Kenyan construction payroll, explained

The construction and payroll vocabulary used across FundiPay — from "fundi" and "muster roll" to "B2C" and "WICA" — defined in plain English.

Affordable Housing Levy

A Kenyan statutory levy of 1.5% of gross monthly pay, matched by the employer, that funds the affordable housing programme.

Work engaged by the day or task rather than a permanent contract — the basis on which most Kenyan construction fundis are hired and paid.

A fundi is a skilled tradesperson on a Kenyan building site — a mason, carpenter, electrician or plumber — usually paid by the day.

Paying construction labour by the team rather than the individual, with a gang leader responsible for the group's work and its share-out.

A virtual boundary drawn around a real place on a map — on site, a 50-metre geofence around the gate that validates where a worker checked in.

A Kenya Revenue Authority personal identification number used for tax filing, needed by employers and workers for PAYE to be credited correctly.

A Safaricom service that pays money from a business account to an individual's M-Pesa number, used to send construction wages safely at scale.

The daily attendance record of every worker on a construction site — the document payroll is built from.

The National Construction Authority, the Kenyan regulator that registers contractors and projects and inspects site records such as worker rolls.

Kenya's National Social Security Fund pension scheme, to which an employer deducts 6% of pensionable pay and adds an equal employer share.

Pay As You Earn — the income tax an employer deducts from a worker's wages and remits to the Kenya Revenue Authority each month.

Money set aside or advanced to cover wages before your own project payment lands — the bridge that keeps a site paying on Friday.

The record an employer gives a worker showing gross pay, deductions such as PAYE, NSSF and SHIF, and the net amount paid.

Kenya's Social Health Insurance Fund, which replaced NHIF on 1 October 2024 and is deducted at 2.75% of gross monthly pay.

The person who runs a construction site day to day for the contractor, managing labour, materials and progress, and approving site records.

The Work Injury Benefits Act 2007, which requires Kenyan employers to insure workers against injury and compensates those hurt on site.

Book a demo and see geofenced muster rolls, direct M-Pesa B2C payroll and the 14-day payroll float in action — bila ya kutoa.