The Short Summary:

Custom Masonry is a Texas-based contractor specializing in commercial, government, and education projects. Like many prevailing wage contractors, they were stuck juggling disjointed tools and working in Excel just to crunch hours, run payroll, and generate certified payroll reports.

After switching to Hammr, they eliminated over 10 hours/week of manual admin work, simplified certified payroll compliance, replaced disjointed tools, and gained real-time jobsite visibility - all while positioning the business to scale public work without adding overhead. And they've saved about $30,000.

🏢 Company: Custom Masonry

⏳ Founded: 1986

📍 Location: Texas

👷‍♂️ Employees: 50

🏗️ Sectors: Government, Commercial, Education

👨‍💼 Roles Interviewed: Chantz Butler (CEO) & Ben Huck (CFO)

🔨 Notable Projects: Texas State Capitol renovation, San Antonio courthouse, University of Texas, Incarnate Word University, Texas School for the Deaf, and Hotel Van Zandt

‍

A Family Business, Rebuilt for the Future

When Chantz stepped back into his family's 40-year-old commercial masonry business, he inherited more than a title…he inherited a tangled web of legacy systems, burnout, and back-office chaos.

"My dad ran day-to-day. When he passed, I took it over in my mid-20s. I had to protect the family, support our people, and rebuild something sustainable. After running it for a few years, the company needed an update." - Chantz Butler, CEO

He brought on longtime friend and finance-savvy operator Ben Huck as CFO. Together, they began overhauling every piece of the business - from estimating to payroll to compliance.

🚨 Before Hammr: Disjointed Systems, Hidden Costs, Burnout

Custom Masonry was stuck in the mud:

• Overpaying for PEOs with bloated pricing, minimal transparency, and eventually switched to Bambee for HR and payroll software.
• Manually entering hours into Excel, Procore, and Bambee, which became an avalanche of tedious workflows and tools stitched together.
• Losing 10+ hours/week preparing certified payroll reports.
• No real-time visibility into labor costs or jobsite performance.

"We’d download reports from Procore, do Excel magic, and manually enter everything into QuickBooks. Certified payroll was just an Excel and copy-paste hell." - Ben Huck, CFO

"When you add up the manual time, the disjointed workflows, and the lack of real-time data, it became obvious we were losing money and wasting our people’s time. You think you're saving money... until you’re spending half the week doing low value work." - Chantz, CEO

↺ Why They Switched to Hammr

Chantz and Ben weren’t looking for just another generic payroll vendor. They needed something modern and built for construction.

They considered E-Bacon and Proliant but chose Hammr because:

• Construction-native team that understood the field and their pain.
• Clean, easy-to-use interface that didn’t overwhelm.
• Fast iteration, personalized support, and a team that has their back.
• Modular flexibility that allowed them to grow into the product.

"I’m a people person. You guys weren’t salesy. I saw your construction roots, the check-ins, how fast you were building. It felt real. Like…these guys are building something valuable to us, let’s bet on this horse." - Chantz, CEO

✅ After Hammr: Less Headache, More Confidence

Saved ~12 hours/week by eliminating tedious work:

• ❌ No more aggregating time from Procore
• ❌ No more manual hours entry into Bambee to run payroll
• ❌ No more Excel gymnastics to split hours on private vs. prevailing wage jobs
• ❌ No more manually entering data into eMars to generate certified payroll reports

“I’d safely say all the prep work and certified payroll work used to eat up 10 hours a week.

It was so d*mn tedious… collecting hours, moving them out of Procore, figuring out which hours were private vs. prevailing wage, entering everything into Excel, then into payroll, then manually entering into another system just to generate certified reports.

All of that… just straight up eliminated.” - Ben, CFO

🕒 Centralized, Automated Timekeeping

• Field workers can now easily clock in/out with their phones and tablets
• Supervisors can monitor crews but no longer act as a bottleneck
• Geolocation helps audit and verify real-time labor

"We went from babysitting time cards to real-time insights."

⚙️ Built-in Workflows to Support Growth

• Certified payroll reports generated automatically - within 1-Click
• Labor and cost data available instantly - no more waiting on reports
• Approvals, updates, and edits now flow to the right people

“I feel like we’re finally building defined roles and scalable workflows.”

📥 Simplified Digital Onboarding

• New hires added with ease without dragging them into the office
• Paperwork handled digitally: W-4s, company-specific forms, etc.
• Employee documents and certification oragnized in one place

📱 Quick Field Adoption Across Languages

• Mobile app adapts to each worker’s phone language
• Spanish-preferred employees use it without issue
• Admins can review and auto-translate daily reports

“I thought our guys would resist it. Some aren’t super tech-savvy, and we’ve got guys who speak Spanish.

But they just started clocking in and got the hang of it. We were kinda surprised that there wasn’t a ton of moaning and growing. That was a huge win.”

🔎 Gained Real-Time Visibility Into the Business

• Daily reports + photo documentation stored in one place
• Project-level job costing without relying on Procore
• Live labor cost insights from the field

“For me, the biggest improvement has been a lot more visibility. Real-time costs going out, and real-time earnings.

