Let’s start with the basics.

What is progress invoicing?

Good news! You are likely doing it already! Progress invoicing is simply the function of billing customers in increments of the full estimate throughout a project until its completion. For example, let’s say you are building a $400,000 house. Since it is very unlikely that you would bill the full amount at the beginning of the project, you need processes in place to get portions of the full $400,000 throughout the project. Having the right workflow in place will keep everything working smoothly.

Benefits of progress invoicing

So, how can having the right progress invoicing workflow in place benefit you?

• More Cash
  You will have positive cash flow. Project costs and overhead can be covered as the project progresses because you have the system in place to know how much money you have and can budget accordingly.
• Less Confusion and More Accountability
  Overall, there is less confusion. Less confusion for you and your customer on payment details, which can make for an better customer relationship. Not only does it allow you to hold your customer more accountable so they know when the payment request will happen, having it already planned out can help hold your company accountable to follow the schedule that you have set for your project.
• Budget Tracking
  You will be able to easily track invoices and also know when you will get paid. You will also see exactly how the project is tracking against the estimate and be able to adjust accordingly, if necessary.
• Tools
  There are tools in most software that make all of this happen, again with the right process in place! Find a software that offers the functionality to track progress invoicing, like QuickBooks Online.
• Happy Customers
  Your customers will not be shocked when they receive a bill since it has all been laid out for them already. It can also give them peace of mind that the job will be completed to satisfaction.
• Happy Vendors and Subcontractors
  Your vendors and subcontractors will be happy when they are being paid on time. Since they will know the expectations of the project, and you will have set terms up front, this will make working together smoother – at least from the accounting side.

Win, win, win!

Setting up progress invoicing

As we’ve already hit on, one of the most important things to do so that progress invoicing works for you is to establish and agree upon the billing details ahead of time, ideally when you are setting up the contract. That way everyone is clear what is expected and can plan accordingly. Be sure to include:

• Total amount of the contract
• When you will be invoicing
• How much you will be invoicing

When?

To determine when you will be invoicing may depend on your relationship with your client. Examples of choosing a time to invoice would be completion of certain phases of the job, monthly on a chosen day of the month, or a chosen time frame agreed upon by both parties. But remember, be confident in you setting your billing terms and do what works for your business, whether it’s Net 30, on the 5th of the month or when a discipline is completed.

How Much?

There are several options to consider when deciding how much of the total estimate to bill. This could be a percentage of the total estimate or a percentage of cost code lines from your estimate. You can even do a custom dollar amount of the total estimate. Another way to determine an amount to bill is to go to your project budget, add up all of the costs and work performed for the month, calculate your fee and charge that amount.

Again, the biggest key to making this work is to make sure you and your customer agree upon the details before the project begins and having the right workflow in place ahead of time.

It’s time to bill! Now what?

When it comes time to billing, QuickBooks has the functions to set up progress invoicing and works with your project management software, such as Co-Construct or BuilderTrend. It provides reporting and dashboards so you can easily track the status of the project. 24hr Bookkeeper has created a step-by-step video on how to do the function of progress invoicing in QuickBooks and has the expertise to take the functions and design a workflow that works for your situation. Find that video on our YouTube page.

At 24hr Bookkeeper, we are passionate about working with businesses like yours taking them to the next level. Getting workflows and processes in place that work for your company and utilizing your software will save you time, money and headaches. Our team knows the challenges you face as a construction business owner and can help solve your accounting and bookkeeping problems.

Find out more how our services can help take your business to the next level!

Contact us today for a no-cost consultation!

The post What Can a Progress Invoicing Workflow Do For You? appeared first on 24hr Bookkeeper.

However, you don’t have to go it alone. In fact, by creating a helpful subcontractor management plan that you can use for each and every project, you can make managing your workers much, much easier.

If you’re familiar with what a subcontractor management plan is, then keep reading for a nice refresher. If you’re totally new to the subject or are looking to get better acquainted with it, then we’ve got you covered too!

Here is a breakdown of what a subcontractor management plan is and the content that should be in it.

Subcontractor Management Plan Defined

A subcontractor management plan is a guideline on how the relationship between you and your subcontractors will work for the duration of a project.

Why Are They Necessary? 

SMPs are necessary because they SMPs are necessary because they help ensure that expectations and deadlines are clear for your contractors. It clearly outlines the goals and parameters of the contract so all parties are on the same page.

Essentially, it’s the methods by which you, the construction business owner, will ensure that everything is done correctly and on-time.

Content Suggestions For Your SMP

Your subcontractor management plan may include the following: 

Prequalification

In order to make sure that you’re bringing aboard the most professional and best crew for the job, prequalification is necessary. While some contractors may try and avoid this step altogether simply to save time, this is not recommended. 

By prequalifying your subcontractors, you can make sure that they have the experience in completing similar projects, have the certifications and licenses that they must have for their role, and that they don’t have any violations against them that renders them unable to work. 

Don’t play fast and loose with who you hire, as it may come back to bite you in the end. 

Insurance Considerations and Creation of Contract

Any subcontractor you are bringing on to a project should be able to provide you with proof of the insurance that is needed when working on that specific job site. Make sure that prior to the subcontractor beginning any work, you first get all insurance information squared away. 

After insurance considerations, a contract should be created, which should include information such as: 

The names of the parties involved in the contract:

• The legal names of the parties involved in the contract
• The scope of the work, including: 
  • Each subcontractor’s clearly defined responsibilities and authorities
  • Each subcontractor’s deliverables identified, and required content clearly specified
  • Each subcontractor’s clearly identified and described services that it is responsible for providing
  • Schedule and budget constraints
  • Warranty details
  • Each subcontractor’s clearly defined requirements for quality, including the requirement to allow independent quality inspections of materials and processes

Safety Plan and Training 

A safety plan and subsequent training are necessary and should be outlined in the SMP. It is especially important to have this safety plan in place with the current OSHA regulations, PPE requirements and worksite changes.

The safety plan should include: 

• Management Commitment 
• Responsibilities for Different Parties 
• Safety Rules and Regulations 
• Disciplinary Policies 
• Accident and Reporting Procedures 
• Safety Training Requirements 
• Emergency Response Plan 
• PPE Requirements

You should also require your subcontractors to make sure that all their employees are properly trained. When it comes to what they need training for, make sure to thoroughly outline them in the “safety training requirements” portion of the SMP.

Inspections and Review

The last portion of your subcontractor management plan should include the conducting of inspection both during work in progress, as well as post-project. 

