Contractors Need People Who Solve Problems Not Assign Homework!

A very upset, irritated, angry, peeved, fuming, mad, irate, disturbed and generally unhappy contractor contacted me recently to say how much he hated webinars, classes, seminars, meetings, round tables, events, conferences, assemblies, gatherings and all other time wasters designed to sell homework!

"I need solutions to my construction company problems! Not more Do-It-Yourself instruction programs!

WOW! What an eye opener and so true! I asked a few questions to dig deeper and here is what I found:

• His construction company does general repair and light remodel work on residential and small commercial buildings

• Has between one and three employees not including himself depending on the work load

• Annual sales volume is just over $500,000 a year

• His wife works a full time job and performs the contractor bookkeeping services.

• She hates contractor bookkeeping because she is not trained in it

• The strain on their marriage is getting serious

• Heated arguments occurred when he asks for Profit and Loss or Job Profitability reports

• He started attending webinars, classes, online events, in person networking events looking for answers

• He spent money on self-study contractor improvement programs which meant homework

• At one of the networking events he met a business coach who knew nothing about construction but everything about selling his services

• They ended up paying the consultant a lot of money to educate him about construction

• In the end the consultant suggested they should pay more money for him to do extensive research on what they needed to operate and grow their construction company

• Luckily the consultant found our website and was so excited he shared it with the contractor and his wife

• It did not take long for the contractor and his wife to become one of our contractor clients

The contractor was very pleased to find out that we have a variety of programs to fit the needs of most construction company owners.

The first question was how much they wanted to "help" with the contractors bookkeeping services, similar to what happens when their clients want to "help" with construction projects. Or did they want us to do the day to day bookkeeping and monitor progress remotely? They did not have an answer to that question yet because they did not know enough about us and our contractors bookkeeping services system.

We have a construction accounting system that is flexible and allows contractors to be as involved as they want. We even have a process where they can get QuickBooks reports online by logging into a secure website without ever opening QuickBooks for contractors. See video below:

The next question was which of the Four Types of Contractors is he?

• Dog and Pickup Truck

• Salt of the Earth

• Professional

• Enterprise

He is a Salt of The Earth contractor as described below:

Salt Of The Earth Contractor

If You Are In This Contractor Group - You are the second largest group of the Four Types Of Contractors. Together you and your like-minded contractors combined production is more than the two larger groups combined due to the sheer number of contractors similar to you.

Here Are A Few Statistical Production Averages Per Person Where You Do Well:

1. Sales Dollar Volume Per Job

2. Sales Dollar Volume Per Month

3. Sales Dollar Volume Per Year

4. Marketing Cost Per Dispatch

5. Dollars of Revenue Per Billable Hour

6. Percentage Closed Sales Per Dispatch

7. Billable Hours In Standard Eight Hour Day

Your production average per person is not as high as Dog And Pick-Up Truck Contractor that is because you have employees that may not be as motivated as you; however your group is substantially higher than any of the other three contractor types according to our research and contractor studies we have been engaged in since the early 1970's.

Let Me Describe Some Of Your Wonderful Personality Traits

You Are A Wonderful Soul - You have a big heart; just not quite as big as all outdoors. You like having employees because they do not like working alone all the time. As your construction business grows you like to take time off and enjoy your hobbies, travel and vacations.

You Have One To Three - Employees because when your employees get out of line you can hold two of them by the throat; one in each hand and eyeball the third one! This is called “Construction Management”

You Will Usually Invest - Some money to build a retirement nest egg in stocks, bonds or real estate.

You Operate - Your business as a LLC, Sub-S or C-Corporation.

You Earn - $40K to $60K a year after all expenses (your business pays for a lot of what could be personal expenses)

Your Bookkeeping Needs Are - Simple and in most cases we handle all your contractor bookkeeping needs including Payroll Processing, Quarterly Reports for a surprising low cost. Business coaching is included at no additional charge along with access to The SnoKing Contractors Center.

The next question was what reports from the list below do you want?

1. QuickBooks Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Reports

2. QuickBooks Job Costing Reports Do-It-Yourself

3. QuickBooks Job Costing Reports Services Done For You

4. QuickBooks Employee Loan Reports

5. QuickBooks Job Estimate Reports

6. QuickBooks Job Profitability Report

7. QuickBooks Cash Report

8. QuickBooks Receivables Report

9. QuickBooks Payables Report

10. QuickBooks Profit And Loss Report

11. QuickBooks Balance Sheet Report

12. Other Reports For Your Construction Company

Finally we came back to the earlier question about how involved they wanted be with the day-to-day data entry and how much time and effort they wanted spend on operating and growing profits in their construction company?

 They chose to have us handle the contractors bookkeeping services and mentor them as needed to understand and using the financial and job costing reports.

It has been a relatively short while since they became clients under our care and already we are seeing marked improvements in cash flow and profitability.

QuickBooks Expert Specializing In Construction Bookkeeping Services