There was a time when a contractor put a simple ad in the paper or a line listing in the Yellow Pages, and they would have more leads than they could handle. It was the only way to go, and the contractors who insist on that and "Word of Mouth" do not survive.

 

Could those contractors have avoided failure?

 

I believe they could have. This article explores the top reasons construction businesses fail and the three key questions that every contractor like you needs to ask to prevent failure. It would be best to answer these questions to provide a clear path to your continued and future growth and success. 

 

Contractors who did not move from simple ads that had always worked, and evolved a Marketing Plan made the same mistake other failed companies and brands made. They were unable to Innovate, Reinvent, and Evolve by having a deep understanding of what business they were in, who and what they were competing with, and by challenging themselves to understand their actual expertise.

 

 

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

I will start by quoting a short sentence found in the all-time best-seller "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth" That is an acronym; take the first letter of each word and put it together to form a different word. "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.." there is more to that, and the point is that concept applies to accounting.

 

How many times have you hired someone with the expectation they knew how construction works, and then you found out they did not have a clue about it or your particular type of construction? It happens all the time, and the first thing that crosses your mind cannot be posted on this blog. We know how much you would like to take action and fix it immediately. But before you do all that, let's go back to understanding roles to know which one you need.

 

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

Contractors, by nature, are tenacious, resilient, and have a tremendous amount of "Grit And Determination To Succeed," which means they are not easily disturbed or prone to react hastily or rashly at the first sign of trouble. This is just one of the many qualities I sincerely admire about these remarkable men and women.

 

Like you, we have callouses on our hands, having owned and operated construction companies, and some of us have served an apprenticeship in one of the construction trades. In other words, when it comes to owning, managing, and making a substantial amount of money with construction and contractor service companies, we know what we are talking about.

 

Incompetent bookkeepers can destroy your construction company and your finances. Unfortunately, until a contractor has gotten to know us, they tend to think of us as just another contractor's bookkeeping service. This means some contractors think we are crazy to suggest that any trusted employee, especially an in-house bookkeeper, would steal money from their company, so they ignore us until it is too late.

 

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

Have you been in business as a construction contractor or specialty contractor for a while, and now you are wondering what your construction company is worth?

 

Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it appears. If you are like most contractors, you learned a trade, skill, or craft, and after a while, you decided to go into business for yourself and make "The Big Bucks," which was one of the happiest days of your life. I've heard It said that boat owners experience two of the happiest days in their lives; the day they bought their boat and the day they sold it.

 

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

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

There is no better time to reflect and think seriously about your construction business. Excellent organization systems add considerable value to any business because they allow you to spend more time working on your business rather than on it.

Year over year and regardless of the economy, one thing never changes; 20% of the contractors earn and keep 80% of the profits because they have a Business Process Management Strategy like our Contractors Success M.A.P. that tells them how, what, when, where and why to focus their limited resources on the M.A.P. = Marketing / Accounting / Production.

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Topics: The Contractors Account, Construction Marketing, Construction Accounting, MAP vs. PAM, contractors bookkeeping and accounting, Accounting Software for Contractors, Contractor, Construction Productivity

Contractors want to maintain control without making any changes. "Keep doing the same thing but expecting a different result." 

Throwing the receipts in a shoebox (behind or under the seat in the truck) is the favorite way to deal with paperwork. This is "Under Managing" and frustrates everyone around them who is playing "Where's Waldo?" Job costing is nonexistent; bills are usually paid late, customers are unbilled, lost, and forgotten.

On the other hand, micromanaging every detail is an over-reaction from years of doing as little bookkeeping as possible to prepare the tax return. Knowing what to do, however, will stop you from making a big mess of it.

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Topics: How To Lower Your Tax Bill, Construction Profits, Construction Accounting, Reduce Taxes, Contractor, Contractor Tips, Contractor Operating Tips

Keeping track of sales, earnings, expenses, and purchases are 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. But despite their proven importance, many business owners dread and avoid accounting tasks.

Smart Contractors know their time is more valuable spent meeting prospective clients, putting together bids, managing job sites, and many other things other than bookkeeping. So they find someone else to do it. 

Any bookkeeping and accounting firm that does not know how to calculate complex algorithms that take into account fluctuations in the workload and generate a monthly fee that is fair to you and them they need to go back to school and take those courses on Decision Modeling, Statistical Analysis, and Business Process Management.

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Topics: The Contractors Account, Bookkeeping Services, Construction Accounting, contractors bookkeeping and accounting, outsourced construction accounting and bookkeeping, Accounting Software for Contractors, Contractor

One of the biggest concerns contractors have about outsourcing their bookkeeping to a cloud-based contractor accounting service like ours, is they think it means sending jobs off-shore rather than keeping your dollars in America where they can help other Americans. In too many cases, that is precisely what occurs.

 

Many contractors would like to subcontract out their bookkeeping services, and the two main reasons they don't is - fear of losing control and cost.

 

To paraphrase an old quote and adapt it to the construction industry, "It is not the strongest, toughest, hardest working construction contractor that survives, nor the most intelligent among them. It is the construction contractors that are most adaptable to change."

 

 

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Topics: FAQs, The Contractors Account, Construction Accounting, contractors bookkeeping and accounting, Accounting Software for Contractors, Contractor

All construction contractors have experienced bad debt's financial pain, which is defined as a customer who refuses to pay no matter what you do.

 

I've been there before, and it will probably happen again in the future. Owning and operating any business, including accounting, means sometimes you provide goods and services and not get paid.

 

When you sat for an exam or a school test and knew the material forwards and backward, it was fast and easy. The exams and tests for the classes you struggled with were the opposite.

 

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Topics: Construction Accounting, Customers, Contractor Challenges, Contractor, payment issues