Hey guys, our blog posts have been mainly about building and DIYs, which I guess makes sense, since we’re a renovation company. QuickBooks reached out to us about collaborating on some content and since we were already using their products, it was a no brainer. Equipping people with knowledge and tools to make their lives easier is something we are very passionate about.
Let’s begin with Payroll, which is where Dave and I started when we first started the business. I was only using the QuickBooks without the Payroll add-on. I was essentially just using QuickBooks to input material and subcontractor costs. At the end of each project, I would have to write out all the expenses, then Dave and I would split the profit. This was an easy way to operate during the year, but it was a nightmare at tax time. Trying to figure out how much we owed and to who, was not a fun process.
Once we brought on more employees and wanted to move ourselves onto a salaried income. A payroll solution was a must. I cannot say enough about how easy
Payroll has made payday! I’m able to easily punch in our employees hours, and allocate them directly to the projects that they’re working on. It calculates all the remittances for you, and takes away all the guesswork.
You can put in mileage expenses, sick days, and any other payroll items that suit your business. Print your cheques directly from the program, and when it comes time to submit your remittances. They’ve already calculated and totalled up everything for you. One of the most beneficial parts for us is that at the end of the year, I just share a copy of our books with our accountant, and they’re able to put together our T4’s and year end financials with ease. QuickBooks Payroll is an absolute must in my opinion!
Now let’s chat about tracking your profitability by project. This is such an amazing tool to have, and something that I use several times a month. Generally speaking, it’s a quick and easy way to make sure that your projects are on track with your estimated material/subs cost, as well as your projected profits.
As you are inputting your receipts, sub contractor costs and labor costs into QuickBooks, you are able to allocate those expenses to their specific projects. Now when you head over to your “job profitability summary”, all of the costs for any given project are easily accessible, and you have an up to date look at how profitable that job is for your company. Another way that this tool has been incredibly useful is looking at old projects. Quoting new projects is a time consuming and difficult process. You don’t want to sell yourself short and make no money, but you also don’t want to price yourself out of a job. Being able to look back at past projects to see exactly how much we spent on material, sub contractor and labor can take a lot of stress out of pricing out a similar sized job.
A quote that has always stuck with me when it comes to finances and budgeting is “you need to tell your money what to do, or you will lose control of it”. I find this to be very true. Knowing where all your money is going and being able to track how profitable your projects are, is a key puzzle piece in building a successful business. For us, QuickBooks is an essential part of our toolbelt.
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