This will allow you to make sure that everything is going according to what was agreed to. 

But, you should also plan for what should happen if things aren’t going as well as you’d like during your inspection (i.e. certain aspects of the project weren’t done yet, they are way behind schedule, etc.). Included in your SMP should be an outline of what will happen if during these inspections if the work is unsatisfactory. 

Finances

Another important part of a subcontractor management plan is the financial aspect. This section will outline financial elements that will be monitored and ultimately can help you manage your accounting and cash flows. Some details in this section could include:

• Payment Terms agreement
• Retainage agreement

Focus More on Completing Projects and Less on Your Accounting With 24hr Bookkeeper! 

Managing subcontractors is a tall order and it’s just one of the many on your plate. And as a construction business owner, it’s important that you implement the proper systems to ensure that you’re spending the majority of your time ensuring that great work gets done for your clients.

One area of your business that can be very time-consuming and take you away from delivering results for your customers is accounting. Wouldn’t it be great if you could have someone specialized take care of your bookkeeping while you focus on the job at hand?

By tapping into the accounting expertise of 24hr Bookkeeper, you can do just that!

24hr Bookkeeper offers construction software integration, workflow advisory and monthly bookkeeping services so you can focus on getting the job done instead of worrying about your finances.

Contact us for the solution to managing your construction financials. We can help take your construction business to the next level!

The post Subcontractor Management Plan: A Key to Success appeared first on 24hr Bookkeeper.

QuickBooks is a multi-faceted tool that can help propel any construction business forward. With this being said, it’s important to ensure that you’re utilizing this tool correctly and can integrate it other construction management softwares that help you increase efficiency.

Reach Out to QuickBooks For Assistance

First and foremost, if you need to figure out whether or not your construction software can integrate with QuickBooks, a quick Google search will yield your answer. If you find out that yes, your software does integrate with QuickBooks, reaching out to QuickBooks or visiting their website and looking for information is a good place to start.

QuickBooks has tons of great Help Articles, and there is a decent chance that someone else out there has the same question you do. Contacting QuickBooks directly is also a good idea. They have a Learn and Support page where you can reach out to them, and they’ll be sure to help you find the answer to your integration questions.

Visit the Software Program’s Website

Because QuickBooks is such a popular tool, there is a solid chance that the construction software you use may have some resources on integrations on their website.

If you check their site and can’t find any content or information on QuickBooks integrations, try emailing or calling them directly. There is a good chance they will be able to help you out in some capacity, or at least point in the right direction for how to integrate your software.

Find Construction Industry Specific Groups To Ask Your Questions

Misery loves company. Just kidding! Finding a group of peers in the construction industry to bounce your ideas off of and ask for their experiences with different software. This can be a good place to start for valuable feedback. Don’t wait to struggle on your own when the internet has a wealth of connections available for you to find your answer. There are few different places across the web to find a strong construction community. Community groups on LinkedIn, Facebook, and even Reddit have a lot of people you can bounce ideas off of.

If you’re looking for a group to get connected with, but you’re not sure where to start, check out our Facebook Group Construction Cash Flow Round Table! It’s free to join and is full of people just like you looking for the answers to their construction accounting and business cash flow questions.

Understand Construction Industry & Software Terminology

There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to find the answer to a problem, but not knowing where to start. When you’re working with a construction software, it’s important to understand the different terms associated with the software itself as well as the key terms that many construction accountants use to describe different processes. Understanding the pieces that go into to calculating your labor burden and using purchase orders can lead to more specific software searches as you research the different problems you hope to solve within your business while utilizing construction softwares.

Utilize Video Tutorials & Reviews on Construction Software

Sometimes reading about your problem isn’t enough to solve the specific issue you are encountering. Watching tutorial videos developed by the company itself or created by experienced users can be a good place to gather information about whether or not a software integration will be a good fit with the current QuickBooks accounting system you are utilizing. There are many independent reviewers that can help you get a good understanding of what software is out there and what pros and cons come with each them.

Within these videos and reviews, you can commonly find the answer to some of the issues or potential problems you may experience with a specific software. It is not uncommon for other construction business owners to note their frustration with a specific feature or design flaw that you also may be seeing or tell you the biggest pain points that the software was able to alleviate within their company. It is also a good way to find answers to how those individuals worked around their difficulties or were able to get connected with a professional who resolved their problem.

Know The Best Size and Fit of The Construction Software

This is an area that many construction business owners commonly skip while researching a software. Knowing the cost benefit analysis of a software and its practical application to your business needs is actually one of the most valuable things you can do before committing to a software. Really good construction software is designed to help construction companies meet specific industry needs. It’s always good to ask a salesperson what their typical customers look like for that specific software. Ask them the approximate employee size, industry focus, and average number of projects running to see what type of companies have found their software the most valuable. Sometimes a one-size-fits-all construction software will not be flexible enough to meet the volume of project you have running, but could be a really good fit for a very diversified construction business. No software is perfect, but evaluating which ones have worked successfully for businesses similar to yours can help you make a good investment decision.

Have A Construction Software Implementation Plan Before Purchasing

Just because you purchase a software or start paying a monthly fee doesn’t mean it will solve your process problems. The same way a tool in your tool box cannot help you if you never take it out to the box. Software must be tuned to use in your specific business and your team must be trained to use it properly. In many construction companies we have encountered, a large investment in software was made to solve a problem, but no person in the business ever utilized the software to complete all of the tasks it was supposed to be used for. This is a very common problem that we would hate to see you get stuck with.

Sometimes a software can solve all of your problems, but it isn’t within your business’ budget to implement. Researching similar products to that software to see if there is a lower cost option to complete the biggest time savings issues within your company can be a good place to start. Before making a software commitment, it’s important to make sure you are committed to rolling it out within your business. If you don’t have time to implement the software and make all the connections to QuickBooks yourself, you could find the next section valuable!

Work With an Experienced Integration Team Like 24hr Bookkeeper

Here at 24hr Bookkeeper, we support all 3rd party construction software that integrates with QuickBooks. Examples include BuilderTrend, CoConstruct, RedTeam Software, simPRO, and Knowify.

We understand the importance of integrating QuickBooks, which is why we made it one of our services. And, if you’re nervous about how integrations may interfere with your day-to-day, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! We’ll create a reasonable timeline for implementing new software and processes throughout the entire company, all while avoiding interference with daily operations and allows for a smooth transition.

In addition to our integration services, we can also help your construction business in the following ways:

Monthly Bookkeeping

We manage your financials in both QuickBooks and your construction software. We’ll handle accounts payable and receivable, payroll, reconciliations, and review for real-time financials and job costing.

