What We've Delivered
The difference professional bookkeeping makes. Case studies from the businesses we serve.
General Contractor Flying Blind on Job Costs
The Situation
A general contractor running six to eight residential jobs at any time had no way to tell which ones were actually making money. He quoted based on experience and gut feeling, but material prices had crept up and his labor costs had grown faster than his bids.
Change orders were tracked on paper in the truck and often never got billed. Retainage owed to him was scattered across a dozen jobs with no clear tracking. His accountant kept asking for job-level numbers he simply could not produce.
What We Did
We rebuilt his chart of accounts to match how construction work actually flows. Every expense got tied to a specific job number, and we set up phase-level tracking so he could see costs broken down by demo, rough-in, finish, and punch list.
We implemented change order tracking in QuickBooks so nothing slipped through unbilled. We also created a retainage schedule that showed exactly how much was held back on each job and when it would be released.
The Outcome
His bathroom additions were consistent money-losers. The tile work was always over budget because his sub kept running into surprises. He adjusted his quotes and started using a more reliable tile contractor.
Change orders now get invoiced immediately instead of forgotten. In the first six months, he recovered over $8,000 in change order work that would have gone unbilled under the old system. He reviews job margins before requesting final payment so he catches overruns early and can have honest conversations with clients before closing out a project.
HVAC Company Eighteen Months Behind on Books
The Situation
A busy HVAC contractor in Framingham had not touched his books in eighteen months. He was running everything from his bank balance, paying bills when there was money and hoping for the best when there was not.
His CPA had stopped returning calls because the prior year's taxes were filed based on estimates and bank statements. He suspected he was overpaying but had no way to prove it without organized records.
What We Did
We took on the full eighteen-month backlog. Every bank statement and credit card got reconciled. We separated parts purchases from labor costs from overhead so he could finally see where the money was going.
We set up QuickBooks with connected bank feeds and trained his office manager to code expenses as they came in. We now close his books every month so he never falls behind again.
The Outcome
His CPA was able to file an amended return for the prior year. He got money back because the estimated filing had missed legitimate deductions that only showed up once the books were organized.
He discovered that his overtime emergency calls were far more profitable than scheduled maintenance work. He adjusted his after-hours pricing and started steering routine service to weekday slots. His annual take-home went up without adding any hours. The CPA now gets a clean file every year and the prep fees dropped accordingly.
Landscaping Company That Dreaded Every Winter
The Situation
A landscaping company with three crews was profitable from April through November. But every winter became a scramble as revenue dried up while fixed costs continued. Truck payments, insurance, and a couple of year-round employees all needed to be paid regardless of the season.
The owner would dip into his line of credit every January and stress until the spring cleanup calls started coming in. He knew he should be saving during the busy months but could never seem to build a cushion.
What We Did
We set up cash reserve planning with automatic monthly transfers during the busy season. The money went into a separate account so it would not get spent on equipment or bonuses.
We built a rolling 13-week cash forecast so he could see trouble coming well in advance. We also helped him evaluate which winter services were worth adding and which would just create headaches for marginal profit.
The Outcome
First winter with no line of credit draws. By the end of fall, his cash reserve covered three months of core expenses.
He added snow removal for existing landscaping clients. Because he already had the relationships and the crews knew the properties, the work was profitable rather than break-even. He stopped losing sleep in December. The forecast now shows him exactly when to start conserving cash and when he can afford to invest in equipment or hiring.
Commercial Cleaning Company With Twenty-Two Part-Timers
The Situation
The owner of a commercial janitorial company was doing payroll manually in spreadsheets for twenty-two part-time cleaners. Every two weeks she lost an entire day to calculating hours, figuring out taxes, and printing checks.
Some of her workers were classified as 1099 contractors when they should have been W-2 employees. She knew the risk but did not know how to fix it without disrupting everyone's pay.
What We Did
We audited her worker classifications and identified the ones that needed to be corrected. We handled the transition carefully so workers understood why their paychecks would look slightly different.
We set up a proper payroll system with automatic tax filings. We also created simple time tracking so hours could be imported directly instead of typed in by hand.
The Outcome
Payroll went from a full day to about an hour. The anxiety about IRS misclassification penalties is gone because everyone is now classified correctly.
Workers are paid accurately and on time, which actually reduced turnover. Her cleaners used to complain about paycheck errors and some left over it. That stopped. She now spends her time on sales and client relationships instead of spreadsheets. The accountant who handles her taxes thanked us because the year-end payroll reports finally made sense.
Remodeling Contractor Who Could Not Get Equipment Financing
The Situation
A remodeling contractor wanted to buy a new work truck and enclosed trailer. The equipment would let him take on bigger jobs without renting space. But when he applied for financing, the bank asked for financial statements he could not produce.
His books were two years behind. His CPA could not generate a clean profit and loss statement because the records were a mess. He had plenty of revenue but could not prove it on paper.
What We Did
We took on the full two-year backlog. Every bank account and credit card got reconciled and every transaction got properly categorized. We untangled personal expenses that had run through the business account.
We produced clean financial statements the bank could actually use and set up ongoing monthly bookkeeping so he would never fall behind again.
The Outcome
The equipment loan was approved within three weeks of submitting the cleaned-up financials. The loan officer commented that his books were better organized than most contractors they see.
He now reviews monthly reports and knows his margins before committing to new jobs. When material prices spiked, he saw it in the numbers right away and adjusted his quotes before it ate into his profits. His CPA prep fees dropped because the year-end file arrives ready to go.
Engineering Consultant Who Kept Forgetting to Invoice
The Situation
A structural engineering firm doing project-based work had an invoicing problem. The owner would finish a project and forget to send the final invoice for weeks. Sometimes months.
Collections were passive. Clients who paid slowly were never followed up with, and some invoices went 90 days or more before anyone noticed. Cash flow was unpredictable even though the work was steady.
What We Did
We set up a proper invoicing workflow with reminders tied to project milestones. When a project hit the final review stage, an invoice prompt followed automatically.
We implemented automatic payment reminders and established clear late fee policies. We created a weekly accounts receivable aging report so nothing slipped through the cracks.
The Outcome
During the first month of cleanup, we found over $12,000 in unbilled work sitting in completed project files. That money was recovered immediately.
Average days to payment dropped from 47 to 23. Cash flow stabilized so payroll is never stressful anymore. The owner can focus on engineering work instead of chasing payments. He used to avoid looking at his receivables because it just made him anxious. Now he checks the weekly report in five minutes and moves on.
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