Client Results
What clean books and proper systems actually do for a business.
Real Estate Developer With Hidden Cost Overruns
The Problem
A developer running a multi-building project in Pasadena was tracking construction costs through the general contractor's pay applications. The owner suspected the numbers weren't telling the full story.
Monthly draw packages to the construction lender were going out late, the lender was getting impatient, and the internal books lived in an aging Excel workbook that nobody fully understood.
What We Did
We rebuilt the project cost structure from the ground up. Every commitment, change order, and invoice was tied back to a specific budget line. We reconciled the GC's numbers against our own records and put together clean draw packages with full supporting detail.
The Result
In the process we surfaced over $400K in costs that had been miscategorized or missed entirely, mostly owner-furnished equipment charges and soft costs sitting in the wrong buckets. The owner had real exposure he didn't know existed.
Draws started going out on schedule. The lender stopped asking follow-up questions. The owner now gets a proper variance report every month and knows exactly where the project stands against budget, not a best guess.
General Contractor Bidding on Gut Feel
The Problem
A residential general contractor was booking around $2M a year but had no way to tell which jobs actually made money. He was pricing work based on square footage and instinct. His books were six months behind and change orders were getting lost between the field and the office.
He had just finished a remodel that ate up four months and barely broke even, and he wanted to know why.
What We Did
We caught up the backlog in three weeks and built proper job costing inside QuickBooks. Every labor hour, subcontractor invoice, and material purchase now ties to a specific project. We set up a weekly job profitability report and walked him through how to read it before bidding new work.
The Result
His room additions were profitable. His small bathroom remodels were consistent losers once drive time and change orders were factored in. He stopped taking work under a certain job size and raised his pricing on the ones he still wanted.
Gross margins improved noticeably over the next two quarters. He now reviews every bid against actual historical data from similar projects. Two recent jobs that looked good on paper got passed on because the numbers didn't support them.
Property Manager Who Dreaded CAM Reconciliations
The Problem
A property manager handling a portfolio of commercial buildings was months behind on CAM reconciliations. Tenants were disputing charges, and the manager couldn't produce backup that held up under scrutiny.
One large tenant was threatening to withhold payment. The portfolio owner was getting nervous about what else might be wrong.
What We Did
We reorganized the books so every operating expense was coded to the right property and the right CAM pool. We pulled the lease files, confirmed each tenant's pro rata share and expense stops, and produced clean reconciliations with full supporting schedules tenants could actually verify.
The Result
The disputed tenant accepted the revised reconciliation without further pushback. Several other tenants had been undercharged the prior year, and the manager recovered a meaningful amount through true-up billings.
Year-end now runs on a schedule instead of as a crisis. The portfolio owner has confidence the numbers going to his investors are accurate, and the manager stopped losing sleep over what the next tenant email was going to say.
Landscaping Company Buried in a Year of Receipts
The Problem
A landscaping business serving the San Gabriel Valley had grown to three crews but the owner hadn't touched his books in over a year. Fuel receipts, equipment loans, and crew payroll were running through the accounts with no real tracking.
He couldn't tell whether his maintenance contracts or his install work was what actually paid the bills.
What We Did
We took the full backlog off his plate and brought the books current. We set up class tracking to separate maintenance revenue from installation projects, and categorized crew labor and fuel by service line so he could see each side of the business on its own.
The Result
The maintenance contracts were subsidizing the install side of the business. Installs looked busy but weren't pulling their weight once crew time and equipment costs were honestly allocated.
He raised his install pricing by 15% and walked away from two clients who weren't willing to pay it. Cash flow improved within a quarter. His CPA now gets clean books in January, and the monthly reports keep him out of the same hole he was in before.
HVAC Company Where Payroll Took Two Full Days
The Problem
An HVAC company with twelve techs was running payroll by hand. The office manager spent two days every pay period calculating hours, overtime, and tool reimbursements. Mistakes happened regularly, and the state had already sent a notice about a late filing.
What We Did
We moved them onto an integrated payroll system with electronic time tracking that feeds directly into the pay run. We set up proper tax deposits, cleaned up the quarterly filings, and responded to the state notice to get them back in good standing.
The Result
Payroll went from two days to under an hour. Techs log their hours from the job site and the data flows straight through. Disputes about missed overtime went away because the records are now the records. The state notice was resolved without penalties.
The office manager got her time back for actual operational work, and the owner stopped wondering every other Friday whether the numbers were right. When he hired three more techs later that year, adding them to the system took minutes.
Real Estate Investor Running Nine Properties on a Spreadsheet
The Problem
An investor with nine rental properties had outgrown the spreadsheet he'd been using for years. He couldn't tell which properties were truly cash-flow positive once management fees, repairs, and debt service were factored in.
His CPA was doing heroic work every April reconstructing the year from bank statements. The investor had two more properties under contract and knew the current setup wasn't going to survive adding them.
What We Did
We moved him into QuickBooks with property-level class tracking. Every rent payment, operating expense, and mortgage entry now ties to a specific address. We separated capital improvements from repairs and built a proper depreciation schedule for each property.
The Result
Two of his properties were actually losing money every month once the real costs were assigned correctly. He sold one and refinanced the other to bring the debt service down.
His CPA now receives clean, property-level reports in January instead of a shoebox in April. When he evaluates new acquisitions, he does it against the actual operating costs of his existing portfolio, not optimistic pro forma numbers. He's since added two properties and the bookkeeping absorbed them without a hitch.
Pasadena's Small Business Bookkeeper
The Next Step:
A 15-Minute Call
Tell us where your books stand today. We'll ask a few questions, share how we can help, and give you a clear quote.