Contractor Success Map With Randal Dehart | Contractor Bookkeeping And Accounting Services

This Podcast Is Episode Number 453, And It's About Construction Industry Insights For 2022 There is a natural ebb and flow in the business cycle, which in regular times operates, somewhat predictable.   In normal times, contractors who pay close attention to their Five Key Performance Indicators financial reports and stay aware of the macro global economy and the microlocal economy can plan and earn an expected profit after paying themselves a reasonable salary.   The past two years have been anything but ordinary, and frankly, we are having a tough time with the economic forecasts models we follow, including our internal ones.   Something similar occurred from 1976 to 1980, and suddenly in early 1981, the national and global economy began to turn around, and there was a severe shortage of contractors and qualified construction workers.   During the remainder of that expansion and boom cycle, many construction company owners made substantially high profits, and the wise ones who thought ahead invested their

This Podcast Is Episode Number 452, And It's About Last-Minute Reminders Before The New Year Countdown It’s been another excellent year for Fast Easy Accounting. We appreciate your support for those of you who have been with us through all these years; without our contractor clients, template customers, construction accounting academy students, email subscribers, podcast listeners, blog readers, and social media followers, we wouldn’t get to where we are today.   As we look back on our 2021, I hope your fondest memories will include the time you’ve spent with all the things you love and are passionate about. And because we love what we do and we are passionate about serving our contractor friends - for us, this year was all about empowering your contracting business by continually providing you with outstanding products, high-quality services, and dependable resources for your bookkeeping and accounting needs.   Year-End Review: Time flies when everyone is busy. Start now - review your records for the follow

This Podcast Is Episode Number 451, And It's About What Is Your Contractor Superpower? As a Construction Contractor, much of your world is Outside The Box. You make what seems impossible and turn it into a finished product; the whole house remodel, kitchen or bath remodel, new roof, install an attic fan, replace windows, deck, patio, hot tub, swimming pool, children's backyard playhouse.    The Handyman Contractor fixes "Things," which are very important to the clients who need them—fixing a door, hanging a closet rod, moving something, removing something. Compared to a Whole House Remodel, it may seem like you are not doing anything. The reality is that to the person who needed the work done that a few simple little things may change their whole world for the better. Your Work as a Handyman Contractor brings joy to their life. Be Proud of it. No job is insignificant, and no construction business is too small for us.   I want to be the person who says Merry Christmas! You have earned it.    It's the holiday

This Podcast Is Episode Number 450, And It's About Four Practical Reasons To Switch To Cloud-Based Accounting If you've been considering making a move to a cloud-based accounting system, you're not alone. Cloud technology has impacted many business functions, including efficiently managing your business's financial aspects.   Cloud-based accounting moves your accounting from being hosted on your computer's hard drive to an online platform. Cloud-based platforms like QuickBooks and Xero offer important features that save you time and money, freeing you to focus on other essential construction business activities.     Here are four reasons to switch to a cloud-based accounting system.  1. Efficient invoicing If your business relies heavily on invoicing, an online accounting system like QuickBooks or Xero makes invoicing incredibly efficient. You can email invoices to clients directly through your software and track how long it's been since the invoice went out.  Clients pay you through a link attached to the i

Hiring Vs. Outsourcing   Are you thinking of hiring a bookkeeper? After reading this, you may think it is not as good an idea as it seems. In addition to the costs of advertising, reading many fiction stories (resumes), interviewing candidates (like a brand new car on the showroom floor), job-seekers are the best they will ever be during the interview. After that, it is all downhill, and the only question is how fast.   We interviewed hundreds of candidates for Construction Bookkeeping positions, and 90% of them said they could do the job - if we trained them.   What does it cost to have a bookkeeper on your payroll?   Fully Burdened Bookkeeper cost means what it will cost you to hire someone, including the company portion of the payroll taxes and all those little costs that only an accountant like me would think about.   Unlike hiring employees, when outsourcing your bookkeeping (to us), you don't pay for any 'down time' or office chatter, excessively long breaks, cell phone calls, surfing the web. You are

