The Construction Junction: Featuring Foundation Software

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The Profit Constructors presents Construction Junction, the junction between
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accounting and construction.
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Please welcome our host, Tanya Schulte.
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Welcome back to the Construction Junction podcast.
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My name is Tanya Schulte, and I have here with me today, Brian.
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Brian, how do you say your last name? Is it CanSiam?
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It is CanSiam. Awesome. With Foundation Software.
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Brian, thank you so much for joining us. Absolutely. Pleasure. Thanks for having me.
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Appreciate you being here. So for those of our listeners who don't really know
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what Foundation is or maybe haven't heard of Foundation,
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and honestly, I'm quite surprised the number of construction companies that
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are out there in the world trying to do accounting, struggling through various
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different softwares and haven't
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ever heard of Foundation. So tell us a little bit about Foundation.
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How did it come to be? How did Foundation come to be?
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Way back when 1984, 85, the founder of the company, Brett Odie,
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was working for a local engineering firm here in the Cleveland suburban area.
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And they decided they needed something better than what they were using.
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Right. And the system was originally written on the Wang Mini Computer System.
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And somehow, Somehow, Fred was able to come away with the basis of that tool
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that was built for them and created
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a DOS-based accounting system called Foundation Accounting Software.
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And from there, it just grew. Our original first employee is still with us today.
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We've gone through a lot of growth, a lot of changes, but just continually developing over time.
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In the early 2000s, we migrated over to the Windows-based application that's
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on the market today and added a lot of other products along the line.
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About 16, 17 years ago, we took our core strength in the system,
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the payroll module, and parsed that out and now offer a payroll service specifically for contractors.
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And that is good, whether you're using Foundation or any other accounting system,
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it's not necessarily needing to be used just with Foundation.
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So we have many clients in the payroll service that don't even use our Foundation
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software, which is great.
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And and you know then since 2020
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or so we've acquired a couple estimating packages that's estimating
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edge and mccormick estimating we acquired
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a company called harness safety and was able to rebrand that into our hq suite
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of products so that's a whole homegrown set of tools for mobile project management
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human resource management there's some executive reporting boarding,
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like I said, the safety piece, and then project management, of course, if I said that.
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And then most recently, we acquired About Time Technologies out in Utah and
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their flagship product, WorkMax.
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Which gives us a really powerful field
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data collection tool and allows us to do timekeeping and various forms that
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are in the field and have that all mesh with the back office So really created
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a strong set of tools for the entire back office of a contractor.
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I love that. So you guys started out really going after that accounting workflow,
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but over time you've added on to make it, like you said, really a great suite for the whole app.
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And in hindsight, you know, naming the company after the product or the product
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of the company, it's kind of a killer because now we have to market foundation
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software, but it's not just foundation software, it's all of these other products as well.
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So, you know, foundation is the product versus foundation is the company.
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It's an important distinction.
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Yeah. Well, and having gone through a company wide rebrand over here,
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just don't even try it. No, not happening.
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It's like acquiring McCormick Estimate. I mean, you know, if we tried to rebrand that,
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you would lose such the market recognition because it's, you know,
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one of the foremost estimating packages in the mechanical electrical plumbing
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industry, you know, and why would we do that? That would be silly.
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So, yeah, no rebranding. Yeah, I love it.
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What kind of sets Foundation Software apart from other accounting softwares that are out there?
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Oh, you know, when you look at what you're buying, you know,
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it's very easy to look at a piece of software and say, does it do this?
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Does it do that? Does it do that?
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Right? Is it going to do everything you need?
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And just analyzing it from that perspective, it's, that's one piece of it, right? Right.
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What sets us apart is when you start looking at not only the product,
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but you start looking at also the company.
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Right. You look at the retention, you look at the customer service response
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times and just the entire culture of the organization.
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We have many, many employees who have been here. I don't know how many,
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but quite a few that were either here when I started back in 97 or came in shortly there.
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Definitely, you know, people with 20 plus years, like I said,
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our original developer that Fred Odie brought on to get this really moving forward.
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She's still here today. day and i think that says
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a lot when you have employees like that
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that stick around and really focus on just
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building the best company possible so it is
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our company our culture if you come to our user conference it's just an amazing
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experience you know we we deal on the internal this is probably the same at
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any company right you deal day to day with the problems you know people don't
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call because they're happy they call because they're having trouble doing something
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or or or that they're not happy with this or that.
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You get bogged down in that day-to-day. And our user conference was down in Nashville in April.
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We had over 750 people attend, plus various vendors in our vendor pavilion.
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I think we had 75 employees.
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So, you know, easily 1,000 people at this event.
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And the feedback that you get, the experience that everybody has,
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and I know it's Nashville, it's easy to be happy, But, you know,
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just the event and how well it was put on and how well received all of our information
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was, all of our people and the customer feedback,
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it kind of regrounds you to why you do what you do here when you're in the office every day.
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I love that. And especially because
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who you guys are serving has the same industry that our team serves.
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And construction accounting is where I've built my entire career.
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I was telling him when you and I were chatting before this episode,
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I started doing construction accounting in 1997.
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I was taking a community college for us, Accounting 101 in 1987,
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but I also went to work for an architect and home builder and started doing
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his accounts payable and then just sort of worked my way up from there.
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So I've spent my entire career serving that industry.
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And one of the things I think is fascinating about this industry as a whole,
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we've talked about it here on the podcast before, they're very straightforward.
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You get what you get. And so if they're telling you that they like your software,
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they mean it. If they didn't like your software, they would be telling you otherwise.
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Absolutely. And it's not to say that those who like it don't also have negative
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things to say, you know, I mean, there's, hey, we really need it to do something
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or, you know, this just isn't, it's not quite right.
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And we listen to that. And we try to incorporate a lot of that into the direction
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that the product takes. Yeah, absolutely.
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Tell us a little bit more about kind of what does it look like when a client
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reaches out to you guys and says, hey, I want to know more about foundation?
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Kind of what are you guys telling them about why they should choose Foundation
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as their accounting software?
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Yeah, you know, first and foremost, the experience here, everybody or everything
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that is involved in the process from sales and marketing, through the onboarding
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implementation support, so on, it is all contained in house,
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we do not have resellers, we don't have consulting firms that that sell or consult on this.
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I mean, I'm sure there are companies out there that do consult on it,
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but it's not run through us, you know, and there are plenty of people who know
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a lot about it. That's great.
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And some of my best implementations happened with a very up to date, CPA,
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somebody who is involved with a company that can be more local can be a more
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frequent point of contact, they take the information through these training
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sessions, and they make sure that things are getting done as necessary.
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But that's not to say that those don't exist. But we manage everything in house
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so that we can really control the customer experience.
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So, you know, if somebody is raising their hand, whether it be from a mailing,
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an emailing, you know, a webinar that is put on, a referral,
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they will come right into our sales staff for quick qualification.
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If it seems like it needs a fit, they'll go right into our sales department.
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They'll generally schedule an online demo.
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That could be one and done. It could be a couple of different ones,
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depending on the complexity of the client's needs.
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You know, I think our sales team is pretty diligent at really looking at what
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these people are asking for.
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And if it's not a good fit, there's nobody's trying to force it.
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Right. There are different things you can do. I mean, that's not how it's designed
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to work, but we can do this and it will work.
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And you pursue those. But when it's just, yeah, we do not do what you're looking
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to do. It's not a good fit.
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They'll just tell them. Let me let me ask you about that. Sorry to interrupt.
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Up, but let me just ask you quickly, who do you guys describe as your ideal
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client? Who is it a great fit for?
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Yeah, we are designed really for a labor intensive contractor.
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If you are a straight general contractor, basically managing the paper side
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of the business, and subbing out everything, most likely not a great fit.
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If the bulk of your jobs are residential, high volume, you know,
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Low duration, generally not a good fit.
