Contractors Success M.A.P. For Contractors All Across The USA Including Alaska And Hawaii | Listen to Podcasts On Demand Free | TuneIn (2024)

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0167 And It Will Be About 5 Tips Contractors Need To Follow To Be More Green Today’s podcast from an article written for our website blog by Jessica Kane, a professional blogger who writes for Federal Steel Supply, Inc., a leading supplier of carbon, alloy and stainless steel pipes, tubes, fittings and flanges. Nowadays, going green is the biggest way to draw in customers. This is true for most industries, but contractors are particularly affected. After all, who wants to pay for a house that will just end up wasting resources and costing the buyer more? For any contractors that want to go green and draw in more customers, here are 5 ways to be more eco-friendly. 1. Use Green Materials If there is ever the option, always err on the side of using recycled building materials. Things like recycled glass and tile are easy to come across and ensure that they do not contribute to taking up space in a landfill. As an added bonus, recycling has become such a buzzword that it will quickly draw customers to any contractor claiming to use recycled materials during home building! A lot of people see hardwood floors as a green option; after all, wood is renewable, right? The answer is yes, but only technically. Wood can obviously be regrown, but when people are using up and destroying more than 150 acres of rainforest per day, and more than 70 million acres per year, it is no longer renewable. Wood can be regrown but with how long it takes, wood is about as "renewable" as oil! Instead, choose a green alternative like bamboo. It works just as well, grows quickly and can be planted in a wide variety of places. 2. Keep the Home Sealed Sealing up air leaks, adding insulation and using glass that helps hold in heat can do a lot to lower the carbon footprint of a home. These may seem like simple steps, but they can do a lot to help save resources. If the house is tightly sealed, a metaphorical mountain of energy can be saved by the people in the home come winter. If the home isn't letting out the heat, there's no reason to crank up the thermostat! Not to mention that potential buyers will be thrilled to hear that they can save a few extra bucks during the winter months. 3. Buy Locally Whenever possible, get the resources to build the home as locally as you can. Imported products may sound nice, but transporting them to where they need to be is often a colossal waste of energy. Take, for instance, the insulation for a home; if there is a local producer near the work site, do everything possible to buy from there. It will also appeal to the buyers that they can help support the local economy by building their house. Everyone loves supporting local businesses! 4. Location, Location, Location! One key, yet often overlooked, factor in home building is what direction the home is facing. If at all possible, a home should not be built facing west. This will limit the sun exposure, and thus cut back on how much the buyer has to waste on air conditioning. This will appeal to potential home buyers and show them that their contractor is thinking about their best interests! 5. Rainwater Harvesting A new question that people have been asking themselves is; why is toilet water purified? It is a massive waste of resources to purify water that will never touch human lips, and rainwater harvesting is the solution. By installing a rainwater harvesting system, rainwater will go into the home where it can either be purified into drinking water or go straight to things like sewage that do not need "clean" water. If a contractor should need to convince a buyer that it is a good idea, just remind them that it will save them on the water bill each month! They'll love it! These are just 5 of the dozens of ways that contractors can go green in their building projects. They can make huge contributions to the environment, all while attracting customers! The only reason to not go green is if someone a.) hates having a planet and b.) hates...

Duration:00:09:20

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0166 And It Will Be About Getting Good Reports From Your Construction Accounting System In the world where most people think everything should be Free, Perfect, Now getting good financials from your Construction Accounting System still takes the old fashioned method or hard work and skill. Most Contractors would never expect or allow their staff out in the field do sloppy; tacky workmanship except where the office is concerned. Most contractors who do beautiful work on the job tend to be a Little messy in their paperwork. There is only so many hours in the day and not enough hours to do everything. Highly successful contractors know they need good reports to know where the thier company is going, knowledge on what type of jobs to bid and accept. If and when to hire additional employees. Smart contractors know when to hire someone who has the skill sets that they or their office staff does not have. Make no mistake, managing the paperwork in your construction company requires more than just simple QuickBooks skills. You need someone trained in construction accounting with highly developed skill sets in dozens of online and offline software, not just the basics of how to turn on QuickBooks and write a check. Think of what it takes to manage your household expenses then multiply that by a factor of 10 then add in employees with all the drama and headaches they bring to your company! Issues With Your Accounting? Is it the Accounting Software or the lack of it (shoe box, file box, paperwork behind and under the truck seat, on the table or piles on the counter top, all which will work until you need actual reports for your annual State or Federal Taxes (IRS). Data does not get into the Accounting System without help. Even software that downloads directly from the bank needs a little guidance. Common Questions: What Do I Do? Where Does It Go? It’s Only Receipts – How Hard Can It Be? I can do the bookkeeping myself, or I can hire the neighborhood kid because bookkeeping appears to be simple! Answer: If the Accounting is so simple and easy why isn’t it already done? Reality: Skilled bookkeepers and accountants know what to put where and in what order to put it. Documents can be an Asset, Income, Expense or a just a payment. Just because to paid something to someone does not make it an expense to the business. And just because you make a deposit into the bank does not make it income. Of Course – Without good accounting; all government agencies can take the easy way and add up all the deposits and call it “Income” and they are not so generous with deductions because the more income you have, the more taxes you pay. Is The Problem With The Accounting Software Or The Person Doing It? Are You Frustrating Yourself With A Bad QuickBooks setup? Do You Need To Be “The Expert” In All Things Next Challenge: Should you be doing your accounting? Is this the highest and best use of your time? Of course, you know everything about every piece of paper you touch. Your brain will replay the details of each document which adds time and pain to entering the document. Simple Quiz: If You Had One More Productive Hour Every Day Which Task Has The Highest Return: Entering in Material and Fuel slips in an Accounting System or spreadsheets? Creating file folders for every Gas Station or Fast Food Location? Meeting and Talking with, Prospects or Clients? Being sure that your proposal and change orders are crisp and clear and at your fingertips when you need them? Developing processes to know who is a good client for you? Click Here For The 80/20 Rule For Construction. Finally, making certain the work on the job site is meeting expectations. Things That You Or Your Key Staff Can Do Effectively: Job locations are important – Massive Windshield Time costs money! Embrace Technology. Electronic Time cards are the standard, and they provide the added benefit is knowing where your staff is working. We recommend T-Sheets to use with your...