This Podcast Is Episode Number 448, And It's About Invoicing Construction Clients The Fast And Easy Way Creating invoices and receipts is vital to successfully running a business. You need receipts to track your purchases and expenses. Your clients need invoices for their tax purposes and to manage their finances. Paper receipts and invoices have been around a long time, so many people are used to them and may even resist moving away from them.  Thanks to technology, paper receipts and invoices are becoming more a thing of the past. There are environmental reasons for the move. Paper invoices require millions of trees and billions of gallons of water to produce, and they emit carbon dioxide (CO2), so going paperless can be a good thing for the environment. The Old Way Contractors Invoiced the jobs was sometimes just as much or more work than doing the job itself. In the past, you needed to make notes, collect customer information, go to your office, open QuickBooks or whatever construction accounting software

This Podcast Is Episode Number 447, And It's About Why Getting The Leads And Doing The Work Are Still Not Good Enough 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

This Podcast Is Episode Number 446, And It's About Practical Tips For Encouraging Repeat High-Profit Clients Many data support the idea that it's less costly, easier, and more efficient to encourage repeat customers than bring in new ones. Among the stats Hubspot lists are: that a 5% increase in customer retention is responsible for more than 25% increase in profit; repeat customers are nine times more likely to convert than first-time visitors, and a 2% increase in customer retention has a similar impact to your bottom line as reducing costs by 10%. Understand The High-Profit Client - Most of them have personality traits commonly known as drivers - folks who are accustomed to getting things done quickly and efficiently. They do not mind paying professionals to service, repair, or build new construction projects related to their houses and commercial buildings. Design and develop your internal customized systems and processes when and where it makes sense. As much as possible, when it is cheaper to buy someth

This Podcast Is Episode Number 445, And It's About How To Get Your Life Back In A Seven-Day-A-Week Construction Business Construction business owners already have a time-consuming and challenging job running their business. If their business is open five days a week, they usually need the weekend to catch up on paperwork, pay bills and manage any tasks they didn't get to during the week.    For those with a seven-day-a-week business, there's even less time off. They often feel the need to be onsite whenever the company is open to deal with unanticipated issues, help the staff out, and ensure all tasks are completed.    Being onsite seven days a week isn't healthy or productive, however. It can cause burnout and result in errors being made. It affects the construction owner's personal life and quality of life, not to mention their overall well-being.    Here are three tips for getting your life back when you operate a seven-day-a-week business.  1. Hire a trusted manager The next best thing to having you ons

This Podcast Is Episode Number 444, And It's About Job Costing - Your Construction Company's Competitive Advantage Every contractor has a Job Costing Library; some keep it in their head, some keep it on paper with names like completed jobs, bids, estimates. Other contractors keep it in their QuickBooks For Contractors' software records. Still, other contractors rely on places like RS Means for comprehensive databases of construction costs. These are similar to the "Flat Rate Books" used by car repair shops for decades.   A tiny fraction of contractors understand the actual value of a customized cost library and invest the time, energy, and resources to build and maintain one. Having done several, I can tell you it is a painful, arduous task. I will tell you a story to make it crystal clear.   The Treasure Box That Saved Four Contractor's Lives! In the mid-1800s, an archeologist left New York City on a journey into the heart of the African jungle in search of a lost civilization. He intended to find and bring

This Podcast Is Episode Number 443, And It's About Succession Planning A Will For Your Construction Company You may be getting your construction projects done with sheer willpower, but the lack of processes, business plans, and strategy will eventually wear you down. 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.   Successful contractors improve processes all year long. Your construction company can benefit from an excellent 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.   Along with trying to keep on top of your construction business, the unfortunate reality is that most business owners don't take proper holidays. Usually, this is because their business relies on them,

This Podcast Is Episode Number 442, And It's About Four Things To Consider Before Expanding Your Service Offerings Balancing customer experience and setting client expectations against your time and budget is a difficult task. It would be best if you had excellent planning, efficient project managing, and perhaps the right amount of staff working to keep customers happy, but not so many people that workers are standing around looking for things to do.    If your customers have long wait times, that's good news for you initially—it means your business is popular. The bad news is that homeowners won't wait around forever for you to fix your time management issues. If they like your services, they'll be a bit forgiving, but too many long waits will send them to your competition.   For instance, when a homeowner decides to remodel their living space, they dream about how it will look and feel when it is done, but they have no idea what an emotional roller coaster is in store.    Surprises were great when you we