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We're going to deal with the specialties of contractor, probably minimum of
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$3 to $5 million in revenue.
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Ideally, 20 to 25 employees out in the field, maybe less, it depends.
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But a lot of these companies coming to us are coming from QuickBooks or maybe
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another other construction specific application that just isn't meeting their needs.
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Our strength is truly in the payroll processing. As I mentioned,
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we started a whole payroll processing company.
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But the ability to handle multi-state, multi-union, if you're doing any prevailing
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wage, Davis-Bacon projects,
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the ability to handle those various wage rates, the additional fringe benefits
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that are required to be paid to those employees while working on those jobs
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under certain trades or skills that...
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To determine different rates, different fringes, and so on.
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Not only can we handle all that, but then the reporting side,
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to be able to, for lack of a better term, I guess, push a button and get a certified
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payroll report for that week,
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without having to gather all sorts of data to generate those union reports,
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the workers' comp reports, all of the different things that are necessary.
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So that's a huge piece. Most companies can do payables or receivables.
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It's pretty simple. The payroll is what really sets it apart. I love that.
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How do you guys handle like job costing and project management?
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I know you said you do also even have a separate component, something else that
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you guys acquired that handles more of that project management side.
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But how does that all fit together?
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And how is that happening? So that you mentioned reporting.
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And one of the things that our team is always looking for is like,
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can we do WIP reporting? What type of job do we get from Foundation?
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Let's talk about that. So I spent the better part of my career here with Foundation
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in the consulting realm.
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So going out to clients post-implementation, whether it be six months,
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a year, 10 years after, whether it's employee turnover, or just,
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hey, we bought this software to do a certain thing. And like most companies...
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You get it up and running, and you forget about all the other stuff that you
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wanted and keep using your spreadsheets.
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And you spend all this time before someone's just like, why are we doing this? Yeah.
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So So yeah, that is that's where I spent most of my time.
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So when it comes to job costing, right, everything that you do in the software,
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from entering an invoice,
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to insert in, you know, putting in time cards, billing, right,
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all of that flows into the project.
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So it's not only hitting the ledger for the accounting side,
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but it also flows through to job costing.
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Everything that you do requires the job cost of the cost class or maybe a phase if you add that level in.
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So it's a significant amount of reporting that's required.
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And it's interesting because you talk to QuickBooks users and they're not accustomed
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to needing all that data.
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And they're like, well, hey, why can't I just download my credit card statement and have it in here?
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I'm like, well, because it's really a lot more complicated than that. You
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got 100 hundred transactions you got a hundred different jobs it
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could go to and within that different codes it can go to
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and with that even is it equipment is it material
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so it requires a a much more granular level of detail to get that in to get
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accurate reporting compared to your budget so so absolutely job costing is is
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the entire backbone of the software for sure yes financials good, you got to get them.
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But I don't care if your books, you know, show that you're making money.
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If you don't know how you're making money on your jobs, and where you could
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be making more, you're missing the boat.
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Yeah. So that is that's definitely an important piece.
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Project management side, again, you know, we have flexible job cost reporting,
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you can generate various reports, you can create reports that are not canned out the box.
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And, you know, the system has some project management capabilities there.
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A lot of companies, though, are trying to keep some of these pieces of the company
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in their own silos, which is interesting,
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because, you know, 10 years ago, we were trying to look for something,
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everything to be in one place, something that does it all. We want everybody in one system.
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And now it's like, you know, I don't know if I want my project managers in my accounting system.
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Them right and regardless i mean if they are
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it's completely secure you can define users with roles and
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permissions keep them out of the areas that's supposed to be into you can literally get
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it down to the report level like hey these are the reports the guy could run and because
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he is the project manager on the job these are the jobs that he's able to see
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so it is really easy to do but still some people are like yeah you know just
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like hey i don't i don't really want to do this online i don't want my books
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out on the intranets right yes like yeah it's really not how it is but that's
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It's okay. You can think what you want.
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So, yeah, so that's it. But that's why we did develop the standalone project
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management piece, which does share information back and forth with the accounting piece.
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But, again, it just kind of keeps the project management team out of the accounting software.
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What all is included in that project management package? What types of project
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management things can they do over there?
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Yeah, I mean, from RFCs, RFIs, submittal packages, things like that,
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And getting change orders, you know, put together and pushed over to the accounting system.
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There's reporting that comes through with it.
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I'm trying to think of some of the other details. It's probably one of the areas
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I had the least experience in because that was that was rolled out,
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you know, sort of as I was getting out of the hands on piece. Yeah.
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That's why we have a sales team. Yeah. And they know more about it. Correct.
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Tell us a little bit about, because you've been doing this for quite some time
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now, Brian, and you were just mentioning, you know, 10 years ago,
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everybody was like, oh, I don't
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like this, that, you know, you're forcing me to buy this and do this.
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And how are they going to integrate while you talk in sync?
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Now that it's becoming a little bit different where people started to recognize,
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oh, but if I do give people access to my accounting software,
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what are the permissions that I can hand out? and maybe not seeing some information.
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So you mentioned that. What are some other trends that you're kind of seeing
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in terms of construction technology and how that's playing into choices that
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your customers are making right now?
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Yeah, I think AI, obviously the buzzword, right? Everybody wants to use the latest and greatest.
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Right. I think it's very exciting, but you got to really look at what's the
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practical application.
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Like you don't need it for something right it's like hey i don't have to go buy you know.
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Fancy bmw when i really just
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have to go to the store once a day
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and my little beater will work just fine right i mean what do
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you need and how fancy do you need to get so i
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think that ai is a right and in
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this space so far what i have seen is accounts
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payable automation that's the big one right because it's
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a very labor-intensive portion of what what people do in the back office and
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a lot of it's just monotonous i gotta read an invoice i've got to keep the same
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information in over and over right vendor date invoice number amount so on and
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so forth that's all stuff that can be very easily done.
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But the coding of the invoice to the proper job cost code class,
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the splits and things like that, it's a little bit different, right?
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So tools like that, where they can receive the invoices in, have a lot of that
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information already populated, have workflows already embedded to get those
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invoices in front of the right people to finish coding,
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have someone else be able to review everything prior to pushing it right into
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their accounting system, that's a big trend.
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A little more kind of specific you know just general niche applications that do small pieces,
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these these pieces of software that don't want to be an entire capital system
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right nobody wants to get into the payroll and if you're thinking about it i
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highly discourage it it's horrible it's a it's a horrible thing oh yeah absolutely
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yeah the code behind it the upkeep to stay current with With,
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you know, all of the local and state taxes and just all of that, it's a nightmare.
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But, yeah, that's it. But, you know, hey, we have a very specialized billing application.
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And it's for this particular industry that tends to do things a little bit differently.
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Like we can't possibly do all of that. We would spend countless years developing
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something that's, you know, really relevant to such a small portion of our target market.
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So these small applications come along that do it, they do it really, really well.
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And they need to share that accounting information with, you know,
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the company's ERP system, because
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why should I have to reenter an invoice that I already did over here?
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Like can't you already know who it is can't you kind of talk together and and
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that's kind of a very current trend and that's what i'm dealing with you know
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pretty much on that on the day-to-day here i love that so tell us more about
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that it's actually one of the things that i have been.
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Shouting from the rooftops since we started the profit constructors about eight
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and a half years ago we decided at that time i was laughing a little bit when
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you were saying i don't want all my information on the internet that's a little
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late for that that ship has sailed right Right.
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Probably shouldn't have signed up for Facebook, should you? Right. Exactly.
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And maybe you should never do your banking online or even go to the bank.
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But I think that one of the things that I've been saying for quite some time
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is as I've seen the evolution of construction accounting all the way from back
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in the day when we had the big stamps, you know, whether we're this big for all the coding to be in.
