Buildxact hosted a webinar with The Association of Professional Builders (APB) co-founder, Russ Stephens, who outlined some vital, but straightforward, steps you must take immediately. He warned that failing to do so would risk you becoming caught up in what he described as the “tsunami of building company failures” bearing down on the Australian construction industry. 

During the webinar, Russ explained how you can remain profitable and even grow your businesses despite unprecedented challenges, such as labor and supply shortages and rising material costs.  

Below are the three key steps he recommended for all Australian home builders. Russ based these necessary actions on his extensive industry experience and the first-hand experience and accounts of builders in the US, Canada and New Zealand.

1. Lawyer up

Seek legal advice on residential building contracts

While the pandemic has sent the building industry booming, increased demand has driven up material and labor costs. As Russ explained, such rapid construction cost inflation quickly consumes any net profit you may have projected in a fixed-price project. Additionally, the resulting lag time waiting for available workers and required supplies inevitably leads to expensive delays that you, the builder, must absorb. 

With the current environment changing so rapidly, in many cases, you will know you will be losing money on a signed and contracted build before you begin. 

Think long-term

Let’s say your build has not started–circumstances then change. You now surmise plowing forward makes no financial sense in the end. The right move is to stop, said Russ during the webinar. 

“In fact, as the director of a company, a builder has a legal obligation not to continue, because this contract will clearly lead to a situation where the building company will be forced to trade insolvently. It’s very unlikely that a court will order a builder to start a contract that they cannot complete before having to place the company into receivership because they can’t pay their bills when they become due and payable,” he said. 

Because contract laws vary significantly across Australian jurisdictions, your legal obligations in Victoria may be vastly different from those in Queensland or Western Australia. Russ said he recommends seeking professional legal advice from a firm not connected to the company that may have supplied your original fixed-price contract. 

Also, most contracts have enough ambiguity to allow “plenty of leeway for interpretation when it comes to ‘acts of God’ and force majeure,” he said.  

In other words, there may still be several legal opportunities to terminate or significantly revise signed contracts to prevent you from losing money. It is critical to seek legal advice before you commence work to know exactly where you stand and your options. 

Stop, review, survive

“You can work yourself silly for the next 12 to 18 months, make no money and potentially face personal bankruptcy – or you can take a step back,” advised Russ. “You can re-evaluate your current situation, and then only proceed with the jobs that are definitely going to return you a profit. 

“So, stop right now, before you go any further. Review and re-estimate every contract that has not yet been started and include provisions to cover the expected continuing price increases.  

“It’s important to include special conditions that protect your building company from bearing the brunt of the cost escalations.” 

2. Keep your clients happy while protecting your margins

With all the proper legal and financial safeguards in place to help keep the project in the black, you’ll now need to manage your relationship with the homeowner. 

Delays, unforeseen problems and unplanned costs are all par for the course on any building project – so clear strategic communication with your client is paramount.

Russ outlined three key techniques to use: 

• Over-communication
  One key reason builders have a terrible reputation as communicators is their tendency to put off the tough conversations they need to have with their clients. They often wait until the problem has grown from minor and annoying to significant and potentially catastrophic to both the project and their client relationship. Over-communicating means addressing the elephant in the room as early as possible – ideally as soon as a problem is likely to significantly impact the budget and schedule. By being on the front foot about the issues that pop up, you’re helping manage the client’s expectations. Don’t sugarcoat the problem and resist the urge to lean towards predicting a best-case outcome.Homeowners want to know they can trust you to act in their best interests. And when things go wrong, you’re the natural person they’ll be looking to blame – but also for help. So, they’ll be doubly angry if they ultimately end up footing higher costs and inconveniences because you failed to warn them. While they may still be frustrated at having to create additional space in their budget or timeline, they’ll appreciate your honesty and be grateful you acted quickly to nip their problems in the bud. 

• Anchoring
  As Russ puts it, ‘anchoring’ is about “bending” your clients’ perceptions and expectations from the beginning by dictating their emotional starting point. A key example might be providing an estimated cost range for something that includes an extreme figure at one end so that the actual amount ends up feeling far more reasonable and less scary to the client.
  Anchoring might seem simplistic and obvious, but there’s a reason sales and marketing campaigns do it: it works. “The real value of anything depends on the vantage point that you’re looking at it from – it’s all about perspective,” Russ explained. By controlling the context and position from which your client is viewing the situation, you’re able to help them make the choices that are right for themselves and the build.  