Construction Software Integration with QuickBooks

We integrate QuickBooks and construction software together for a streamlined workflow, from estimating to project management to bookkeeping.

Catch Up Bookkeeping

We bring your financials up-to-date, reflecting accurate, and verified financial data. You’ll be able to produce all financial reports confidently.

Workflow Advisory Services

We produce customized step-by-step financial manuals that identify financial management and workflows, including staff responsibilities and utilization of QuickBooks and construction management software.

Quickbooks Training

Learn to use, understand, and confidently navigate QuickBooks Online with one-on-one or group training.

To get started, reach out to us today!

The post QuickBooks Integration: How to Research Your Specific Construction Software appeared first on 24hr Bookkeeper.

If you do not see the profitability you want out of your projects, you may start to question whether or not your business is going to make it in the long-term. It’s essential to throw those thoughts out the window because by taking the right actions and prioritizing the important areas of your process, you can increase your profits significantly.

To ensure that you’re cutting costs while increasing profits, here are 5 key ways to improving your construction company’s profitability.

1. Increase Productivity

Now, obviously improving your company’s productivity is more complicated than telling your team they need to be more efficient. You actually have to look for areas in your process where bottlenecks may occur.

For example, choose an upcoming project to monitor extra closely. Track every step in the process to see how long it takes to be fulfilled. See which steps are taking longer than they should be, and look for ways to make that step more efficient.

Let’s say that you notice your materials are taking longer than you’d like to arrive at the job site. You might look to change where you’re sourcing your supplies from, and if you can find someone that can do it faster. Less time waiting equals more productivity, which, in turn, creates more profit.

Offering your crew an opportunity to make suggestions on your process improvement can be a good way to hear different perspectives and ideas that you may not have even considered. Making it a competition through prizes or even a game of some sort can help your team feel valued in offering cost savings that benefit your business.

2. Be Precise With Your Bids

One of the biggest mistakes you can make involving a project is making your bids based on guesswork, not concrete evidence, and data. Sure, a quick bid might give you a slight advantage in some cases, but many clients will appreciate you taking the time to give them an accurate bid as opposed to a quick one.

Another mistake with job estimations is simply trying to be the lowest bid every time. This is a good way to not only lose profits, but to frustrate your team when they are working hard on a project that may end up costing the company more than it actually makes. Know how you are structuring all of your bids. Two common approaches that construction companies take in creating their bids are on cost-plus pricing and value based pricing. It’s good to know what is the best fit for the way you do business.

The best way to estimate job costs is by taking your time, doing your due diligence, and being honest with the client. You may not win every bid, but the ones you do win will be highly profitable and help your construction business maintain long term financial security. If you don’t have an estimating template that you use to bid your jobs, check out our free construction estimate templates!

3. Set Goals for Profits

Speaking of estimating, never underestimate the power of goals. Whatever you want your profitability to be, set that number in stone by documenting it somewhere. Then, keep tabs on your progress to see whether or not you’re on your way to hitting your goal. Setting your profitability goals, and tracking to see if they are on track ever week can actually help you identify areas that are a bleed to your bottom line. If you find that certain phases of your project commonly go over budget, it’s good to evaluate how that step can be restructured within the bidding process, what other resources can create less problems for this step, or how more accountability & efficiency can be placed into that phase. Catching profitability issues can also show you where mistakes are happening in other areas of your business such as accounting documentation, change orders, etc.

Because profitability is a company-wide goal, make sure that the rest of your team—regardless of where they are on the organizational chart—is aware of the goal. If you have some flexibility with your revenue, consider rewarding your team for their hard work by offering bonuses or buying them all meals at a nice restaurant. Teams become more aware to watch for issues when it is communicated how those issues impact the company and themselves. Always try to present your new goals as something that will benefit your team. Find the ways that it makes their life easier, and their response will be more welcoming to the change.

4. Invest in Your Employees

Employee turnover can be detrimental to any business. Not only do you have to spend tons of time looking for replacements, but you have to also invest time and energy into training new employees.

By taking good care of your current employees and investing some resources into ensuring they have everything they need to have success while employed at your company, you can limit turnover drastically.

When you put effort into making sure your employees are taken care of, they are more likely to stick around. Promoting from within—where those who take on leadership roles already know the ropes and are family with the business—will help boost your profits even more. Check out resources offered by your state’s Department of  Employment & Economic Development. Many times, there are even grant funding options that can be utilized to invest in your employees. Another great place to utilize is the Small Business Administration there are many options they have to support your team and connect you with local resources that could be of value to your construction business.

5. Prioritize Project Management

Project management is a huge part of productivity. Whether it’s integrating a new project management software that your team can utilize to stay on the same page, or bringing in an experienced project manager to facilitate the process efficiently, figuring out how to improve the lifecycle of a project is key to profitability. Following your projects through their regular life cycle can sometimes be done far better in project management software, and can help you find ways to save time.

Integrations within your project management can also allow for faster document collection, quick access to timeline information, and easy connection to your bookkeeping. Streamlining these types of processes can save hours of manual entry or searching for paper documents.

Contact 24hr Bookkeeper to Manage Your Construction Company’s Accounting

Another way to cut costs and improve profitability is by outsourcing certain areas of your business. This includes your bookkeeping. Hiring an internal bookkeeper can be expensive, but doing it on your own can be incredibly time-consuming. By choosing to outsource your accounting to 24hr Bookkeeper, you can focus on creating beautiful projects for your clients. Having the support of a bookkeeping company takes the stress out of managing your books, and gives you peace of mind knowing that your accounts are in order. Contact us today to find out what options would be the best fit for your construction business!

The post Construction Accounting and Financial Management: Maintaining and Increasing Profit appeared first on 24hr Bookkeeper.

Audit Your Cash Flow & Accounts Receivable

Going through your books right now to understand where your money is coming and where it’s going is incredibly important to controlling costs. Knowing what needs to still be paid, and who currently needs to be billed can help you make a game plan for how and when to get your accounts in line. Just because you have money in your bank account doesn’t mean that it isn’t spoken for somewhere else. Knowing what your inflow and outflow look like helps you know what amount of cash you need to retain in order to make your payroll, keep accounts current, and maintain operations. For more tips on keeping cash flow rolling, check out this article we wrote.