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And, you know, one of the things that I think is really amazing about being
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able to have a lot more of cloud-based software and a lot of more software interactions
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is that you can do that type of thing.
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You can take an ERP software and also integrate something smaller that is specific
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to your needs and make those two things work together really well.
301
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So what types of apps do you guys work with and kind of what are some of the
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integrations that you guys have?
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Yeah. So as I mentioned, AP automation is a big one, that is.
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These are . We have relationships with other companies.
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And when I say relationships, I mean, you know, they're very loose relationships.
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You know, we don't try or tend to favor one over another. We're not doing a
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whole lot of co-marketing.
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I mean, I shouldn't say we, yeah, I don't think we even do any real co-marketing.
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We may do a webinar or two, but it's more information to bring to a client, right?
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You know, a lot of times, you know, as you get into these partnerships,
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they're like, oh, well, you know, there's RepShare, you know,
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we'll send you business.
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Business and like that's not that's not really important to us you know that
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that doesn't move our needle in the grand scheme of things right so what we
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want to do is make sure that we have companies that we feel comfortable first
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and foremost right we've had partnerships that,
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we start hearing things from you know clients are like hey you know we're not
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getting this or we're not getting that this isn't good to work with and and
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we kind of shut it down a little bit We're not going to send somebody over here
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when they don't get treated the same way that they would over here.
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It needs to be the same sort of culture.
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Yeah, they need to share your values. Correct. Absolutely. But,
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you know, so AP automation, again, it's a big one.
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What else? We have material procurement. It is particularly common these days
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because it's a difficult process.
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You know, we have the ability to do purchase orders of software and we can track
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receiving against those purchase orders and we can track the billing against those receipts.
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But it's not out in the field and it's not difficult, but it's a lot of work.
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And it puts a lot of that work on people who don't really know,
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like they weren't in the field.
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So until they get the receiving slips into the office, they don't know they got it.
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Right? The matching up of the invoice, it's fine, it works. But,
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you know, these applications that aren't there these days, they make a little bit lighter work of it.
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Because the guys in the fields are the ones who can issue these POs as they
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need them, obviously can still work with purchasing in office,
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depending on, you know, the extent of what they're ordering.
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But, you know, they automatically have relationships with a lot of the key vendors.
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So those invoices come in right through EDI, I guess, and there's some automatic
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matching, matching of the receiving to the PO, making sure the invoicing matches the receiving.
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And then those invoices just can get pushed over to the accounting software. So it's pretty good.
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There are companies that are dealing with equipment maintenance and tracking,
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right? So a fair amount of our contractors deal with heavy equipment.
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So separating out the mechanical, right? Not the rooftop units and things like
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that, because those aren't really their pieces of equipment.
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More specifically talking about the dozers, the excavators, There's the fleets
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of trucks, tracking, utilization, maintenance, repairs, things like that.
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We have an equipment module, right? Companies used to be able to do that all
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through our software, and that's how it would work.
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But again, it's all being run by the people in the office here.
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So they're creating these field applications that can handle this and really
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just have certain bits of information that need to come into the software.
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So that's kind of the trend.
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Analytics is a big piece. There's a particular partner of ours that can easily
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connect into a client's database and pull out anything that they want.
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They have a whole canned group of reports already in a sort of dashboard type
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thing, but it's customizable.
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They can do a ton of things with it. And it's things that, you know,
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I always say, you know, because people are like, well, I need to do cash flow projections.
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I need you to do projections and things like that. I'm like,
360
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you realize you're dealing with an accounting system.
361
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We look at what happened. We don't predict what's going to happen. Right.
362
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Right. And that is where like these types of applications can come in and really,
363
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I mean, just supercharge the database that you have with all of the information you've collected.
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You know, even just looking at, you know, hey, you've done 10 jobs for this customer.
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You've sent out, you know, 75 invoices for them. them, the average amount of
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time it takes them to pay those invoices is 63 days.
367
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So you can say, hey, if you just get a million and a half dollar contract with
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them, you spread that out over a 12 month period.
369
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And here's your average billing, here's what you can predict out your cash flow.
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So these things just do it. And they do it very, yeah, and that's,
371
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that's what those are the types of companies that we look to work with that
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that make that easy for customers.
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That's, I love that. I was actually
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thinking we've recently encountered a company very similar to that.
375
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And they can pull in databases, not only from your data, but other databases as well.
376
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And then kind of, you know, make that an even more useful application.
377
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One of the things that they're pulling in is even like weather,
378
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like weather predictions.
379
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What if you're going to have this many down days because of weather and that kind of thing.
380
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So it's amazing what some of those applications can do. They can even pull in
381
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from other software packages, like if you have a CRM system,
382
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where you're tracking the lead from the bid to negotiations to the awarding,
383
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you know, even pulling in information from your estimating and can really join
384
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merge data from multiple systems and kind of see things from start to finish.
385
00:26:11,220 --> 00:26:14,040
It's really powerful. yeah and that kind of thing i know
386
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the outsourced cfo that is
387
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on our team that we work with all the time that's the kind of stuff he can really
388
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sink his teeth into and really yeah you know and
389
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and those internal cfos i'm sure for your customers that's the kind of stuff
390
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that they really want to see okay how how
391
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can we move the business forward you know with all of that data coming from
392
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all those different sources yeah that kind of leads back to to your original
393
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question about job copy you mentioned whip report right you know in our system
394
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we kind of refer to it as over under billing right so we do have the capability
395
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to do it right as long as your contract and estimated cost values are updated
396
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all your costs are in the system it's great you
397
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know run a report at the end of the month yep here's here's where you're at compared to your.
398
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You know contract whip here's your present complete here's your
399
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earned revenue and so on so it's great but one of the other things that most
400
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clients that i visited in those you know 15 plus years i was traveling the country
401
00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:09,620
with working with clients is nobody ever has a solid a solid handle on the various
402
00:27:09,620 --> 00:27:12,900
types of overhead that affect their business, right?
403
00:27:13,100 --> 00:27:17,540
They're like, oh, yeah, our admins and what it takes to run our office.
404
00:27:17,620 --> 00:27:23,160
But all of the shop-related things, right, just miscellaneous fuel and supplies
405
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:27,760
and whatever sit in the warehouse and fixing trucks, they lose sight of that.
406
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:33,560
And as part of what I did with these companies is we kind of really set up their
407
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:36,440
financial process to capture those dollars.
408
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:44,700
And even if they just know what it looks like from a financial perspective and don't do anything.
409
00:27:45,602 --> 00:27:50,322
Or they take it to the next level and say, okay, now that we know what our running
410
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rates are, we're going to somehow allocate that to our projects.
411
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We're going to include it in bidding, and we're going to then allocate it to
412
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our jobs based on actuals.
413
00:28:00,822 --> 00:28:06,282
So now we can see, you know, when you narrow down the true cost to do the job,
414
00:28:06,322 --> 00:28:09,682
right, that gives you the ability to sharpen your pencil on the bids.
415
00:28:09,742 --> 00:28:14,882
When times are tough, you know, I can still go in here and I'm going to make money.
416
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As opposed to if I bid it this low, I might lose. But also when times are good,
417
00:28:19,782 --> 00:28:26,222
you know where you have some room to, you know, batten things up a little. Yeah, absolutely.
418
00:28:26,762 --> 00:28:29,862
That's one of my favorite things to help clients do is kind of assess exactly
419
00:28:29,862 --> 00:28:31,002
what you're talking about.
420
00:28:31,162 --> 00:28:35,102
And it's amazing when you really start to dig in with them and ask them,
421
00:28:35,182 --> 00:28:38,002
you know, it's just about asking the right questions. And we start to ask them,
422
00:28:38,042 --> 00:28:40,302
well, you know, here, for instance, I'm in Arizona.