Duration:00:28:21

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0165 And It Will Be About And It Will Be About Job Costing For Small Contractors Most Construction Accountants that talk about Job Costing are speaking to large contractors with dozens of employees, doing millions of dollars in sales every year. This podcast is not about them it is about you! I care deeply about all Contractors. However, since I have a limited time on this earth and it my mission to help small contractors like you become wealthy because you bring value to other people's lives! Owners of small construction companies like you are the men and women who keep everything moving in the right direction. When the economy changes, you quickly adapt because you are a survivor, not a large giant behemoth dinosaur unable to respond quickly and dies in its tracks. Job Costing In Its Simplest Terms Job Costing links the money you spent on a job against the money you received to do a particular job. In Construction Accounting, there are two types of Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) Direct Construction Costs and Indirect Construction Costs. Both are equally important to generating useful Job Costing Reports. There Are Four Types Of Direct Job Costs L.M.O.S. #1 Labor costs for your construction workers including your payroll #2 Material you purchased for the job #3 Other charges like permits, inspection fees, and utilities #4 Subcontractors There are several types of Indirect Construction Costs. Everything that is not Overhead or Other Income and Expense. For more on this ask your construction accountant. Job Costing Reports can show you where you are making and losing money which is the foundation for finding out the answer to the most important question you need to know to grow your cash flow and profits "Who Is My Prime Client And Who Is Not?" For purposes of clarity since most accounting software and other related marketing software uses the word “Customer” instead of “Client” which as many of you know is the term I prefer. For more on this click here Customer vs. Client. Estimates vs. Actuals Report Compares These Key Metrics #1 Money out, what you thought the job would cost and what it did cost. #2 Money in, how much you collected. #3 The difference between money in and money out Weighted Average Of Indirect Costs And Overhead Next, you need to calculate the weighted average of Indirect Costs and Overhead, ignore Indirect Income and Expense as it has no bearing on Job Cost Calculations, to determine a metric you can use to allocate those costs to find the fully burdened Job Cost. Example Job 001 Money In $1,000 Money Out $500 Difference $500 Annual Sales $100,000 Annual Indirect Construction Costs $20,000 Annual Overhead $10,000 Job 001 = 1% Of Annual Indirect Construction Costs $200, ($20,000 X 1%) Job 001 = 1% Of Annual Overhead $100, ($10,000 X 1%) Job 001 = Burden $300 ($200 + $100) Job 001 = Profit $200 (Money In $1,000 - Money Out $500 - Burden $300) With this information, you can create more accurate quotes when you bid on future jobs. Job Costing will help you identify the most and least profitable areas of your Construction Company and most profitable customers and projects and outsource or subcontract the less productive aspects of your Contracting Company. If your Construction Company is not paying you an owner's salary, what it would cost to replace you, and at least 15% return on your investment then you need to rethink the intrinsic value of your Construction Accounting System. What Your Construction Accountant Needs To Generate Useful Job Costing Reports #1 Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) a simple method for naming your customers. > First Name, Last Name > Last name, First Name > Company Name #2 UNC to identify different jobs and projects using a numbering system or predetermined project titles > 001 to 99999 > Remodel, Drain Cleaning, Replace Electrical Panel, etc. #3 Every field worker’s time card must have the Job Name, and preferably the task performed. #4 Every expenditure for...

Duration:00:32:15

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0162 And It Will Be About Unique Challenges and Confessions of a Construction Contractor's Family Hi everyone! This is Norhalma from Fast Easy Accounting. You've probably seen the videos I made and just heard my Podcast with Randal. If you don't know me yet, you are probably thinking, "Well, what does she know about construction accounting?" To tell you the truth, I am neither an accountant nor a contractor. I am the company's webmaster. I also build, maintain, and fix stuff - only I'm in front of a computer dealing with our company's website. I was born and raised with an extended family in our home. Fact is we are actually the extended family. My father and his brothers were often called for small neighborhood projects. When my grandfather was alive, he would spearhead renovations in our house. The whole family is involved in dealing up with the mess. It was pretty chaotic but fun and we had wonderful, happy memories to this day. Simply put, we are Do-it-Yourself people, mainly because we have the manpower available and we only need to spend money for materials. I grew up in a construction family. My father is a general contractor and often called by neighbors for handyman jobs. Other times he gets offered bigger deals like home expansion and renovation. As head of the family and his business as our only source of income, he wanted to keep our finances steady if not flowing. Extensive projects require longer hours in the field and out of the house. Since our mother stays at home with us, we learned to live with the set up. My mom does the “business” side of things as my dad’s bookkeeper. Her organizing skills and management decisions kept the construction company on track and our household in order. At first, she enjoys handling the finances, receiving calls and responding to inquiries. How hard could it be, right? After their third child was born, my sister, my mom became overwhelmed with her day-to-day checklist. As the eldest, I became responsible on most of the chores in late afternoons and evenings. I remember how my mom would give me that look of exhaustion but with an assuring smile that she’s okay. Usually, I’d help in preparing dinner and I watch as she rushed from one task to the next. She wanted to make sure everything’s in place before my father gets home. One day, I saw her nursing my baby sister in front of her desk piled up with inches of paper. Oh, those papers kept coming! Bills on top of the breakfast bar, receipts in the kitchen counter, some invoices in the car dashboard – I think it came to a point that as long as there is a flat surface, there is a paper on top of it. My father would sometimes randomly ask her on weekends if she has a report on a certain project or a utility bill has been paid and she would just reply that she’ll get to it. On weeknights, after my father arrives home from work, conversations like these will turn to heated argument. Needless to say, being a mother, a wife, and a business manager has taken a toll on my mom. As capable as she is, she got pressured to perform three different demanding roles and we all expected her to stay focused and rock solid. I say this with utmost respect to my father wanting to give us a comfortable life, but I thought to myself, to what extent? Clearly, something’s got to give. It turned out, there’s more to filing papers, typing keys and calculating expenses. In the end, my dad let my mom do what she does best – being a mother! Now that I’m older and a mother to two toddlers, looking at our family’s experience gave me a lot of insight and lessons in life. As a mother, my family is my number one priority. (To Be Continued) I trust this podcast helps you understand that outsourcing your contractors bookkeeping services to us is about more than just “doing the bookkeeping”; it is about taking holistic approach to your entire construction company and helping support you as a contractor and as a person. We Remove...

Duration:00:10:05

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0161 And It Will Be About Construction Workers Are Not Created Equal There Are Three Unique Types Of Construction Workers Construction Is A Wonderful Profession for anyone with the grit to take it on and master it. And it is getting better every day in every way mostly because of the recession that began in 2008. The economic downturn put enormous pressure on all Construction Companies to innovate and change or go out of business! Construction Is No Place For Weak-Willed Wanna-Bees; however, it is the only place for men and women with grit, determination and a burning desire to believe they can achieve greatness and a legacy of service to all of humanity in the cause of preserving and maintaining civilization through construction. Contractors Need Workers that are right for your particular situation and you need to know the differences between construction workers so you can attract, hire and retain the best ones to help your Construction Company grow and prosper. If You Are A Home Builder You Need "Cavemen And Cavewomen" #01 - New Construction Workers Are Cavemen (And darn good people!) Phase One - The Awareness A young man or woman gets becomes aware of the urge to build something, remodel something or simply play with construction tools and equipment. So they ask questions, do research online or perhaps make application at a construction firm. Phase Two - They Get Hired The young man or woman is hired by a New Construction Company and starts at the bottom, literally as an apprentice and learns by experience and in some cases it is supplemented with night school. Phase Three - They Become Cave Men & Women the Apprentice has learned all the lessons and developed the skills to become a Journeyman Construction Technician Their Skill Sets Include: Brute Force- Always use brute force and if that doesn't work use more brute force and be quick about it....we're burning daylight! Dress Code- Tattoos, torn shirt, filthy coat, scruffy jeans, greasy dirty boots with heavy thick tread that picks up everything you step on. Vocabulary- All the four letter words combined with every insult every hurled, mixed together in new and interesting combinations. Attitude- I not paid to think! Can't somebody else do that? It is not my fault! That was broke when I got here! If You Remodel People's Homes You Need "Cowboy Construction Workers" #02 - Remodel Construction Workers Are Cowboys (And darn good people!) Phase One - The Awareness After a while in new construction the physical intensity begins taking its toll on the body and they cannot compete with the younger kids that are always coming into the trades. They consider a slower pace of work where their skills and experience are more in demand; remodeling. Phase Two - They Get Hired They are hired by a construction company that does residential remodeling or commercial tenant improvement work. Phase Three - They Become Cowboys and Cowgirls The technician has learned all the lessons and developed the skills to become a first class remodel technician Their Skill Sets Include: Brute Force- Sometimes brute force works and if not stop and think until you find a better way. Dress Code- Clean shirt, coat, jeans, boots with soles that will not pick up everything you step on. Vocabulary- Few if any of the four letter words. Limited insults and quietly spoken to co-workers and other construction trades. Attitude- I am paid to think. I take responsibility to make the experience as pleasant as possible for the customer. If something is broke I figure out how to get it fixed. If You Are A Service And Repair Contractor You Need "Shoe Salesmen" #03 - Service And Repair, Handymen, Construction Workers Are Shoe Salesmen (And darn good people!) Phase One - The Awareness After a few years in remodel the body rebels again and it is time to move to the next stop, service and repair or handyman. Phase Two - They Get Hired They are hired by a company or start their own business. Phase...

