Contractor Simon Ackerman – After 25 Years, He’s Finally Profitable
Video Summary
Simon Ackerman (Architectural Builders of Hampstead) started his construction career as a framer in 1985. Now, he also does high-end remodeling and general construction work. (A number of his projects are featured in the video above.)
When he went into business for himself to pursue his dream of building homes and helping customers, he built his business into a staff of 18 people and was doing the books himself. However, when he ran into trouble with his cash flow in 1997, he began using One Right Plus for his bookkeeping.
Later, after losing almost $100,000 within six months and having no way to track how and why he was losing money, he decided to switch to QuickBooks.
But even after his switch into QuickBooks, he still wasn’t able to pinpoint where the problems were. Finally, he found Diane Gilson. She was the QuickBooks business advisor and trainer who helped him structure his QuickBooks and reports so he could see exactly where he was losing money. It turned out that it was on labor costs – not on materials.
By recording his job costs at a more detailed level and regularly looking at his job cost vs. estimate reports, Simon now knows his numbers and can sell jobs based on a price that earns a profit.
He can locate where things aren’t lining up the way that he planned – so he can get them corrected right away or steer his ship to avoid those pitfalls in the future. Having worked with Diane as both a teacher and business advisor, Simon urges those with any concerns over Diane’s hourly rate to consider the value of getting from point A to point B on the learning curve very quickly. He says that Diane has been a huge asset to his team and a big part of his newly found profitability and success.