423
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And so our jobs our crews we
424
00:28:44,042 --> 00:28:47,482
do not have a client in arizona that doesn't just automatically have
425
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one of their crew members go out and get ice and water every morning right
426
00:28:50,822 --> 00:28:55,102
what does that cost it's a necessity yeah but is that being tracked and are
427
00:28:55,102 --> 00:28:58,882
we are we thinking about that as a job cost you know it's an interesting thing
428
00:28:58,882 --> 00:29:03,322
when you start to dig in or small tool loss how many times have your guys left
429
00:29:03,322 --> 00:29:06,582
a pair of pliers on the job site worked away and it's gone right like Like,
430
00:29:06,582 --> 00:29:08,262
how many small tools are you buying?
431
00:29:08,302 --> 00:29:12,142
Those little things that you don't really think about as the business owner,
432
00:29:12,182 --> 00:29:13,542
because you just know that it's happening.
433
00:29:14,102 --> 00:29:17,742
Yeah. And you have to replace that pair of pliers. But if you're not counting
434
00:29:17,742 --> 00:29:21,342
that cost and putting something back into your jobs to account for that,
435
00:29:21,402 --> 00:29:22,382
yes, you're exactly right.
436
00:29:22,502 --> 00:29:25,662
We could be losing money and not even really know where we're going.
437
00:29:26,282 --> 00:29:30,202
Yeah. I mean, you know, when every job cost report shows that every job is making
438
00:29:30,202 --> 00:29:32,862
money at the end of the year, you're right. Yeah. Yeah.
439
00:29:34,202 --> 00:29:39,422
Well, those office salaries are too high. No, how about we focus on not losing our tools?
440
00:29:39,942 --> 00:29:44,882
Right. Right. How are we incentivizing that? And how are we training on that? Right.
441
00:29:45,402 --> 00:29:49,442
Talking to the employees about what this is costing the company and the importance
442
00:29:49,442 --> 00:29:50,482
of not leaving the players behind.
443
00:29:51,022 --> 00:29:55,082
Which is full circle to another niche application that's available for small tool tracking.
444
00:29:55,262 --> 00:29:58,662
Right. Just to be able to say, you know, you've got an inventory of small tools
445
00:29:58,662 --> 00:30:02,002
that are going out to a project, whether it's assigned to an individual or assigned
446
00:30:02,002 --> 00:30:08,142
to a project in a tool chest or whatever. whatever, we know at it when the job started.
447
00:30:08,382 --> 00:30:10,642
Yeah. Where is it? Yeah.
448
00:30:11,202 --> 00:30:13,242
Yeah. And when the job's done.
449
00:30:14,121 --> 00:30:19,261
What's coming back? Yeah. For sure. One of the things I think has been an interesting
450
00:30:19,261 --> 00:30:22,361
journey for our team and some things that we're helping to talk to our clients
451
00:30:22,361 --> 00:30:27,001
about on this subject is it's great to track it, but then what are you going
452
00:30:27,001 --> 00:30:28,061
to do with that data, right?
453
00:30:28,161 --> 00:30:32,001
And so I think this is a really important conversation to have around what are you tracking?
454
00:30:32,181 --> 00:30:34,101
And it's great to have all these tools to help you track it,
455
00:30:34,201 --> 00:30:37,141
but then how do you push that back down from a management level?
456
00:30:37,141 --> 00:30:40,941
So this is interesting, interesting conversations, not necessarily about foundation
457
00:30:40,941 --> 00:30:43,761
software, but I love to get into those conversations around like,
458
00:30:43,821 --> 00:30:45,721
you know, the training of employees.
459
00:30:45,941 --> 00:30:50,881
I think there are so many small businesses or that mid market kind of business
460
00:30:50,881 --> 00:30:56,121
that you and I are really serving that are so focused on the work.
461
00:30:56,361 --> 00:30:59,781
And they're maybe even tracking this data, but they don't really know how to
462
00:30:59,781 --> 00:31:03,221
translate that data back into better employee training and helping their employees
463
00:31:03,221 --> 00:31:05,461
really own that information.
464
00:31:06,441 --> 00:31:09,301
Right. Yeah. And that's interesting. You bring that up, because that's talking
465
00:31:09,301 --> 00:31:11,921
about tracking things on the detail perspective and pushing that down.
466
00:31:12,121 --> 00:31:16,601
But I recently talked to prospect, right, one of our sales reps was talking
467
00:31:16,601 --> 00:31:20,441
to this prospect, and they started getting into like the procurement side of things.
468
00:31:20,581 --> 00:31:25,261
And so they wanted some information on what some of their options might be that
469
00:31:25,261 --> 00:31:27,401
would work with our software if they went this direction.
470
00:31:27,401 --> 00:31:31,081
And it's funny as an electrical contractor we're
471
00:31:31,081 --> 00:31:34,221
talking about the ability to issue those detailed pos
472
00:31:34,221 --> 00:31:36,881
what's being received and being built and she's like
473
00:31:36,881 --> 00:31:39,981
i want nothing to do with that yeah it doesn't matter we know
474
00:31:39,981 --> 00:31:44,621
when we're doing these jobs what the materials are that are needed and we have
475
00:31:44,621 --> 00:31:50,861
solid pricing the dollars that we're going to spend chasing that detail far
476
00:31:50,861 --> 00:31:55,421
outweigh the dollars saved by using a system like this right when we issue the
477
00:31:55,421 --> 00:31:58,281
po we just we're going to send and this blanket PO.
478
00:31:58,361 --> 00:32:00,721
These are the things we're going to need. We're going to call for these things
479
00:32:00,721 --> 00:32:01,861
in certain releases and that's it.
480
00:32:02,141 --> 00:32:05,701
We don't need to know that they came in and we don't need to know that we're
481
00:32:05,701 --> 00:32:10,561
getting billed for those accordingly because if it didn't come in, we can't do the job.
482
00:32:11,637 --> 00:32:15,497
If we have too much left over, we're going to know we're overshipped. Right.
483
00:32:16,057 --> 00:32:21,197
And if we come in over cost, we can look at, is there a ton of stuff left on
484
00:32:21,197 --> 00:32:23,437
the project? Right. Is that where the cost is at?
485
00:32:24,397 --> 00:32:27,557
Or, you know, then maybe the pricing is wrong. But, you know,
486
00:32:27,557 --> 00:32:30,417
a lot of these vendors, they don't want to overbill.
487
00:32:30,677 --> 00:32:34,737
Right. Because it's really easy to go find someone else to provide the same
488
00:32:34,737 --> 00:32:35,777
stuff. A supplier. Yeah.
489
00:32:36,497 --> 00:32:38,917
It's interesting you're talking about that. We have a plumbing client,
490
00:32:39,177 --> 00:32:42,037
The Profit Constructors, who was in a very similar situation.
491
00:32:42,217 --> 00:32:45,517
They go out a lot of times on their new construction projects and will get quotes
492
00:32:45,517 --> 00:32:48,217
for each project individually.
493
00:32:48,517 --> 00:32:52,397
So they may be getting different pricing on certain individual parts for every
494
00:32:52,397 --> 00:32:54,697
project because they're going to get that quoted at the beginning.
495
00:32:55,297 --> 00:32:59,837
And the owner of the company came to me and said, I'm really positive that we're
496
00:32:59,837 --> 00:33:03,417
getting overbilled on quite a few of these jobs because some of those parts
497
00:33:03,417 --> 00:33:06,897
are being picked and it's not going out according to the quote that we got at
498
00:33:06,897 --> 00:33:07,277
the beginning of the job.
499
00:33:07,277 --> 00:33:10,437
I think you're probably right on that. I don't doubt that that could be happening.
500
00:33:11,017 --> 00:33:12,557
But it's important to kind of take
501
00:33:12,557 --> 00:33:15,437
into stock, like, what is the level of analyzation that we do need, right?
