Trades - Get Smart Accountants

Five Of The Best Useful Digital Tools

You might have the latest cutting-edge equipment for your construction or trade business. You might even be considering further investment to make sure your work is right up there with the best.

But back in the office, if you’re still working with pen, paper and calculator, your business is always going to be held back.

You may not be aware that there is just as much cutting-edge technology out there to help you digitally as there is to keep you in the game practically.

If you have the ability to automate more of your business behind the scenes, you can just get on with the job in hand and even turn your attention to growing the business instead of spending all your time on staying on top of paperwork and finances.

Here, we have given a brief outline of just five of the apps that are available to help boost efficiency and profitability. Choose the right one and it might be that bit of extra support you need to help to move your business to the next level.

ServiceM8

This job management app features cloud-based software for trade contractors and service businesses like plumbers, electricians, locksmiths and cleaners. It can be valuable for any business that manages staff in the field, from sole operators to those with up to 20 staff members. It streamlines the processes of dealing with any job, from the first client call through quoting, invoicing and payment. It integrates with Xero.

Tradify

Tradify is hailed as an all-in-one tool for the trades, handling everything from quotes and invoices to time sheets and job tracking and scheduling. It can be used from a desktop or even from a phone. Also integrates with Xero.

Powered Now

Powered Now helps you keep track of knowing who owes you money, what projects you need to work on and where your team need to be and when. It works both on and offline and enables you to keep in touch with staff and customers while on the road. This also includes common forms and certificates including Gas Safe, Electrical and many others.

Quotient

Quotient helps you create professional-looking quotes, You can specify optional sections, so your customers can pick and choose and the total will update automatically. Customers can ask questions directly and the app keeps you updated with follow-up reminders and analytics. Suited to one-man bands and small to medium-sized teams.

Jobsheet

Jobsheet promises to give you a simple way to create, manage and invoice jobs. Functions include being able to create a job, set a completion date, assign staff, create invoice and send it to Xero. It can also offer a host of admin functions.

LiveCosts.com

LiveCosts.com will let you know exactly where you have made or lost money on projects. It collects key financial data from all areas of the business and can update you in the current status of the project in real time.

If any of these sound like they may be of use to you, it may be worth digging a bit deeper. If you’d like to talk to us, feel free to get in touch, and we can guide you through the pros and cons of each option.

At Get Smart Accountants we work with our clients to drive growth and help them achieve their dreams.

If you’d like some advice or support to get your business moving in the right direction, then we’d love to hear from you.

Call Emma or Paul on 01902 212937

#growthriveprosper

All You Need To know To Easily Price For Profit – As A Tradesman

How do you determine the price for your service?

Is it led by competitors, making sure you can undercut to ensure you get the work?
Is it more value led? Do you offer a better service so give value for money and charge higher prices for superior workmanship?
Do you have different levels of pricing, from budget to premium, depending on the quality or scale of job required?
Do you have a set price list for common works, or do you price on a job-by-job basis?
Do you swap and change your pricing policy depending on the customer or project?

It might seem a given that small businesses know how to price up a job effectively, but in our experience, it can often be approached in a bit of a haphazard way.

There can be merits to all of the above, but if you want to get a handle on the money coming into your business, you need to make sure EVERY JOB is making you enough profit to make it worthwhile.

How to price for profit

There are a number of things to consider to make sure you are pricing for profit. Here are a few.

Covering your costs

Are you making sure you’re taking into account ALL of your costs when pricing a job? As well as the materials and labour, you should think about factoring in an amount for the general costs of running your business such as admin and accounting, tool costs (replacement or maintenance), van maintenance, sales and marketing activities, office and phone costs etc.

If you’re not doing this, any perceived profit you’re making is probably being lost paying for other business expenses.

It’s important to know how much your business costs to run on a monthly or yearly basis, so you can work out what needs to be covered with the money you make from projects. Your pricing should enable you to make over and above this for your business to remain in profit.

Choosing projects wisely

Many of our trades clients when starting with us were caught in the trap of taking any project available, as and when an enquiry came in. They couldn’t understand why they were crazy busy, but the bank balance wasn’t looking any healthier.

While we understand the draw to want to have a busy order book and fill your diary with work, our advice is to make sure you fill your diary with work that makes you money.

Are you running yourself ragged doing faffy little jobs that you charge very little for, but are taking lots of time, for example? Think about not just the time taken to complete the work but the time you’ve taken to survey, quote and travel to and from the job – have you actually made much from it in the end?

Some jobs will always be low value and you have to decide if it’s worth your while taking these on. Or at least how many you’re willing to do alongside more profitable work.

Having a good idea of which jobs can make you more profit will help you chase the work that will benefit your business (and you!).

