Nobody really uses the lounge, so figured I'd be better off asking here...

I started a flooring business with my brother this spring. We do epoxy / other resinous flooring systems for garages, commercial, and industrial facilities. Started it on a shoe string budget of about $9,000, basically just buying used floor prep equipment. We didn't have much to invest in operational things like CRMs, scheduling software, etc.

Things blew up a lot quicker than we thought and we'll probably do in the neighborhood of $250,000 this year, although if some of our industrial bids hit we're looking at more like $500,000.

Things were very easy to manage when we were only doing a job, maybe two each week, but we're starting to get booked out about a month and leads are rolling in at 2-3 per day. Starting to get difficult to keep things straight.

Basically, I'm just curious what some of you guys use to keep things in order for accounting, CRMs, etc.

My background is in digital marketing (which is why business has taken off so quickly), so I'm pretty set on that side of things, just looking for advice on the operational side of things. I know some people here have mentioned owning businesses, so I thought some of you may have advice.

(10-10-2016 01:24 PM)Niner National Wrote:  Nobody really uses the lounge, so figured I'd be better off asking here...

I started a flooring business with my brother this spring. We do epoxy / other resinous flooring systems for garages, commercial, and industrial facilities. Started it on a shoe string budget of about $9,000, basically just buying used floor prep equipment. We didn't have much to invest in operational things like CRMs, scheduling software, etc.

Things blew up a lot quicker than we thought and we'll probably do in the neighborhood of $250,000 this year, although if some of our industrial bids hit we're looking at more like $500,000.

Things were very easy to manage when we were only doing a job, maybe two each week, but we're starting to get booked out about a month and leads are rolling in at 2-3 per day. Starting to get difficult to keep things straight.

Basically, I'm just curious what some of you guys use to keep things in order for accounting, CRMs, etc.

My background is in digital marketing (which is why business has taken off so quickly), so I'm pretty set on that side of things, just looking for advice on the operational side of things. I know some people here have mentioned owning businesses, so I thought some of you may have advice.

As an accountant, I would recommend that if you really think things will take off, use Sage for your accounting software. They have products that can handle growth. QuickBooks is easy, but allows you to do stupid things.

One alternative would be to let a small CPA firm do your bookkeeping. Then you don't have to worry about that software and whatever other piece you are willing to farm out. There are many firms that do that.

Good on you. Do you do work in MN? ;.)

Best of luck NN. One thing to be cautious about, and it seems odd, is growing too fast. Back at my former employer I witnessed several business actually go under because they grew too fast. The thing that killed them was their cash flow could not keep up with growth and they literally grew themselves out of business.

(10-10-2016 02:12 PM)bullet Wrote:  One alternative would be to let a small CPA firm do your bookkeeping. Then you don't have to worry about that software and whatever other piece you are willing to farm out. There are many firms that do that.

Our CFO came from outside the industry and concentrates on the business and not the industry. From what I gather, it was a great move.

(10-10-2016 02:56 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Good on you. Do you do work in MN? ;.)

For a factory, sure.

It's a high margin business so it makes sense to operate nationwide for industrial sized projects. Currently we only seek jobs within the Carolinas.

(10-10-2016 04:09 PM)VA49er Wrote:  Best of luck NN. One thing to be cautious about, and it seems odd, is growing too fast. Back at my former employer I witnessed several business actually go under because they grew too fast. The thing that killed them was their cash flow could not keep up with growth and they literally grew themselves out of business.

Oh believe me, it has been a concern. I have way too many dreams about epoxy floors.

We have a good relationship with our manufacturer. He white labels a product for us and said he'd float us material in the event we landed a job that required more in material cost than we had in hand. Even offered his crews if it was too big for ours to do alone.

That's awesome Niner. My wife used Peachtree at her pro job but she says use quick books. Cheap and effective.

(10-10-2016 04:11 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(10-10-2016 02:12 PM)bullet Wrote:  One alternative would be to let a small CPA firm do your bookkeeping. Then you don't have to worry about that software and whatever other piece you are willing to farm out. There are many firms that do that.

Our CFO came from outside the industry and concentrates on the business and not the industry. From what I gather, it was a great move.

Word. One of the smartest moves I ever made.

I would also recommend utilizing a cloud based system. The last thing you need is for a hard drive to fail at the worst possible time.

Determine whether you need to use mobile/ iPad devices to perform part of the process, such as onsite estimates. If you see yourself doing that, I would want the package to be able to export to a PDf so that I could email the estimate to the customer right then.

Some systems may include the accounting package, some may not. If they don't, ensure that they export to something like quick books. Otherwise you will have to invest a lot of time creating the export manually. If you are going to have receivables, where one customer could have multiple invoices due, you're going to want the estimator system to warn you if the particular customer is sliding past due on the accounting side. That's the issue with non integrated systems. Your quick books wil tell you the customer is over 90, but the estimator side doesn't know it, and will let you put a lot of effort into another estimate for that customer who may be putting you in a cash flow bind.

If at all possible, use the software on a trial run to see how well it fits what you need.

Here's an example of a system that had its own built in accounting, and it can also export to quick books. A contractor would appreciate the built in accounting, then you can export monthly, quarterly, annually to you accountant in quick books format.

http://www.capterra.com/construction-est...20Software

Off the top of my head you will need a bookkeeper, accountant, lawyer and close banker. Start with the bookkeeper because knowing your numbers will be critical to the other 3. I suggest RentABookkeeper.com I've used them for almost 5 years. They're affordable, ~$2-400/mo depending on number of transactions. You'll have updated, accurate numbers that you can give your accountant at the end of the year, which will make tax filing easier and cheaper. This info will also be requested by your banker. I would forward the P&L and balance sheets monthly to minimize the time it takes getting a loan or line of credit. Like VA49er said these bankers will cost you opportunities of a lifetime by dragging their feet. Lastly, you'll need a lawyer that you trust. You have time to find one, so ask around. They'll want $300+ hr, try not to use them a lot.

(10-10-2016 07:01 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  That's awesome Niner. My wife used Peachtree at her pro job but she says use quick books. Cheap and effective.

Niner, in case you didn't know, Sage is the owner of Peachtree and is using the Sage name now.

Thanks for the advice so far everyone. Much appreciated.

Check out ACT! (the exclamation point is theirs - I'm not being pushy). It's got all the CRM bells and whistles and it'll link to your accounting program, as well as integrate with Word, Excel, Outlook.