Think Lean & Know the Cost of Subcontractors

While many construction businesses applied for the PPP and EIDL funding, it’s important to remember that some of the loan may not all be forgivable if you have a change in staff numbers. You must keep the same number of staff from when you applied throughout the loan time frame. If the number of staff changes throughout the forgiveness period, identify the exemptions that you may qualify for towards forgiveness.

Hiring new employees at this point also might not also be in your interest if the new contracts slow, but it does depend on the position you’re looking to fill. If subcontractors are a better fit for your business, don’t forget that you must file your 1099’s correctly.

Find the time to calculate what a new employee will cost you versus what it could look like to hire a subcontractor to do the job. If you don’t know how to calculate the cost of an employee, you can check out our video about calculating your labor burden. We also have created a subcontractor management plan that you can utilize if you choose to work with some of them for your construction business.

Streamline Your Construction Business Processes

There is so much time lost within many construction businesses because they are using processes that are outdated, technology that isn’t automated, or their communication process has gaps. The phrase, “that’s the way we’ve always done it” costs businesses thousands of dollars every year. If you’re stuck at home or forced to self-quarantine, use the time to create better processes or research different types of technology that can save your team time or money. One product that we really like, and work to help our contractors integrate with their accounting system is Buildertrend. If you have questions about different software options and are looking for recommendations, we’d be more than happy to point you in the right direction!

Evaluate Your Construction Business’ Price Point

Consider ensuring your bidding estimate calculations are accurate for any changes that have happened including OSHA regulations, PPE requirements, or worksite changes that make your project sites slower impact your operating costs. You need to be factoring these into your next bids. Make sure your estimators have accurate costs factored into their bids as they work on new business. As jobs get more complicated, and safety plans cause additional delays, you must factor this into the cost of doing business. Doing this now will save you many hours processing change orders.

Have A Strong Relationship With Your Construction Material Suppliers

Many suppliers have a required down payment policy on supply orders, while others have the option for you to open a line of credit. Consider what type of support you will need from them to get through this time, but also know that any accounts that have been unpaid prior to COVID-19 are being called and your request may not be taken seriously if you are not current on your previous orders.

Open and honest communication with your suppliers is important to ensuring you can come through for your customers. This relationship is incredibly important if you’re finding that your accounts receivables are not coming through well. Suppliers can support you in contacting your customers and ensuring you get paid. The actual supplies that they provided for the job can give them the ability to place liens much easier than you can on your own for the work you have completed.

Commit to Quality Customer Service

The care and respect in which you have shown your customers impacts their emotional response to opening their checkbooks. Communication and timeliness are crucial, especially in times of crisis. Take one from the Hurricane Harvey play book. Construction companies that communicated efficiently and showed concern while having the correct policies in place during their response to Hurricane Harvey strengthened their brand and brought their business long term loyalty from quality customers. Make sure that you keep your commitments and communicate if you are not going to be able to do them.

Ramp Up Your Construction Sales Team

Especially within the commercial industry, new construction projects have started to dry up more than ever before. With governments looking at deficits, and businesses wondering if they will endure, you have to have a strong sales strategy with a solid team to back it. Know what kind of contracts you plan to go after and help your sales team prepare to connect in a way that is helpful and supportive to the customer’s needs. Uploading their contract documents into QuickBooks can allow you to easily reference them. You may also create your proposal and progress bill. If that is not the best option for you, you can also create your invoices ahead of time, dated for the appropriate billing period, as they are accepted in your client contract. You can easily do this within QuickBooks Online, using the Projects function. This is not available for QuickBooks Desktop.

Dig for Tax Deductions & Save Receipts

Now is the time to keep all of your documents organized. Keeping your accounting records up to date with any purchase receipts and unexpected costs due to COVID-19 should be documented. This could help you qualify for a disaster relief credit of some sort if the legislature passes one for small businesses before the end of the tax year. If you took the PPP or EIDL loan, you will also need to count the forgivable portion of this loan as income and from what we’ve seen so far, you will need to pay tax on it.

Talking with your CPA is a good way to know if there are more areas that you may not have counted before as tax write-offs such as training hours, mileage, etc. Being diligent this year in your documentation because it could help you save so much money when tax time comes!

Button Up Your PPP Loan Forgiveness Application

If you have applied for the PPP funding, the forgiveness application is now open. The longer you wait to get your application in, the longer it will take to get processed. Being ahead of this now could give you some advantages in freeing up your time later and potentially cash flow by being able to plan what you will have to repay and what percentage you are forgiven. If you haven’t accessed this form yet, you can find it here. If you are still in your 8 week period, and need to track your expenses, we’ve created a spreadsheet that you can duplicate and use right here.

Consider Have a Construction Diversification Strategy

There are tons of different ways to diversify your construction business, but historically, many contractors have gotten through recessions by having great customer service while patching up what’s broken. Having a repair and maintenance division gives your sales team a foot in the door to develop a great relationship while waiting for their customer’s confidence to be restored in signing a contract for making a new build or complete renovation. What’s also great about this side of the construction business is that it can help you lock in residual income to fix anything under a certain dollar value while waiting for bigger business.

Exploring other options such as new product offerings, becoming certified under a certain manufacturer’s warranty, or expanding into different parts of construction can also help you stay afloat. Always research and run your profitability numbers first before signing on a new product!

Incentivize Cost Savings Within Your Construction Business

We know you’re committed to keeping all of your construction employees, but the need to cut costs is never more apparent than in a recession. You can track what your expenses are within your business, but your employees can offer you a hand in cutting costs. Some construction companies have incentivized saving money for their business, and many employees take it on as a challenge to find ways to increase efficiency. Holding contests, offering rewards, etc. can make this a team effort and keep it fun. You would be surprised how much your team can save your business if you show them the value of putting their minds to work. Utilizing classes in QuickBooks can help you track some of these employee efforts.

Know What Your Time Is Worth As A Business Owner

Working a lot within your construction business can help pay the bills, but working on your business is going to keep it going long term. Find time to delegate work that someone else on your team can do before taking everything on yourself. Now is not the time to be a micromanager. Help your team take on the things that need to be done to succeed and/or find a way to outsource tasks that can be done by someone who specializes in that field. If you find that bookkeeping makes sense to outsource in order to free up your time, you can connect with us to see what options would be right for you.

The post Mapping The COVID Comeback in Construction appeared first on 24hr Bookkeeper.

Contact Your Construction Company’s Funding Partner

Whether you went straight through the Small Business Administration, or worked with your local bank to get the Paycheck Protection Program underway, you must continue to stay in contact with them about the forgiveness aspects of your loan. The forgiveness portion of the loan has been a difficult portion to navigate due to some unclear specifications within the CARES Act. Therefore, it is important to ask your banker for a list of things needed to process the forgiveness portion for your PPP Loan. We recommend doing the following checklist.