Would you be better putting more energy into looking for more lucrative projects? Knowing what work you want to win is the first step to getting more focused on how to find it.

Perhaps it’s worth considering tendering for a big contract that will give you sustained work for a longer period?

Quote for added value

Customers often don’t just want a job done, they want to know it will be done well and with the least hassle, stress and mess possible. They want an assurance that you offer quality workmanship and don’t just opt for the cheapest materials to keep the cost down. They want to know your work will be safe, will last and will be done quickly and efficiently.

This might all seem obvious to you. If it is, that’s great. It means you’re working with all this in mind already. But are you charging appropriately for the added value you give in offering all of this

It’s true that some customers will ALWAYS opt for the cheapest quote, but they’ll probably regret it in the long run as you get what you pay for – and they’re probably getting less than perfect work.

Many, however, will actively choose a more expensive quote if they feel they will receive a superior service. So, think about:

Why are you the best person for the job? Do you have qualifications and accreditations that show you are an expert in carrying out the works?
What proof do you have of your quality workmanship? Do you have a portfolio of case studies or testimonials you can show customers?
What comes ‘as standard’ with your service? Do you include a comprehensive site survey? Do you do any preparatory work and remove existing fittings? Do you remove all waste after the job?
Do you have a quality management process in place? Do you offer any guarantees of your work? What happens if the customer isn’t satisfied with the result – will you put things right at no extra cost?
What materials do you use? Do the parts you use come with their own warranty? Do you use a specific make or type because it is more reliable, or safer?
How do you make things easy for your customer? Can you bring in other contacts to complete any work you don’t cover? Do you offer a payment plan to spread a big cost? Can you help with any planning requirements?

Showing how you offer a better service makes you worthy of a higher price.

Make quoting easier and quicker

Last but not least, think about how you can make the actual quoting process much simpler and quicker. The less time you spend pricing jobs and working out if they’re profitable, the more time you can spend doing projects or winning even more work.

Do you know how much time you spend working out your quotes?

If you’re spending hours of an evening or weekend, leaving it days before getting back to potential customers or sending them a quote that looks less than professional because you haven’t got time to format it properly, you probably need to rethink your quoting process.

There are some great software solutions out there, specifically set up for trades businesses, that can make this a much quicker and easier process. The benefits are not only in getting quotes to customers in a more timely manner, it can help make your pricing more accurate, more profitable and the whole process of managing your projects simple and efficient.

It will also create an accurate quote that looks utterly professional that outlines:

the job brief
how you will fulfil it
exactly what is included in your service
total cost (with breakdown if appropriate)
payment terms

One of the software solutions we recommend is Tradify.

They offer a free trial period so it’s worth giving it a go and see how you get on.

At Get Smart Accountants we work with our clients to drive growth and help them achieve their dreams.

If you’d like some advice or support to get your business moving in the right direction, then we’d love to hear from you.

Call Emma or Paul on 01902 212937

#growthriveprosper

6 Need To Know Obstacles To Winning Bigger Contracts and How To Overcome Them

Have you ever wondered why some trades businesses get the big contracts with local authorities, schools, house builders, retail or hotel chains etc?

Whether it’s planned and preventative maintenance of electrics or plumbing, painting and decorating or landscaping, these big contracts can make a huge difference to your cash flow and bank balance. When it comes to bringing in more profit and having a steady stream of work, they can go a long way to helping stabilise your income.

So, why isn’t every trades business chasing these bigger jobs? The truth is, they rarely land in your lap without a bit of work on your part.

When we asked our network of plumbers, electricians and builders what’s stopping them going for the meaty contracts, these same six reasons kept raising their head. To be honest, none of them need stop you if you want to go for it and transform your business!

Your services are in demand – you just need to work at winning the right kind of business.

This is why we’ve put together our guide to overcoming the six common hurdles to winning big contracts.

1. You’ve never been through a tender process before and don’t know where to start

The number one reason for not going for potentially lucrative contracts is – the tender process. What most of these contracts have in common is, you have to fill in a bit of paperwork and jump through a few hoops to win them. For bigger companies with admin or sales staff who are a dab hand at putting the required information together, that’s no problem. For someone who’s never entered into a tendering process before, however, it can be pretty daunting.

But, you’ll never get anywhere unless you dip your toe in the water and have a go!

Have a gander!

Download a few tender application forms and familiarise yourself with the common questions they ask, the criteria they set and the information they ask for. Many follow a similar pattern so, once you’ve gathered the information for one, it’s then not a massive stretch to apply for more.

What are you lacking?

Once you’ve read through a few, make a note of any issues you think you’ll face. Do you have the skills, tools and manpower you need to fulfil the contract? Are they asking for accounts information you don’t have readily available? Are there any certificates or accreditations they require that you haven’t got? We’ll look at overcoming all of these in a minute! But it pays to know what you think you’re lacking so you have an idea of what you need to improve.