502
00:33:15,557 --> 00:33:20,297
And so we had enough data on hand to, we did like a quick, I think,
503
00:33:20,317 --> 00:33:24,857
three month audit, and kind of understood probably what they were losing in a year.
504
00:33:25,377 --> 00:33:28,897
And then I went back and said, okay, what would, because her initial solution
505
00:33:28,897 --> 00:33:31,677
was, let's just go ahead and hire a purchasing agent. That'll be our whole job
506
00:33:31,677 --> 00:33:32,917
is to make sure we're not getting overcharged.
507
00:33:33,277 --> 00:33:36,537
Sure. We did the analysis and took a look at it and said, this is what we think
508
00:33:36,537 --> 00:33:38,197
you're probably losing over the course of a year.
509
00:33:38,597 --> 00:33:41,677
And it's not enough to pay for that person's salary. Correct.
510
00:33:42,277 --> 00:33:45,537
Let alone benefits and everything else to go along with it. Right. Exactly.
511
00:33:45,757 --> 00:33:48,957
And so, you know, I think it is good to have a certain level of detail and be
512
00:33:48,957 --> 00:33:50,957
able to understand what do we need to analyze?
513
00:33:51,417 --> 00:33:55,817
But yeah, there's, it's just, it's a, it's a, it's sort of a balancing act to
514
00:33:55,817 --> 00:33:59,257
determine as an owner, what do I need to track and what do I not need to track and why?
515
00:34:00,744 --> 00:34:03,684
Absolutely. And every business is going to be different depending on their business
516
00:34:03,684 --> 00:34:06,124
model, their customers, their employees.
517
00:34:06,704 --> 00:34:10,104
And so it's great to have different options. For sure.
518
00:34:10,624 --> 00:34:14,384
Yeah. What do you guys see as some long-term goals for Foundation?
519
00:34:14,744 --> 00:34:18,464
What's happening now? How are you guys looking ahead to the future? Speak. Yeah.
520
00:34:19,124 --> 00:34:22,704
So, I mean, obviously growth is certainly imperative.
521
00:34:22,904 --> 00:34:29,344
We recently rolled out one of the products in our HQ suite of products is HR HQ, right? Right.
522
00:34:29,384 --> 00:34:33,404
So with all of this payroll capability that we have, one thing we never had
523
00:34:33,404 --> 00:34:36,864
was the ability to manage the people coming in.
524
00:34:38,064 --> 00:34:42,544
And so that that's a big focus right now. Like I said, it's recently rolled
525
00:34:42,544 --> 00:34:44,804
out, I think probably March of this past year.
526
00:34:45,764 --> 00:34:50,564
And of course, you know, with any new release, right, you think you got it.
527
00:34:51,184 --> 00:34:55,264
Even for the limited things that you're going to be rolling out and you get
528
00:34:55,264 --> 00:35:01,644
it out now in the hands of the masses. and you realize everything you don't know, right?
529
00:35:02,824 --> 00:35:05,984
So that's a key point there is, you know, we've got this product out there.
530
00:35:06,084 --> 00:35:09,724
It needs to be, it needs to really be built.
531
00:35:11,104 --> 00:35:14,104
There's a lot of feedback and a lot of action items that need to be addressed
532
00:35:14,104 --> 00:35:16,204
as well as product enhancements, right?
533
00:35:16,344 --> 00:35:19,744
You know, so we'll handle the applicants once they are coming in,
534
00:35:19,804 --> 00:35:21,044
but we don't track the applicants, right?
535
00:35:21,104 --> 00:35:24,884
So that's another piece that is pretty important, I think. I'm not sure where
536
00:35:24,884 --> 00:35:28,084
that's at in the roadmap, about. But that's big piece.
537
00:35:29,309 --> 00:35:32,429
Fintech is another big piece in the market today.
538
00:35:32,949 --> 00:35:37,469
You know, our clients spend a lot of money and they receive a lot of money.
539
00:35:37,729 --> 00:35:41,989
And, you know, historically, it's been mostly on paper.
540
00:35:42,389 --> 00:35:47,749
And that's a really labor-intensive way to make payments and receive payments.
541
00:35:47,989 --> 00:35:51,909
Yes. And there's a lot of fraud risk these days.
542
00:35:52,129 --> 00:35:57,409
I've talked to numerous clients recently who have had checks go missing from
543
00:35:57,409 --> 00:35:58,829
the mail. They get whitewashed.
544
00:35:59,489 --> 00:36:03,469
And and they clear and you know yes they have fraud protection the bank's looking
545
00:36:03,469 --> 00:36:06,189
into it they're they're you know they're not necessarily going to be responsible
546
00:36:06,189 --> 00:36:09,429
for those dollars they're not going to lose those dollars but those dollars
547
00:36:09,429 --> 00:36:11,769
are tied up for months during the investigation,
548
00:36:12,289 --> 00:36:15,609
meanwhile the contractor they're paying or the supplier they're paying expects
549
00:36:15,609 --> 00:36:20,629
to be paid so if i'm sending out you know eighty thousand dollar check and now
550
00:36:20,629 --> 00:36:25,689
i've got to send out another one i'm out 160 grand while this thing is being
551
00:36:25,689 --> 00:36:29,029
researched great i'll get it back but now i'm I'm digging into a line of credit
552
00:36:29,029 --> 00:36:30,529
and so on. So it's a big mess.
553
00:36:30,629 --> 00:36:33,749
And to top that off, someone's going to lose those dollars. And that's going
554
00:36:33,749 --> 00:36:36,229
to cost everyone across the board. Right.
555
00:36:36,429 --> 00:36:42,009
That doesn't mean that the money just came from nowhere. Correct. Right. No, absolutely.
556
00:36:42,789 --> 00:36:47,689
So, you know, there are companies that offer payment services, right?
557
00:36:47,809 --> 00:36:52,549
And they actively pursue vendors to accept, you know, virtual cards.
558
00:36:52,609 --> 00:36:54,029
It's going to be the easiest and fastest way.
559
00:36:54,149 --> 00:37:00,529
It comes at a cost, of course. course, but is it worth 2% to have your money
560
00:37:00,529 --> 00:37:04,649
today versus having it in 15, 30, 45 days?
561
00:37:05,989 --> 00:37:08,489
Cash flow is obviously very, very important.
562
00:37:10,409 --> 00:37:13,749
Obviously, they could also do ACH. The vendor says, absolutely not.
563
00:37:13,969 --> 00:37:16,949
Well, how about ACH? Great. We'll get you set up, and that's how we'll pay you
564
00:37:16,949 --> 00:37:19,009
the point forward, and at least then it's electronic.
565
00:37:19,269 --> 00:37:24,549
But these companies assume all of the responsibility as well.
566
00:37:24,549 --> 00:37:28,549
So all I have to do is send you the information of who I want paid for which
567
00:37:28,549 --> 00:37:30,149
invoices, how much and some other information.
568
00:37:31,409 --> 00:37:32,829
And it's out of my hands.
569
00:37:34,242 --> 00:37:38,002
I'm not collecting ACH data. I'm not keeping that on file. I'm not encouraging that.
570
00:37:38,342 --> 00:37:41,322
Right. I don't want the PCI compliance risks, right?
571
00:37:41,562 --> 00:37:45,842
Right. So, yeah, so these services are great. Again, on the receivable side,
572
00:37:45,962 --> 00:37:49,402
we actually just partnered recently with a company that does processing of cards.
573
00:37:49,642 --> 00:37:55,102
Yeah. And I've learned more in the last 18 months about credit card processing
574
00:37:55,102 --> 00:37:59,622
and the fees of the different cards and the banks and the interchange and the,
575
00:37:59,722 --> 00:38:03,942
you know, the rail system than I ever thought I would care to learn.