• Labeling
  Labeling is especially useful when it’s time for tough conversations. Building a home is stressful enough already for your clients. And when things aren’t going well, this anxiety will only be heightened. So, before you approach the client to discuss a significant delay or high added cost that might have popped up, Russ recommends doing an “accusation audit.”Take a moment to consider all the worst-case scenarios the client may bring up to you: How and why will they blame you? What labels might they throw at you? Untrustworthy? Dishonest? Shonky?
  Start the conversation by anticipating these negative dynamics – saying these labels out loud makes them seem more exaggerated than they are and helps prevent the client from over-reacting to the situation. For example, you may begin by saying something as simple as “you’re going to think I’m ripping you off,” or “I should have predicted these astronomical material price hikes.”
  Speaking these anticipated criticisms and negative dynamics out loud will often prompt the client to spring to your defense – they’ll end up telling you that the opposite is true. Now they see things from your side.  Russ then suggests following this up by offering positive labels the client would want to have attached to themselves to encourage positive, reasonable behavior on their part. By telling them how smart, reasonable and understanding they’re being, they’ll be encouraged to act that way. 

3. Watch the correct numbers now to cover your future cash flow needs

When looking at the financial position of a construction business, builders, their accountants, bookkeepers and even business coaches too often fail to see the bigger, more accurate picture. 

And this has never been more important than during lockdowns, where a potential building industry shutdown could smash cash flow and all but wipe out any remaining margins. 

As Russ explained during the webinar: 

“I would say there is a 95% chance that your accountant is not producing accurate year-end financial statements for your building company and, as a consequence, if you are a new-home builder, then you’ve probably been paying too much in taxes.”  

Your bank balance might look great, but it’s important to remember that home building is generally a cash flow positive activity for builders and the bulk of that cash is OPM: Other People’s Money. 

Understand the numbers the underpin your construction business

It can be hard to see an accurate picture of the financials when you’re still yet to receive invoices from a concreter for the slab he poured six weeks back. Another factor could be if the initial client invoices were heavily front-ended – specifically to help with cash flow at the beginning of a project.  

 According to research carried out by The APB, 81.5% of building companies owe far more than they realise, meaning they’re likely paying more tax than they should. Remember, the healthy-looking incoming revenue amounts appearing in the credit column are still waiting to cover costs, and debts are yet to appear on the spreadsheet. And paying too much tax, of course, reduces the cash reserve on hand to pay the invoices when they do eventually come in. So, just like that, your problems are compounding. 

“You need to know exactly where you are right now financially before you can then look ahead and plan to the future, because better information leads to better decisions,” explained Russ. 

“Once you know where you are financially, you can start planning your future. And that means creating a business plan that covers your key performance indicators.” 

The key numbers to watch like a hawk, are: 

– Sales revenue 

– Profit and gross margin percentage 

– Fixed expenses and fixed expenses as a percentage of revenue 

– Net margin and net margin percentage 

– Equity 

– Cash on hand 

– Work-in-progress figure 

A small building company with annual revenue of $6 million will typically have an actual work-in-progress figure between $500,000 and $1 million. Knowing this number is vital in ensuring you manage how much cash you have on hand to cover the ebb and flow of your debts and expenses. 

And if your equity figure is not growing month-on-month, then you’re losing money. 

Following the money

Monitoring these and the other numbers in Russ’ list lets you identify inefficiencies and red flags and allows you to take swift action when you see things going in the wrong direction. Making improvements might mean better allocation of resources, planning and managing future revenue, and tightening things up to remain profitable. 

“Normally this would be done monthly, but right now, with things changing so quickly, it’s a really good idea to keep an eye on them weekly,” Russ advised. “And it’s not hard to do when you’re using advanced software like Buildxact, that enables you to record your budget and your actuals – software like that has never become more important.” 

“I would urge you to be using all the features that Buildxact has to offer you guys, because you need it now more than ever.” 

For more on this and why these figures are so essential to understand and monitor, watch this informative webinar section here.

