One classic mistake construction business owners make when money gets tight is stopping marketing or cutting their budgets. At first glance, it seems logical to cut down your expenses during harsh economic conditions. However, in reality, it's the opposite of what you should do.

 

When your construction company is struggling, cutting your marketing budget will further hurt your business. During this time, you should go the extra mile to be at the forefront of the minds of your clients and prospects. With an effective marketing strategy, you should be able to increase sales.

 

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Topics: Increasing sales, Systems And Processes, Contractor Marketing, Contractor Tips

Solid cash flow management is vital to ensuring your 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 construction business owners.

 

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 you're bringing in more than you're spending. A negative cash flow means you aren't bringing in enough to cover your expenses. Your company can run into problems by not charging enough for goods or services, having late-paying clients chronically, growing too quickly, or simply spending too much money.

 

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Topics: The Contractors Account, Systems And Processes, Construction Company Cash Flow

Every business needs a financial plan. Your financial plan gives you a way to monitor and review your cash flow, make adjustments to your spending, and anticipate any upcoming economic issues. It can also make you more prepared to request funding or find investors so you can bring more money into your construction business.

 

Although many business owners are aware that financial planning is essential, it is often overlooked. Without a financial plan, however, you could find your business doesn't make the money you expected it to—or you could wind up with unanticipated expenses and no way of paying for them.

 

If you are a contractor, you are most likely a "doer," someone who gets things done, not now but right now! When you see anyone not swinging a hammer, drilling holes, pouring concrete, laying carpet, putting paint on the walls, or a thousand other construction tasks, the first thing you think is they are wasting time and money, and you want no part of that nonsense!

 

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Topics: The Contractors Account, Construction Bookkeeping And Accounting, Systems And Processes, Business Planning For contractors, Contractor Tips, finance

Owning a construction company and being an employee requires different mindsets and attitudes or paradigms. Both positions are natural enemies and generate tension, leading to various diseases; mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual.

 

Construction workers live in the real world, where everything can be seen, heard, felt, tasted, and sometimes smelled. They can look around and see evidence of their activities. Their long-term time horizon in years past was two weeks, which is why most payrolls are paid every two weeks. With various check cashing and payday loan outlets, their long-term time horizon has been replaced with now and right now!

 

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Topics: The Contractors Account, Contractors Bookkeeping Paperwork, Construction Bookkeeping And Accounting, Systems And Processes, Contractor Tips

Randalism: A Partnership is the only ship designed to sink.

However, we understand your preference, so I would like to talk about it in this blog post.

Joint ventures are a bit like change orders. They can be an incredible opportunity to make or lose much money very quickly. Almost as quick as betting money on a roulette wheel in a casino.

Joint Ventures have their own accounting rules. The devil is in the details. How costs and profits are shared among the participants depends on how the joint venture is structured and the terms of the agreement.

Contractors with annual sales of less than $10,000,000 often get together to work on a specific project. They find a friendly competitor to supply labor and equipment for a percentage of the job, hourly fee, or a flat number. This could technically be a "Joint Venture"; however, the time and scope are generally short and sweet. For example, a concrete contractor may have a large project requiring more finishers than on staff.

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Topics: Construction Bookkeeping And Accounting, Contractor Tips, construction business partnership, business partnership

The construction manager is conditioned to avoid emergencies by being proactive. It is necessary to have systems in place to deal with emergencies when they arise. After the crisis has passed, the effective project manager evaluates the root cause of the trouble and implements change in the system to avoid a repeat performance.

It’s also one thing to manage workers when they’re all in the same place at the same time. However, when you run a construction business with field workers, things can get a lot more challenging. Not only are you typically not on the same job site as them, but you might also have workers scattered over a variety of sites and projects. 

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Topics: Systems And Processes, Construction Project Managment, Project Management, Contractor Operating Tips, accountability, Construction Accountability

If you ask 100 business owners what they like least about running a business, the chances are good that bookkeeping will rank high on the list. It's an annoying and frustrating chore that takes up much time and is easy to put off until tomorrow.

Moreover, Construction Companies have unique bookkeeping needs. Some bookkeepers and bookkeeping systems may cost you more than they are worth in salary, fees, and loss profits because you cannot get QuickBooks reports and financial reports when you need them. Chances are, you are suffering from bookkeeping pain, and your bookkeeper or accountant is overwhelmed trying to figure out how to do construction accounting.

Good bookkeeping leads to informed decisions. Avoiding your bookkeeping is dangerous, however. For example, not knowing your construction company's financial situation can result in a series of missteps that could ultimately cost you your business.

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Topics: Builders Bookkeeping Services, Accountant, Bookkeeping Services, Construction Accounting, Contractor, Contractor Tips, Contractor Operating Tips

How are you and your construction business? Have you considered what you'd like to achieve in the coming twelve to eighteen months? Or maybe your set of priorities for the next half of 2021?

 

Contractors like you are typically highly creative and optimistic; thus, you often have difficulty narrowing down your ideas from among all the exciting possibilities, whether it's an opportunity to expand to a new market or choose a better time management strategy. 

 

While some of you love planning, others feel overwhelmed by the process. So how do you decide on just a handful of goals that take priority, with so many moving parts that make up a construction business?

 

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Topics: Construction Strategy, Systems And Processes, Secrets Of Highly Successful Contractors, Contractor Operating Tips, Construction Business Goals

Hiring or not hiring employees is one of the few optional things the business owner chooses, changes their mind, or changes direction as needed. With so much discussion about employees, payroll, and payroll taxes, you may feel that you miss out on not hiring many employees. The reality is that as a small business owner, you do not have to hire employees.

The two extremes in any business are "Too Many People" (with many looking busy) and "Too Few" (a handful are overloaded). An example of Too Many People is for a midsized firm having everyone with access to the accounting. I mean everyone from the "Shop Guy," Warehouse, Outside Salesman to Accounting Staff.

Depending on the size of the construction business, this might be necessary. However, for most companies letting everyone have access to the balance in the company checkbook creates "White Noise" and causes friction.

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Topics: Hiring Employees, Systems And Processes, Contractor Operating Tips

Every business experiences slow periods when the market for their goods or services lessens and sales drop. Construction business owners like you might be tempted to view downtimes as unproductive or wasted, but there are ways you can make the most of your business during these seasons.

Here are five ways to ensure this time isn't wasted:

1. Take a good look at your business

When things are busy, it gets easy to fall into a habit of taking care of day-to-day tasks and forgetting your overall business picture. However, slower times are an excellent opportunity to step back from the daily grind and ask yourself if your business is still moving towards its goals, what opportunities or challenges are on the horizon, and whether it's time to try something new.

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Topics: Construction Bookkeeping And Accounting, Construction Company Cash Flow, Contractor Tips