576
00:38:04,062 --> 00:38:09,102
It's very interesting and it's ridiculous, but it's interesting for sure.
577
00:38:09,982 --> 00:38:15,802
And so we've just added the ability for our clients to allow their customers
578
00:38:15,802 --> 00:38:17,922
to pay their bills electronically online.
579
00:38:18,322 --> 00:38:21,342
Yes. It goes right into the software. They don't have to touch it.
580
00:38:21,342 --> 00:38:22,742
They just get a notification. Hey, you got one.
581
00:38:23,282 --> 00:38:30,922
And it's great. And so just trying to help these clients speed their cash flow process.
582
00:38:31,682 --> 00:38:34,262
Yeah, I think that's a great initiative that you guys are doing.
583
00:38:34,382 --> 00:38:36,802
I think that's a great next step.
584
00:38:36,982 --> 00:38:39,982
For sure. We work with a larger fintech company.
585
00:38:40,942 --> 00:38:44,862
And they're making some concessions for us in terms of there still being a lot
586
00:38:44,862 --> 00:38:46,542
of paper checks that are flying back and forth.
587
00:38:46,542 --> 00:38:49,442
But really when we first approached them
588
00:38:49,442 --> 00:38:52,302
on that they were like but why why would these
589
00:38:52,302 --> 00:38:55,802
companies even want to continue that practice our bank
590
00:38:55,802 --> 00:38:58,602
really doesn't want to and they laid out a lot of the reasons why
591
00:38:58,602 --> 00:39:02,162
they didn't want to continue with paper checks and not
592
00:39:02,162 --> 00:39:05,082
a lot of it had to do with convenience like you're talking about most
593
00:39:05,082 --> 00:39:08,362
of it had to do with fraud yeah and fraud protection no
594
00:39:08,362 --> 00:39:11,202
absolutely i mean the convenience is great i mean a
595
00:39:11,202 --> 00:39:14,122
i don't have to print sign and stuff of
596
00:39:14,122 --> 00:39:16,862
checks and then stamp them through
597
00:39:16,862 --> 00:39:20,422
the machine and then take them to the mail right absolutely i
598
00:39:20,422 --> 00:39:25,042
mean i think one of these companies said that the average cost to cut a check
599
00:39:25,042 --> 00:39:28,782
and get it out the door in someone's hands is between seven and eight dollars
600
00:39:28,782 --> 00:39:34,782
yes yeah that's my number with the number of checks these companies cut each
601
00:39:34,782 --> 00:39:40,122
and every week yes yeah so that's a really great next step Yep.
602
00:39:40,162 --> 00:39:45,042
And especially for, I think, this industry, I really feel like there's a big
603
00:39:45,042 --> 00:39:48,642
watershed coming, a lot of technological change.
604
00:39:48,742 --> 00:39:51,682
I think the construction industry has been behind, but I think there's a lot
605
00:39:51,682 --> 00:39:55,542
more newer, younger folks entering the industry that are excited for that kind of thing.
606
00:39:55,782 --> 00:39:59,302
Isn't it funny? These construction companies, right?
607
00:39:59,642 --> 00:40:03,182
If it's a tool, if it's a piece of equipment, if it's something,
608
00:40:03,282 --> 00:40:08,622
you know, new and flashy and it's out in the field related, they're the first
609
00:40:08,622 --> 00:40:10,202
ones to get all over it. right?
610
00:40:10,842 --> 00:40:14,462
It's a piece of software, like, eh. Yeah. It's just, it's, you know,
611
00:40:14,462 --> 00:40:16,622
the back office is going to take care of it. It doesn't, it doesn't affect us.
612
00:40:16,802 --> 00:40:18,582
Yeah. You know, that's changing.
613
00:40:18,822 --> 00:40:23,362
It's changing a lot, particularly in the last, probably five to seven years,
614
00:40:23,442 --> 00:40:26,582
I think, like, they really realized that.
615
00:40:27,455 --> 00:40:34,195
Back office is not equally responsible for the profits, but there's a lot of
616
00:40:34,195 --> 00:40:36,655
money lost in the back office when things aren't done right.
617
00:40:36,975 --> 00:40:42,895
Yes, I agree. And the other piece of that, too, is that especially since COVID,
618
00:40:43,135 --> 00:40:45,695
we have a far more mobile-ready workforce.
619
00:40:46,035 --> 00:40:49,795
Back office doesn't necessarily have to be anywhere near a real office.
620
00:40:50,335 --> 00:40:55,955
Yeah. No. I mean, if you're using a full payments automation process,
621
00:40:56,195 --> 00:40:59,395
and you're outsourcing your payroll,
622
00:41:00,215 --> 00:41:03,835
you know, our payroll service doesn't, there's no check printing,
623
00:41:04,055 --> 00:41:05,675
direct depositing or anything.
624
00:41:05,835 --> 00:41:09,435
I mean, you literally review the time cards, make sure everything looks good.
625
00:41:09,535 --> 00:41:13,355
They are responsible for all the computations, like they can review everything
626
00:41:13,355 --> 00:41:15,915
prior to hitting that button to submit it.
627
00:41:15,975 --> 00:41:19,275
Make sure that everyone's hours look good, the pay rates look good.
628
00:41:19,335 --> 00:41:22,095
I mean, and proof it however you need to. Right.
629
00:41:22,495 --> 00:41:26,175
And then hand it off. We take care of the check printing for those that still get checks.
630
00:41:26,335 --> 00:41:29,995
I think that is still a thing. Yeah. You know, we do all the direct deposits.
631
00:41:30,095 --> 00:41:33,615
We do all of the tax recordings for states and locals, the federals.
632
00:41:34,395 --> 00:41:36,475
We do some of the garnishments.
633
00:41:37,895 --> 00:41:41,355
And you have your certified payroll, which is huge. Well, yeah,
634
00:41:41,395 --> 00:41:46,475
but even then, you know, now you have, we don't do the certified reports as in send them.
635
00:41:46,575 --> 00:41:50,235
Right. But the reports can be generated it out of the software,
636
00:41:50,355 --> 00:41:53,355
regardless of whether they're accounting software users or just the payroll service.
637
00:41:53,715 --> 00:41:57,415
The financial impact, let's say it's a QuickBooks user that uses our payroll
638
00:41:57,415 --> 00:42:01,315
service, right? Because sometimes that makes sense, right? I'm a QuickBooks user.
639
00:42:01,555 --> 00:42:07,415
I don't have enough revenue. I'm not big enough yet to move into your accounting
640
00:42:07,415 --> 00:42:11,235
software, but I'm starting to get these public jobs.
641
00:42:11,855 --> 00:42:15,575
And I don't know how to do the certificate reports. I'm not sure how that That works.
642
00:42:15,675 --> 00:42:20,495
So you come to our payroll service and we basically get you set up on the ledger,
643
00:42:20,515 --> 00:42:22,555
job cost and payroll side of our software.
644
00:42:22,895 --> 00:42:28,095
Yeah. Which is great because you get your job cost reports, at least that that
645
00:42:28,095 --> 00:42:32,655
are impacted by the payroll, which includes all of your taxes and benefits,
646
00:42:32,735 --> 00:42:34,415
any of the burden that goes along with it.
647
00:42:34,595 --> 00:42:39,695
You get your financial reporting that you can just take out and dump into QuickBooks.
648
00:42:39,955 --> 00:42:43,275
And then obviously you get your certified reports, right? You get your workers'
649
00:42:43,315 --> 00:42:44,455
comp reports, things like that.
650
00:42:45,235 --> 00:42:50,155
And when they're ready to look at another more sophisticated accounting application.
651
00:42:51,707 --> 00:42:54,547
The hardest part of their implementation is already done. Right.