Take action now

Hundreds of APB member builders around the world have already benefited from the above techniques and strategies and helped ward off the financial consequences of the ongoing pandemic. 

And while Australia has been luckier in some ways compared to other nations in how COVID-19 has directly impacted the building sector, you must start taking steps now to ensure a profitable and prosperous future for your construction business. 

Buildxact’s comprehensive and easy-to-use software can help you get on top of your figures, so you know where your business stands. From there, you can make the right choices for your business now and for many years to come. 

To learn more about Buildxact, sign up for a 14-day risk-free trial. Or, if you’d prefer to talk with one of our team members, book a 1:1 demo. 

The post How to keep your residential construction business profitable despite material shortages and price increases appeared first on Buildxact AU.

Marketing your residential construction business online a necessity. The process of changing the way you market your business might seem intimidating, but it is pretty easy to learn. A solid marketing strategy includes social media marketing, search engine optimization and other strategies to help you reach existing customers, but also increase brand awareness so that future customers can find you.

Below, we explore the key takeaways from our webinar Marketing 101 for Builders & Trades. If you are not sure how to promote your business, generate more leads and win more work, this blog has got you covered.

Here are the 10 tips on how to market your residential construction business.

1. Build a website that you can easily update 

Your website is the foundation of your business, and it is a critical aspect of generating leads. The more professional your website looks, the more trustworthy it will be to your potential customers. This will go a long way in helping them choose your business over other companies.

Your customers should be able to easily navigate through your website on a desktop, tablet, or mobile. By using a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix, you can access prebuilt templates and themes to get started quickly and easily update content and images. Updates to any pages, content, or images will automatically update across each device, saving you time and effort and results in a great online experience for your customer. Having an updated website with useful, engaging content will help generate website traffic.

Don’t have a domain name? Any CMS can help you register a name and then you can get started right away.

2. Create an attention-grabbing homepage banner 

Your homepage banner is your “hook.” It is the first thing visitors will see when they click on your website and should include:

1. 1. A hero image is the central piece of your banner and should be a high-quality image showcasing your business. Good imagery is essential to having a great website.
   2. A catchy tagline consists of one or two sentences demonstrating the value your business delivers to your customers. Make sure it ties to the company brand so potential customers can get a sense of the business right away. It is always a good idea for the marketing team to do some research before landing on a final tagline.
   3. Your primary services summarizing who you and what you do in bullet point form ensures even speed-readers will get the gist. Remember most of your first-time website visitors won’t have the time to read everything in one visit.
   4. A call-to-action button directs visitors to your contact page or the next step of your sales process. For example, ‘Find out more’ or ‘Contact us’ with a visual button are great ones to use it lets people know just what to do next.

3. Invest in photography

Hire a professional photographer take photos of completed projects to showcase the quality of your work for your website’s portfolio page and for placement on your social media platforms. Book a photographer once every quarter to do a photoshoot to keep your portfolio fresh. Having good images is essential to an online presence and helps catch the attention of potential clients who might be visiting your website for the first time.

Humanize your brand and content by including images of yourself and your team too. Potential customers will want to know that they’ll be doing business with real people. This is a very important part of any construction marketing strategy. People like to do business with people they feel they know and can trust.

4. Include contact information and call to action on every page 

Contact Number:

Include your contact number in the upper right-hand corner of every page of your website. It reminds customers that they can easily call you no matter what part of your website they’re browsing. On the mobile version of your website, your customers can tap on your number in the same location. It should automatically redirect them to their dial screen, where they can hit the call button or save your number immediately.

Call to action at the bottom of every page:

Never publish a page without guiding your customers to another page or call to action, e.g., ‘Contact us.’

Otherwise, you’re just leading them to a dead-end and they’re left to figure out where to go on their own, or they’ll leave your website altogether. You want to keep control and push your visitors through the proper steps of your sales process.

5. Improve your contact forms 

We know it seems like longer forms could drive potential customers away, but the truth is that a qualified lead with high purchasing intent is going to fill out whatever form you give them. A solid qualified lead is gold to any construction company.

Business is a two-way street, and as much as you want to get new customers, you also want customers that will be easy to work with and are willing to give you the necessary information.

