LOCATION
Justin, Texas
CONTRACTOR TYPE
Specialty
TRADE
Electrical
NO. OF EMPLOYEES
140
ERP Integration
Driving Growth and Excellence: Meet Harper Electric
West Park Elementary – A modern 120,000 SF school with classrooms, admin spaces, a gym, cafeteria, and a storm shelter.
As the largest non-union electrical coHarper Electric, a rapidly growing electrical contractor based with a main office in Justin, Texas, and satellite locations in Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, has built a reputation for excellence by taking on municipal, educational, and commercial projects of varying sizes. From minor service upgrades to large-scale builds in the multi-millions, their dedicated and highly skilled team prides itself on delivering reliable results with a focus on quality and efficiency.
As their company expanded, so did the complexity of workforce management. Managing timekeeping and payroll across multiple active job sites became a significant challenge, with manual processes leaving room for inefficiencies and time fraud. Harper Electric sought a better way to track time and manage labor data to continue delivering exceptional results for their clients and ensure their team was on the same page.
CHALLENGES
Growing Projects, Growing Pains: When Manual Processes Fall Short
As Harper Electric’s projects and workforce expanded, they encountered new challenges in keeping operations efficient. With 20 active projects and 28 large jobs in progress, the team managed a complex network of job sites, crews, and payroll data. Their 140 employees, spread across a main office in Justin, Texas, and satellite locations in Austin and San Antonio, were working hard to deliver results on time and on budget.
When relying on their manual timekeeping processes and an inefficient time tracking software solution started causing inefficiencies, time theft, and payroll errors, they recognized the need for a better approach. Staying committed to their reputation for quality and reliability, they began searching for a smarter way to handle workforce management and keep pace with their growth.
“We had a lot of fraudulent hours in the system, and it was really hard to capture,” said August Grunewald, Harper Electric’s President. These challenges left project managers and back-office staff spending extra hours tracking down discrepancies instead of focusing on high-priority tasks.
Timely and accurate payroll was critical to keeping the team motivated and productive.
“Our field guys live paycheck to paycheck. It’s very important that they have their hours correct. If they don't get their correct hours, that could cause issues in the field,” Grunewald shared. “Slow production attitudes are cancerous behavior, and it can spread like wildfire.”
To keep operations running smoothly and support their growing team, Harper Electric needed a solution that could streamline timekeeping, improve data accuracy, and free up their staff to focus on driving their projects forward.
SOLUTION
Harper Electric Transforms Workforce Management with SmartBarrel
Photo caption: Berry Elementary School New 103,000 sq foot elementary school in Arlington, Texas.
To address their needs, Harper Electric turned to SmartBarrel, a time tracking solution designed to simplify workforce management and improve time tracking accuracy. By implementing SmartBarrel’s AI-powered biometric timekeeping system, they gained the tools needed to eliminate inefficiencies and better support their team.
“SmartBarrel cleaned up the information and sped up the process,” said Grunewald. “It allowed us to go from finishing payroll on Wednesday morning, sometimes running it with errors, to having it wrapped up and error-free by Tuesday afternoon.”
The system’s facial verification feature addressed previous concerns about fraudulent hours, ensuring accurate timekeeping across multiple job sites. Grunewald explained, “It really helped us limit the amount of hours that were fraudulent in the system. We could finally trust the hours being reported.”
SmartBarrel’s real-time data access also streamlined payroll processes for Harper Electric’s back-office team. “Now, when issues come up, they’re caught before we even get to payroll,” Grunewald added.
Take Back Control of Your Time Keeping
RESULTS
Efficiency Gains and Measurable Impact
Hexa Co-working Center is a tech based co working center, it was a high end tech based remodel with architectural lighting, new gear, new server rooms, and multiple offices. The building remodel totaled 65,000 sq feet.
After adopting SmartBarrel, Harper Electric achieved significant improvements in its payroll processes and workforce management.
- 20+ Hours Saved Weekly: SmartBarrel’s tools reduced the time spent on payroll corrections and manual tracking, freeing up 20 hours each week.
- 70% of Manual Data Entry Eliminated: Automated time tracking and approvals cut down on repetitive and error-prone manual entry.
- $1,290 Saved Monthly: Harper Electric was able to reduce payroll processing costs and inefficiencies.
- 20% Fewer Payroll Errors: Real-time data access and multiple layers of checks reduced discrepancies and boosted the team’s confidence in payroll data.
These results allowed Harper Electric to streamline its operations, better support its growing team, and maintain its reputation for delivering quality results.
Take Back Control of Your Time Keeping
The SmartBarrel Advantage for Complex Projects
When you have the right timekeeping tools, like our AI-powered biometric time clock that lives on your jobsite or the kiosk app for smaller sites, and the SmartBarrel software that provides real-time, 100% accurate data, keeping track of your labor hours just got a lot easier. Harper Electric is just one of the many trade contractors that have saved time, reduced errors and were able to take back control of their timekeeping efforts with SmartBarrel.
If you’re ready to welcome massive timekeeping gains into your business, contact us today to learn how SmartBarrel can help you eliminate inefficiencies, improve payroll accuracy, and keep your projects running smoothly.
Ready to move beyond outdated timekeeping?
Discover how SmartBarrel transforms your job site management with accurate timekeeping built for construction. Contact us today to schedule a demo and modernize your time tracking with SmartBarrel.