Ask Your PPP Lender The Following:

• For a list of documents required for loan forgiveness. They should have some information given to them by the Small Business Administration to use, but it is common for each bank to also have their own processes and paperwork that you may need to navigate.
• How they would like to receive their information after the 8-week payroll period that the funds were supposed to be used. Do not assume this answer will remain the same. Do what they ask you to do to begin with, but make sure to check in with your lender before submitting your information, as many are updating processes quickly to manage the overload of clients they are now servicing.
• If there is a special form that will be required or if a spreadsheet is sufficient when reporting what your PPP Loan was used for. Because more rounds of funding have been discussed for release, and with uncertainty in navigating how long each state’s shut down will last, it is important to stay up to date on what your bank is requesting. Check in with them to see if they will need more information in the future, should economic recovery take longer.

How to Store Your PPP Documents For Later Use

Now that you know what your lender will be expecting to receive from you, it’s important to keep your documents all in one place. Considering Software Connect’s Construction Industry Survey found that a significant amount of construction businesses still rely on manual methods to run operations, it’s vital to remain organized! Here are some great ways to use technology to streamline your loan documentation:

• Create a digital folder to store your documents as you make financial transactions. You can use your computer drive or online document storage, like dropbox.com to easily share information with your loan provider.
• Download PDF or Spreadsheet copies of your bank statements and payroll records throughout the time period of your PPP funding use.
• Take pictures or scan your receipts to store them digitally.
• Create sub folders, dated with the date of the money transfers, and put all documents related to that transfer within that folder.

Ensuring Your Accounting Is Accurate for Your Construction Business

It is important to record all PPP funds you have received. If you have an accounting software that you utilize, ensure it has recorded your PPP loan amount correctly. Reconciling your accounts within your monthly bookkeeping will also help to keep things organized during your forgiveness reporting.

Your PPP Funds are not income to your business. It should be recorded as a liability, or a loan. You should decide how you are going to pay off the loan portion of the PPP if not all of it is forgivable. Will you be treating it as a “quick turn around” or paying the debt off slower? Classify as a ‘short term liability account’ if you are planning to have the full portion be forgivable. Otherwise, you should classify this funding as a long term liability account if planning to carry out the 2 year loan term.

The Accounting Process to Manage Your PPP Funds

This portion of our article is to help you navigate tracking your PPP Funds every step of the way while ensuring that you don’t spend hours re-doing a lot of your accounting processes. We have navigated these funds quite a few times already, and think these processes and advice will help to keep you organized without pulling your hair out!

• If your lender created a new bank account for you, create that bank account in your accounting software. Most programs allow you to sync your information in real time. You should label this as an addition to the liability account. Make sure to label this account to include the last 4 digits of the account number.
• Attach documentation to each transaction in your accounting software if you can. Within QuickBooks, and other bookkeeping softwares, you should have the functionality to upload documents and attach them to your transaction.
• Only transfer the amount that matches the documents if possible. Your lender should give you information that will help you navigate how you should be optimizing the use of your PPP Funds in the correct categories. If they have not, we recommend following up with them as soon as possible. Remember, once you receive the funds, your 8 week period has started!
• You should then transfer your PPP funds to your operating account to be used. It is very important that you do not change your payroll processing to the PPP bank account. You don’t want to do this because not all your payroll costs may be forgivable, such as materials reimbursements. If you received funds from a different bank and that is not the same bank that you normally work with, they might allow you to do a wire transfer at no charge.
• You only need to make a transfer from the lender provided bank account to the operating account as follows:
  • At every payroll
  • If you paid utility costs
  • At time of mortgage payment

Things You Should Not Do With Your PPP Funds

Do not pay your IRS tax payments from your new PPP bank account. You don’t want to do this because the employer portion of your tax payment, the social security (6.2%), and medicare (1.45%) is not forgivable.

Do not have your mortgage company draw from your new PPP bank account. The principal payment of your mortgage payment is not forgivable. Paying your principal out of your loan funds will cause more work and potential errors in tracking the forgivable portion because:

• You will need to remove the amounts that aren’t forgivable from the transactions.
• The documents might not match the actual amounts that are forgivable
• If you are using a lender provided bank account, showing this use of funds could actually automatically make this portion of your loan unforgivable.

A Free Construction Business PPP Worksheet For You To Use

We have created a PPP worksheet to track expenses over the 8 week period. You get a get a copy of it within our Facebook Group Construction Cash Flow Round Table under the units section or you can click here.

Here are a few tips to using the spreadsheet:

• You must make your own copy of the spreadsheet in order to populate the fields
• Remember that the amounts are net numbers, so you might have to do some side calculations before you populate the fields.
• We updated the spreadsheet on 4-28-20. If you accessed it before this date, you may want to make a new copy and paste your information from the previous version.
• This is a simple worksheet to assist in managing costs that are forgivable, but can also make an additional copy to estimate your costs over the 8-week period or to play around with forecasting the total numbers to be used.

What is Not Forgivable In my PPP Loan?

As a construction business owner, you have much more than bookkeeping on your mind. So, we wanted to make sure to add a few reminders about the following PPP forgiveness questions we see most commonly.

• You cannot include employee wages over $100K
• Forgiveness does not include the employer portion of tax liability
• You can include health insurance benefits paid
• The beginning of the 8 weeks starts from the date of the loan documents

A Final Note on Reconciling Your Accounts

In general, make sure to reconcile your bank and credit card accounts monthly to verify the transfers actually occurred as intended. This is important because you can find mistakes in transaction recordings and/or duplicate transactions.

• Make sure that the amounts you are transferring have good backup documentation.
• Verify that you have recorded the information to the correct bank and loan accounts after you have transferred funds.
• Use a pdf writer to write notes on the documents if you made calculations or want to take notes on the backup documents. This makes less mess
• Make sure to verify the expense accounts that are being used for the PPP funds to ensure that they are all forgivable accounts.
• Make sure to file your payroll returns on time!
• Make your tax payments timely, such as your 941 payments and state unemployment payments to ensure you are not going to become

Looking for help navigating your bookkeeping through this time? Contact us today to discuss how we can support you!

The post How to Balance Your Construction PPP Loan appeared first on 24hr Bookkeeper.

Right now, with all the different funding options available with SBA Loans due to Coronavirus, construction businesses are trying to get their information in order to successfully apply. This article discusses what you need to get together and some information on how to find the different SBA relief loan options to apply during this crisis period. Using this article can help you get prepared to answer all the questions that your loan officer may ask you.

