Construction business owners know that to find a loyal client base, they must stand out from their competitors. One of the best and easiest ways to do that is to have outstanding customer service. How you treat your customers reflects your entire business. People think positively about companies that treat their customers and clients well.
Unfortunately, many small construction business owners focus much on their products and services, with customer service remaining an afterthought.
Take time to learn more about your customers.
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Topics:
Give Your Customers And Clients What They Want,
High Profit Repeat Construction Clients,
Business Process Management For Contractors,
Winning Teams
Recent employee theft statistics are increasing, and small business owners are more vulnerable to the problem. The most common embezzlement methods include billing fraud, cash on hand, and check tampering.
You may not know how employees can steal from you as a construction business owner. Some standard methods include:
- redirecting company checks to personal accounts and altering entries to cover up the theft
- undercounting change to customers and keeping the balance
- seeking reimbursement for non-business related expenses or
- pocketing inventory or supplies.
Just as you can't be 100% secure all the time, there is no way to eliminate 100% of the embezzlement in your contracting company. However, you can limit your losses and avoid most of them with suitable preventative measures.
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Topics:
Bookkeeper Embezzlement,
Embezzlement,
Contractor Bookkeeper Embezzlement,
Construction Bookkeeper Embezzlement,
bookkeeper theft,
Employee Theft
Accounts Payable keeps track of the bills owed to a supplier or subcontractor.
A proper Construction Contractor Bookkeeping System uses the Accounts Payable feature to track unpaid bills. The bank wants to get paid, and unlike the contractor who is embarrassed to call an old customer, the bank is very willing to call early and often for any outstanding payments due. Again, the banker wants to know how long it takes to pay your bills.
Another reason to keep a proper Construction Contractor Bookkeeping System is to be sure you did not overpay a supplier or subcontractor, cell phone, the internet, liability insurance, vehicle insurance, and more.
The bills keep coming depending on your payment schedule; you may receive the past reminder notice before the original invoice arrives. Some utility companies have a history of what appears to be randomly sending the original bill.
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Topics:
Construction Bookkeeping And Accounting,
Contractor Tips,
Accounts Payable For Contractors,
Accounts Payable
The key to making Xero Accounting Online work is ensuring your account is correctly set up and maintained. Perhaps you own a service and repair firm specializing in plumbing, electrical, HVAC, or maybe a handyman service or someone who does small construction projects that last from a few hours to a few days, and you only need to give your customer or client one invoice?
Suppose you've just started working with Xero; making a few mistakes while learning is expected. We see pretty common errors - and unfortunately costly - so you should be aware of them if you want to get the most out of Xero's powerful cloud accounting system.
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Topics:
Xero For Construction Companies,
QuickBooks Online Converted To Xero,
Construction Bookkeeping And Accounting,
What Is Xero Accounting Online,
Contractor Tips
Many surveys and reports show that nearly half of all new construction companies close their doors within the first five years of opening them. When we speak with contractors who failed, most say it was due to a lack of cash flow. It was pretty obvious, yet when questioned, all of them said they were "Blind-Sided" and were not aware they were running out of cash until it was too late.
There is a point when a contracting company starts to fail, and nothing short of a massive cash infusion can stop it, and a domino effect begins, which is when a series of similar or related events occur as a direct and inevitable result of one initial event.
Planning is essential to give your business the best chances for success. Planning means anticipating challenges and developing ways to successfully address them, so they don't upset your startup.
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Topics:
New Contractors,
Start Construction Company,
Profit and Growth Strategies For Contractors,
New Business Startup,
New Business,
Contractor Guidance,
Construction Business Goals
Several aspects of the construction business can only be learned through experience. One of them is negotiating contracts.
Most people fear the negotiation procedure because it is an intrinsically uncomfortable process. Asking for more money or making personal demands doesn't come naturally to everyone. But with the right toolkit, you can breeze through contract negotiations. And you'd better get used to it because you'll have to handle many contracts whether you're a construction company owner or employee.
Having the right mindset is critical to contract negotiations. You have to believe that you are going to get your way. Bring a positive attitude and a smile to the table. You're not signing contracts with the enemy. The people you're negotiating with will be your business partners in one capacity or another.
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Topics:
Construction Bookkeeping And Accounting,
Contractor Tips,
Contractor Guidance,
Construction Business Negotiations,
Negotiating Contracts
Cash flow refers to the movement of money into and out of your business. It's based on the amount of money you bring in minus the amount you spend. A positive cash flow means bringing in more than you're spending. A negative cash flow means you aren't bringing in enough to cover your expenses.
Your construction company can run into problems by not charging enough for goods or services, having late-paying clients, growing too quickly, or simply spending too much money.
Solid cash flow management is vital to ensuring your contracting business survives, but not everyone understands what cash flow is or how to manage it. That's likely what makes it a leading cause of stress for small business owners.
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Topics:
Construction Cash Flow,
Cash Flow,
Construction Bookkeeping And Accounting,
Increase Cash Flow,
Construction Systems And Processes,
Contractor Guidance
Knowing which jobs have the highest probability of success and profit before getting involved moves your construction company from an unpredictable roller coaster to a peaceful merry-go-round.
You have what appears to be a high-profit job, and now you think you have it made, and I hope you are right!
The problem is that high-profit jobs can turn into low or no-profit jobs. In some cases, they can bankrupt your construction company because you bid on the project using whatever model you are accustomed to using, and in the end, you wind up with cash flow problems.
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Topics:
High Profit Construction Projects,
Profit and Growth Strategies For Contractors,
Contractor Guidance,
Construction Business Goals
When you're a construction business owner, your to-do list is often long and constantly growing longer. You need to do many things, and it can feel like they're all urgent. In such cases, it's easy to push essential tasks to the side and focus on less-vital activities, but that often means you miss deadlines, make mistakes or always feel as though you're trying to catch up.
Construction Companies have two basic leadership styles; wait until an urgent situation occurs and react like a firefighter or develop business processes that allow the company to respond calmly and natural resources and solutions to the issues like a traffic police officer on a sunny afternoon.
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Topics:
Business Process Management For Contractors,
Winning Teams,
Construction Productivity,
Contractor Guidance,
contractor delegation
One of the biggest challenges construction company owners like you have with an in-house bookkeeper is training them to work for your best interest, not theirs, and deliver consistent results and the reports you can trust daily, year after year.
Having been involved with construction and construction accounting and bookkeeping for over thirty years, we have seen a consistent pattern repeated over and over that will turn ordinary, decent, pleasant bookkeepers into a disheveled, broken, mean, nasty, arrogant trolls, and that's a good day when the sun is shining, and the birds are singing!
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Topics:
Business Process Management For Contractors,
Winning Teams,
Construction Productivity,
Contractor Guidance,
contractor delegation