Duration:00:17:59

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0160 And It Will Be About Contractors Bookkeeping Service Nine Critical Steps Construction Bookkeeping Is something you understand then you learn. Hundreds of contractors and regular bookkeepers have told us how easy QuickBooks is to use and yet they cannot understand why QuickBooks for Contractors is so hard to use and it is getting harder every year and I agree with them. I Have Used QuickBooks For 25 Years and in the early years the DOS versions were very easy because it had a fraction of the features it has in 2016 and the reports were bare bones. There Are Apps that make almost everything easy including accounting software. Too many contractors find out too late the old adage "You get what you pay for" still applies. Cheap Construction Accounting Is The Most Expensive Accounting On Planet Earth Operating A Backhoe is easy too! I found out just how easy it is to find underground utilities and bring them to the surface with the greatest of ease like the daring young man flying man on the trapeze. A gentle tug on a lever and water was gushing everywhere! It was very entertaining and extremely costly! This Is Susan's* Story she answered an help wanted ad from a General Contractor, Brutus Hardway*, who was looking for a super cheap bookkeeper with a deep understanding of construction accounting they had to know how to make his QuickBooks For Contractors give him the QuickBooks financial reports and Job Costing Reports he needed to operate and grow his construction company. Brutus offered Susan $15.00 an hour for 10 hours a week. Susan as a good heart and she had QuickBooks experience, but not using QuickBooks For Contractors so she contacted us and I invested an hour of my time at no charge to share a quick overview of what I call the Contractors Bookkeeping Service Nine Critical Steps. *The names have been changed to protect the real identity of Susan and Brutus A Short While Later - I stopped by to see how everything was going for Susan and her employer. We reviewed the Nine Steps to see how she was using what she had learned. Contractors Bookkeeping Services Nine Steps Step #1 Sort Paper Into Manageable Piles And Be Quick About It! Susan Let Paperwork Pile Up as the contractors, construction workers, USPS mail carrier, shipping and receiving clerks, warehouse workers and other folks that stopped by her desk to leave a few pieces of paper for her to deal with. Always remember the ocean is a collection of drops of water. The piles of paperwork were growing high and wide. Step #2 Simple Data Entry After The Sorting was finally done Susan was beginning to enjoy putting in checks, bills and simple invoices because it was easy especially when she did not bother doing the hard work of entering Job Costing information. Step #3 Payroll And Tax Reporting Payroll And Tax Reporting - Can bring out the worst in people as Susan soon discovered. In fact some of the other employees suggested she was ready to bite the next person who turned their time card in late and expected to get paid on time! Step #4 Reconciling Bank, Credit Card And Supplier Statements Reconciling Statements was something Susan could not grasp during our brief chat because at all of her previous jobs that was never done because it was just too hard! Susan said reconciliations were just a waste of time and busy work and she flat out refused to do them. When Brutus's Checks Started Bouncing like a box of rubber balls dumped on a concrete floor from a 10' high ladder partly because suppliers were being paid twice for the same bills and partly because checks were written outside of QuickBooks and none of the banks were ever reconciled Brutus got concerned and invited his outside QuickBooks expert and construction accounting and bookkeeping services specialist, Randal, to come to the office and train Susan how to reconcile bank, credit card and vendor statements. After 20 Hours Of Attempting To Condense the most important critical parts of a...

Duration:00:37:00

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0159 And It Will Be About Using QuickBooks For Multiple Construction Company Files Since The Early 2000's More Construction Company Owners Have needed two or more incomes. We have met with contractors from several groups: Group One - Skilled Craftsman or Craftswoman is trying to grow a construction company while their spouse or significant other has a job with another company usually unrelated to construction. Today it is more common to see both partners are self-employed and operating a Construction Company. Construction Companies And Other Businesses Owned By - Related business partners and business types can be merged into a single QuickBooks file and that always causes all kinds of trouble! When The Individual Household Partners - File their annual tax return jointly the tax prepare who files the annual Income Tax Return looks at all the business and personal financial reports and is the final authority on what can and cannot be merged together on a single tax return. Most Tax Returns Are Several Dozen Pages Long - With much of the information duplicated on both the personal and business returns which is why we recommend you hire someone who specializes in preparing annual tax returns NOT A Jack-Of-All-Accounting-Trades-Master-Of-None. We do not prepare annual tax returns; we do process Payroll and prepare Quarterly Tax Reports. Why Do We Believe Strongly That You Need Individual QuickBooks Company Files? Even With Related Personal Partnerships - (married couples) each individual business types are not related and require they own Federal Tax ID Number (EIN). This creates the need for two or more QuickBooks files. For Example - One company is a General Contractor and the other company is an Interior Designer and/or Exterior Landscape Designer or it could be one partner is a Construction Contractor and the other partner has an Event’s Planning business. Multiple Companies In QuickBooks - QuickBooks will support multiple company files, Learn More... If one partner uses a Mac Computer and the other partner uses a PC you can both access QuickBooks windows version using our QuickBooks in the Cloud. Individual Ownership - Of each company is not by the same parties. Company Ownership Issues - Business partnerships between unrelated people makes the day to day accounting even more complex. Who handles the bookkeeping can range from “Everyone” is helping to write checks and “No One” is doing the actual bookkeeping. Which leads to a situation known as QuickBooks Out Of Control!Common Practice - Money is coming / going between accounts of non-related companies and expenses are paid by a multiple of accounts either business / personal / or by others except the business checking account of the actual company. When Company Funds Are Used - There is a need to track the flow of funds to / from each of the company QuickBooks files. Our focus is Contractors – we also focus on the business finances of our clients. Where did the money come from (Income / Personal funds / Money from others) – and where did it go? (Expenses / COGS / Taxes / Personal Draw) For this reason when the second / third / more company is “non-medical” we recommend that we handle the bookkeeping for all of the company files. Common Practice - Money is coming / going between personal accounts to pay business expenses by family members or non-related household members.Example - Contractor uses personal credit card and would like to be able to show the expense in QuickBooks file….Yes they should have used a company credit card; however, you were at the store, you needed some material to finish the job and did not have the company credit card with you or it may have been maxed out. So you did what you needed to do to get the job done!Example - Girlfriend or Boyfriend pays from their personal account for expenses like vehicle insurance / bond / contractor’s license / etc. – because it was the fastest way to get it done. Someday she / he would...