At a minimum, your contact form should have these elements:

1. Heading
2. The subheading, which includes when they can expect to hear from you
3. Fields
   • Full name
   • Email
   • Phone number
   • Property address
   • More details about the project
   • Ability to add an attachment
4. Submit button
5. Confirmation that their form submission was successful

6. Link to your social media accounts 

Social media marketing is very powerful, especially for a small construction company. Links to your social media accounts like Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram should be at the bottom of your website as they may detract from your call to action. An effective construction marketing strategy will require someone to function as a marketing manager and launch digital marketing campaigns for your target audience.

LinkedIn: While this is the most underused platform in the industry, it attracts professionals. Using LinkedIn is an effective way to gain connections with industry groups and associations that can help with lead generation and support you in growing your business.

Instagram: This is the best and most popular platform for builders and remodelers. People use Instagram to look for homes that they like and aspire to have. If you post good quality photos and content, they’ll find you and start connecting with you. Don’t forget to add your call to action on the profile description (usually your website URL or something like “Direct message (DM) for info”) and use hashtags (like #homeinspo) to get discovered by new customers.

Facebook: Facebook communities and groups are a good source of information, connections, and leads. Facebook is also the largest social media platform globally, so it’s great to have a Facebook page for your business for more reach.

7. Post reviews on your website

Positive feedback from your customers helps sell your next customer by proving that your business is trustworthy and provides value. Once the project is complete, ask your customers to leave a review — on your website (if you have a review page) or on Google — and promote these reviews throughout your website and on social media.

8. How to rank higher on Google

Here are three ways to rank higher on Google and get potential customers to your website:

1. Google Ads – This is a pay-per-click marketing strategy that can boost your website to the very top of a relevant Google search.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – This relies on the quality of your content. The best and most relevant content will boost your Google ranking.
3. Google My Business – This leads you to the top of Google Maps.

Marketing agencies can help you with this and make sure that your business is easily found online by potential customers.

9. Dedicate a page for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Think about all the questions your customers might want to ask and have a page on your website that answers them. Having answers to FAQs helps to build further trust with your potential customers.

10. Use your job management system for marketing to your leads

To run your jobs accurately and efficiently from start to finish, consider using estimating and is also a powerful marketing tool?

Whichever online construction platform you use, make sure that it includes a client portal, a designated mini-site, with your branding, that you can set up for each of your qualified leads. Your prospective customers can log in, see details of their project, examples of your relevant previous building work, brochures, etc.

All communication is recorded in their portal, and their building quote, and any project updates. It sends a strong message to your potential customers that you control the builds you work on, and that it will be easy and smooth working with you. It is an important point of differentiation that will set you apart from other builders.

Get started with Buildxact 

To see how our estimating and job management software platform can help you win more work.

Start a free trial and experience Buildxact for yourself 

Book a one-on-one demo where one of our team take you through how Buildxact can help your business 

Find out more about Tradies Get Online 

To get help in marketing your business, contact:

Stephanie Campanella, Tradies Get Online
stephanie@tradiesgo.com.au
www.tradiesgo.com.au 

The post Construction Marketing: 10 strategies you should be using appeared first on Buildxact AU.

1. It all starts with you and your team 

Most builders do not start out as construction business–people, but if you want to fast-track your business, then you need to first alter your mindset and your habits, and see yourself as a business leader. Embrace the concept of business development, set your standards and your goals, and make the commitment to put in place the changes necessary to set your construction business up for success.

What do you want your business to look like and what needs to change in order for you to achieve your business goals? You must have a clear vision before you can start on your action plan.

Equally as important are the people that you surround yourself with. Your team must share your standards and values. This includes everyone from your sub-contractors, administrators, bookkeepers, to your accountant and solicitor. When you have the right people in place with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, and with you leading the team, changes are easy to implement.

2. Find your niche 

When you actively start marketing your construction business, there is a good chance that you will be inundated with inquiries which can sometimes be overwhelming.  Some inquiries may be exactly the type of opportunity that you want, while many will not be a good fit and not worth your time or effort.

So before you go full steam ahead with your marketing, find your niche or specialization. This will help differentiate your construction company, narrow down the type of inquiries you get, and make you more relevant to your prospective clients. For example, you may specialize in renovations and extensions, heritage builds eco-friendly houses, etc.