I can just peek in and see what’s happening. I like the reports. I like the comprehensive nature. We can build workflows around it instead of chasing down info.” - Chantz, CEO

💥 Unexpected Wins

• Used Hammr to replace parts of Procore they didn’t need (tracking time, daily reports)
• Started using broadcast messaging to share company-wide updates
• Leveraged geo-tracking and alerts to keep tabs on high-risk employees

“We’ve only scratched the surface of what we can do with Hammr. That’s what excites us.”

🚀 Confidence to Scale, Without The Admin Burden

• Expanding into more state and federal prevailing wage work
• Avoiding the overhead of back-office hiring
• Growing revenue without growing chaos

“With Hammr in place, we can win more work knowing we’re not going to be buried on the back end.”

📊 Results That Matter

Before Hammr:

• ‍Certified Payroll & Prep = 10-12 hours / week
• Time Collection & Aggregation = 3 hours / week
• Employee Onboarding = Manual
• Data Visibility = Delayed, Siloed
• Support = Hours or Days

After Hammr:

• ‍Certified Payroll & Prep = Less than 1 hour / week
• Time Collection & Aggregation = Eliminated
• Employee Onboarding = Digitized
• Data Visibility = Real-time, Jobsite-synced
• Support = Minutes

Custom Masonry Cut 670 Hours & $30,000 on payroll by choosing a modern construction platform that natively supports the complexities of prevailing wage and certified payroll.

Favorite Things About Hammr

"It’s not bloated. It’s clean, easy, and built intentionally to add value to us…not just what’s trending." - Chantz, CEO

"The customer support. Hard to beat. First-name basis. Answers fast. It feels like an extension of our team." - Ben, CFO

One Word to Describe Hammr?

• "Honest." - Chantz
• "Nailed-it." - Ben

Intangibles: The Hammr Difference

Chantz & Ben didn’t just adopt a platform. They partnered with a team who knows the trades, builds fast, and equips them with confidence - in compliance, in payroll, and in growth.

• Support beyond software: "First name basis. Fast responses. Honest people."
• Field adoption was easy: "Easier than expected. That was a huge win."
• Growing with us: "Every feature that drops brings value to us. Not just what’s trending.”

"At the end of the day, you’re choosing the right horse for you business. Hammr is helping us get to where we’re going." - Chantz

Their Advice to Contractors Evaluating Hammr

Let’s hear what Chantz and Ben have to say about some of these things:

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

→ “As an owner, I didn’t really know how painful payroll. If someone on your team is asking to switch, let them make their case, hear them out. It might be costing you more than you realize.”

"We already have something in place."

→ “Evaluate those systems - are they costing you more in indirect time, errors, or missed visibility? We had several tools in place that costed more in software fees and manual workflows.”

"Our guys aren’t the most tech-savvy."

→ “Neither are ours. They just needed something built for them. We’ve got great guys, we’ve got stubborn guys, not tech savvy guys, and guys that speak Spanish. I think Hammr nailed it because they understand the field and how to make stuff simple.”

"Switching sounds like a hassle."

→ “I’d ask what you’re using now. Because what we were doing before? That was the real hassle.”

"If your payroll/HR person is buried or asking for a change, let them make their case. Because I thought I knew the pain. Turns out…I didn’t." - Chantz, CEO

"Zoom out. Think about the big picture. The time, stress, and workflows matter more than you think." - Ben, CFO

Bottom Line: Legacy Chaos to Modern Confidence

Custom Masonry is saving hundreds of hours, reducing overhead, and building a smarter operation with Hammr. From legacy chaos to modern control, they didn’t just change software…they upgraded their confidence to win more work, thrive in the public work sector, and redefine this next chapter of the business - Custom Masonry 2.0.

How Hammr Can Help You Nail Construction Payroll?

Doing certified payroll reporting doesn’t have to be a time-consuming, stress-inducing nightmare that could send you to therapy...

With Hammr’s prevailing wage software, we make the process simple, fast, and worry-free.

1. Generate Certified Payroll Reports in 1-Click
   • Say goodbye to manual form-filling. Hammr lets contractors generate Certified Payroll Reports with a single click. Whether you need formats for LCPtracker, DIR, LNI, or others, Hammr has you covered.
2. Track Time with Ease
   • Hammr’s mobile time-tracking app makes it dead simple for fieldworkers. Log hours across multiple projects and let the platform handle the heavy lifting — calculating multi-wages, classifications, straight time, overtime, and time off, all while keeping you compliant.
3. Automate Compliance
   • Let Hammr do the math. Our platform ensures your payroll is accurate and compliant with Davis-Bacon requirements, so you don’t have to worry about errors or penalties.
4. Streamline Fringe Benefit Reporting
   • Easily track and calculate fringe benefits. Need a Fringe Benefit Statement? Hammr lets you generate those with just a 1-click too.
5. Save Time and Protect Your Profits
   • Hammr takes the pain out of payroll so you can focus on what really matters — running your projects and growing your business. By eliminating hours of paperwork, we help you protect your bottom line.
6. Support Beyond Software
   • Hammr isn’t just software — it’s real support from people who actually understand prevailing wage, certified payroll, and fringe benefits. We work like an extension of your team, whether you’re in the office or the field.

Request a demo now and see the difference.