UnionOPS. Built to Comply.

About This Idea

UnionOPS is an integrated payroll and project management platform built for union construction contractors. It solves the challenge of employees working across multiple locals, each of which has different pay scales, shift premiums, and benefit packages. The software starts in the field, where employees clock in using a biometric scan upon arriving at the jobsite. Using location data, a database of collective bargaining agreements, and the employee’s onboarding information, such as home local and trade, UnionOPS automatically determines the correct pay scale, calculates labor burden, fringe benefits, and taxes for the day. At the end of each day, hours worked are recorded and reported to the appropriate union local, ensuring accurate pay, full compliance, and streamlined operations.

Where Did This Idea Spark at WMU?

This idea came to me while working on a union job for Baker Construction. Many of the carpenters and laborers on the jobsite were from outside locals, meaning they had different pay rates and benefit packages. Their benefits had to be reported to the local governing the jobsite, but employees could only receive benefits from their home local. Some workers were in areas governed by different locals each day, so their pay changed daily. With so many locals and bargaining agreements, payroll quickly became complex and vulnerable to error. I wanted to create a system that could automatically determine how each employee should be paid every day.

Impact in Kalamazoo

If UnionOPS works in Kalamazoo, everyone wins. Union construction contractors save time and avoid compliance errors; employees receive accurate pay and benefits across multiple locals; local union halls get timely, correct contributions; payroll teams reduce manual work; and project managers maintain budgets and schedules with real-time labor cost tracking.

How Investment Helps

With funding, UnionOPS can accelerate development and deployment to fully automate multi-local payroll, fringe benefits, and compliance for union contractors. These capabilities are difficult to achieve without dedicated resources for software engineering, data integration, and field testing. The first local milestone will be a live pilot in Kalamazoo, where we’ll fully onboard a union contractor, track employees across multiple locals, and deliver accurate pay, taxes, and benefit distributions in real time.

What I'll Do With the Money

1. Software Development (50%) - building the payroll, project management, and compliance functions
2. Data Collection & Integration (20%) - incorporating location, employee info, and bargaining agreements (will require a secure server)
3. Field Testing (15%) - Run a trial with a local union contractor to test viability
4. Marketing (15%) - Advertising, community outreach

About the Founder

My name is Caden Boynton. I am a senior construction engineering student, a project engineer at Baker Construction, and the owner of Boynton Construction Services LLC. UnionOPS was an idea I came up with in response to the complexity of the union payroll requirements that I face at work daily.

Links

• LinkedIn Profile