“Overhead schmoverhead! Who cares?” Your profits  care.  Your cash flow  cares. And if you want to stay in business long-term, you   should too . Most contractors understand what profit is and why cash flow matters. However, the critical junction of the two often gets overlooked: your overhead and how you allocate it when pricing jobs. Overhead isn’t just a number your accounting professional tracks. It’s a real cash eater  if it’s not adequately accounted for—and it directly

The Bridge You can walk onto several construction job sites and find a few tools that serve multiple purposes. For instance, a power drill   can be used for drilling holes, and by changing the bit, it can also be used to tighten or loosen screws. Similarly, a pipe wrench can be adjusted to various sizes, and a circular saw performs different tasks with a blade change. In each case, the tool is the bridge. Same tool, different uses. In construction accounting, the tool known a

In a few recent posts (listed below), information was presented to help construction contractors understand how implementing the right systems in their financial dealings allows them to take control and steer toward building a debt and risk-resilient construction business.   The Hidden Cost of Debt in Subcontracting (Understanding actual job costs up front reduces the need to borrow just to stay afloat.)   Budgeting as a Financial Risk Management Tool (A proactive budget le

We’re exploring the difference between being profitable on paper and having cash available. It’s About Those Apples Do you remember those long-ago lessons concerning addition and subtraction where you were told you had ten apples and asked if you gave four apples to your friend, how many would still be in your possession? Recall it was about the plus (+) or the minus (-) and the equals (=).  In today’s lesson, boys and girls, the question is, “If you have ten apples and promi