What Financial Documents Are Needed From My Construction Business?

In order to apply for any of the emergency funding programs the government is currently offering small businesses affected by COVID-19, your lender might need to evaluate the risk of giving you a loan. In order to do this, they may require the last 2 years of tax returns. These filings are reported, and are considered factual, since they were submitted to the IRS.

If you did not file the most recent (previous year), and it’s a few months into the new year, you can then provide financial reports from your accounting software, like QuickBooks. The information in your accounting software is only as good as what you entered throughout your bookkeeping process. You must make sure that you’ve reconciled all the accounts to verify it’s accuracy. You will also need to provide a profit & loss statement and balance sheet for your construction business. They also may request an accounts payable and accounts receivable report also. You should provide all the statements for last year (if haven’t filed return yet) and this year, through 1st quarter 2020 if you can.

What Construction Business Owner Personal Data Is Needed?

With most construction loans, you have to provide personal information as a business owner to be considered for a loan. This is pretty normal because banks want to know they can trust you. Your loan officer will likely require you to gather all the information necessary to create a personal financial statement.

Some loans may require a personal guarantee and some might not. This means that you, personally, will promise to repay the loan amount if your business cannot. If you need to go through your banker or bank institution, they may require a personal statement as well as the Small Business Administration.

You can request this type of document from your lender directly, as there is likely a standard form you can complete. Sometimes you will need to write one on a special form for each financial institution involved in the process, so make sure to have this information easily accessible to use it again if you have to. You can find the SBA’s Personal Financial Statement Form here.

Typically, this form will ask you to provide all the information on your cash accounts, your income sources, all the loans you owe, all the assets (like your house or vehicles), and any investment or retirement accounts you may own. If you have any student loans they commonly ask you about these as well, so don’t forget them if you have them while compiling your paperwork!

You can ask your banker if you should include your spouse’s income or not within the personal financial statement. Many loan requirement lists include both, but it does vary on the bank you work with or the amount you are looking to finance. If your spouse is part owner in your construction company, then you will both need to provide your personal financial statement information.

What Construction Financials Are Needed To Apply for the Paycheck Protection Program?

If you are applying for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), you will need to gather all of your payroll costs. This specific program is designed to help you cover 8 weeks of payroll costs, utilities, mortgage interest, and rent. You will need the payroll returns for the last 12 months (941, 940, state withholdings, and state unemployment). They will want to see your payroll registers, showing each employee’s pay for the last 12 months, including all vacation, sick pay, paid leave, and benefits. They will also want the benefits paid for all employees and may require copies of statements. Benefits can include retirement, health insurance and dental.

More information on this program can also be found through the SBA’s website, but you can complete pdf application online here.

How Can I Prepare My Construction Business for Refinancing with An Emergency Relief Loan?

Even before you start the SBA loan process, you should call on current loans to see if they offer deferment while you are in the process of getting assistance. Defaulting will create bigger problems for your business in the long run, and it’s important to call your lenders individually. This will allow you to see if they can defer your loan temporarily without creating any future issues for your construction business.

Depending on the lender, they could defer the entire loan amount, or require you to only pay the interest of the loan over the deferment period. Some deferments will not have any penalties and will not accrue any additional interest, which is a great thing! This will save your ‘cash’ and allow you to cover other bills to keep your business afloat during your SBA loan application period.

What Do I Need to Say About My Current Business Situation & Cash Flow Statement?

Depending on the loan program you may be applying for, you may be required to provide a statement explaining your current financial situation as a construction business. You may need to state items like loss of business, loss of employees, how all that has affected your business financially. This might not be information that you actually have on hand because if you have loss of business due to this recession, you won’t have any new signed contracts to use as documentation. This is a great time to use your construction bookkeeping software or a spreadsheet to layout your financial information’s monthly revenue stream. Once you have this, you can see what revenue has been lost due to the current economic conditions, by using your predicted average revenue and subtracting the actual. Mathematically, a quick estimate of this information could be calculated with the following equation:

Avg. Year’s Monthly Revenue – Actual Month’s Revenue While Affected By COVID-19 = Total Month’s Revenue Loss from the Crisis

Do this for each month that has been affected in the financial crisis and add them together to get your total loss of business.

You will also need to explain your plan of action to recover from this economic downturn, and what the funds that you are applying for will do for you to help you recover strategically. In order to do this, you will need to provide a cash flow forecast for the next 8 weeks. This will help you paint a clear picture of your costs and expected revenue. You will also need to include your employee costs based on the current situation.

You should also identify a list of costs that you think you could cut out, and don’t include them on your cash flow statement.

How Do I Explain The New Normal For My Construction Business Post Covid-19?

Within your business application, you should have a plan for how your construction business will function after Covid-19. Ask yourself how you can evaluate your current situation and improve it to be ready for post-covid-19? Whether that is through streamlining processes or ensuring that you have retained enough employees to continue functioning as a business after the epidemic has past, some lenders may require you to identify a ‘new normal’ post the pandemic. You will need to write a small summary of this.

Explain the changes that you’ve already made, the opportunities you’ll pursue in the future to improve your business’ model, and paint the new landscape for success. They want to be sure that you won’t face a similar crisis situation in the future. So, make sure to explain how you will solidify your construction business to withstand future economic impacts that could be a threat.

What Loan Programs Should I Be Looking Into For My Construction Business?

You will be surprised how many local loan programs are available all over the United States. The first place to start is to contact your local economic development agency. They can help you find programs that may be a good fit for you. You can also click here to find local SBA resources. You can also go to the SBA website, and see what is available for coronavirus funding funding options. A few of the programs that we have identified are linked below:

• Economic Injury Disaster Loan Emergency Advance 
• SBA Express Bridge Loans
• SBA Debt Relief 

If you need assistance understanding your financials or streamlining your accounting processes to apply for any of these loans, please feel free to contact us! We are currently offering many forms of assistance through this difficult period. Get in touch with us today to ask your questions!

The post How to Prepare Your Financials For an SBA Loan appeared first on 24hr Bookkeeper.

As a nation, we’re preparing for the worst, and hoping for the best. We know construction businesses are some of the first to be impacted by economic downturns, so we wanted to make sure you are preparing strategically for this time. As a construction business owner, you need to prepare for the threat of potential work shutdowns and coronavirus affecting your staff. In this article, we highlight different ways you can get ready to financially keep your company afloat amidst the uncertainty.  