Duration:00:22:14

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0158 And It Will Be About Ten Things Hindering You Getting Loans For Your Contracting Company Do You Feel Like The System Is Rigged To Keep You From Getting Financing For Your Construction Company? Well, it is! There I said and I stand by it 100%. In most cases it's not your fault! The problem is you using painting a word picture to show how well your Construction Company is doing and describing all the new and exciting projects you are bidding on and expect to get while your Financial Reports are telling the banker or lender the exact opposite! Prior to the 1960's Contractors and Bankers had a personal one-on-one relationship. They got to know you, like you and trust you which made getting a loan fast and easy. Then starting in the 1960's lenders started using The RMA more than ever before to influence their decisions. What you don't know about business is 100X worse than what you know about doing the work you love doing so very much.Being Unaware Of The Rules Of Business Causes Many Contractors To Believe: They Can Work Harder And Solve Any Problem... If They Stay In Business Long Enough They Will Win... That One Good Job Will Fix All Of My Cash Flow Problems... Explain Their Situation To All Of The Bankers, Suppliers, Lenders... In the end what you don't know can slowly and painfully drag you and your Construction Company into a deep hole of debt, discouragement, depression and despair long after you have run out of time, money and energy. "If You Know The Answers The Questions Will Not Bother You" - Randalism The Risk Management Association (RMA) In 1914, The Robert Morris Club (RMA) was formed to help businesses and bankers exchange credit information. It was named after Robert Morris who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and was believed to be the primary financier of the Revolutionary War. The RMA developed several tools among them was a system of Ratios that we use today to study financial statements of all companies in all industries. The banking and lending industry has enormous databases and artificial intelligence software from places like The Risk Management Association (http://www.rmahq.org/) that allows them to separate the good contractor risks from the bad ones. It generates recommendations based on complex algorithms much more complex than any gambling casino and with a much higher payoff.One of the keys to getting a banker, lender or bonding company to consider your construction company for financing is the way your financial statements are presented. In particular, your construction company Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet.A banker, lender or bonding agent logs into their RMA account and fills out electronic forms, answers questions about your construction company and inputs specific numbers in specific blanks that are taken directly from your construction company Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet. Any construction accountant worth his or her salt knows exactly how to setup QuickBooks for Contractors correctly for this process to take place. If a contractor gives their banker, lender or bonding agent a set of financial reports that do not conform to the RMA requirements they may or may not try to extrapolate the numbers need using Excel or some other program.In most cases they be very polite, and thank you for "applying" before giving you the "We will let you know as soon as we know anything" speech. I know this because I have heard it from many bankers, lenders and bonding agents who are frustrated because they know you are a good client and they know you are a man or woman of integrity that can be trusted to pay the loan back, on time, with all of the interest.The RMA and other reports show where your contracting company stands in relation to other contracting companies serving similar geographic and demographic markets.Each major category, Sales, Cost of Goods Sold, Overhead, Other Expenses and Other Income are rated on a scale of top 25%, middle 50% and bottom...

Duration:00:34:58

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0157 And It Will Be Nine Reasons Why Contractors Outsource Bookkeeping To ProAdvisors Having used QuickBooks for 25+ years and helping 1,000's of contractors here are the top 9 reasons Contractors contact me since I am one of the few QuickBooks ProAdvisor specializing in Construction Accounting. Do any of these scenarios sound like what you may be dealing with on a regular basis in your Construction Contracting company… As a Contractor, you may have learned your trade from a skilled master craftsman or Journeyman that was your teacher and mentor for a few days to a few years. If you were fortunate your mentor was someone who also learned from a skilled master craftsman or Journeyman and they both had developed good habits of continually reading books, trade journals, attending seminars and paying for class room instruction in order to keep themselves updated with the changes in their industry. To paraphrase Stephen Covey they continually sharpen the saw "Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have--you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. "Most Contractors don't want to waste time and energy being a "desk jockey" pushing paper around and banging away on a keyboard trying to make QuickBooks do what they want it to. You have a business to run and all too often you run it by trial and error learning the hard way, by experience what makes your company run more smoothly and what needs to be fixed. No matter what kind of construction, service work, home builder, trade contractor, tenant improvement contractor, land developer, handyman or other type of Contractor the key to success and making a lot of money is knowing your business inside and out and applying the following Randalism: "Early To Bed, Early To Rise, Know Your Numbers And Advertise" - Randalism The good news is there are a number of valuable tools to help you understand and manage your Construction Company’s profitability with programs like QuickBooks. The bad news is that QuickBooks is getting harder to use as they add more options and applications which can overwhelm and stop a contractor like you in your tracks. Reason #01 You may find QuickBooks isn’t giving you everything you need to operate and grow your Contracting Company. You may need some training for yourself or your bookkeeper to understand how to use QuickBooks. Perhaps you have been using the world's most popular bookkeeping software Excel, your shoe box full of receipts are overflowing and you are eager to get on the automated record reporting bandwagon.Reason #02 Switching to QuickBooks gives is a good start, but a QuickBooks ProAdvisor who really understands the difference between regular accounting and construction accounting can save you 100's hours of frustration, $1,000's of dollars in overpaid taxes, mishaps that can sap your energy and your time and give you false readings about the health of your business and help you capture lost revenue opportunities. Reason #03 You want to get more out of QuickBooks and you have heard your competitors brag how much QuickBooks has done for them and you want some of that too! You know that you are only using a fraction of most programs on your computer especially if you have Microsoft Word or Excel on it and you know owning and installing QuickBooks won’t make you a Highly Skilled Construction Accountant With 10+ Years' Experience Working On Construction Sites and be able to magically address all of your Strategic Contractor Bookkeeping Services needs. You need answers to understand the reasons behind the numbers and you need to save time. When faced with challenges like these, you need to know more than just the basics of how QuickBooks works. Your trainer at the Gym helps you get more from your workout and your QuickBooks ProAdvisor who understands construction accounting and how things work on a...

Duration:00:28:55

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0156 And It Will Be About What Is Your Construction Company Worth 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?This question comes up early and often and perhaps you would like a bit of inside information that we share with our Outsourced Strategic Contractor Accounting Services Clients. Nothing Is Ever As Good Or As Bad As It First 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" and that was one of the happiest day of your life. I've heard It said that boat owners experience two of the happiest days in their lives; the day the bought their boat and the day they sold it.There are two answers to the question what is my 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 below and notice the highlighted line "Total Equity" This means as far as the accounting records are concerned: #1 If the owner collected all of the money owed to them [Accounts Receivable] and got the security deposit back.#2 Sold all of the vehicles, computers, office equipment, machinery and equipment [Fixed Assets] for the amount shown. #3 Paid all of the bills [Accounts Payable], [Credit Cards], [Other Current Liabilities], [Long Term Liabilities]. #4 There would be $305,616.56 in cash for the owner. The Real World:The true net worth of your construction contracting company is what someone else will pay you for it. There are 100's of factors that affect how much your construction company is worth and I have listed nine of them below:1. Length Of Time In Business2. Standard Financial Statements 3. Net Income4. Cash Flow5. Number Of Customers Or Clients6. New Customer Or Client Acquisition Strategy7. Existing Customer Or Client Retention Strategy8. Documented Operations Manuals9. Unique Selling Proposition #1 Length of Time In Business - In general the longer your business has been around the better. Just know that everything changes rapidly so in most cases what occurred more than three years ago may not be as relevant.#2 Standard Financial Statements - There are number of ways to setup QuickBooks for Contractors it depends on what you want from them.Internal Financial Statements are what most bookkeeper’s setup which means they may add a lot of fluff and try to capture Work-In-Process (WIP) and Job Costing in the Chart of Accounts which is fine for your internal use but next to worthless for anyone outside your company.Tax Preparer Financial Statements are what most C.P.A.'s and Tax Preparers setup which means they keep the Chart of Accounts small as possible and mirror the annual tax return as close as possible. This helps them get the tax return done in the least amount of time and effort possible. It is next to worthless for you, the contractor and anyone else.Standard Financial Statements are what most bankers and investors like to see because the Chart of Accounts are setup in a way that makes it possible for them to understand the financial health and well-being of your Construction Company. Most banks subscribe to a service like The Risk Management Association (RMA) that allows them to input key data from your Financial Statements and returns a very in-depth analysis of your construction company. This means when a contractor gives their banker, investor or potential buyer anything but Standard Financial Statements they are "Shooting Themselves In The Foot With A Nail Gun".Our Contractor Bookkeeping System can provide you with Standard Financial Statements; unless you or your bookkeeper makes adjustments in the Chart of...