652
00:42:54,927 --> 00:42:58,147
To go to foundation, to just get their payables and receivables looked up and
653
00:42:58,147 --> 00:43:03,667
the beginning balances and actually start doing the full gamut of accounting
654
00:43:03,667 --> 00:43:06,887
through our software, it's such an easy flow.
655
00:43:07,227 --> 00:43:10,967
So it's a great way to do it.
656
00:43:11,327 --> 00:43:14,807
Yeah, yeah. And I just can't emphasize it enough.
657
00:43:14,967 --> 00:43:19,287
So for many, many years, our team has said, no, we just don't even do certified payroll,
658
00:43:19,927 --> 00:43:22,987
because there are so many parts and pieces information and
659
00:43:22,987 --> 00:43:25,727
data coming from different areas it's just not something that we ever really
660
00:43:25,727 --> 00:43:28,387
want to get into and so to be
661
00:43:28,387 --> 00:43:32,867
able to to pull those reports down with a minimum of effort i think is an invaluable
662
00:43:32,867 --> 00:43:36,867
piece of what you guys are doing on that payroll yeah and and one of the things
663
00:43:36,867 --> 00:43:39,267
that people a lot of times they don't want to get into it because they're like
664
00:43:39,267 --> 00:43:42,707
oh it's so expensive we can't afford to pay our guys like that i'm like but
665
00:43:42,707 --> 00:43:47,547
you already offer medical insurance you already offer pay time off you have
666
00:43:47,667 --> 00:43:53,227
a match on your 401k, you have a lot of the things that are already built in
667
00:43:53,227 --> 00:43:56,327
to that preventing wage fringe benefit amount, right?
668
00:43:56,467 --> 00:44:01,407
Did you know that you can reduce what you're paying in that cash fringe benefit
669
00:44:01,407 --> 00:44:04,907
by what you already provide, you just have to have means to report it, right?
670
00:44:05,007 --> 00:44:08,927
And as long as you can do that, it's not that much more obviously,
671
00:44:09,087 --> 00:44:11,767
whatever the pay rates are different between your, your, you know,
672
00:44:11,767 --> 00:44:13,907
public Public jobs versus your private jobs, fine.
673
00:44:14,607 --> 00:44:19,267
But if you know what you really need and you know that you're going to use this,
674
00:44:19,327 --> 00:44:23,007
you can bid competitively and you can get this work. And it can be profitable.
675
00:44:23,807 --> 00:44:27,707
Yes, absolutely. We have a mechanical client that that's exactly how they got
676
00:44:27,707 --> 00:44:29,227
their start. They're a small woman-owned business.
677
00:44:29,427 --> 00:44:33,227
And it just made so much sense for them to go into those public jobs. Sure.
678
00:44:33,827 --> 00:44:37,027
Now they do a lot more private jobs. But when they first started up,
679
00:44:37,087 --> 00:44:40,747
public was the way to go for them. And they did really well with that for a long time.
680
00:44:40,947 --> 00:44:44,587
Yeah. A lot of people are just afraid to get into the unknown.
681
00:44:45,067 --> 00:44:51,207
Yes. Honestly. And there are a lot of resources out there to help you with that.
682
00:44:51,327 --> 00:44:54,547
And I didn't know. As I started working with clients, I mean,
683
00:44:54,567 --> 00:44:56,407
honestly, my degree is in communications.
684
00:44:56,967 --> 00:45:00,967
Yeah. Right? I figured I'd be in advertising, public relations, something like that.
685
00:45:01,007 --> 00:45:04,507
And here I am, you know, 20 some years later in construction accounting.
686
00:45:04,507 --> 00:45:10,007
It's like everything that I learned, I learned from the clients for having to
687
00:45:10,007 --> 00:45:13,027
figure out because they needed something.
688
00:45:13,367 --> 00:45:19,327
And now I need to figure this out for them. And getting into that public space
689
00:45:19,327 --> 00:45:22,427
and having to get more familiar with, here are your reporting requirements.
690
00:45:22,667 --> 00:45:24,267
Here's what you're going to have to do. Here's where you're going to go.
691
00:45:24,267 --> 00:45:27,767
So the job has all of the rates and everything defined.
692
00:45:28,267 --> 00:45:32,087
If you are not a union contractor, but you're going to bid this job,
693
00:45:32,187 --> 00:45:35,467
here are the rates you're going to have to pay if you're doing these particular activities.
694
00:45:36,387 --> 00:45:40,347
And a lot of people just don't know it. And so we just stay away from it.
695
00:45:40,407 --> 00:45:41,707
And you're losing a whole...
696
00:45:42,399 --> 00:45:46,279
A whole lot of potential work. Yeah, absolutely. 100% agree.
697
00:45:46,919 --> 00:45:50,239
Thanks so much for hanging out with us today. What would you say,
698
00:45:50,839 --> 00:45:54,499
before we kind of wrap this up, what would be the one big piece of advice that
699
00:45:54,499 --> 00:45:57,459
you would give to anyone that's kind of looking around and saying,
700
00:45:57,519 --> 00:45:59,199
okay, is foundation right for me?
701
00:45:59,619 --> 00:46:02,939
You know, how would you, how would someone really know that foundation is the
702
00:46:02,939 --> 00:46:05,539
choice that they should pick for their accounting software?
703
00:46:06,199 --> 00:46:12,279
Yeah, I mean, do diligence, right? I mean, you've got to look at all of the options, right? Right.
704
00:46:12,719 --> 00:46:18,359
You know, one of our strengths now is that it's not just the accounting system that we have. Right.
705
00:46:18,779 --> 00:46:21,699
We have the payroll service. So if you want to outsource there,
706
00:46:21,759 --> 00:46:24,779
you don't need any paychecks, you know, pay loss, whatever.
707
00:46:25,339 --> 00:46:29,179
You can get it all right through foundation. You need an estimating system.
708
00:46:29,799 --> 00:46:32,779
Right. One of these might work for you. Right.
709
00:46:33,039 --> 00:46:37,839
If not, we can take an estimated estimate file and just bring it right into
710
00:46:37,839 --> 00:46:38,839
the software. It's not hard.
711
00:46:39,459 --> 00:46:43,699
You know, what about timekeeping? Right? How do you do you collect things mobile?
712
00:46:43,779 --> 00:46:46,279
Are you doing annual timesheets, we can help with that.
713
00:46:46,399 --> 00:46:48,679
And we can automate how that flows into the software.
714
00:46:48,819 --> 00:46:52,319
So you know, you're not just buying an accounting system, because there are
715
00:46:52,319 --> 00:46:57,539
other things that you will need to create an all encompassing solution.
716
00:46:58,059 --> 00:47:04,039
The other thing is to truly get a feel for the company, right?
717
00:47:04,419 --> 00:47:08,519
Talk to other users. Yeah, look at some of the message boards that are out there, right?
718
00:47:08,979 --> 00:47:14,119
I mean, we don't have a 94% retention rate, because we're not responsive,
719
00:47:14,199 --> 00:47:16,839
and we don't listen, and we don't help. Yeah, right.
720
00:47:17,919 --> 00:47:24,219
So that's extremely important as well. And, and be diligent in your demo process,
721
00:47:24,299 --> 00:47:26,379
you know, make sure you ask good questions.
722
00:47:27,555 --> 00:47:32,715
One of the things, there's always, this is why a lot of times the consultants
723
00:47:32,715 --> 00:47:34,875
won't make good salespeople.
724
00:47:35,815 --> 00:47:41,395
Because if you ask me, do you have this capability? And I'm in sales, I say yes.
725
00:47:41,915 --> 00:47:45,635
Yes. If I'm in consulting, I'm like, well, we do. But how do you do this?
726
00:47:45,695 --> 00:47:47,575
Because this is what it takes to do it over here.
727
00:47:47,735 --> 00:47:54,555
Right? So you really want to be comfortable that you've seen what you need to work, work.