Once you have determined your niche, start marketing! For tips on how to get your marketing up and running, check out our blog titled How to Win More Work in a Competitive Marketplace.

3. Get your ‘financials’ right. 

Profit, cash flow, margins, break-even points … you must have these under control for every single construction project. Using estimating and job management software, such as Buildxact, will enable you to ensure your quotes are accurate with consistent margins across the board, and that you are able to gauge your profit and cash flow at any given time during all your projects.

While using a system to track your financials is a ‘must’ for construction businesses, there are also other things you should start doing to achieve success in the construction industry:

• Price your work properly by applying a mark-up of 25% for all items (according to Kurt Hegetschweiler, specialist builder’s coach, this is the minimum mark-up and you should never go below this figure)
• Do not forget to cost yourself into the jobs you quote
• Have a payment schedule for every job and use the progress payments to cashflow the job rather than your own finances.
• Build cash reserves – ideally 2% of turnover as working capital that you put in a separate bank account to help with construction business growth or continued operations, especially during slow and difficult periods.
• Have a 12–week cash flow forecast. Knowing this allows you to make decisions for your business, eg. when to add a new staff member, when to put new systems in place, etc. to remain competitive in the construction industry.

4. Systemise your business 

A lot of builders are still using ‘old school’ methods to run construction companies and are doing things the hard way. In this day and age, you just cannot compete unless you implement the right systems and technology to improve efficiencies and take control of your business to dominate a niche market.

You may already be using accounting software such as Xero or MYOB, but you will find that you can systemize most areas of your construction company. Buildxact can help you when it comes to estimating and job management, while Deputy will take care of all your time–sheeting requirements. These systems all integrate with each other so that there is no double-handling. That is the type of efficiency that you need to set up so that your staff can work smarter and not harder while increasing productivity and handling many construction projects. This will go a long way to go after prospective customers and improve your sales process to win more jobs.

5. Take control of your leads 

When you are presented with a potential job that is a good fit for your business, take control immediately and steer the conversation and the process. Communication is the key.

• Start by charging for your quotes as this will eliminate any tire kickers and will also place a value on your quoting process.
• Have the difficult conversations with your potential clients upfront and set expectations so that they know what will happen if, for example, a variation is required during a job, or there are defects at the end.
• Set up a client portal for your potential clients right from the get-go so that they can see first-hand how they will work with you. Buildxact can help you with this.

Being open and honest and showing that you are in control builds trust and credibility and leads to repeat and referred business. It helps you convert your leads into clients, and once you have won a job, it protects both you and them, and helps ensure that your jobs are delivered to budget, on time, and most importantly for you, that they are profitable.

 6. Get help 

As the leader of your company, you are tasked with steering your business in the way you want it to go and spearheading the change necessary to increase its success.

Remember that you are not required to be an expert in all areas so get the right help to assist you in kick-starting and managing change. It will be money well spent and while you may not see immediate results, be patient because you will certainly reap the rewards in the not too distant future.

It usually takes about 12 to 18 months to experience the full impact of the changes you implement in your business, so grab the bull by the horns, get the help you need and stick with it. Consistency is the key here. A great team is the secret ingredient to make a business successful.

Work with your team to beef up your online presence and offer online options to help with customer satisfaction. Construction companies that embrace technology set themselves up for success and are more likely to navigate the many changes that can take place in the industry.

Here is to your success!

These are just the six top takeaways from our webinar ‘The Biggest Future Growth Opportunity in the Building Industry Right Now’ that we co-hosted with Builders Coach, Kurt Hegetschweiler.

If you are interested in finding out more, click here to watch the webinar recording.

The post 6 Top tips to help you start growing your business now! appeared first on Buildxact AU.

Buildxact partnered with Kurt Hegetschweiler, Specialist Building Industry Business Coach, to deliver a webinar that went through the strategies and processes that builders and trades can implement to get on the front foot, fast-track their business and get ahead of their competitors.

Below are the Top 7 Takeaways from the webinar, however, we encourage you to also watch the webinar recording as there is so much valuable information that you will be able to use in your business to keep existing customers happy and help you target customers effectively to win more business.

