Layer One was winning work. Government contracts. School districts. AV installs across Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. But behind the growth, the back office was buried.

Project costs lived in Excel. Time tracking ran through QuickBooks Time. Payroll went through ADP. None of it talked to each other — and none of it gave the team what they actually needed: a clear picture of where a job stood while it was still happening.

"We were using QuickBooks Time for tracking, Excel for costing, and ADP for payroll — none of it talked."

Job costing lagged two weeks behind what was happening in the field. Labor data wasn't available until long after payroll closed. Purchase orders meant more manual entry. And with jobs spread across multiple counties and school districts — each with their own prevailing wage rules — compliance added another layer of complexity to an already fragmented system.

Something had to change.

Why They Chose BuildOps

Jason Thompson, Layer One's Founder and President, started evaluating platforms. He looked at enterprise-level solutions. He asked the hard questions like how they'd handle AIA billing.

Most vendors gave him surface-level answers. One conversation changed his mind.

"I asked one software company about AIA billing and they said, 'Yeah, we can do it,' but couldn't show me how."

"Your team said, 'Let me show you.' That made the decision easy."

BuildOps didn't just check the box. It walked Jason through exactly how Layer One's workflows would map into the platform — projects, service, job costing, purchase orders, time tracking, and their existing QuickBooks Online setup.

Layer One didn’t need more rip-and-replace or workarounds; they needed a system built for how commercial contractors actually run.

The Payoff: A Week Back Every Month

Before BuildOps, one employee spent two to three days every payroll cycle manually entering data across systems. Copying numbers from one tool into another. Reconciling what didn't match. Chasing down what was missing.

That work is gone now.

"We literally saved days every two weeks. That's a full week per month."

"It probably saved me from having to hire another assistant."

The team also closed the gap on job costing visibility. What used to take two weeks to reconcile now updates daily — tied directly to field clock-ins and purchase orders.

"We used to be two weeks behind on job costing. Now we're up to date daily."

Prevailing Wage Without the Headaches

Layer One works across three jurisdictions (Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.) each with different prevailing wage requirements. Before BuildOps, that meant manually building rate tables for every job and hoping nothing slipped through.

Now, the team builds project-specific price books inside BuildOps. Labor rates are tied to the job from the start. Compliance isn't an afterthought, it’s a priority from day one. 

What Changed?

Layer One didn't overhaul their business. They didn't rip out QuickBooks. They didn't bring in a team of consultants.

They found a platform that fit the way they already worked, and cut out the manual steps that were slowing them down.

They track $1M+ government and school projects in one place. They handle prevailing wage across three states without spreadsheets. They close out payroll faster, cost jobs in real time, and spend less time chasing paper.

"It was a fragmented system before. Now it's all in one place."