So You Are Starting A Construction Company. Perhaps yours will be building houses, a handyman business or a specialty contracting company like a plumber, electrician, HVAC, concrete or Landscape Company. Whatever it is congratulations you have or will be taking a big step toward being the Master of Your Own Destiny!
This Is The Most Popular - and yet the hardest and least profitable way to operate a construction company. Contractors thinking and doing what they did while working for somebody else instead of thinking and doing what a business person does.
This Is The Most Popular - and yet the hardest and least profitable way to operate a construction company. Contractors thinking and doing what they did while working for somebody else instead of thinking and doing what a business person does.
Production Is The First Thing - they think about and do and it happens when a contractor has one or two jobs from friends and relatives. They do what they have always done....they put their tool bags on and go to work!
There is a perception - They have very little or no overhead and since they want to make a name for themselves they work real cheap.
Some contractors - Refuse to markup materials or sub-contractor invoices because they want to save their customers money. In the end they go bankrupt and lose everything. Please understand everybody needs to benefit from all transactions to keep things fair. If you as the contractor spend time, effort and expertise you deserve to be paid a fair and reasonable amount to cover your labor, taxes and overhead.
Some Big Hearted - Good Natured Contractors labor under the illusion that if they work real hard and keep their prices low their business will magically prosper. The reality is they own a JOB, with little or no health insurance, no retirement fund and no benefits that they can never leave or sell because nobody buys a JOB!
When Tax Forms - Nasty letters, assorted mail and phone calls from your local Department of Revenue, Workers Compensation Board, Unemployment Department and the IRS 940 and 941 notices pile up you will start thinking about your bookkeeping problem.
After You Bounce Some Checks - Pay bank fees and pay returned check fees to the stores. Go to another bank and repeat the process twice more you will really think hard about your need for contractors bookkeeping services.
The Bookkeeping Path Is - Start out trying to Do-It-Yourself / Get Stuck / Take A QuickBooks Class / Still Stuck / Hire Cheap Bookkeeper / Lose Sleep / Get Aggravated / Outsource your contractors bookkeeping service and start making money!
When The Low Hanging Fruit - Friends and relatives with "honey-Do-Projects" are done they wait for referrals to come rolling in and yet for some unknown reason the phone hardly ever rings.
When The Phone Rings - It is a "Customer" Not a "Client". There is a HUGE difference between them. A "Customer" is looking for an "honest contractor" also known as someone who works for less than dirt wages and will throw in lots of extras at NO CHARGE!
Business Cards - Are printed and words like "Quality" "Best" "Low Prices" which means nothing because Quality and speed are the standard operating procedure now. The question is what makes this company different from all the other contractors? What is their USP (Unique Selling Proposition)?
This Is The Least Popular - and yet the most profitable way to operate a construction company. Contractors thinking and acting like a business person.
Stop, Look, Listen And Think - Understand the impact of the 80-20 Rule for contractors
20% of your customers normally generate 80% of your net profit.
20% of the goods or services you sell contribute 80% of your revenue
20% or 2 out of 10 of your staff create 80% of the value for your customers.
By generating daily reports that uncover the best customers, jobs, services, or products, you will soon see how you can refocus your internal efforts on doing more good work.
This is the great contribution a company receives from good QuickBooks® data and from using QuickBooks® the ‘right-way’.
What are you good at and what do they love to pay you money to do for them? What jobs have you done that made a positive difference in people lives? What projects did you have so much fun doing that time seemed to fly by?
Take the information - Outlined above and write a story to describe the people you enjoy working for because they are your "Prime Customers" and they are your target market.
Document - The demographic and psychographic profiles of the people you enjoy working for and why.
Develop Your Business Plan - Using the Eleven Steps Program and pay close attention to the marketing section because that is where you will decide what niche of the construction market you will dominate. Know that in time your company will become legendary to such a degree you clients will be raving fans and referrals will be part of your marketing strategy. Nordstrom has been very successful at this and it would be wise to learn from the leaders.
Outsource Your Contractors Accounting Services - To a firm that specializes in Construction Bookkeeping and Accounting because it is a chore for you and in most cases we can do the job for much less than an in-house bookkeeper because we have a system.
But Wait There's More- We have remote servers which means you can have 24/7 access to your QuickBooks desktop version
Learn To Read Your Financial Reports - We can guide you on which reports to pay attention too and why certain reports can make you more money than other ones. Learn More about the KPI Reports Here
The Final Stage - To launching your successful construction firm. This is where all your hard work pays off. At this point you have some basic operation manuals in place for your field and office employees. It is the document that answers the same questions you will be asked 100's of times. It is the Wikipedia of your company. "This is Who We Are And This Is How Things Are Done Here".
Now You Have - A road map to success and all you have left is to assemble the tools, equipment, employees and setup your trucks and/or vans and go to work!
For Construction Company Owners who do not need the full power of QuickBooks for contractors and want 24/7 online access we offer Xero Accounting Online and we have custom setup for construction companies. Click Here For More.
This Is One More Example of how Fast Easy Accounting is helping construction company owners all across the USA including Alaska and Hawaii put more money in the bank to operate and grow your construction company. Construction accounting is not rocket science; it is a lot harder than that and a lot more valuable to people like you so stop missing out! Call Sharie 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com and schedule your no charge one-hour consultation.
Profitable Contractors and Construction Company owners have known about the value of outsourced bookkeeping services and contractor coaching services like ours for a long time and now you know about it too!
We Scan Your Receipts And Invoices link the appropriate transactions to QuickBooks or Xero Accounting Online depending on the construction accounting service you are using and provide ongoing Cloud Based Contractors Bookkeeping Services by accountants who understand construction.
About The Author:
Our Co-Founder Randal DeHart - Is a Certified PMP (Project Management Professional) with several years of construction project management experience. His expertise is construction accounting systems engineering and process development. His exhaustive study of several leading experts including the work of Dr. W. Edward Deming, Michael Gerber, Walter A. Shewhart, James Lewis and dozens of others was the foundation upon which our Construction Bookkeeping System is based and continues to evolve and improve. Check out our Contractor Success Map Podcast on iTunes and Follow Randal on Google+