Takeaway 1:  First and foremost … don’t let your mindset hold you back

You will never outperform whatever your mindset is, so if your business is not progressing the way you want it to, then it is time to reassess your goals and put an action plan in place so that you start reaching out to potential customers to convert them into new customers and create more work, increasing your profits and setting your business up for success.

You are the leader and you set the standards for yourself and your team so it is important to maintain your focus and continue down the established strategy. This will create a unique selling proposition that will allow your business to focus on a specific target audience and attract new customers. It is important to know who you sell to on a daily basis. Part of your profits should be spent on developing your business and leadership skills so that you understand what is required to take your business to the next level. Keeping your website updated is an important task and should not be overlooked. Your team should also focus on keeping social media marketing fresh and active. Likewise, you need to invest in your staff and empower them with the skills and tools to become high-performers. This will help your team keep existing clients happy on their customer journey and allow your team to create new opportunities. Building industry coaches such as Builders Coach can help with the development of you, your staff and your business, but ultimately, you must have the right mindset to succeed.

Takeaway 2:  Communicate the value of your business

One of the key factors to winning more work is being able to differentiate yourself from your competition, demonstrating your value to qualified potential clients, and educating them to look beyond ‘the cheapest price’.  Communication is the key to this, with you firmly steering the conversation. It is worth investing time in the following before submitting any quote.

– Extract as much information as possible about the project from your potential clients.

– Book in a site visit

– Provide them with information and FAQs

– Explain what is involved in your process and what they will get

– Send your potential clients a portfolio of your work, and make them fall in love with what you do

Proactive communication will demonstrate the value of your business against that of your competitors and instill confidence that you are able to fulfill their construction requirements. You will build trust and credibility, and you will see an increase in the percentage of jobs you win.

Takeaway 3:  Show your potential clients that you’re ahead of the game

Communicating the value of your business is one thing, but effective communication with your clients throughout a job is paramount. Whichever construction software you use, make sure that it includes a client portal; that is, a designated ‘mini-site’ for each of your clients which contains all details of their projects, and through which you can communicate and keep them updated. Buildxact software enables you to set up individual, secure portals for clients, using your own branding, and which clients can access at any time to see how their project is progressing.

All communication is recorded in their portal and you can upload images and relevant documentation for them to view even before you win the job. Setting up potential clients with their own portal right from the get-go is a powerful way to show the value of your business, making it easier to sell them on it. It sends a strong message to your potential clients that you are in control of the builds that you work on and that it will be easy and smooth working with you. This is an important point of differentiation that will set you apart from other builders.

Takeaway 4: Set aside money towards marketing the value of your business

Word of mouth is great and some builders are happy to tick over on referral-based business. But if you want to grow your business, you must invest in marketing it, and you do not necessarily have to spend a lot of money to do this. Here are some basic must-dos:

1. Make sure you have a website that showcases your work and clearly outlines your business value

2. If you have not already, set up social media sites (eg. Facebook & Instagram) to showcase your work, and ensure that you are regularly posting and responding to inquiries as quickly as possible.

3. Proactively network with others in the industry such as architects and engineers in order to increase referrals.

4. Invest in direct response marketing such as banners, flyers, etc.

If marketing is not something that you are comfortable with doing, invest in an experienced professional to help you set everything up and maintain the marketing momentum.

Takeaway 5: Get your quotes right

An all-encompassing and accurate quote will reduce the number of surprises (eg. costly variations) for your clients later down the track. This contributes to building a good reputation which in turn helps confirm your business value and instill trust and increase referrals.

Using estimating software, such as Buildxact, will enable you to up the ante on the accuracy, presentation and timeliness of your quotes, ensuring that your business comes across as professional and competent, and this will definitely give you a leg-up when pitching for new work against your competition. Moreover, it will also allow you to analyze previous quotes, fine-tune them, and use them as templates going forward. This means more accurate revenue, profit, cost and cash flow projections, and a better bottom line for you.

Takeaway 6: Your time is valuable so start charging for quotes

Most builders do not charge for quotes believing that if they do, they will lose opportunities to win work. But in an industry where time is money, spending hours and even days putting a quote together and not charging for it is ludicrous, and bad for your business. This encourages tire kickers who you will never end up working with, and who gather quotes in order to ensure that their preferred builder has quoted them fairly.

