The power of effective bookkeeping using QuickBooks Desktop - plus an Important Update from Intuit.

Keeping track of sales, earnings, expenses, and purchases is fundamental to your construction business's overall health and sustainability. Effective bookkeeping produces the data you need to evaluate your current practices, anticipate challenges, and set attainable future goals.

Many business owners dread bookkeeping and accounting tasks despite their proven importance. In fact, 40% of surveyed entrepreneurs claim that bookkeeping is one of the worst parts of running a business!

Is it worth the aggravation?

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Topics: QuickBooks For Contractors, QuickBooks Desktop Cloud, quickboooks setup, QuickBooks Features Contractors, quicbooks, Contractor Guidance

Most businesses understand that customer satisfaction is crucial to their success. Happy clients are likelier to remain loyal, refer others, and leave positive reviews. This trend has only been amplified by social media and online review sites, where negative feedback can spread quickly and damage a company's reputation.

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, more than an effective customer service system is needed: you must provide customers with a positive and memorable end-to-end experience at every touchpoint. Creating powerful experiences that exceed consumer expectations can have massive implications for any business — from increasing brand loyalty and trustworthiness among current clients to being highly attractive to potential customers. 

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Topics: Give Your Customers And Clients What They Want, High Profit Repeat Construction Clients, Contractor Guidance, Building a Construction Business

Managing a hectic schedule and complex projects can be challenging if you're a contractor. You must also ensure that your paperwork, documents, and contracts are in order. It's essential to keep a paper trail of your work and practice due diligence. 

Keeping all your working documents in order shows that you treat your business, customers, and subcontractors responsibly. This is a mark of professionalism and can also help if you have an insurance or legal claim.

Contractor paperwork documentation and procedures

You should develop documentation and record-keeping procedures appropriate for your contracting operation or service if necessary. Once procedures are in place, it is equally important to ensure everyone understands and follows them. 

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Topics: Construction Bookkeeping, Construction Bookkeeping And Accounting, Bookkeeper, contractor bookeeping services, Contractor Guidance

Small construction businesses have several characteristics that distinguish them from larger firms. These characteristics include having a limited workforce, smaller revenue streams, and a more localized focus. 

They are often run by the owners themselves or a small team of employees. They tend to have a more personal approach to their work, as they are usually more involved in every aspect of the project. Due to their size, they are often more flexible and able to adapt to market or project scope changes. However, they may also face challenges such as limited resource access, difficulty securing financing, and increased competition from larger firms.

Over the years, we have had many successful construction clients. The seasoned ones have become lifelong friends and are now retired, living according to their terms. And several are still working according to their schedule with quality, high-paying clients.

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Topics: MAP vs. PAM, Secrets Of Highly Successful Contractors, Construction Forecast, Contractor Guidance, Construction Business Goals, Construction Business Budget

In the world of small businesses, positive cash flow is king. The driving force keeps your business engine running smoothly, covering all your liabilities. But what happens when outflow exceeds inflow? Cash flow problems ensue, threatening the survival and growth of your construction business.

These cash flow problems can originate from various sources, including macroeconomic issues like recessions, natural disasters, wars, and microeconomic problems like business decisions and performance. However, careful planning and smart accounting practices can cushion or even avoid these financial blows.

Managing cash flow is a vital part of running a successful construction business. Some contractors think managing cash flow means tracking how much money enters and leaves their business, but more goes into it. 

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Topics: Cash Flow, Contractor Cash Flow Problems, Increase Cash Flow, Construction Forecast, Contractor Guidance, Improve Construction Cash Flow

If you're like many construction business owners, you may need help understanding your finances or how you can use your financial information to make decisions for your business. We often get into business because we love a product or service we want to provide, but it's less common that we love managing the financial aspects of our business. 

 

As a construction company owner, you have the best chances of success when you regularly set budgets, develop financial forecasts, and establish goals. Budgeting, forecasting, and goal-setting are best business practices that can help you stay on track and ensure long-term success. 

 

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Topics: MAP vs. PAM, Secrets Of Highly Successful Contractors, Construction Forecast, Contractor Guidance, Construction Business Goals, Construction Business Budget

Stepping up your marketing game as a construction business owner is always a welcome topic in my client conversations. Often, contractors chat with me about the best way to promote their company, primarily because no one else is running it. 

 

You may focus more on accounting and taxes at times, and at other times, your business may slow down, and sales become more challenging. Given this trend, establishing and maintaining connections with existing and potential customers has become more critical. 

 

So, if you're looking to do some construction business promotions to attract more quality clients, what do you do, especially on your own? Here are some practical tips that I highly suggest to consider:

 

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Topics: Marketing Ideas For Contractors That Work, Construction Marketing, Contractors Emergency Marketing Plan, Secrets Of Highly Successful Contractors, Contractor Guidance

Running a small construction business may seem like hopping from one task to another, needing more support and guidance. That can make it tempting to let some to-dos on your checklist slide, especially those related to finances, which can be challenging and are often outside your preferred skill set or experience. 

 

The issue, of course, is that clients can only pay you once you've invoiced them. And as you make your salary a top priority, you can also pay yourself. You need an invoicing system that makes the process less painful—or even removes it entirely from your hands.

 

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Topics: Do What You Do Best And Outsoure The Rest, Secrets Of Highly Successful Contractors, Contractor Guidance, Get Paid On Time, Construction Business Owner Salary

Contractors like you know how to pound nails, pour concrete, build homes and commercial structures, bend pipe and pull wire, install roofs, lay carpet, paint walls, and perform a thousand other tasks. So why are you not enjoying the same standard of living as other professionals? Because you are doing all of those things for anybody and everybody who asks you to.

 

Too many contractors are overworked, undervalued, and underpaid. We seek to change that for as many contractors as possible as we know how almost every sound, solid, hardworking, well-intentioned contractor is going out of business or barely scraping by, and that has to end here and now.

 

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Topics: No Charge consulting, Secrets Of Highly Successful Contractors, Contractor Guidance, How To Charge Clients, Value of Construction Contractors

As a construction company owner, you're the architect of your business's vision and culture. But some of the foundation often needs to catch up in the hustle to improve services, chase sales, and keep the lights on. Core values—those guiding principles that shape your company's identity—are more than words on a wall or a statement in a handbook.

 

Getting leads and doing the work is only part of the answer. Not answering them and acting on the knowledge is why many construction companies wither and die. They focus on the wrong areas to innovate or improve. They focus on the wrong enemy and threat. As a result, they need to catch up on what they could be doing to succeed and prosper over time.

 

Is the elevator pitch you used a year ago – even six months ago – still accurate? Unless you are crystal clear on who you are as a construction company, whom you're here to serve, and what you hope to achieve in the next one to three years, it will be hard to come up with meaningful goals.

 

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Topics: Secrets Of Highly Successful Contractors, Contractor Guidance, Core Values of your Construction Business, Core Values