Win story: Recovering from a failed certified payroll implementation
Andrew Ho is a Director of Revenue at HCM TradeSeal, bringing six years of experience in the Human Capital Management industry. He specializes in demonstrating how HCM TradeSeal helps organizations streamline prevailing wage and union reporting compliance.
Customer overview
A multi-state electrical contractor with a large, distributed workforce and a high volume of prevailing wage projects. The organization operates in a complex compliance environment and relies on a modern cloud-based payroll system to manage payroll at scale.
The challenge
The company initially partnered with a certified payroll provider to support compliance requirements. However, the implementation did not meet expectations.
They encountered:
- Limited support for prevailing wage validation
- Heavy reliance on manual payroll review
- Inconsistent handling of multi-jurisdiction requirements
- Delays in reaching a fully operational state
As a result, payroll teams faced increasing pressure, and compliance risk continued to grow.
What went wrong
The initial solution focused primarily on generating certified payroll reports after payroll processing.
This created downstream issues:
- Errors identified too late in the process
- Time-consuming corrections and rework
- Limited visibility into compliance issues before submission
- Lack of confidence in payroll accuracy
The solution
HCM TradeSeal implemented a validation-first approach, embedding compliance checks directly into the payroll workflow.
This included:
- Automated wage and classification validation
- Pre-payroll compliance checks
- Standardized workflows across jurisdictions
- Reduced reliance on manual review
The transition was completed quickly, minimizing disruption and allowing the team to regain control of their payroll processes.
The outcome
- Fully operational within weeks
- Significant reduction in manual payroll effort
- Improved accuracy across certified payroll submissions
- Increased confidence in compliance processes
- Scalable workflows to support continued growth
Key takeaway
Certified payroll success depends on proactive validation—not just reporting.
By validating before payroll is processed, organizations can reduce risk, eliminate rework, and scale compliance with confidence.
About
Founded in 2020, HCM TradeSeal has become a Human Capital Management’s top choice for Construction industry compliance. Recognized as the “Prevailing Wage Compliance Service of the Year 2025” by ManageHR magazine, HCM TradeSeal offers a proven integration with the nations most popular Payroll and ERP providers.
What sets us apart? We specialize in assisting companies with complex union requirements and Davis-Bacon compliance. Our full-service rate management and validation ensure accuracy before payroll is processed, minimizing compliance risks. Furthermore, by automating wage calculations and streamlining certified payroll and union reporting, we help payroll teams save valuable time each week. With HCM TradeSeal, payroll and reporting become effortless, giving you peace of mind.