With legislation that seems to be changing by the minute, trying to figure out what to do to keep your everyday life balanced is challenging enough. The road ahead is unclear, and no one really knows how long they should hold off planning, what to do with their business, and how to organize what they have for cash. The key is to manage your cash flow right away to improve the longevity of your construction business. It is crucial that you try and gather as much cash as you can right now.

1. Apply For State and Federal Grants and Loans

The Small Business Association has organized Disaster Loan Assistance for small business to offer relief due to the COVID-19 virus. Many other organizations, possibly within your community, could be offering additional assistance for your business. Inquire with your state’s department of health and follow social media as you might find you are eligible for loan or grant programs. Should you qualify and receive the funds, keep them in your bank account so you have some backup funds to help you cover your costs. 

There may also be grant programs that offer your business support through technical training or job advancement when your workers are laid off. Some cities or counties will even consider offering you property tax deductions for a year or two to decrease your operating costs and keep you in the region if it means helping you avoid closing your doors. 

People you could reach out to may include your local economic development authority, city council, county commissioner, or your state’s Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Facebook even opened a grant program recently to support business owners with getting their business in front of customers. New grant programs and free support are regularly being made available, so stay up to date on what your construction business could qualify to receive.

2. Call On Your Accounts Receivables List

You likely dread this on a normal basis, but this is a great way to accumulate some cash right away. If you use QuickBooks, retrieve an “Accounts Receivable Summary Report,” and start going down the list. Follow up is expected from your clients, and if you don’t call, they know they can get away with holding on to their funds longer. 

If they are in overdue status, your customers would recognize they are behind on payment and you’d be surprised how many will make payment immediately. Offer to take credit cards, as this is a great way to get paid fast. There are fees involved but having cash on hand during troubled times is just as important. Pick up the phone and start calling.

3. Subsidize Employee Wages With Unemployment Insurance

Some states offer subsidized unemployment insurance that would allow you to supplement your wages so you can maintain a trained worker on your team. It is typical within the industry to deal with unemployment insurance as it can be expected for workers to be laid off during slow times. However, in this case, you can keep your crews working, and still afford to keep them on staff. This will be beneficial to both your company, as you’ll maintain workers as your employees because they can maintain their full time pay.

4. Talk to Vendors About Delaying Payments

Your vendors may have allowed your company to place purchases on account, and they automatically charge your credit card when the balance is due. It’s not an easy ask, but it doesn’t hurt to inquire if your vendor would be willing to delay the payment on account. Be open with the vendor, and be willing to work out terms that work for both parties. The more consistent you have been with paying your construction company’s vendors in the past, the higher the likelihood that they will be willing to work with you in delaying payments. 

5. Write Off Hours As Tax Deductible

Did you know that according to the IRS, “You can exclude up to $5,250 of educational assistance you provide to an employee under an educational assistance program from the employee’s wages each year”? This means that if you are trying to keep as many employees on board as possible during limited work times, their hourly wages can be applied to education if they are learning something or being trained. Now is a good time to get everyone trained on new products, certified through warranty programs, or cross trained within your business. 

Maybe you’ve already done some of these things throughout the year already, and didn’t even know you could deduct them. Document the hours, and calculate them into your quarterly tax payments to accumulate cash that you need to keep in your pocket right now. It’s important to speak with a qualified accountant about what is deductible, and counts as documentation for legitimate training. If your manufacturers or vendors trained any employees on software or products this year, look into getting some documentation of this in order to lower your quarterly tax payment. 

6. Streamline Processes & Softwares

There may be some major issues within your business that you just haven’t had the time to straighten out yet. Now is the time. Every penny counts. The more efficiently you can run your business, the less time you are paying for wasted hours, inventory, office supplies, etc. Offering opportunities and incentives for your staff to present money saving ideas will keep your business mindful of cost savings as you go through this. 

Did you know that within accounting alone, automating accounts payable saves an average of $16 per invoice? If you are running your construction business in quarantine right now, take every opportunity to gain knowledge on how you can increase efficiency or create cost savings. Keep a notebook with you to keep writing down the ideas as they come to you. If you don’t have time to implement all of them now, they give you some good things to develop further when you can meet back together again with your team. 

7. Stay Updated On Industry Information & Resources

Keep reading newsletters, tax information, COVID-19 updates, and legislation changes that are happening within your state or on a Federal level. The information is changing so rapidly that it could alter your entire crisis management plan in a matter of minutes. 

One good way to stay up to date is to join our Construction Cash Flow Round Table group on Facebook where we’ll be sharing relevant information about managing your business and any news updates that we believe can be valuable for you to be aware of. As we know, some of the most crucial information can come from the boots on the ground, so don’t be afraid to jump in and share your expertise. 

The post Construction Cash Flow Concerns of COVID-19 appeared first on 24hr Bookkeeper.

It also takes passion. If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing and what your business stands for, then you’re going to have a hard time expanding your business. 

Even then, you have to have the commitment to take the actions necessary to keep your business growing. 

Today, we’ll highlight some essential steps that you should prioritize when it comes to taking your business to new heights. 

First up, it all starts with who you surround yourself with. 

Surround Yourself With a Good Team

If you’re surrounded by those who don’t respect the quality of work you’re going to achieve, growing your construction business will be near impossible. 

Think about a quarterback trying to win a football game when his entire offensive line isn’t trying to block. If you’re not being stringent with your hiring practices or aren’t seeking out experienced individuals to help you handle your business operations, then you’re not going to find much success. 

Not only does this mean your vetting practice for new hires should be thorough, but you may also need to cut ties with anyone on your team who just isn’t committed like you are. While larger companies can survive with a few rotten apples in the mix, for a smaller business, one bad employee can set back your growth by a long time. 

Be Conscious of Your Profits

One of the biggest mistakes that a small startup construction business can make is trying to grow too fast when they don’t have the profits to do so. 

For example, plenty of small construction business owners will be too eager to take on jobs even when it spreads them too thin, ultimately ending in the jobs not being profitable. 

So, be conscious of your profits at all times and understand that if profits are shrinking or not growing as fast as you’d like, it might be time to look for ways to cut operational expenses, as well as look for more efficient ways to carry out your services. 

Market Within Your Budget 

Marketing is a key facet of any small business — regardless of which industry they are operating in. 

That being said, deciding what to spend your marketing budget on is no easy task and you have to make sure that the ROI on any of your marketing endeavors backs up the effort. 

One of the most powerful ways a construction business can get the word out is through word of mouth marketing — which also happens to be an extremely cheap marketing strategy! 

