Case Histories of Clients We’ve Worked With
Take a look at the kinds of problems our clients face, our recommended solutions, and the successful results!
Company Profile: A landscape designer with 3 employees.
The Problem:
This client company was calculating the cost of each landscaping job they performed, but they failed to include the time spent by the owner or salaried top employees. The owner took his draw, and paid his salaried employees their wages, but he didn’t take any of these costs into account when doing the job costing. The job costing system they established was inconsistent and inaccurate. As a result, the profitability of each job was significantly overstated.
Our Solution:
We determined an hourly cost for each employee, which was not the same as the billed rate. We then created a system to track the actual hours worked by the owner and all employees on each job—both billable and non-billable hours. Then, using the QuickBooks Timer feature, we entered billable and unbillable hours by job and administrative tasks. It showed the owner the actual cost to the company for every hour he and all his employees—both billable and non-billable—spent on each project. With a special report template we created, the owner could compare the actual hourly cost to the company against the billed rate to see what his profit was for each job.
The Result:
Simply put, the owner was able to see what he would have to pay to hire himself or his non-billable employees! And his own hours and those of his administrative employees are now correctly attributed to the projects performed. Through this “true” job costing, he is able to identify billable versus unbillable hours, determine the actual profitability of each project, and more accurately bid on prospective jobs.
Company Profile: A solopreneur in his third year of business, offering computer consulting services at his clients’ locations.
The Problem:
This small business was growing well, but the owner was doing all tasks himself, and found it difficult to deliver service in the time promised. He took any and all jobs that came his way, and went to every networking event he could find in order to build business. As a result, he was exhausted!
Our Solution:
We used the QuickBooks “customer set up” to identify where clients came from and the owner’s satisfaction index with this client. This answered the questions, “How did this client find me?” and “How much do I enjoy working with this client?”
The Result:
As a result of being more selective about the clients he worked with, the business owner had more time and energy to deliver the services he promised. He was able to concentrate on networking and marketing efforts that resulted in profitable clients he truly enjoyed working with. And because he was spending more quality time at his desk, he was able to strategize how to grow his company and hire people to help him get everything done.