billing (₹41 on yearly). That is about ₹3,920 a month, or ₹3,280 a month billed yearly, with all modules included. The band rate applies to your total active employee count, so check the pricing page for current numbers. Machines are bought separately.

Common mistakes when a construction company picks an HRMS

• Assuming one tool covers staff and contract labour. Most simple HRMS tools manage your own employees only. Decide early how contractor workers and their compliance will be handled.
• Testing attendance only at the head office. Try check-in at a real site, with real network conditions, before you commit.
• Leaving site allowances in a spreadsheet. Enter them in payroll each month so the payslip is complete.
• Not closing old sites. A finished project left as an active location means people can still check in there.
• No parallel payroll run. Run the new system next to the old one for a cycle and compare every payslip, especially allowances.

Frequently asked questions

Can PeopleVio take attendance at multiple construction sites? Yes. Each site is added as a location with a radius, and employees check in from a phone when they are within range of one of them. Sites can be added or removed as projects start and finish.

Does PeopleVio manage contract labour? No. PeopleVio has no contractor management or contract-labour compliance. It manages your own employees only.

Does it handle BOCW, PF and ESI compliance? Partly. PeopleVio calculates PF and ESI for your own staff with its EPFO and ESIC modules and generates the ECR and ESIC return files, but it has no BOCW compliance and no Professional Tax.

Can we pay daily-wage workers through PeopleVio? Not as a separate pay model. Payroll uses a monthly salary structure prorated for attendance, and there is no daily-wage or muster-roll payroll.

How do we pay site allowances? Add them as custom pay components for the employee in the relevant month. They appear on that month's payslip and are not prorated for attendance.

What if a site has no mobile network? The employee can submit an attendance correction request later with the times and a reason, and it applies once an admin approves it. A biometric machine at the site office is another option where the site has an internet connection.

How much does an HRMS cost for a 150-person construction company? On PeopleVio, 150 employees falls in the 101 to 300 band at ₹39 per employee per month (₹33 yearly), so about ₹5,850 a month on monthly billing. Compare total cost, including any separately sold payroll module, for every vendor.

Is there a mobile app for site staff? There is no installable app yet. PeopleVio is a responsive web app, so staff check in and file claims from a phone browser.

Other industry guides

If your business spans more than one sector, these guides cover similar ground: manufacturing, logistics and warehousing, retail and hospitals and clinics.

The bottom line

For a construction company, the deciding questions are how attendance is proven at sites that keep changing, how allowances reach payroll, and how much of your contract-labour and statutory compliance the software has to own. PeopleVio is a good fit for builders and contractors that want site attendance, allowance-based payroll, expenses and asset tracking for their own staff in one place at a flat per-employee price. If your workforce is mostly contract or daily-wage labour, shortlist platforms built for labour compliance, and test every option at a real site before you decide.

Want to try it with your own sites? Request a demo or check the pricing.