This Podcast Is Episode Number 441, And It's About Four Things To Consider Before Expanding Your Service Offerings If you're looking to grow your construction business, you might consider expanding your service offerings. Adding additional services is an excellent way to increase your profitability, diversify your income and expand your market. But there are essential things to consider before adding to your income streams.   First things first - find the money. If you don't have savings earmarked to fund your ideas, you'll want to make sure your "scaling my construction business" plan includes adequate financial planning. Applying to a lender for a business loan is one option. In this case, you'll want to include up-to-date cash flow reports, income statements, budgets, and projections in your plan for a potential lender.   If your construction business doesn't have a credit history, you may need to look at other options for financing your plans. Using a business credit card regularly and paying off the bal

This Podcast Is Episode Number 440, And It's About How Construction Business Owners Gain Personal Time By Working Smarter You’ve probably heard the maxim that it’s better to work smarter than harder. Working smarter means allocating your time, energy, and money so vital tasks get done more efficiently, freeing up your time.   Too many construction business owners think they must keep working harder—taking on more responsibilities and working longer hours to succeed. It makes sense because you’re responsible for your business, but that route leads to work overload and burnout. Ultimately, your business will be unsustainable if you keep pushing yourself to work harder.   It doesn't matter how many times you are knocked down; it only matters that you learn your lessons, get up, and go again. Some lessons we already took note of years ago, having owned and operated our construction company. By building a system and gaining insight from us, you can pick up from our mistakes which you don't have to go through and c

This Podcast Is Episode Number 439, And It's About Understanding Roles And Why It Makes Sense To Hire Us 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.   Three Skill Sets = Three

This Podcast Is Episode Number 438, And It's About Proven Proactive Contractors Formula To Get Things Done And Get Paid As much as we plan, it would be best if you were flexible, adaptable, and reliant. Things happen that are beyond your immediate control. Those of you who want a predictable environment are employees working for a large employer where schedules are fixed and doing the same things every day.      It was a different mindset when you became a Construction Business owner. You wanted to be independent, and part of being independent is that there is no one telling you what to do or when to do it. Your suppliers and government agencies direct you and impose fines and penalties when you get off track.   Proactive versus reactive are the two methods of getting something done. I find everyone works in a combination of both, I included. Proactive is scheduling and doing everything ahead of time. Nothing is ever waiting until the last minute. Reactive is more emergency-driven and are things that need to

This Podcast Is Episode Number 437, And It's About How A Bookkeeper's Incompetence Can Ruin Your Construction Business 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 som

This Podcast Is Episode Number 436, And It's About The Advantages Of Healthy Competition For Your Contracting Business Starting a construction business means you'll compete with other companies that already exist. It's a good thing if you have a competition to go up against. Competition pushes you to be innovative. It also means there's an established community for your services.   What about if you're considered a veteran at this stage? Understand that you cannot outwork your competition forever because you will grow old and tired in time, and there will always be someone else who is newer, younger and works cheaper than you can.   Being aware and mindful of what others in your industry have developed and provided leads to a newfound motivation and belief in making an impactful difference, whether within your company or your community.   The key to benefitting from the competition is knowing how to take on competitors, so your company earns a profit effectively. Here are some ways to get ahead of your comp

This Podcast Is Episode Number 435, And It's About Construction Company Recovery After A Financial Setback You started your construction business with plans of earning a living and being successful, but an unfortunate fact of business life is that companies suffer financial hardships. Whether those hardships are pandemic-related or linked to other urgent situations, the effect is still the same. Your finances are negatively affected, and it's up to you to lead the recovery.   Almost all business sectors have experienced declining profits, liquidity that is drying out, and even bankruptcy. Although the short-term outlook varies depending on your industry sector, all business leaders need to set up a strategy to guide their way towards recovery.    Here are five steps you can take to help your business recover after a financial setback. 1. Find areas to cut back. As a business owner, you'll always have expenses, but there are ways to reduce your spending and save money. Negotiate rates with your suppliers or

This Podcast Is Episode Number 434, And It's About The Actual Net Worth Of Your Construction Company 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.   So, how much is your construction contracting company worth?  Accounting Value: Equity Which Is [Assets or What You Own] (Cash, Tools, Material, Loans The Company Made) - [Liabilities or What You Owe] (Payables, Credit Card Balances) = [Equity or what is left Over]. These numbers are found on your construction company Balance Sheet. See the example be