The whole team When you run a commercial construction subcontracting business, it is vital to have people who know what you don’t know on your team. It goes beyond the people on your payroll, to include your consultants, advisors, and other experts. These professionals step in to allow you to create a Whole Team. Some examples may include: Accounting Estimating and Takeoff Compliance and Legal Business Coach Human Resources (HR) Information Technology (IT) Virtual Assistant (

There I was, scrolling through a personal social media account when I saw what I was certain was just one more post telling me how to live my life during the Coronavirus pandemic. Who needs another set of Coronavirus guidelines? Not me! And, probably not you. But that word, “maybe” and that question mark in that first line made me pause. I read. So should you. It is time for a bit of mirth. FOLLOW ALL OF THESE, maybe? Here are the official Coronavirus guidelines: Basically, y

Employee Handbooks for reading pleasure? 😵 I was asked to help write an employee handbook for Schulte and Schulte recently. And I yawned. Like, you know. Employee handbook = boredom induced coma. In that regard, it was in some ways an easy task.  A lot of “copy and paste” was involved. It was a very difficult task  in other ways.   What must be included and what is optional? Therefore, there need be only three rules it seemed to me. My (tongue in cheek) suggestion: Don’t be

Indirect Costs can cause hair loss You know what I mean; trying to figure out what amount goes into which column can be a hair pulling adventure. And, making matters worse, indirect costs can mount in a hurry. At first glance, it would seem differentiating a direct cost from an indirect cost would be somewhat intuitive. And, in one respect it is. Because, you can name the labor cost and the materials cost per job and you’ve got the foundation for your direct cost column. Ther

Social and Accounting Socially Speaking Social and accounting — really Can you believe social and accounting does go together? If you think of the “accounting person” as the one who sits in the dark, back room pushing numbers around with frantic fingers and furrowed brow you probably missed the announcement. Attention: Today’s leading scientists announce bean-counters have been found with beating hearts and funny bones. Scientists pointed out they knew the bean-counter they f

Be a Visionary Construction Subcontractor Think like a Visionary Construction Contractor You might think that because we’re construction accounting specialists that we would want you to frame your vision with numbers. And frankly, we often do. Yet, on this occasion we’re suggesting you take a step back from the numbers and look at what being visionary means in a different light. Setting goals, planning out the numbers, determining profit or loss are all part of what it takes

Outsourcing Accounting – How to know when it is time Outsourcing accounting too soon If you: Are an average (non-construction related) small business owner who factors in the time needed for administrative and accounting tasks you can probably wait to outsource until such time as you become quite busy. Can’t identify the business result you want to see (an actual benefit to you or your business) perhaps you should wait. You must be clear in your own head about what you’re pay

Growing Your Construction Business in 2019 Growing your construction business is much like planning to run with the big dogs. As a matter of fact, I wanted to title this piece, “How to Run with the Big Dogs.” I thought better of it. Yet, getting out and romping with the big dogs does have a great appeal, right? Growing up My cousin, (I’ll call him Andy) tells an “in my youth” story. Seems Andy had gotten his first full-time job soon after receiving his high school diploma. It

3 Reasons You Should NOT Work with Schulte and Schulte Reason 1 – you have it under control You have your accounting under control. Your contract management goes off without a hitch. And, your company systems are top notch. It’s understandable, you run a tight ship. You stay up to date with the latest strategies and available tech support in all accounting functions. Plus, you attend accounting conferences, take systemization classes, and understand all the features of your o

Who our clients are Our clients are construction subcontractors. Yet there is more to the picture. They’re ambitious, smart, determined, enthusiastic, resourceful, industrious go-getters. We understand the position many of our clients are in when they come to us. They’re splitting their time between: returning phone calls developing new products or services going on sales calls hiring or firing employees managing social media doing the bookkeeping answering email checking the

Cost is something we can all understand – or not There is this interesting mindset we humans get caught up in known as the Lost Cost Fallacy, otherwise known as Honoring a Sunk Cost. David McRaney at You Are Not So Smart goes into detail concerning what is entailed in Lost Cost Fallacy. What it boils down to is, it’s hard to abandon a person, a product, or a process once you’ve invested time or money into any of them. It is hard to give-up when you’ve spent so much. You don’t

Hubdoc pulls your bank statements, recurring bills, and uploaded receipts into one hub. Yet, that is just the beginning. Using Hubdoc means you can reduce the need for manual data entry and paper filing. Time to get rid of that ugly file cabinet? Your “stuff” is stored in the cloud. And, this is a biggy – you can get to what you need in one place. That means you no longer need to log into multiple sites to retrieve the information you’re after. Hubdoc is set up by us, for you

Hubdoc! Whether or not you faithfully watch the annual Hollywood extravaganza known as the Academy Awards, you know there is a competitive division known as “Best Supporting Actor.” Much like the movie world, the real-life accounting world has tech. Tech which supports the big-name players. Those in the supporting rolls make the movie (or the accounting) so much better. Let’s break this down The best tools you own don’t perform well if they’re used with the wrong attachments.

I grew up hearing this phrase, “Let go and let God.” The jist of the phrase is to allow God to handle the things you can’t. It is a simple concept to understand, yet a devilishly difficult discipline to achieve. And, if we have a difficult time allowing God (you know – the guy who can do ANYTHING) to handle things for us, how much harder it is to allow people to take over the things we’re finding difficult to deal with. Yet, if you’re serious about guiding your construction c

This is the second in a 3-part series dealing with efficiency in a construction contracting office. The first installment, having to do with the basics, can be found here. Being efficient is all about systems and processes Finding ways to make your construction office operate more efficiently begins with determining simple, thoughtful solutions for the various systems and processes necessary to get from point A to point Z. You already have systems and processes in place, whet

Efficiency in the construction office Efficiency for the sake of efficiency isn’t enough. As a project-based organization, you often face a struggle with factors such as time, cost, and quality on each individual job site. Therefore, being efficient and effective in the office becomes paramount to supporting all the needs associated with getting the jobs, performing the jobs, and getting paid for the jobs. Let’s start with Return on Investment Yes, there is an ROI factor conn

When you first became a construction contractor or construction service business owner it was pretty simple – get a job, do the job, get paid, see how much money you made. Now, things are different. You have people working for you, people who rely on you in order to make a living. Knowing the whats, hows, and whys of construction accounting has become much more difficult. Following are 5 critical problems Schulte and Schulte solves for clients on a regular basis. Not knowing

If you’re like many people who own construction contracting and service businesses, you likely have little to no financial training. That’s OK, you probably have a slew of other skills which allowed you to move into the realm of business owner. It is also likely that you put a lot of time and thought into knowing where your crews are, what they’re doing, and which tools and supplies they’ll need for the day. Yet, you may be less likely to know where your dollars are, what job

So . . . your kid is on his high school football team. And your team is in The Game! They’re playing well! And so is the other team. It is exciting! They’re in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter. Your team has been given the ball. If they make this touch down your team wins! The entire crowd (all those parents, siblings, and friends  wearing the school colors) is standing, waving, shouting. You’re becoming hoarse with the yelling, you’re tense in every fiber of your b

When you’re in the construction contracting business a lot rests on your ability to present an accurate bid. Before you bid your next job consider how your financial records and reports can and should strengthen your bidding accuracy. It isn’t about the luck of the draw, nor is it about hoping you get close. It is about knowing and understanding the basic numbers (i.e. how much the materials cost, how many people it will take, how many hours will be involved) as well as a sle