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Paying Taxes Beats Losing Money

By Michael Stone

Paying income tax means you’re running your business well.


Why Do You Need To Make A Profit?

By Michael Stone

Don’t confuse profit with salary or hourly wages. Making a profit isn’t optional: Your business needs profit to survive.


Can You Be Both Competitive and Profitable?

By Michael Stone

You can be competitive, or you can be profitable. You can’t be both.


Sales Issues: We Want the Lowest Bid

By Michael Stone

Some clients want the lowest bid for their project, and nothing else matters. It’s your job to try to educate them.


Markup Worries

By Michael Stone

Remember, you’re in business to provide a service and make a profit doing it.


Pricing Too Low

By Michael Stone

It is a fact of life that when you sell construction-related services, you’ll have clients tell you that your price is too high. Bless their hearts. They have no idea what would be a fair price for the work they want done, they just know that your price is too high.


Low-Value Jobs

By Michael Stone

I read many articles on the construction industry looking for, among other things, information on how the construction industry is doing and what we can expect in the immediate and near future. One statistic that always interests me is the size of the average remodeling job.


It’s Time to Stop Being Superman

By Michael Stone

In every business, some things we do eat into our profitability. Do you run your business or does your business run you?


How Much Should a Contractor Charge?

By Michael Stone

Many of our website visitors aren’t contractors, they’re clients looking for help with a Cost Plus project gone wrong, or wondering if their contractor is overcharging.


What It Costs to Be Lowest Bidder

By Michael Stone

Why would any serious construction-related business owner want to be the lowest bidder on a project? Let’s look at what that means.


Pass those savings along?

By Michael Stone

I read an article where the author talked about passing savings on to clients. This sounds well and good, but place it low on your priorities when putting a job together.


Bigger doesn’t always mean more profitable

By Michael Stone

Often when I talk with contractors, I hear, "I want to grow my company so I can make more money." Consider this, if size mattered, dinosaurs would still be here.


Your Price Isn’t Negotiable

By Michael Stone

I heard about a scam a local building owner is pulling on his subs. He has several properties and is apparently worth a considerable sum.


What Makes the Most Money?

By Michael Stone

I’ve talked about focusing your attention on the 1, 2, or maybe 3 things you do well and make the most profit on. Doing a good job of advertising and promoting those.


“Transparency” or Proprietary Information?

By Michael Stone

Someone once said, “No man’s business is safe while the legislature is in session.” Here is another example.


Run a Profitable Construction Business

By Devon Stone

Michael takes a minute to talk about the value of making a profit. (video)


Focus Your Construction Business on the Profitable Jobs

By Michael Stone

The ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius said, "The man who chases two rabbits catches neither."


Price Your Construction Jobs Correctly

By Michael Stone

If you are tired of starving because you have enough work but don’t have the money to pay your bills, heed these words.


Definition of Terms – Construction Accounting

By Michael Stone

Time for a quick review of some terms: gross profit, net profit, owner’s salary, owner’s wages. Owner’s salary is overhead, owner’s wages are a job cost.


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