Hey everyone. Hope you all are doing well and that you’re having an amazing week! For those of you that do not know me my name is Robert Cripps. Owner operator of Robert Cripps Construction Inc and we have become one of the leading construction companies in southern Ontario.
We take on any project that comes our way. From smaller interior renovations all the way up to full custom builds. We take a lot of pride in the work we do and strive to produce top quality craftsmanship.
There is definitely a lot involved when running a business and it can be stressful at times. From when I started to where I am today, there has been a ton of learning experience and what’s better than overcoming your faults and succeeding in what you love to do.
To be honest the hardest part for me was running everything behind the scenes smoothly. I never took a business course and I am self taught in pretty much everything I do. It took many years in the beginning before I started looking into programmes to help me with accounting, bookkeeping and quoting. At the time there weren’t many choices and there weren’t specific programmes that were geared towards construction companies.
There were a lot of late nights and early mornings trying to keep my business and my projects on track. I finally pulled the trigger and bought my first piece of software to help me with my business. After weeks of research and talking to some other companies that I knew I decided to buy QuickBooks and give it a shot.
Well let me tell you that was a fun ride and a big learning experience. At the time there was no online or mobile presence as there is now. Buy the software and install it onto your computer and hope for the best. After a bit of time and reading an instruction manual (yes men sometimes read those) I finally started getting the hang of it and from there on the sky is the limit.
I finally started being able to create quotes for my projects in a timely manner and track the progress of each job in an organized fashion. I finally hired an accountant that knew QuickBooks at a much higher level then I did and the rest is history.
Now let’s fast forward to current time and all the changes and advantages that QuickBooks has to offer now. With access to the web at any given time with your mobile devices, things have come a long way. Especially with their mobile app I use heavily now. Over the years I switched to QuickBooks online which made it easier for myself and my accountant to access my company profile at any given time to create estimates or invoices for my projects at hand. My accountant could go in and do his necessary work from home when needed instead of coming to my office every week. Trust me that was a lot more convenient for both parties!
Over the years I developed a quick way to create estimates for my clients by inputting trade pricing and materials cost of items I use on all my projects. By a click of a button or a cell phone I was able to create large scale detailed quotes in minutes. Let me tell you that’s the way it should be. I do not need to stay up late into the night trying to finish a quote anymore and that’s a huge win.
If you don’t know already, QuickBooks has a mobile app and it’s a must have 100%. Having access to my account while on a job site is key to my business running as smoothly as it can. Let’s face it, I run a construction company and not everything always goes as planned or as smoothly as it should, but we can definitely try.
Being able to create estimates and invoicing on the go is a critical aspect to me. I spend a lot of time on the road from site to site and dealing with my clients. It’s great being able to create change orders and estimate my clients can agree to right on the spot so we can keep the process going for them.
I am able to keep track of all my jobs separately and see the profitability or even lose on some sites. When I add a customer into QuickBooks it allows me to create a project profile for them where I can develop an estimate and track the history of this job. I am able to allocate all my trade invoices, materials receipts, employee hours to their job so I can track every step of their renovation.
One of the biggest advantages for me is bookkeeping and tracking receipts. As a contractor I have so many receipts daily from multiple suppliers that I have to keep track of and I am able to input them on the go from the comfort of my truck. As funny as that sounds it’s true because I spend a lot of time on-site making sure everything is running efficiently and QuickBook allows me to do so.
Well now you have insight behind the scenes of my company and what works best for me to hold it all down. I could go on and on with what else QuickBooks has to offer but I’ll leave some of that for you to do. Go check out their site to learn more on how QuickBooks can make a huge difference for your company and don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you need any questions answered. I’m always here to help and to guide you in the best way I can. I hope you enjoy the rest of your week and I’m grateful you took the time to read this!
