You are a small contractor who needs an Admin Assistant to answer your phone, so you hire someone for your contracting company office.

Calls come in, and your Admin Assistant has some free time between calls, so you want to make use of that famous Standby Time, and you ask them to do a little more. Being nice; you give a new title of Office Manager.  

As the Office Manager; that person is in control of the bookkeeping, customer invoices, vendor payments and more. As the contractor, you are excited because you are handing off the responsibility for the day to day activities.

From your side; you have checked off the box called Office Manger DONE, phones DONE, bookkeeping DONE and material pickup and delivery person DONE. Everything is solved. Good now you can go back to work and start doing the work which is the part you are good at and like to do.  

Are you expecting Too Much from your Office Manager?

Mad Dash To The End Of The Year And I Can’t Remember Last Week

Let Alone January, April, July’s Stuff!

The year is almost over. It is now the (4th) Quarter and year end deadlines are approaching.

Have you given your bookkeeper, wife, partner), accountant or tax accountant the information need to complete your reports. Accountants need good information to be able to create detailed reports and save money on your taxes.

Here is truly where the expression “Garbage In Equals Garbage Out” comes into play.  It is impossible to create Job Costing Reports when all anyone knows is the amount of a deposit on the bank statement.   
 
It’s the Mad Dash To The End Of The Year as a contractor recently described their Year End Madness to get his documents ready for the Tax Accountant.

Are You In This Cycle Of Chaos Too? It’s Preventable!

Today's podcast guest is Dan Perry, founder of HandymanStartup.com

Tell us about your background and how you came to be where you are now.

I started my handyman business back in 2011 and was a complete novice when it came to business. But, I was determined to learn because I didn’t want to have to go back and get another 9-5.

So, I invested in learning sales and marketing from other industries since the stuff for handyman and contractors seemed outdated. I applied and tested these strategies in my own handyman business, and got great results and quickly had a full schedule while charging a premium.

Since, I’ve continued to learn, but I’ve turned a lot of my focus to helping other handymen and contractors through online training, so they can apply these strategies to grow their profits.

This article was written in late September 2016 in response to a trend we see all across the USA including Alaska and Hawaii. It is likely happening everywhere in the world.

When the world economy collapsed beginning in 2008, a lot of companies went out of business, and one of the hardest hit sectors was construction. Thousands of bookkeepers were suddenly out of a job, and many of them began to freelance taking on a few clients in order to pay rent and keep food on the table.

As the economy continues to improve a lot of them are finding jobs with contractors like you because of the security that comes with having a stable income. The problem is they have been accustomed to having lots of free time during office hours to chat on their cell phones, surf the web, spend time on Facebook and other social media sites; not buckling down and getting work done, right and on time.

In addition, most of them have not kept up with the advances in Construction Accounting Technology let alone keeping the construction bookkeeping skills updated.

What happens when he or she realizes they were earning $30 an hour as a freelance bookkeeper and now they are slaving away in your cramped office with no snacks, beverages, using outdated hardware and software for $10 an hour?

I have been working as a Webmaster at Fast Easy Accounting for over a year now and I can truthfully say, I enjoy my job. I have been exposed to researching and reading all about the construction industry and were given the right tools and resources to expand my skillset.

The First Question You May Ask Yourself Is

Why Doesn’t My Tax Accountant Help Me With Job Costing?

They are Tax Accountants, not Construction Accountants and may not know the answers. You may think they are just keeping it a secret. Sometimes you may think they don’t know what they are doing, and maybe I need to get a new tax accountant.  

My Advice is Stop, take a deep breath. Is your tax accountant doing a good job with your annual taxes? If the answer is YES. Please keep them, they are doing what they are supposed to do.

The First Question You May Ask Yourself Is

Why Doesn’t My Tax Accountant Help Me With Job Costing?

They are Tax Accountants, not Construction Accountants and may not know the answers. You may think they are just keeping it a secret. Sometimes you may think they don’t know what they are doing, and maybe I need to get a new tax accountant.  

My Advice is Stop, take a deep breath. Is your tax accountant doing a good job with your annual taxes? If the answer is YES. Please keep them, they are doing what they are supposed to do.

You Started Your Cоnѕtruсtіоn Company, And Now You Need Tools, Equipment, Trucks, And Vans And You Are Dismayed By What Everything Costs!

The соѕt of ѕtаrtіng a Cоnѕtruсtіоn business саn be daunting and scary, tо ѕау thе least. Nо mаttеr whісh part of this wide wonderful іnduѕtrу you choose or hоw profitable іt may bе, еvery Contractor fасеѕ the same оbѕtасlеѕ fоr асԛuіrіng hand tools, power tools, truсkѕ, vans and heavy equipment.

The bіggеѕt оbѕtасlе you will face is getting the money to buу what you need. So еԛuірmеnt аuсtіоnѕ can bе a grеаt hеlр to a Contractor like you. Considering the retail cost of properly outfitting one work van with the tools and equipment to open a skilled trade business like Plumber, Electrician, HVAC, Carpenter, Framer, Drywaller, Flooring, Roofer or any of the other dozens of skilled trades can cost over $25,000 then wouldn't it make sense to save money where you can?