Just like every building needs a solid foundation, running and managing your construction company needs a solid foundation of reporting or as we call them ‘systems’. QuickBooks can help you aggregate your information, but there are two things that need to be nailed before you can use QuickBooks effectively.
Gather Accurate Data
Make sure your team knows how long a project will actually take. Humans have a tendency to inaccurately estimate time. In fact, as a race, we are really bad at it.
A French explorer named Michel Siffre lived in a cave for two months. He was isolated from sunlight, people, and all technology. When he left his cave he was convinced that only 25 days had passed. This led scientists to more research and they’ve unanimously discovered that, when left to its own devices, the human brain always condenses time.
So it’s only natural when you ask your roofing team how long they think a project took them, that they underestimate the actual time cost. That’s a direct loss to your bottom line. It’s not your crew’s fault, it’s our DNA.
Using a time tracking app like busybusy will make sure all your data is to the second accurate. Get rid of guessing, get rid of estimating, and know exactly how much time your projects take.
Correct Setup
QuickBooks has many strong points, but the weakest point is: it’s trying to be everything for everyone. It’s a consumer level software, so you find a lot of features that you don’t need. Even when you use the Contractor version, you have to find your place between the neighborhood handyman and Bechtel.
It would be great if someone would create a blueprint for you.
Well, it’s your lucky day. Introducing: The busybusy QuickBooks for Contractors Blueprint.
In the coming weeks, the busybusy team will be releasing custom training and tutorials for setting up and optimizing QuickBooks for construction. These don’t exclusively apply to the software suite QuickBooks for Contractors, so don’t feel like you have to buy a more expensive software just to keep up.
Your first priority is to follow us on facebook so you can grab the articles as we release them. Then head over to our app and get your team clocked into a project and collect that data!
