Here Are Some Important Questions To
Consider:
- What if there was a way to have useful Financial and Job
Costing Reports on demand 24/7 from a secure web portal that
provides the information you and your construction company actually
need rather than adapting the way you work to a tool that only
partially addresses your construction company's needs?
- What if these tools and processes not only worked well within
your construction company but allowed you to invite your Board of
Advisors to participate and collaborate with you?
- What if these tools and processes could be customized for your
particular construction company without having to go to multiple
sources to get it done?
- What if these tools and processes required little or no
technology investment?
Please read objectively and assess your strengths and weaknesses
in each area. You will be a better contractor for it. We do not ask
you to change who you are but rather encourage you to do what you
do best and outsource the rest. Some of you will experience a
paradigm shift which is something deep inside yourself, recognizing
there may be another way to do something you are already doing.
Others will experience nothing. Whatever is in your best interest
will occur.
The Process-Dependent Approach:
1. Work for clients instead of
customers
20% of your customers usually generate 80% of your net
profit.
20% of the goods or services you sell contribute 80% of your
revenue.
20% or 2 out of 10 of your staff create 80% of the value for
your customers.
The most critical value proper bookkeeping brings to a
business is an understanding of where your 20% is
hidden.
By generating daily reports that uncover the best customers,
jobs, services, or products, you will soon see how you can refocus
your internal efforts on doing more good work.
2. Use Change Orders
The purpose of the construction
change order form is to help you make a prisoner
on paper any conversations between your customer and you, the
contractor, your project manager, superintendent, foreman,
construction worker or anyone else who has communications with your
client.
Your customers and clients may try to push you a little just
to see if you will give them something for free so don't take it
personally, it is just a game to them. Stand your ground, and in
most cases, reasonable people will pay you a fair price for your
services. Which means, in the end, your construction company will
earn more money, pay better wages to your employees and you will
generally enjoy a fuller and richly rewarding life.
3. Client and Document Management
System
With the rapid changes in technology, finding the right system
that works best for you and your company might seem a bit of a
challenge but well worth the time invested. Improper document
management results in overpaying taxes and poor scheduling affect
production and cash flow. Clients trust your company to solve their
problem, which relies on your performance and operation.
Marketing is the foundation because nothing happens until
somebody hires your services. Focus on what you're good at. What
jobs have you done that did a positive difference in peoples lives?
What projects did you have so much fun doing that time seemed to
fly by? Consider your answers and write a story to describe the
people you enjoy working for because they are your "Prime
Customers" and they are your target market.
Accounting is the scorecard - what gets measured, gets
managed. It tells you what is working and what you should do more
of to make more money.
Production is the final stage because this is where all the
planning and support structure pays off.
5. Construction Accounting And
Bookkeeping
There is a world of difference between
Regular Accounting and Construction
Accounting. Construction Accounting is the center of your
construction business; pay attention to what it says, and it can
make you wealthy. The value in your bookkeeping is in the accuracy
of the reports.
With the appropriate tools and processes, you can have the
insights you need to manage and grow your construction company
effectively and efficiently even without you running it. You can
sit back and relax while you monitor and manage the work-in-process
you already laid out. The last thing I leave you is "Knowledge is
Power." There are simple answers to all complex problems, and they
are usually wrong. Invest the time, money, and effort to do it
right the first time. You have what it takes to be successful, and
you deserve to be wealthy because contractors add value to other
people's lives.