728
00:47:55,195 --> 00:48:05,375
Yes. And also, I think, taking competitors' comments with a grain of salt. Yeah. Right?
729
00:48:06,015 --> 00:48:12,315
We've had run-ins with other companies. They shall remain nameless, like Voldemort.
730
00:48:14,335 --> 00:48:17,715
You know, sales is tough, right? Right.
731
00:48:17,835 --> 00:48:24,595
So I think we try to sell on merits of the software and what it's going to do
732
00:48:24,595 --> 00:48:29,035
and how we're going to take care of you, as opposed to putting down another application.
733
00:48:29,055 --> 00:48:33,995
If you're talking to other people that are putting down and saying things, they could be right.
734
00:48:34,655 --> 00:48:37,955
Talk to us. Say, hey, we were talking to another company.
735
00:48:38,015 --> 00:48:42,315
They said you can't do this or the way you do it is really difficult or whatever.
736
00:48:42,315 --> 00:48:45,215
Ever ask that question you know don't just don't
737
00:48:45,215 --> 00:48:48,035
just take it at face value because everybody's trying
738
00:48:48,035 --> 00:48:50,775
to sell yeah i think that's a really good point and i
739
00:48:50,775 --> 00:48:53,635
also want to bring it back around to something that we chatted about
740
00:48:53,635 --> 00:48:56,375
earlier which is i like that you guys kind of
741
00:48:56,375 --> 00:48:59,375
know your lane right so you were saying like some of the larger gcs
742
00:48:59,375 --> 00:49:02,735
that's not a great fit you know just depending on each individual
743
00:49:02,735 --> 00:49:05,495
situation it might not be the very
744
00:49:05,495 --> 00:49:08,435
best software and i think that's really important from the
745
00:49:08,435 --> 00:49:12,015
standpoint of what you were talking about earlier your culture and your values used to know
746
00:49:12,015 --> 00:49:15,715
that and to from your sales team to be seeking that
747
00:49:15,715 --> 00:49:18,615
out and making sure that you guys are selling to the people that are really
748
00:49:18,615 --> 00:49:21,635
going to get the most use out of the software that you're selling yeah absolutely
749
00:49:21,635 --> 00:49:28,155
because the reputation is what we have really been selling on for 30 years right
750
00:49:28,155 --> 00:49:34,455
is that the companies come on and we can scale you know you can come from a five million
751
00:49:34,555 --> 00:49:40,655
startup and you're doing 50 100 million now yeah and our software handles it
752
00:49:40,655 --> 00:49:44,575
just fine there's very little difference other than now we're going to want
753
00:49:44,575 --> 00:49:45,235
to get some more detailed.
754
00:49:45,835 --> 00:49:48,495
Financials how are we doing maybe we divisionalize and see what sectors of our
755
00:49:48,495 --> 00:49:53,295
business are doing better over over the others but but it's very scaled and
756
00:49:53,295 --> 00:49:56,475
that's the other thing really to look at is how do these other software packages
757
00:49:56,475 --> 00:50:02,575
scale yeah yeah and one other piece is make sure the
758
00:50:02,655 --> 00:50:08,075
users are involved in the analysis because a lot of times you get executives
759
00:50:08,075 --> 00:50:10,655
that make these decisions and they say, Hey, this is the route we're going.
760
00:50:11,015 --> 00:50:13,735
And you get the implementation people going and they're like,
761
00:50:13,775 --> 00:50:17,035
well, this is how we did it over here. And this is how we're going to do it. And like, I don't know.
762
00:50:18,220 --> 00:50:21,800
We're buying this because we want to do things differently. Listen,
763
00:50:22,140 --> 00:50:25,740
you know, if you do go this route, listen to the implementation team because
764
00:50:25,740 --> 00:50:29,200
they're, they're making recommendations based on how things should go,
765
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:31,440
not how things have gone. Right.
766
00:50:31,940 --> 00:50:35,540
Very important. Great point. Yeah. And sometimes your change is hard.
767
00:50:35,980 --> 00:50:41,040
Sure. He loves change, but there are many times when change is necessary.
768
00:50:41,420 --> 00:50:44,240
If we're going to come to the next level of growth and scale for our business.
769
00:50:44,520 --> 00:50:47,580
Very much. Very much. So when is it necessary?
770
00:50:48,220 --> 00:50:51,120
And what are the reasons? Again, that goes back to that whole training thing
771
00:50:51,120 --> 00:50:51,780
we were talking about earlier.
772
00:50:52,340 --> 00:50:56,200
I think it's super important if you are management pushing this initiative,
773
00:50:56,380 --> 00:50:58,440
like, okay, we're going to go make this big move to foundation,
774
00:50:58,700 --> 00:51:00,120
letting them know it's not going to be easy.
775
00:51:00,360 --> 00:51:02,700
But also having the conversations with everyone in the office,
776
00:51:02,760 --> 00:51:04,700
like, what are the reasons that we're doing this?
777
00:51:05,180 --> 00:51:08,280
And everyone can get on board with what those reasons are. It's going to make
778
00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:11,080
that transition and that implementation so much more effective.
779
00:51:11,640 --> 00:51:14,580
No, absolutely. And that couldn't be said any better. you
780
00:51:14,580 --> 00:51:17,680
know if you guys aren't all on the same page right
781
00:51:17,680 --> 00:51:20,540
like look this is what's happening it's going
782
00:51:20,540 --> 00:51:24,280
to suck for the next three to five months because it
783
00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:27,940
just is it's accounting you never want to change your accounting system right
784
00:51:27,940 --> 00:51:32,040
but this is the goal these are the some of the things that we're looking to
785
00:51:32,040 --> 00:51:37,920
work on and we're hoping to streamline these processes so right we need you
786
00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:43,040
on board and if you're not on board we kind of need you to tell us yeah it may
787
00:51:43,040 --> 00:51:43,780
be time to part hard ways.
788
00:51:44,380 --> 00:51:48,340
And sometimes I think it's super effective to even ask them, what did you not like?
789
00:51:48,440 --> 00:51:51,700
Because if you can find the right ways, the things that they were unhappy about
790
00:51:51,700 --> 00:51:55,240
in the old method, and help them find how that new method is going to improve,
791
00:51:55,400 --> 00:52:00,420
then they can really own that and get on board and be solid in that process. Absolutely.
792
00:52:00,820 --> 00:52:05,640
Yep. That was good. Thank you so much, Brian, for having this conversation with us today.
793
00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:08,860
If someone wants to know more about Foundation, how can they reach out to your
794
00:52:08,860 --> 00:52:15,280
sales team and where should they go? Yeah, I mean, they can get onto our website, foundationsoft.com.
795
00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:18,560
And pretty much anything they needed there, there's contact us,
796
00:52:18,560 --> 00:52:22,640
see more demo, all of those go right into our intake department.
797
00:52:23,060 --> 00:52:27,460
Again, it goes right into our inside sales to do a soft qualification.
798
00:52:27,820 --> 00:52:31,400
You know, what are you looking for? Is it a good fit? All right,
799
00:52:31,420 --> 00:52:33,520
we'll get you set up for a demo. What works for you?
800
00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:37,420
If you're already a client and you need information on some additional products,
801
00:52:37,620 --> 00:52:39,860
all of the products are listed out on the webpage as well.
802
00:52:41,340 --> 00:52:45,780
There's no shortage of means by which to get in touch. Awesome.
803
00:52:46,240 --> 00:52:48,760
Great. Well, thank you, Brian. Have a great rest of your week.
804
00:52:48,780 --> 00:52:50,600
Good talking to you. Thanks, Tanya. Appreciate it.
805
00:52:52,660 --> 00:52:56,640
If you would like to share your company or product on the Construction Junction,
806
00:52:56,780 --> 00:53:01,800
email hello at theprofitconstructors.com to become a sponsor. Thank you.