There is no evidence to suggest that builders that charge for quotes lose out on business; quite the opposite. Charging for quotes puts a value on them, and enables you to ‘go deeper’ than other builders do by producing quality quotes to people who are genuinely interested in working with you. Have the confidence to start charging for your quotes. Once you do this, you will find that you will win a higher percentage of the work that you quote on.

Takeaway 7:  It’s ok to let business walk away

One of the biggest mistakes that builders make is not qualifying their potential clients and their respective ‘builds’. Do not waste your time working on jobs, or with people who are not a good fit for your business.  Politely but confidently refer them on to someone else. Your red flags should go up when, for example, you are presented with incomplete plans to quote on and are expected to ‘fill in the gaps’; or when a potential client requests continual budget cuts to your quote while insisting on maintaining the same specifications. It is ok to let potential businesses walk away if it is going to compromise your quality of work or your bottom line.

Do you have a niche? If the client does not fit your niche then pass them on to someone else and focus on the jobs that you specialize in, and the type of clients that appreciate what you do. Clients that do not see the value in the service you provide are not worth your time or effort so it is ok to reduce the number of quotes you produce and concentrate on winning the ‘right’ type of work.

These top seven takeaways are just a number of tactics that you can use to set your business apart, start winning more quality jobs, and work with clients that value what you do. Watch the webinar below for more information about how you can fast-track your business.

Find Out More

To learn more about how you can fast-track your business, please contact:
Kurt Hegetschweiler, Builders Coach
info@builderscoach.com
www.builderscoach.com 

 
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This webinar deep dived into the $130 billion JobKeeper Scheme recently kicked off by the Australian Federal Government, and how it can support the construction industry during the uncertain times of COVID-19 and beyond. 

These are the top 9 key takeaways from the webinar: 

1. Overview of the JobKeeper scheme
   • $1500 per eligible employee per fortnight before tax
   • Paid to eligible businesses
   • If turnover decrease by 30%
   • Wage condition must be met; and
   • Elected to be part of scheme and provided information to ATO
2. Between now and the end of April
   • Check the business and your employees meet the eligibility requirements
   • Continue to pay at least $1,500 per fortnight before tax for each eligible employee
   • Notify eligible employees that you intend to claim and send the ‘JobKeeper employee nomination notice’ to your nominated employees to complete and return to you by the end of April. https://www.ato.gov.au/Forms/JobKeeper-payment—employee-nomination-notice/
   • Enrol with ATO before the end of April (if intending to claim for April). Includes confirming bank details for payment and estimated number of employees
3. Ensure all eligible employees are paid at least $3,000 (gross) before the end of April 2020
4. Enrol with ATO before the end of April (if intending to claim for April)
5.  From 4 May 2020 onwards
   • Apply to claim JobKeeper Payment (lodge via interactive ATO form)
   • Ensure each eligible employee paid minimum $1,500 per fortnight before tax
   • Identify the eligible employees for the relevant period. Either prefill form STP, manual enter or tax agent can assist with lodging.
   • Notify eligible employees within 7 days that you have nominated them
   • ATO will pay the JobKeeper payment after accepting application to nominated bank account
   • Each month, you will need to reconfirim that your reported eligible employees have not changed through ATO online services, the Business Portal or via your registered tax agent.
6. Document your Turnover Assessment (monthly, quarterly, cash basis or invoice basis). Alternate tests are now available including for new businesses and scale up businesses.
7. Non-Employee business participants may also access JobKeeper (Sole trader, director, adult beneficiary)
8. Know your numbers for the business overall and job by job, and make sure you have real-time information so that you can manage your profit and cashflow effectively.
9. If you haven’t done so already, make the move to using software to manage your estimating, quoting and jobs.

Want more information? 

For more information on the JobKeeper Scheme, please contact:

Michael Renton from Xact Accounting 
michael@xactaccounting.com.au
1300 233 723
www.xactaccounting.com.au 

For more information regarding Buildxact and how to make the move to using software to manage your jobs, please contact: 

Julian Krishnan Nair from Buildxact
juliank@buildxact.com
0498 124 613
www.buildxact.com.au 

The post Top 9 takeaways from our webinar about expert financial tips to protect your business appeared first on Buildxact AU.