PayKeeper · AC 478 Program
AC 478 accreditation, clause by clause.
Document control for metal building assemblers, built to the IAS AC478 criteria: the management system, the cross-reference matrix, the training matrix, the safety program and the submission — kept current, signed and filed on the Mac.
The criteria
What AC 478 asks for, and where PayKeeper answers it.
IAS AC478 — the Accreditation Criteria for Inspection Practices of Metal Building Assemblers — sets out in Section 4 what an assembler must document and do. It is the accreditation the MBCEA — the Metal Building Contractors & Erectors Association — has championed for the trade, and asks owners and specifiers to require. PayKeeper carries the June 2026 text, 44 requirements, and reads your own documents against it.
4.2
General Requirements
The criteria: The legal entity, the key personnel, the cross-reference matrix, the three-year safety report, the subcontracted-labor rules.
In PayKeeper: Company Facts and Roles hold the people and the facts; the cross-reference matrix (4.2.2) is drawn from the marks in your management system, not typed by hand.
4.3.1 – 4.3.2
Basic Information and Required Statements
The criteria: What the documented management system must say about the company and commit to.
In PayKeeper: The management system is one controlled document, revised and approved in PayKeeper, with every required statement marked to its clause.
4.3.3
Control of Documents
The criteria: Procedures for the control of documents relating to safety and training programs, and of project documents.
In PayKeeper: Document control is the product: revisions, approvals, signatures, the register of every form and template, and the job manual with its sections in force.
4.3.4
Training Program Documentation
The criteria: Who must be trained in what, and the records that show it.
In PayKeeper: The training matrix by role and Who Needs What per person — what is held, what is owed, what expires when — with the crew’s acknowledgements signed on the phone in CrewKeeper. The courses are yours to name: MBI’s Quality and Craftsmanship series, OSHA cards, the manufacturer’s training, your own.
4.3.5
Safety Program Documentation
The criteria: The written safety program, its policies and its records.
In PayKeeper: The safety program as a controlled document; pre-task plans, toolbox talks, site audits and equipment inspections signed in the field and filed into the job folder from the office.
4.4
Onsite Job-specific Assessment
The criteria: IAS assesses a jobsite on its schedule.
In PayKeeper: The job manual and the crew’s records are in the job folder, revision by revision, so the assessor sees what was in force on the day.
The training matrix, kept.
Roles across the top, requirements down the side; each person’s Who Needs What shows what is held, what is owed and when it expires. The acknowledgements are signed on the phone in CrewKeeper and land here.
Already accredited? Bring it in.
Your management system, your signed matrix and your policies come in as they stand — their text, their revision, their approver, their date. Nothing is asked of them. The program takes over from the next revision, and Suggest Citations gives the clause marks a head start.
Planning to become accredited?
Start with the people who run the program.
IAS grants the accreditation and assesses the jobsites. The MBCEA championed the program and walks its members through it. MBI trains the crews. PayKeeper is where the documents live once you are on the road — these are the places to read first.
IAS — AC478
The accrediting body: the criteria, the application and the assessment schedule.
MBCEA — AC478 Accreditation
The Metal Building Contractors & Erectors Association: why the trade asks for it, and the help its members get.
MBCEA — The complete guide
What it is, why it matters, what it costs and how to get accredited.
MBI — Metal Buildings Institute
The MBCEA’s education arm: the Quality and Craftsmanship training series for assemblers.
AC 478, asked and answered
- What is AC 478?
- AC 478 is the International Accreditation Service’s Accreditation Criteria for Inspection Practices of Metal Building Assemblers. It sets out, in Section 4, what an assembler must document and do: general requirements, a documented management system with basic information, required statements, control of documents, training program documentation and safety program documentation, and onsite job-specific assessments by IAS. The June 2026 edition took effect July 1, 2026. The MBCEA, the Metal Building Contractors & Erectors Association, championed the program and helps its members through it; its education arm, MBI, the Metal Buildings Institute, provides the trade’s training series.
- What does the AC 478 Program in PayKeeper do?
- It is document control built to the criteria clause by clause: your management system as a controlled document with each requirement marked to its clause, the cross-reference matrix drawn from those marks, a checklist that reads your documents and says what is still open, the safety submission, the training matrix and Who Needs What, and the acknowledgement the crew signs. The crew’s field forms come from CrewKeeper on their phones and are filed from the office.
- We are already accredited. Do we start over?
- No. Bring in your management system, your signed matrix and your policies as they stand — their text, their revision, their approver, their date. Nothing is asked of them. The program takes over from the next revision, and Suggest Citations gives the clause marks a head start.
- What does it cost?
- $749.99 a year, with a two-week free trial, bought in PayKeeper on top of a SiteSuite plan. If it lapses, nothing filed or in force is taken away; the accreditation tools go read-only until renewed.
- Does MBI training fit the training matrix?
- Yes. The matrix carries whatever your program requires, by role: MBI’s Quality and Craftsmanship modules, OSHA 10 and 30, equipment certifications, the manufacturer’s erection training, your own toolbox topics. Each person’s record shows what is held and what is owed, and the acknowledgements are signed on the phone.
- Does it replace our safety consultant?
- It keeps the documents in order and shows what is still open; the content is yours. Many assemblers keep a consultant for the program’s substance and use PayKeeper to keep it current, signed and filed.
- Is PayKeeper only for AC 478?
- No. PayKeeper is the office end of SiteSuite — job cost, payroll entry, pay applications and the crew’s safety forms for any small construction company. The AC 478 Program is the first safety program sold on top of it.
The accreditation, lived a year at a time.
$749.99 a year · two-week free trial · sold in PayKeeper for Mac, with a SiteSuite plan.