By providing excellent, quality services and encouraging your clients to tell their friends and family about your business, you can gain more clients as well as brand awareness. Implementing a referral program is also an effective means of marketing within a budget because any money you lose due to a referral program you’ll gain back through the job that the previous client leads you to. Investing in your website is also wise, as an outdated site can reflect poorly on the quality of your services as well. 

Just remember to always ask yourself whether or not you can truly afford a marketing strategy before implementing it. 

Find Your Niche and Crush it

One great technique for growing a construction business is to find a niche that you excel in and put most of your resources there. You don’t want to spread yourself too thin by trying to be the best in remodeling, home builds, renovations, landscaping, etc. 

For example, if you’ve found that your bathroom remodels have been extremely profitable, have had a lot of referrals from these remodels, and overall enjoy them, then positioning yourself as the premier bathroom remodeler in the area may be a key to growth. 

This doesn’t mean you have to completely avoid other types of services. However, focusing on a niche is a great way to grow your business. 

Emphasize Customer Service 

Another tip that transcends industries, customers of all kinds enjoy having a positive customer service experience when buying products or services. 

However, for construction companies, this is extremely important. Your clients want to feel like they are being treated with respect and that there’s a sense of urgency if any issues arise. 

By making sure that you have the systems in place to make sure that your clients feel like they are being taken care of, your clients will be more likely to recommend you to others, as well as become repeat customers the next time they need work done on their home. 

Outsource When Necessary

At 24hr Bookkeeper, we work with construction businesses and have found that construction company owners are some of the most hardworking and passionate folks around. But, even they sometimes need a little assistance with some aspects of their business. 

We provide bookkeeping services to take the load off of construction owners so that they can focus on producing fantastic results for their clients instead of making sure that their books are kept up-to-date and accurate. 

Our clients find that when they outsource their accounting, they are able to give more attention to their core services and can better grow their business, as well as worry less about their accounting. 

To learn more about our services, visit this page here. 

To get in touch, contact us here! 

The post How to Grow a Construction Business: Take Your Company to New Heights appeared first on 24hr Bookkeeper.

If you’re looking to improve your construction management, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve taken the hard work out of searching for the perfect book with this list of our five favorite construction management books available today! 

Managing the Profitable Construction Business: The Contractor’s Guide to Success and Survival Strategies

This highly-rated book is one of the top construction management books you can find on the market today. Written by some construction business veterans, this book will be extremely useful for any construction business owners who are struggling with the financial portion of their company. 

One of the authors, Thomas Schleifer, is known for being a turnaround expert and helping construction companies find a way to get through financial trouble and succeed. Topics that Schleifer and Co. discuss include: 

• Understanding the primary areas of construction business failure in the next decade
• Minimizing business risk with real-world examples
• Developing a positive and competent management attitude and strategy

Your financials are arguably the most important aspect of your business. If you don’t have the funds to carry out your job or don’t have the profits to grow, your business may be in trouble. We recommend this book for any construction business owner who wants to ensure that their finances will be solid for years to come. 

Running a Successful Construction Company

Just like the previous book in this list, “Running a Successful Construction Company” is written by an experienced construction expert. In fact, David Gerstel, the author, worked his way up through the trades and now runs a highly respected and successful construction operation that does both remodeling and new builds. 

While there are plenty of books out there written by business management consultants, reading a book that was actually written by someone who has been there and done that is what we definitely recommend here at 24hr Bookkeeper. There are subtle nuances and details of running a construction business that someone who hasn’t been there may not know about. And Gerstel has definitely been there. 

In this book, you’ll find helpful tips for improving your operations, as well as ways to handle the day-to-day challenges that construction owners face. The book also features helpful illustrations and photos for added clarity. As one reviewer puts it, “Gerstel’s book is insightful, exceptionally readable and compelling. (It) inspires readers to plan and organize. Even the most successful and seasoned builders have expressed their appreciation.”

Construction Management Jumpstart 

With an in-depth breakdown of each stage of the construction management process, “Construction Management Jumpstart” is a great way to familiarize yourself with management fundamentals, as well as Building Information Modeling and how it is impacting the construction industry overall. 

Within this book, you’ll receive a thorough explanation of BIM and how it is challenging the traditional approach to project delivery, as well as how it affects a construction business owner’s role. 

You’ll also find the following information: 

• Interoperability of technology advances in the construction industry
• Each stage of the design and construction process and the tasks associated with each of them
• Step-by-step guide on how to estimate project costs, administer contracts, manage job site and construction operations, plan and schedule a project, monitor project performance, manage project quality and safety, and assess project risks
• Provides review questions at the end of each chapter to help enforce understanding

Successful Construction Project Management: The Practical Guide

What is nice about the “Successful Construction Project Management: The Practical Guide” is that the chapters are broken into multiple, easy to digest sections. These sections provide step-by-step guides into how to manage your construction business successfully. 

But, what this book does exceptionally well is make it easy for the reader to understand what NOT to do when it comes to managing your construction business. Overall, this book was written by construction veterans for construction business managers. 

Some of the key features of the book include: 

• Easy to read, friendly style, and avoids being too ‘textbook’ in nature
• Numerous practical examples of situations the author has seen and experienced over twenty-eight years in construction
• Includes many topics essential to successfully managing projects which aren’t included in most other project management books (such as: teamwork, delegation, communication, time management and preparing for meetings)
• Has the information clearly set out and easily available so the book can be used as a continuing reference

Green Construction: An Introduction to a Changing Industry

Green construction is taking off, and while this book isn’t like the others in that it will tell you how to manage your business, it is still important to understand how sustainable construction is impacting the industry today. If you want your business to survive long term, you need to be implementing sustainability into your operations as well as your services in one way or another. 

In this book, you’ll learn to change the construction industry and clarification of what green means and how it is impacting jobs, workers, and the built environment.

In-depth coverage of topics include:

• What is meant by terms like green, sustainable, and high performance?
• What makes constructing a green building different from constructing conventional buildings?
• How is green construction changing workers’ jobs?
• What are the benefits, to jobs and the economy, as well as to the environment, of green construction?
• And more

No matter which books you decide to read, taking the initiative to learn more about your industry and how to manage your business is more than what a lot of your competitors are doing, and for that, we salute you here at 24hr Bookkeeper! 

And, if you’re interested in spending more time managing your business and less time dealing with your bookkeeping, give us a call today! 

The post Construction Management Books: Our 5 Favorite appeared first on 24hr Bookkeeper.