Do you wonder if the book, Markup & Profit; A Contractor’s Guide Revisited can help your business? Check out a note we received earlier this month:
“Michael, I just wanted to thank you for putting together your book Markup and Profit. It has helped get our firm back on track during tough times over the last year and now we are experiencing tremendous growth by getting back to the basics and applying your sound business principles.
In short, our general contracting firm has been around since 1948 and has never had to file a bankruptcy, had a lien placed by a sub for non-payment and has never had a lawsuit filed against it. But we got in trouble. As money was coming in hand over fist in the late 90s and early 00’s, the company failed to set up an operating capital fund, properly distinguish between job costs and overhead, and made the cardinal mistake of 10/10 pricing which slowly drove the company from having millions in the bank to just $200,000 when your book was purchased.
As the operations officer it is my responsibility to steer the ship so to speak. I am embarrassed to say to you that though I have a BA in Economics from a prestigious school, I did not see the forest for the trees. Markup and Profit was the answer.
After reading the book through twice in a week and literally destroying it while taking notes and annotating sections with cross references, I implemented the appropriate principles and techniques.
Our salesmen now dress appropriately when making calls on customers. We have determined our optimal overhead rate and are now making real profit. Our sales and project management processes have been streamlined.
We are on track for 2010 to have the best year on record for volume of work sold and completed in our over 65 year history, and I can honestly say it is solely due to Markup and Profit. In addition, we are using your Fast Track software and absolutely love the menu drop downs.
With the deepest thanks and respect,
Steven, Director of Operations”
The knowledge and experience Michael Stone gained in his 60+ years in construction has helped thousands of contractors improve their businesses and their lives. He is the author of the books Markup & Profit Revisited, Profitable Sales, and Estimating Construction Profitably, and is available for one-on-one consultations as needed.