Duration:00:47:27

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0155 And It Will Be About Cheap Contractor Bookkeeping Is The Most Expensive Bookkeeping All Highly Successful Contractors Like Saving Money Where They Can But Not On Cheap Tools, Equipment, Material And BookkeepingBecause That Always Costs Them Profit Dollars In The End: Cheap tools break which slows the work down, increases labor costs and in the end costs more than quality tools. Cheap equipment breaks down more often, increases labor costs and also costs more than quality equipment. Cheap material is one of the causes for warranty work which drains profits and runs up labor and material costs. Cheap Contractor Bookkeeping can cost more than the previous three combined because of what you don't see. The Cost Of Cheap Tools, Equipment And Material Cheap Tools And Equipment - Cost a lot of money that you cannot see; out-of-sight means out-of-mind. When contractors like you invest in the best tools and equipment you can afford in the short and long run you will save money. Construction workers who take pride in their work will always produce better results faster with fewer repairs if they have quality tools and equipment. And they will tend to stay with your construction company longer which will help you earn more profits. If You Pay A Construction Worker $25.00 Per Hour Every Ten Minutes Your Construction Worker Costs You $5.94 Click Here To See The Math At 10% Profit You Need To Sell $15,544.20 More To Maintain Profit Margin For Example - Your best construction worker asks for a tool which costs $1,200.00, will save ten minutes a day in labor and last three years the most common response is "We can't afford it...make do with what you have...it is a poor craftsman who blames his or her tools". When someone suggests "buying a tool to save money" most contractors hear "spend my hard earned money". These knee-jerk reactions come directly from the part of our brain called the "amygdala". It is what causes us to react to circ*mstances rather than respond them. It is also known as the "Fight or Flight" decision center. Break the cycle of "doing the same thing you have always done and getting the same thing you have always gotten" by simply "Stopping And Thinking". Cheap Contractor Bookkeeping Until Your Construction Company - Reaches at least $5 million in annual sales you cannot afford to hire a qualified bookkeeper or construction accountant full-time to put on your accounting staff and don't be fooled; there is no such thing as a part-time qualified bookkeeper or construction accountant. For Example - If you try to save money by hiring someone who says they have 10 years of experience ask one simple question: How Much Money And Time Have You Invested Books, Classes And SeminarsTo Hone Your Construction Accounting Skills Or Even Regular BookkeepingIn The Past Ten Years And What Was The Last One You Attended? Anytime a bookkeeper whom is interested in joining our team of Highly Qualified Professional Construction Bookkeepers and they tell me they have several years of experience I ask that question and in 98% of the time the answer none. As you know the basics of just about trade from butcher, baker, candlestick maker, framer, plumber, electrician, HVAC, roofer, concrete finisher can be learned in six months. However it takes 10,000 hours of training and practice to begin to become skilled in construction bookkeeping or become a Journeyman in any construction trade and then a minimum of 100 hours a year to stay current with the trends in a given trade. So let's look at the true cost of a bookkeeper with bad habits who is a Cheap Bookkeeper that you hired part time at $15.00 an hour for 10 hours a week thinking you will save money. The True Cost Of A Cheap Bookkeeper At $15.00 Is Close To $25.29 Per Hour Click Here For The Math. For A Rough True Cost Of Your Bookkeeper Double The Hourly Wage You Pay ThemEvery Ten Minutes Your Bookkeeper Wastes Costs You Money!Every Ten Minutes A Day Of Unproductive...

Duration:00:29:31

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0154 And It Will Be About Unique QuickBooks Features Contractors Need To Succeed You're A Smart Contractor And You Know QuickBooks Has The AnswersYou Need To Operate And Grow Your Construction Company Every time you or your bookkeeper opens the darn thing it sits there and does nothing. That's because QuickBooks is deaf and dumb! The people that developed QuickBooks are genius’s and I really mean it because the products they put out are top drawer!When you understand they designed it to be sold to all industries, not just my favorite, construction you begin to see the problem; it has tons of stuff contractors don't need. QuickBooks Is Hard For Contractors Learn And Use I know it because for the first 10 years of using it I yelled at it, slammed my fist on the desk, cussed it out, called it every name in the book, threatened it by beating keyboards until they shattered into a million pieces and I got a bloody fist.I tried asking nicely, performed a variety of song and dance routines, pleaded with it, bought and read dozens of books all claiming to have the answers to make QuickBooks do what I needed it to do, called QuickBooks technical support and got nowhere because I only speak English.After all of that I spent weeks learning the QODBC (QuickBooks Open Database Connector) and how to use it only to discover it's a rabbit hole that never ends. The more you try to make QuickBooks do something you need it to do the deeper you need to go until you wake up and realize you forgot what you were trying to do in the first place.To make matters worse not only do you need 10,000 Hours Practice To Master Strategic Construction Bookkeeping but nowadays you need to have intense skills in Project Management to wade through the millions of online applications to find the ones that say they work with QuickBooks and then you need a computer science laboratory to test them and tweak them to fit into a Construction Document Collection and Management System. Five Online QuickBooks Features Contractors Like You Need To Succeed 1. Online Download Banking And Credit Cards That We Put In QuickBooks2. Online Bill Payments And We Put The Transactions Into QuickBooks3. Online Time Tracking And Time Cards Which We Put It In QuickBooks4. Online Payroll And Tax Reporting Which We Put Into QuickBooks 5. Online Financial Management Reports Which We Put Into QuickBooks 1. Online Download Bank And Credit Card Transactions Using QuickBooks as an electronic check register is the number one reason contractors buy QuickBooks. You need a way to keep track of your money. Then the banks and credit card companies started offering to download transactions directly into QuickBooks and that seemed like a miracle because of all the time and money you would save in data entry.Very quickly you found out that downloading transactions from the bank or credit card companies directly into QuickBooks made a "Pigs Breakfast" of your Financial and Job Costing Reports.We have the answer. Our Contractor Bookkeeping Workflow downloads your bank and credit card transactions into our enhanced Hubdoc Secure Paperless System For Contractors where our Bookkeeping Workflow separates and codes each transaction where our Highly Skilled Team Of Construction Bookkeepers inputs each transaction into the proper place in your QuickBooks Desktop Version In The Cloud. 2. Online Bill Payment System "Online Invoicing and Bill Pay is the next great leap in productivity since the introduction of the cell phone!" - Randal DeHart, Premier Construction Accountant Online invoicing and bill paying and is saving construction contractors time and money by streamlining their entire processes which means they and getting paid faster and putting more money in the bank to operate and grow their construction company.With the optional bill tracking and bill payment services they are increasing bottom line profits by avoiding late fees and taking advantage of vendor discounts which in...

