Trade contractors outnumber GCs 400-to-1. Why has software ignored them? | Anna Berger

One bad certified payroll report from a single sub delays payment for every contractor on that job. Anna Berger, Founder and CEO of Trayd, built her payroll and compliance platform for the specialty trade contractors standard software has walked past: a workforce that outnumbers GCs 400 to 1 but runs on 2 to 4% margins. In this episode, she covers why ADP and Paychex require a fundamentally different data model to work in construction, how a single misclassification triggers a $10,000 penalty, and why implementation is where construction software keeps losing contractor trust. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open 0:42 Introductions 2:14 Anna's background 3:05 Why construction is the "sexiest industry" 5:37 Growing up in her father's construction business 7:27 Why standard payroll fails construction 10:00 Certified payroll and the $10,000 penalty 13:33 ADP's $7.50 per-report charge 15:21 The 12 hours lost to paper timecard entry 16:30 Back office as the real control center 17:48 The hidden 15 to 25% fringe benefit cost 19:00 Construction culture and the inflatable rat 22:03 Why software ignored specialty contractors 25:59 From a dating app to construction tech 27:12 Lessons from the first startup 28:41 Building with a co-founder you have known 22 years 29:40 Where construction tech keeps failing 33:12 Trayd x Tough Leaf partnership 34:41 Where to follow Anna ABOUT ANNA BERGER Anna Berger is the Founder and CEO of Trayd, a payroll, HR, and compliance platform built specifically for specialty trade contractors. A two-time tech founder and Y Combinator alumna, she previously co-founded a consumer startup and served as a founding team member at Motto. She studied Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of Michigan. RESOURCES MENTIONED Trayd: buildtrayd.com Certified payroll submission portals: LCP Tracker, eMars, elations, ecomply Federal certified payroll form: WH-347 CONNECT WITH ANNA LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annajberger If this episode was valuable, subscribe to Built Different for more conversations with the operators shaping how construction actually gets built.