Getting paid correctly and on time by customers can be a constant frustration for business owners. Communicating your terms is the best way to ensure you aren't out of pocket – or are left chasing debtors.

Investors, developers, and shrewd business people designed the most popular method - those who understand the concept of divide and conquer - it is when contractors get little or no down payment for a construction project, do all the work, including change orders, and then try to collect their money.

What often happens is that contractors hate paperwork preferring to keep everything in their heads. Then when it comes time to collect their money, they have to re-sell the job and talk their customer into parting with their money.

 

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Topics: Construction Company, Payment Collect, Payment Applications, Contractor, payment issues, Payment Terms

Without proper tracking and matching of income and expenses, most construction companies never know if they made a profit until the job is over. Due to your work's nature, as construction contractors provide services on a per-job operation, issuing invoices make it all the more challenging and complicated than it has to be. The good news is that it doesn't have to stay that way. 

 

What should you include on your invoices to get paid faster? Even if you've been running your business for a while, you might be missing other information that you should include. So here is a step-by-step guide on what to include on your invoices.

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Topics: Payment Collect, Invoice With Smart Phone, Invoice With Tablet, QuickBooks Construction Accounting, payment issues

Construction company cash flow is the movement of money in and out of your contracting business; these movements are known in accounting circles as inflow and outflow. 

 

Inflows for your construction company primarily come from the sale of goods or services to your customers, but keep in mind that inflow only occurs when you make a cash sale or collect on receivables. Cash is king! Other examples of cash inflows are borrowed funds, income derived from sales of assets, and investment income from interest.

 

Outflows for your construction company are generally the result of paying labor, material, other direct and indirect costs of goods sold and overhead expenses.

 

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Topics: Payment Collect, Contractor, Contractor Tips, finance, Contractor Operating Tips

Estimating and submitting bids are one of the most stressful and nerve-wracking sides of your construction business. It is essential to keep in mind that "break-even" in the construction business is challenging to calculate because most projects are one-of-a-kind custom jobs. Proactive contractors have systems and cost libraries with pre-priced assemblies for bidding, which works in conjunction with Strategic Construction Accounting to provide management with progress invoicing, job costing, and job profitability.

 

With poor bookkeeping, misguided judgment, and clerical errors come bad decisions on what projects to bid and not to bid on until eventually, you'll run out of time and money. This is why some construction projects fail or worse, construction companies get bankrupt. 

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Topics: Payment Collect, Contractor, Contractor Tips, finance, Contractor Operating Tips

Perhaps more. 

 

An alarming number of construction company owners are being ripped-off and driven into bankruptcy. That sounds harsh, but it's true. Whenever we see a contractor heading towards a problem, an issue, or a big disaster, we immediately raise the alarm. We are cautious about doing it so when we say there is a potential problem, our clients know we are serious.

 

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 wonderful men and women.

 

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Topics: Payment Collect, Contractor, Contractor Tips, finance, Contractor Operating Tips

If you are the typical construction contractor trying to keep track of your construction projects, meetings, tasks, and conversations without the tools and technologies you could be living in a nightmare. You can either keep on "Powering Through"- spend your life endlessly chasing details, missing appointments, suffer untold losses in cash flow and profits; or you can start developing a plan and work on your business.

 

You may be getting your construction projects done with sheer will-power, but the lack of processes, business plan, and strategy will eventually wear you down.

 

Successful contractors improve processes all year long. Your construction company can benefit from this system that other successful contractors are using now, which means there is no need to "Reinvent The Wheel." As your construction company grows and evolves, your processes can support the controlled and planned expansion.

 

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Topics: Payment Collect, Contractor, Contractor Tips, finance, Contractor Operating Tips

When my partner, Sharie DeHart and I, were running construction and plumbing service and repair businesses beginning in the early 1970s until 2000 we felt we did not need to pay anybody to tell us what to do because we knew exactly what to do.

 

After several very painful and extremely costly mistakes, we found the adage "Experience Is The Best Teacher...And The Most Expensive" to be oh so true!

 

We found ourselves, our family, employees, and suppliers were all riding on our Roller Coaster of Surprises, some good, some bad. On occasion, we would wake up screaming bloody murder only to discover it was the middle of the afternoon, and we were not asleep!

 

After a while, we decided perhaps there was truth to "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." I will admit I was a bit arrogant thinking since I was raised in a family of contractors that I knew a lot about construction. In fact, I knew quite a bit about what Michael Gerber calls "Working In The Business But Not On The Business."

 

At that point in the late 1970s, we decided to move to The Merry-Go-Round of a business with a Strategic Plan that could grow-up and provide us with a more predictable result.

 

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Topics: Payment Collect, Contractor, Contractor Tips, finance, Contractor Operating Tips

The one burning question contractors want to know: When is it income?

When money comes into the business, at some point it turns into income. " Money goes in and out of my business and I don't understand when it is income and when it is not ". Without proper tracking and matching of income and expenses, most construction companies never know if they made a profit until the job is over.

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Topics: Payment Collect, Contractor, Contractor Tips, finance, Contractor Operating Tips

Are you getting resumes and applications from bookkeepers who worked for a construction company that went bankrupt and now they are so desperate for a job, so they offer to work for minimum wage or less? What they are not saying in some cases is"And everything I can embezzle, steal and sell online."

There could be a pattern, and it is may be evident that you could be missing it. 

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Topics: Payment Collect, Contractor, Contractor Tips, finance, Contractor Operating Tips

Software developer, Payment Collect LLC, offers unique payment solutions for companies using QuickBooks.  Companies wanting to spend less time managing their accounts receivable and more time creating sales and managing accounts are turning to Payment Collect.  Now, with one click, all invoices are available for instant payment through a number of available gateways.  Once payment has been received, Payment Collect sends payment for processing and then updates the QuickBooks company file upon confirmation from merchant services.

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Topics: Payment Collect, Accept Credit Cards