Duration:00:43:26

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0153 And It Will Be About Unique Contractor Bookkeeping Workflow For Contractors In U.S.A Paperwork, Can't Live With It, Can't Be A Contractor Without It! It is one of your biggest headaches, heartaches and backaches! It gets in the way and keeps you from getting things done! It reminds you of doing homework when you were in school! You did not open your construction company to be a desk jockey What If We Could Cut Your Paperwork Chores In Half AndProvide You With Useful Information Anytime You Want It? I trust this podcast helps you understand that outsourcing your contractors bookkeeping services to us is about more than just “doing the bookkeeping”; it is about taking holistic approach to your entire construction company and helping support you as a contractor and as a person. We Remove Contractor's Unique Paperwork Frustrations We understand the good, bad and the ugly about owning and operating construction companies because we have had several of them and we sincerely care about you and your construction company! That is all I have for now and if you have listened this far please do me the honor of commenting and rating podcast www.FastEasyAccounting.com/podcast Tell me what you liked, did not like, tell it as you see it because your feedback is crucial and I thank you in advance. You Deserve To Be Wealthy, Because You Bring Value To Other People's Lives! I trust this will be of value to you and your feedback is always welcome at www.FastEasyAccounting.com/podcast This is one more example of how Fast Easy Accounting is helping construction company owners 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 construction contractors like you so stop missing out and call Sharie 206-361-3950 or email sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com Thinking About Outsourcing Your Contractors Bookkeeping Services? Click On The Link Below: www.FastEasyAccounting.com/hs This guide will help you learn what to look for in outsourced construction accounting. Need Help Now? Call Sharie 206-361-3950 sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com Thank you very much and I hope you understand we really do care about you and all contractors regardless of whether or not you ever hire our services. Bye for now until our next episode here on the Contractors Success MAP Podcast. Warm Regards, Randal DeHart | Contractors Accountant We Remove Contractor's Unique Paperwork Frustrations

Duration:00:34:21

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0152 And It Will Be About Contractors Who Tried Using QuickBooks And Got Professional Help Has This Happened To You? Your Construction Company was a bit disorganized and there were piles of paper on the dashboard of your truck, behind the seat, on the passenger seat, on the floor, in every pocket of you coat, shirt, pants and inside your lunch box and on your desk at your home or office? So you bought QuickBooks thinking it would solve all your paperwork issues and your contractor bookkeeping issues? Instead you found yourself inside a bigger mess and deeper hole than ever because QuickBooks is anything but Quick! QuickBooks advertisem*nts made it seem so simple that even a child could setup QuickBooks in less than an hour. So you thought I can do this. I can setup QuickBooks for my construction company and it will magically sort all of the paperwork and do all of the accounting for your Contracting Company in 10 minutes a day or less. QuickBooks sells software to contractors a little bit like Home Depot sells material to "Weekend Warrior Homeowners" who think they can save time and money by doing construction projects themselves. Home Depot generates a ton of leads for contractors by putting on Home Depot Free Weekly Workshops & Home Improvement Workshops. Can a homeowner "Learn To Paint Like A Professional", "Get The Skills To Install A Toilet", "Learn The Skills To Install A Backsplash" or "Install A Light Fixture" in a 90 minute class? Of course not!Does Home Depot sell a lot of material and supplies with this brilliant marketing idea? Of course they do! What normally happens is the homeowner attends the workshop in the morning, buys the parts, goes home, tries installing them, runs into trouble and then calls you!The same thing happens when contractors buy QuickBooks and try setting up QuickBooks using the Easy Step Interview. You waste a lot of time, money, blood, sweat and tears and end up with a mess and you live with it until the pain becomes unbearable then you seek professional help.Or worse yet you hire a Cheap Bookkeeper who thinks they know how to setup QuickBooks for Contractors. By the time you figure out they know nothing about Construction Accounting it is too late. They have driven your Contracting Company off the highway of success into the ditch of destruction, turned it upside down, poured gasoline on it, lighted it on fire, walked away, told everyone that you don't know how to run a business and you are left stranded on the side of the highway, eyes wide open, with tear stained cheeks watching in horror as everything you have worked for goes up in smoke! There Is A Better Way QuickBooks Was Never Designed Just For Contractors It Is Designed To Sell QuickBooks To Contractors Who Seek Professional Help From ProAdvisors Who Know EXACTLY What You Want And How To Setup QuickBooks! I Love QuickBooks and have used it since it was released as QuickBooks 1.0 DOS® in the early 1992 for roughly $100. It was ten times better than the custom built Construction Accounting Software that cost us over $60,000 which we were using for our construction companies and doing the accounting for few contractors that we were providing bookkeeping services.There was a bit of a learning curve; however, having a background in construction with a specialty in construction accounting I was able to make QuickBooks work for us. Today we have an entire system to Setup QuickBooks for any Contractor with annual sales between $0 to $10,000,000.Fast forward to 2000 when we sold our last construction company and began focusing on growing our Outsourced Contractors Bookkeeping Service is when we really poured a lot of blood, sweat and tears into developing our Contractor Bookkeeping System.A key part of this Contractor Bookkeeping System was developing a QuickBooks Template that could be used by small Construction Companies from startup to $10,000,000 annual revenue including: · General Contractors· Custom House...

Duration:00:16:12

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0151 And It Will Be About Why Successful Contractors Use Professional Bookkeeping Services What You Should Expect From Your Bookkeeping System? The first and most important principle in Construction Accounting is everything starts with Cash because Cash Is Fact; Profit Is An Opinion. All transactions in the bank account of your construction accounting system no matter if it is QuickBooks or Xero must be assigned to the proper accounts: Income Job Deposits Payroll Taxes Cost of Goods Sold (Direct and Indirect Costs including Labor, Material, Other and Subcontractors. Other costs including permits, plans, bills from suppliers and purchases on your personal credit cards. Overhead Second Important Principle In Construction Accounting Tracking Income properly, Knowing how, when and where to put Customer Estimates, Customer Invoices, Customer Job Deposits and any Retainage Withheld, Vendor Refunds and Rebates. Good Construction Accounting Is All About the Details Payroll entered into QuickBooks (Employee, Check and Tax Detail depends on the Payroll Service used). Bank Reconciliations, Credit Card Reconciliations including Home Depot and Lowes, Vendor Statements verified and matched against invoices. The Answers You Need To Operate And Grow Your Construction Company Are In Reports To get accurate reports the paperwork details must be entered into your QuickBooks by following The Construction Accounting Method NOT The Regular Accounting Method. The old saying “Garbage In = Garbage Out” is 100 times more true when it comes to Construction Accounting. When your bookkeeper takes shortcuts in the data entry, for example entering bulk numbers from credit statements for expenses in bulk instead of entering each transaction your Financial and Job Costing Reports are totally worthless. You Need To Know Who is your customer, how much have you billed them, are there unbilled change orders? If you do not tell your bookkeeper and they do not put the information into QuickBooks how will you ever know, let alone get paid? Who do you owe money unless you tell your bookkeeper? Who did you purchase material, labor, subcontractors, other items from, when and was it paid with cash, check, credit card or put on the charge account? If you do not tell your bookkeeper and they do not put the information into QuickBooks how will you ever know what the Job Costs are let alone Job Profitability? QuickBooks needs to know how to allocate the costs (money spent) to give accurate Job Costing reports. foundation of data has been entered properly.Balance Sheet Report reflects the heath of the business – again QuickBooks can only report on the information given. What kind of Basic Financial Reports can using Fast Easy Accounting’s Customized Setup Provide? Every Contractor Should Have These Reports No Matter Who Is Doing The Bookkeeping. The Next Layer of Construction Accounting. Here is where someone who knows Construction Accounting should be doing the bookkeeping. Many bookkeepers say they know Construction Accounting but are “Clueless About Doing Construction Accounting”. Just like many people know about being a passenger on a commercial jumbo jet but people “Clueless About Piloting A Jumbo Jet”. Hint: a good clean, easy to understand QuickBooks setup does not need class tracking unless your construction company has multiple locations.What kind of Job Costing Reports can using Fast Easy Accounting’s Customized QuickBooks Setup For Contractors Provide? Job Profitability Summary Summarizes the profits your Construction Company earned from serving each construction customer within the date range you selected on the report. The Key Column Is the Percentage (%) of Difference. This tells you which customers and clients are profitable and which ones are not. In this example it is Sam Hill is in the top twenty percent (20%) and Henry Mancini is in the bottom eighty percent (80%).In Most Cases When I run this report for a contractor, after...

