Construction industry business coach, speaker, and author, Shawn Van Dyke, has taken the core concepts of Mike Michalowicz's Profit First and customized them to address the specific needs of the construction industry. Profit First for Contractors addresses the major struggles contractors face and provides clear and actionable guidance on how to overcome them. Shawn shows contractors how to go from simply getting by to becoming permanently profitable. This book is for every construction business owner who dreams of prosperity. Using Van Dyke's Profit First for Contractors system, readers will learn how to break out of the "craftsman cycle" - the seemingly never-ending loop of urgent tasks and responsibilities that keep contractors from gaining traction toward their important goals. He guides construction business owners how to understand their financial statements and how to use them to determine the markup and margin that lead to profits. You will also learn hot to develop solid rules of thumb for the operation of your construction businesses, and how to implement an effective cash management plan that simplifies accounting and leverages normal human behavior. Using real-life stories from actual construction business owners, step-by-step advice, and his conversational twang, Van Dyke puts permanent profitability within reach of every construction business owner.

What if you could charge more and work less? What if you had time to dothe things you love to do? As the owner of a contracting business, these may seem like impossible goals, but Steve Dale is here to tell you it can be done.In The Profitable Contractor, Steve explains how businesses can unintentionallybe set up for failure. Using his proven strategies, you'll learn how totransform your contracting business into a profitable success that's a magnetfor your ideal clients.Instead of surviving from project to project, Steve helps you differentiate yourself from the competition to set up a business based on great clients. You'll discover how to identify the top client opportunities that are right infront of you and how to generate revenue based on your expertise andprofessional knowledge. And you'll be guided every step of the way with clientsuccess stories and access to worksheets and tools that will help you renovate your business.If you're ready to stop the late nights, working weekends, and missing out onfamily time, this book is for you. It's time to invest in yourself and your business to help build the life you really want.

In order to succeed in a construction business you have to be able to mark up the price of your jobs to cover overhead expenses and make a decent profit. The problem is how much to mark it up. You don't want to lose jobs because you charge too much, and you don't want to work for free because you've charged too little. If you know how much to mark up you can apply it to your job costs and arrive at the right sales price for your work. This book gives you the background and the calculations necessary to easily figure the markup that is right for your business. Includes a CD-ROM with forms and checklists for your use.

Take control of your construction contracting business and manage it through the natural highs and lows of the construction market. Learn from a team of construction business veterans led by Thomas C. Schleifer, who is commonly referred to as a construction business "turnaround" expert due to the number of construction companies he has rescued from financial distress. His financial acumen, combined with his practical, hands-on experience, has made him a sought-after private consultant. His experience and no-nonsense philosophy have truly given him a unique perspective. Important topics covered include: Understanding the primary areas of construction business failure in the next decade Minimizing business risk with real-world examples Developing a positive and competent management attitude and strategy Discover how to maneuver through this complicated and risky industry by using the authors' research and proven success strategies to sustain and grow your business.

This is the book you should have bought the day you decided you could make more money running a construction company than banging nails for somebody else. It provides you with the answers to those business questions that plague contractors: what am I doing wrong and what's stopping me from making the money that I deserve? You'll meet Mike, a remodeler who thought he owned a business but actually had a low-paying job. Many contractors start out like Mike. This book, in a very simple and easy to understand way, follows Mike as he learns to understand his numbers, adopts new systems, and creates a repeatable process for profit. "Every contractor should read this book. It is the first and only book that makes the numbers game easy to understand, but, more importantly, easy to incorporate into a contractor's business. Bravo!" - Shawn McCadden, CR, CLC, CAPS, award-winning remodeler, columnist, and nationally recognized remodeling industry specialist. "The authors have distilled many of the mysteries of the small-business person who can no longer manage the business by quick thinking and fast actions." - Mike Gorman, CR, construction industry author and speaker. "Contractors love a good story, and that's what they get. All of the basics are covered, including cash flow analysis, distinguishing job costs from overhead expenses, and calculating mark-up." - Sal Alfano, Editorial Director, Hanley Wood Business Media. Melanie Hodgdon (Business Systems Management, Inc.) and Leslie Shiner, MBA (The ShinerGroup) both manage successful consulting and coaching companies. With over 40 years combined experience, they help contractors better understand and improve business practices and maximize profits. In 2007, they began to work on a series of joint projects that would capitalize on their combined talents. This book is one product of that collaboration.

"The Contractor Fight" is what HGTV host and best-selling author Tom Reber calls the battle between your ears. We all have stories and experiences that have formed us into who we are. We are what we think, and the battleground is our mind. The Fight is not with the people you think are "cheap customers." It's not with the unlicensed competitors or the "illegals," as many contractors think. The Fight is with yourself. Sadly, most of the struggles contractors have are self-imposed. It's friendly fire. The negative ways we think about ourselves and our worth... friendly fire. The growing debt, working too much, small bank account... friendly fire. Winning the Fight is a choice. You're noble and full of integrity. You bend over backward to serve your family and clients. You have taken it on the chin more times than you can count. Now, it's time to get yours. Earn what you're worth. Create a business that serves you and energizes you, instead of one that beats you down. Choose to own your crap and get better today.

Author of cult classics The Pumpkin Plan and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur offers a simple, counterintuitive cash management solution that will help small businesses break out of the doom spiral and achieve instant profitability. Conventional accounting uses the logical (albeit, flawed) formula: Sales - Expenses = Profit. The problem is, businesses are run by humans, and humans aren't always logical. Serial entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz has developed a behavioral approach to accounting to flip the formula: Sales - Profit = Expenses. Just as the most effective weight loss strategy is to limit portions by using smaller plates, Michalowicz shows that by taking profit first and apportioning only what remains for expenses, entrepreneurs will transform their businesses from cash-eating monsters to profitable cash cows. Using Michalowicz's Profit First system, readers will learn that: · Following 4 simple principles can simplify accounting and make it easier to manage a profitable business by looking at bank account balances. · A small, profitable business can be worth much more than a large business surviving on its top line. · Businesses that attain early and sustained profitability have a better shot at achieving long-term growth. With dozens of case studies, practical, step-by-step advice, and his signature sense of humor, Michalowicz has the game-changing roadmap for any entrepreneur to make money they always dreamed of.