Take a course

Like your trades skills, you have to train to achieve a standard. There are lots of online courses that don’t cost the earth that will take you through the tendering process step by step. Putting in a bit of time and effort to find out what the procurement team will be looking for, and how to make yourself stand out, will give you greater confidence in completing a tender and the best chance of success.

Here’s a couple of tendering training course providers you could look at:

www.tendersdirect.co.uk

www.tenders-uk.com

There are plenty of others out there – we suggest you do your own research and find one that suit you.

2. You don’t know where to look for opportunities

Before you can apply, you need to find these potential jobs. If you google ‘Find Tender Opportunities’ you’ll probably get a list of sponsored ads for paid-for services, offering to send you daily tender opportunities straight to your inbox.

Yes, it might save you time, but you can find tender opportunities for free. When you’re just starting out, this is the route we suggest you take.

Public sector tenders have to be advertised in a way that allows any company to find them.

This is a fairly easy and free way to check for high-value public sector tenders (OJEU tenders) advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union and online at Tenders Electronic Daily (TED):

TED: http://ted.europa.eu

For lower value public sector tenders, this UK government portal was set up to help small and medium sized businesses win public sector contacts. It now also has some high-value tender opportunities.

Contracts Finder: www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

If you did want to invest in a service that finds relevant opportunities for you, these are some of the service providers you can take a look at:

www.supply2govtenders.co.uk

www.contractsadvance.co.uk

There is a collaborative solution to paying for such services. If you have a network of contacts within your industry, it might be worth considering signing up to a service you can all benefit from and sharing the cost between you.

3. You’re just a small company – how can you compete with the big boys?

This is something that stops many smaller concerns even filling in the tender application. But that could work in your favour.

The government is committed to supporting the growth of SMEs, particularly in the construction sector. In fact, it pledged to award 33% of public sector contracts by value to SMEs by 2020.

They recognise they can receive better value for money by awarding contracts to smaller businesses and by doing so are also supporting local economies. This means those smaller businesses who do step up and have a go are more likely to be in the running.

This should give you confidence that your tender will be considered on its merits, on how well you can fulfil the job brief, rather than on how big or small your company is.

4. You haven’t got the required credentials

It’s true that there are certain requirements you will need to meet to be considered. These generally mean you have to demonstrate you meet industry standards by holding certificates and accreditations. This is the most reliable way for employing organisations to know that you, as a company:

can work safely on a project
have trained and competent staff
have a quality management system in place
work in an environmentally friendly way

It will be an issue if you don’t yet possess the required credentials.

The only way to address this is to research which accreditations you need and commit to achieving them. It will be time well invested, however, as this will generally open you up to a wider pool of opportunities.

This needn’t stop you beginning the tendering process, however. If you can show you are working towards achieving an accreditation and have an estimated date to become certified, this may well be enough to secure a project. It’s all in how you phrase it.

Convert areas of weaknesses into areas of strength.

For example, ‘We will deliver to the standard’s criteria and achieve accreditation within 6 months’ will be looked upon favourably, whereas ‘we don’t currently hold the standard’ will probably see you heading to the discard pile.

Some useful links to find certificates, accreditations and memberships you might need, depending on your area of expertise and the projects applied for, are:

5. You don’t have the manpower to fulfil bigger contracts

If you are a small team, this doesn’t mean you can’t consider creating a bigger project team to fulfil a lucrative contract.

There are a number of ways you could do this.

Build a bigger team of employees on a full time or project-based basis
Bring in contract workers as and when needed
Join forces with another small company and create a partnership for the purposes of fulfilling bigger contracts.

You will need to work out which avenue works best for you and your business. We’ve put together a short video on how to decide between employing staff or bringing in contract workers here.

Your accountant can go into this in more depth with you, taking into consideration your current and projected finances.

6. You need cash to invest in making this all possible

There has never been a better time to access investment cash for your business. Although COVID-19 has caused major disruption in our working lives, it has also opened up borrowing and other opportunities. Loans, tax relief and cash grants are available for small businesses and can offer that investment cash you need to reach for bigger and better contracts in your business. It suddenly makes all of the above possible.

If you’re unsure what you are entitled to, how to access the help available, or what you can invest in that will be most effective, your accountant should be on-hand to help with all of this.

Building your business and becoming ‘tender-ready’ to enable you to go for bigger and better contracts is something your accountant should be helping you with.

At Get Smart Accountants we work with our clients to drive growth and help them achieve their dreams.

If you’d like some advice or support to get your business moving in the right direction, then we’d love to hear from you.

Call Emma or Paul on 01902 212937

#growthriveprosper