Duration:00:42:27

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0150 And It Will Be About Unique Document Management Software Saves Contractor's Time And Money! Focus Your Energy On Making Money And STOP HERDING PAPER! FREE For Outsourced Contractor Bookkeeping Services Contractor Clients Of Fast Easy Accounting Contact Sharie Right Now 206-361-3950 sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com After years of painstaking research and hundreds of hours testing dozens of ways for contractors stop wasting time trying to get organized and fighting the paper work nightmare. We have finally found the one document management software For Contractors that is simple, easy to use and the software developers understand what we need to support our contractor clients. We Help Contractors Like You Find Ways To Make More Money, In Less Time So You Can Do The Things You Love Doing And Paperwork Is Not One Of Them! This new document management software for our Outsourced Contractor Bookkeeping Clients will download bank and credit card feeds into a secure paperless server which they access anytime day or night. Imagine being able to know exactly what you sent your Contractors Bookkeeping Service and being able to access the paperless filing cabinet anytime day or night from your phone, tablet, laptop or PC. It works with Windows and Mac. This is a gift we are offering to our loyal Outsourced Contractor Bookkeeping Clients that we are paying for because we believe it will make everyone's life easier and smoother where the bookkeeping is concerned. After we setup your new paperless inbox for your contracting company you will receive a welcome email from the software supplier and we ask that you read it carefully and when you are ready please contact their support desk and they will help you setup your bank and credit card feeds. All new documents can be sent to paperless inbox because this new system is replacing our current paperless inbox. The feeds do not give anyone any access to your accounts, just the information we need to put into QuickBooks which is why we like this option. It downloads the existing transactions to the paperless server where we can access the data and put it into your Contracting Company QuickBooks Desktop version which is hosted on our Intuit Approved Commercial Hosting service. We believe this will help provide faster services and keep your QuickBooks more current. We are continually searching for more and better ways to remove time wasting paperwork chores so you can focus on what you do best, running your construction company.We are always looking for ways to save construction contractors like you time and money. Unfortunately, most of the thousands of apps, software and hardware we are introduced too is worthless. Less than 1% is worth a first look and 50% of those never make it to through to beta test where we will actually test it and of the ones we test 20% are actually put into our practice and only 50% of those ever get recommended. This means out of 2,000 products and services we are introduced to only 1 ever gets recommended and in most cases we do not accept any compensation for referring it to our clients. In a very few cases we feel so strongly about a product or service that we will actually pay the cost of it and give it away for FREE! We Feel So Strongly That We Are Paying The Cost And Providing It FREE To Our Loyal Outsourced Contractor Bookkeeping Services Clients I trust this podcast helps you understand that outsourcing your contractors bookkeeping services to us is about more than just “doing the bookkeeping”; it is about taking holistic approach to your entire construction company and helping support you as a contractor and as a person. We Remove Contractor's Unique Paperwork Frustrations We understand the good, bad and the ugly about owning and operating construction companies because we have had several of them and we sincerely care about you and your construction company! That is all I have for now and if you have listened this far please...

Duration:00:23:05

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0149 And It Will Be About Streamlining Your Contracting Company With Our Free Checklist You are an intelligent Contractor which means you know how to operate your construction company and the biggest barrier to your success is getting your employees to do what you want them to do, when you want them to do it, and do it the way you know works best. Contractors who are Process Dependent Vs. People Dependent always makes more money and enjoys more freedom and peace of mind over Construction Company owners who are in constant chaos making the same decisions over and over. The difference between Success and Failure is simple and easy. Change a few simple things in your thinking and what you will tolerate and you can change your construction company and make dramatic improvements in your cash flow, profitability and the amount of freedom and enjoyment you will get out of your life. Success - Is a few simple disciplines practiced every day! Failure - Is a few simple errors repeated every day! The first step to moving your construction company from a People-Dependent-Chaotic-Neurotic-Maddening-Disorganized-Money-Losing-Life-Sucking-Money-Pit to a Process-Dependent-Money-Machine is developing simple checklists and expanding them over the course of time. Click To Download FREE Checklist Template If You Want Highly Qualified And Experienced Mentors To Guide You Step-By-Step In Setting Up A Working Business Process Management System For Your Construction Company contact Sharie. Call Sharie 206-361-3950 sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com Do you own and operate a small construction company? Have you ever wondered if having a consultant with construction expertise to call on and ask questions would help you? Are you concerned you cannot afford one? When my partner, Sharie DeHart and I, were running construction and plumbing service and repair businesses beginning in the early 1970's 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 in the adage "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 1970's 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 Books, Tapes, Seminars and Guru's For the next several years we added a combined total of over 4,000 books, cassette tapes, VHS video tapes, workbooks, and several hundred handouts from every How-To-Do-It guru we could find.And we were still not getting anywhere fast because the seminars are like energy drinks, they pump you up and after a week or two in the real world we were beaten down again. It was a roller coaster again. Be, Do, Have In time we found several consultants and professionals some good, some bad, some nightmares and one in particular kept repeating Be, Do, Have. Be the person, Do the work, Have the results. In life we produce reasons or results and, reasons don’t count. Having experienced success and failure a number of times this message slowly sinked into my head. We discovered that success came fast and easy when we engage the services of mentors that are skilled in construction because they were where we wanted to be. We even hired a few consultants that were worthless because they had no...

Duration:00:23:42

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0148 And It Will Be About QuickBooks Year End Closing Tips For Contractors Taking a bit of time to clean-up QuickBooks and prepare it before giving it to your tax preparer could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars in income taxes. Download QuickBooks Year End Checklist Here Several years ago the accounting departments of smaller construction companies with less than $10M in annual sales had to slog through dozens of mind numbing General Journal Entries in order to "Close The Books". With QuickBooks that process is mostly automatic. There are still a few things the accounting department needs to do. The easiest method is to open QuickBooks and go to the help menu and click on the "Year End Guide". A QuickBooks Year-End Guide wiil pop-up. It may vary depending on the version of QuickBooks you are using. When you click on a task with your mouse the help screen for that task pops up and guides you through the process which normally takes several hours depending on the amount of bookkeeping data in your QuickBooks file and how complex your construction accounting system is setup. If you need help contact Sharie 206-361-3950 or Sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com Get Ready For The Tax Preparer Step-By-Step1. Gather Receipts Into One Container2. Review Personal Bank Statements - Business3. Review Business Bank Statements – Personal4. Reconcile Bank And Credit Card Accounts5. Verify Petty Cash Entries6. Invoice Unbilled Work7. Money In (Accounts Receivable)8. Inventory Count By December 31st9. Fixed Assets Balance And Depreciation10. Money Out (Accounts Payable)11. Retirement Contributions - 401 (k), IRA, Etc.12. Notes Payable, Loans, Mortgages, Credit Lines13. Mileage Log / Each Vehicle / Business Use14. W-9’s From Vendors & Contractors Over $60015. Payroll Tax Deposits Match Quarterly Returns16. Verify Profit And Loss - Does It Make Sense?17. Back Up All Your QuickBooks Data Onsite And Offsite When Your Computer Crashes Your QuickBooks Data Is Gone Forever!We strongly recommend you have a basic disaster recovery plan in place. If your QuickBooks is resting on our QuickBooks Desktop In The Cloud Intuit Approved QuickBooks Hosting service that has multiple backup procedures in place you do not need to back up again. We have prepared a PDF checklist you can Download QuickBooks Year End Checklist Here There is nothing to fill out, simply click on the button and download it to your heart's content. We offer QuickBooks year end closing services if you prefer not to do it yourself or rely on someone who only does it once a year and the prices are very reasonable.If you find that QuickBooks is not doing what you want it to do and not giving you the reports you want you may want to consider trying Xero Accounting Online. We offer both Xero and QuickBooks bookkeeping services for construction contractors and have found the dividing line is how you get paid. QuickBooks Works Best If You1. Take Job Deposits2. Have Change Orders3. Issue Multiple Invoices4. Need Job Costing Reports5. Need Payment Applications6. Periodic Invoices For Bank draws7. Need Complex Construction Accounting Reports Xero Accounting Online Works Best If You1. Have Simple Jobs With One Invoice2. Need Basic Key Performance Indicator Financial Reports We Make Getting Started With Xero Painless!Do you want to use Xero Accounting Online, but dread moving everything from QuickBooks or some other accounting software? We can do it all for you:· Enter all of your year to date transactions· Enter all of your Accounts Receivable (Sales)· Enter all of your Accounts Payable (Purchases)· Previous year end bank, credit card and other account balances· Activate your bank and PayPal feeds for downloading into Xero· Enter all your customer and vendor contact information· Contact Sharie 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com· Set up your organization in Xero Accounting Online· Prepare an application for Tax-ID number, if needed.· Set up your Chart...

