It hurts when we have to let a contractor client go elsewhere because we are not able to help them. We sincerely believe we can help ALL contractors have more freedom, by earning more money, working fewer hours and sleeping better at night by taking the pressure their contractors bookkeeping services so they can focus on financial reports and job costing reports QuickBooks for Contractors reports instead of data entry.
In a few rare cases contractor clients have wanted specific financial and job costing reports but they flatly refused to allow us to make changes in their contractors bookkeeping services system which would have made it possible.
These are good men and women who appear to sincerely believe themselves to be a "Pearl of Wisdom in a Sea of Ignorance". Some of them continually repeat a line from comedians such as "You can't fix stupid!" and "If you want anything done right you have to do it yourself!" and finally "It's my way or the highway!"
We understand they are operating from a primeval survival instinct of "Fight or Flight" which means these good people are reacting to circumstances rather than responding to them. People have a great advantage over other inhabitants of this planet in that between stimulus and response there is a space, and in that space in the opportunity to make a choice to stop, think, evaluate and then respond.
In many cases contractors have spent the day with one of us and just talked it all out. Having someone who cares enough about you as a person and understands what it is like to own and operate a construction company, who pays attention to you and shows respect by turning off cell phones and other interruptions and just listens and makes a sincere effort to understand you and what you have to say without judging or offering solutions or attempting to sell you something may be just what you need.
Oftentimes that is all it takes for a contractor to get clear about the direction they need to steer their construction company. There is a reason you were called to join the ranks of the family of construction company owners and sometimes in the middle of it all you tend to forget that. Once you re-connect with your purpose it can be a great awakening which can lead to great accomplishments.
Another group of contractors we cannot help are the good men and women who insist on using QuickBooks Online which appears to work well for a lot of industries, but construction is not one of them, and expect to get all the same financial and job costing reports they can get from QuickBooks for contractors desktop version online. The issue is having access to QuickBooks For Contractors desktop version online costs a few dollars more. These same contractors know better than to buy low cost tools and designed for homeowner's weekend fix up projects and expect to use them in their construction company.
Contractors with unreasonable expectations:Bringing your construction accountant an Excel sheet or piece of paper with grand totals for sales, expenses and net profit without any supporting documentation and expecting us to put it into QuickBooks for Contractors and generate financial reports.
Downloading transactions from the bank works well for a lot of industries; but, NOT construction. There are many different places transactions need to be coded too. Expecting the bank to know which item, schedule of values, account, customer, job name, job costing account, work-in-process account, direct and indirect cost account, expense account, liability account, asset account, split transaction account or other income and expense account each transaction needs to go to is NOT going to happen.
Chaos from paying vendors online and expecting the bank to know which bill, accounts payable, item, schedule of values, account, customer, job name, job costing account, work-in-process account, direct and indirect cost account, expense account, liability account, asset account, split transaction account or other income and expense account each transaction needs to go to is NOT going to happen.
Treating the contractors accounting services system like driving down the freeway at sixty miles per hour, setting cruise control, and then moving to the back seat to take a nap.
The good news is over the years a number of contractor clients that we have parted ways returned a while later. The most common reason given is that something clicked in their head and they realized that everything we said was being validated by other trusted sources. We do not have all the answers, just a few key ones that seem to work well for contractors.
You are a contractor; you have the right to be wealthy and an obligation to share your gifts and talents with the world by bringing value to other people's lives. And if we can be of service to you please feel free to contact us. It does not cost a dime to chat for a while.
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