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ICC is a California-based specialty contractor. Like many growing contractors entering or growing their public work portfolio, they were drowning in manual workflows, disconnected systems, and zero support for prevailing wage and certified payroll reporting.
After switching to Hammr:
But it goes deeper than just those fancy numbers:
🏢 Company: Integrated Concrete Construction (ICC)
📍Location: California
🏗️ Sectors: Commercial, Industrial, Public Work
👷♂️ Team Size: ~50 employees
👨💼 Role Interviewed: Michael Nader (Controller)
When Michael joined ICC as Controller, he didn't walk into a smooth-running back-office. He walked into spreadsheets and disjointed systems. Payroll and accounting was a top priority for him to tackle.
"They had what I'd call a bookkeeping setup. Not accounting. There was no process control and things were way too inefficient."
ICC had experience with prevailing wage but with the team ramping up on public work, they were in no shape to handle the mountain of administrative work coming their way. Michael didn't panic. But he sure as hell wasn't going to keep wasting 20+ hours every pay period manually entering and reconciling data line by line.
So he started looking for a fix.
ICC's process before Hammr was tedious at best:
"Just payroll entry and reconciliation took a full day every pay period," Michael said. "Then I'd double-check that it matched the spreadsheets."
And when prevailing wage came into play:
"QuickBooks couldn't support prevailing wage and fringe components. I had to enter separate line items for every wage component - base rate, fringe, vacation, training - for every employee, every day. It was just draining our time."
ICC's old manual payroll process was bleeding time and money:
Michael initially evaluated Paycom - a provider he had worked with in a previous role, but the sales experience left a bad taste.
"It was pushy. All fluff, no substance. It felt like dealing with a car salesman. Pushy follow-ups, generic answers, and no clear answers of how Paycom could handle prevailing wage. I wanted someone who understood what we were dealing with."
What ICC needed was a purpose-built tool for construction. A cloud-based solution that could natively handle certified payroll reporting, prevailing wage, job costing, and field operations.
When Michael mentioned they needed something to help with prevailing wage, a Project Manager said: "Talk with Hammr. That's what they do."
The moment Michael got on a call with the Hammr team, the difference was night and day.
"You guys knew construction. You knew prevailing wage. You walked me through how it actually worked. That's what built trust."
The Hammr team didn't rush the sale. They listened, answered technical questions, and gave Michael the space to evaluate.
"You explained how to set up prevailing wage, how certified payroll reporting worked, what to look out for with compliance, and how it all integrated. That gave me confidence."
Michael also appreciated the consultative approach.
"You weren't trying to sell me. You were actually solving my problem."
Since switching to Hammr, ICC's results speak for themselves:
That's equivalent to 22+ weeks of full-time work returned to the business.
"I don't dread prevailing wage jobs anymore. We're set up to handle them."
"Our field crew isn't super tech-savvy, but they picked it up. Smoother than ClockShark. Now it's all integrated together so all that manual entry is eliminated and we're not hand keying that data into payroll or accounting anymore."
"I thought it was pretty cool when the co-founders stopped by for tacos and training. I thought to myself, these guys care about their customers."
Michael's "aha" moment came during a federal job billing cycle.
"The GC asked for a certified payroll report. I pulled it up in Hammr, picked the format, clicked download, and sent it off. GC replied: 'Perfect. Thank you.' That was it. It was beautiful."
Before Hammr, ICC dreaded prevailing wage projects:
"Even small public jobs felt like too much overhead."
After Hammr:
"I don't care if it's a federal job or what agency it's with. We're set up to handle it."
Instead of avoiding public work, ICC now sees it as a growth opportunity. And a profitable one.
From implementation to support, Michael has been vocal about the team behind the tools.
"I've emailed the Hammr team, and five minutes later I get an answer. That gives me confidence. You guys care. That's rare."
Michael knows that Hammr won't leave him hanging.
Sure, saving hundreds of hours on payroll is great. But the real impact goes deeper:
Evenings and weekends belong to families again. The team isn't staying late wrestling with payroll. Office staff aren't chasing down field workers for context on who worked what, where, and when. The field crew isn't anxiously waiting to see if their paychecks will be right. People go home when they're supposed to go home.
The field team sleeps better. No more wondering if their OT got calculated correctly or if those prevailing wage rates are messed up. Their paycheck is right, and they know it's coming on time. That peace of mind is everything when you've got bills to pay and a family to support.
They chase prevailing wage jobs instead of avoiding them. ICC used to see "prevailing wage" and think "not worth the headache." Now they're actively pursuing it as a competitive advantage. It's become an opportunity, not a fire drill. The workers love it because prevailing wage means better pay to support their families.
No more 2 AM panic about certified payroll. You know that feeling when you're lying in bed wondering if you made a mistake on the reports? Hoping everything looks good so the contractor releases the payment? That stress and anxiety are gone. Michael actually looks forward to clicking the magic "generate" button and sending them...instead of dreading the process.
"If you're doing prevailing wage, or even thinking about it - go with Hammr."
"It's not just good for certified payroll. It's good for job costing, reporting, and streamlining payroll overall."
ICC didn't switch to Hammr because things were perfect. They switched because growth was coming. And they knew their old systems weren't scalable.
Michael didn't join ICC to fight spreadsheets. He came in to help them grow into better systems and become a more confident and profitable business.
"With Hammr, we're ready for it."
Long story short: ICC got their time back and their money back. Over 881 hours saved.
And here's the real win: Hammr isn't just payroll software - it's a tool acting as a growth enabler. They went from avoiding prevailing wage work to actively pursuing it. This is what happens when your systems work for you instead of against you.
Hammr isn't just payroll. It's about peace of mind and more profitability.
Want to learn more? Book a call with our team now!