Duration:00:12:32

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0147 And It Will Be About Handyman Contractors Enjoy Steady Profits, Low Risk, Long Term Wealth Handyman Contractors Are Very High Profit Low Risk Construction Niche. Lately we have been tracking how many new clients own and operate Handyman Companies and the results are surprising. We have always known them to be a high-profit low-risk type of business that for the most part is not as severely impacted by ups and downs of the economy. Nowhere near other segments of the construction industry When the economy slows a predictable shift takes place: Spec house builders start building custom homes and lose money because the dynamics of Spec Vs. Custom. Custom home builders feeling competitive price pressure from spec house builders start doing remodels lose money. Remodel contractors feeling competitive price pressure from custom home builders become handyman and lose money. Handyman contractors notice some of their opportunities dry up so they tend to have more time for add-on sales. When the latest recession began in early 2009 contractors were hit especially hard and are just now beginning to recover. If you earn your living as a handyman here is some important information just for you starting with a Podcast interview of Dan Perry founder of Handyman Startup. As a Handyman contractor you can make a lot of money because you take care of the things most husbands, homeowners and some small retail stores hate doing because by the time they figure out what to do, make the required three trips to the hardware store they realize the time and energy they wasted could have been put to more productive use. Do it right and you can build a base of repeat and referral clients which can earn you a net income of over $75,000 and in many cases over $100,000 a year. If you are inclined to add workers the sky is the limit on your earning potential. Dan Perry Handyman Startup is one of the best sources of information for step-by-step how to setup and run a profitable handyman company. The key is being smart about where you put your time and energy. Do what you do best and outsource the rest. Don't try to save money changing your oil, filter and lube job when you can have it done at one of the quick-lube places. While they are doing it you can do some planning on your tablet, make some calls to line up more work or dozens other productive uses of your time. Keep a paper notepad and pen or pencil in your shirt pocket to jot down notes or if you prefer there are hundreds of "Apps" for your smartphone. I have found the notepad to be more efficient because it is quick and when I get back to office simply tear out the paper, do the task and recycle the paper. You do whatever is best for you. If you work the Realtor market there are several ways to get the word out that you can handle the buyer or sellers punch list to get the home ready for sale or purchase. On the most effective ways for handyman in the Northwest is Footwork Express. In other parts of the USA there are similar organizations. Finally get a good bookkeeper who understands what handymen do, someone who can keep your checkbook and credit cards balanced and reconciled with the bank, prepare payroll if you need it, prepare your Quarterly Tax Returns, discuss the differences between Sole Proprietor, Sub-S Corporation and Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) from a tax and growth perspective, someone and someone who can let you see your QuickBooks Desktop version on the internet 24/7 and provide ongoing business coaching. Handyman Construction Company Like Yours Has Unique Bookkeeping Needs Not Just Any Bookkeeper Will Do - Too often handyman construction company owners hire the wrong bookkeeper mistakenly believing all bookkeepers are the same. Nothing is further from the truth. Not all construction workers are the same. You would never hire a construction worker with a background in new construction commercial work to be part of your handyman construction...

Duration:00:20:55

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0146 And It Will Be About When Is Outsourcing Your Construction Bookkeeping A Good Idea Outsourcing Your Construction Bookkeeping Works Best When: Your construction company is small with 1-10 employees and doesn't need a full-time bookkeeper. You need someone with more skills than the receptionist or office manager can provide. You need someone skilled in construction accounting who knows how to handle job deposits, progress billings, etc. You don't have the time, energy or money to setup an office, hire a bookkeeper and babysit them! If the bookkeeper is out on maternity leave, or if there will be a vacancy of several months. You need a Contractor Champion who is your advocate helping make certain things get done! Large construction companies have the resources to invest $250,000+ in order to setup and staff a construction accounting system like ours. which gives them everything they need operate a highly profitable construction company. You Can Access Our System Around The Clock For A Tiny Fraction Of The Cost! Why hire a good full-time bookkeeper when in most cases we can do the job, better, faster and cheaper than one lonely bookkeeper. Instead of one bookkeeper when you work with Fast Easy Accounting you get the entire team and rid yourself of the boring mind-numbing chore of contractor bookkeeping! Who Will Service Your Account? You will be assigned a your very own Contractor Champion who is like a concierge at a five star hotel. You get all the services at a fraction of the cost. Your Contractor Champion is someone with a deep background and first-hand experience in construction; having owned or operated a construction company with employees. Someone who understands your specific construction company, the type of work it does and how to make the best use of our contractors bookkeeping services system for you. This person will be your guide, mentor and friend. They are your advocate to make certain you are provided the best possible service and they have the authority to assign resources in the event of an emergency construction accounting situation such as special reports, quarterly tax reports, insurance audits and complex payment applications. Your Contractor Champion monitors the quality and quantity of reports, emails, graphs and other data to make certain you are getting the right amount of information without overwhelming you with useless reports and notifications. Most accounting firms do not specialize in one industry because they want to have a stake in as many camps as possible. This like hiring a Jack-Of-All-Trades and Master-Of-None. In the end they don't have a system and continually operate in complete chaos by assigning each bookkeeper the maximum number of clients humanly possible and hope nothing goes wrong. It is similar to putting all your eggs in one basket, giving it to a raging drunk and hoping nothing happens to them! Human Nature Being What It Is Eventually: Your bookkeeper will get sick Your bookkeeper will get overworked Your bookkeeper will quit or get fired Your bookkeeper will take a long vacation or worse yet never take a vacation Your bookkeeper will have too many clients Your bookkeeper will get another bookkeeper's clients Your bookkeeper may become a burned out Bad Bookkeeper We Help You Become Process Dependent Not People Dependent! Your day to day contractors bookkeeping services is safe and it will be assigned a team of skilled Professional Construction Bookkeepers and Accountants with several levels of construction accounting skills and an internal support system that conducts regular reviews of every contractors bookkeeping system. Just know that someone, perhaps you, your Project Manager or your part-time office assistant will need to code bills, checks and receipts, approving invoices, reviewing time sheets if you want Job Costing. Someone at your office will still need to make deposits, authorize payroll and pay the bills. We can process payroll,...

Duration:00:23:16