Industry-Specific Advice

Should More Resource Go to Volume Work or Technical Work? Introduction - Right Balance Between Productivity and Effectiveness? Fast-growing construction and engineering businesses often hit the same wall: engineers are flat out, but profit doesn’t rise the office feels overloaded, but work still slips directors are dragged into every decision, so nothing moves quickly you’re “busy”… but not in control This usually isn’t a sales problem. It’s a  capacity and focus problem . In

Introduction - KPIs Every Construction Sales Team In construction and engineering businesses, especially lift companies, M&E contractors, FM providers and refurbishment specialists, the sales department is often misunderstood. Many business owners think a “busy pipeline” equals success. It doesn’t. Quality, conversion, lifetime value, and margin protection matter far more than volume. A sales department can generate enquiries all month yet still weaken cash flow, harm margins

Introduction - KPIs for Refurbishment & Installation Teams The refurbishment and installations department is often the most complex area of a construction or engineering business. It handles modernisations, full installations, technical surveying, RAMS programmes, project management, procurement, WIP forecasting, and final commissioning. It also carries the  highest revenue, longest timelines, and biggest commercial risk . And yet, most SMEs track performance poorly. Director

Introduction - KPIs Every Repairs Department Must Track The repairs department is one of the most influential profit centres in a construction or engineering business, especially in lift engineering, M&E, HVAC, and specialist technical trades. Repairs generate reactive revenue, drive additional quoting opportunities, and are often the fastest route to cash. But they can also be the biggest source of margin leakage, scheduling issues, and customer frustration if the business d

Introduction - KPIs Every Service Department Must Track For construction and engineering businesses, especially those running lift engineering, FM service teams, M&E services, or technical maintenance divisions, the  service department is the heartbeat of predictable revenue . It handles call-outs, planned maintenance, aftercare, safety inspections, LOLER reporting, and customer relationships. Yet many SMEs don’t truly know if their service department is performing well beyon

Introduction - Finance Training for Engineering Teams Many construction and engineering firms rely on site managers who excel at operations but struggle to read financial statements. In an industry driven by budgets, cash flow and margin control, that gap is costly. This guide shows how to train a site team to understand numbers in 90 days. The plan is broken down into two‑week tasks and is tailored for a £5 million business where each project manager or foreman needs to conn

Introduction - Building Internal Controls For construction and engineering SMEs, internal controls can feel like bureaucratic red tape. Business owners fear that adding checks and approvals will slow down projects. However, robust controls are like an immune system for your business. They detect errors, prevent fraud and build stakeholder confidence . This blog explains how to implement controls that protect assets without creating bottlenecks. Are Impactful Implementations D

Introduction Running a construction or engineering business is hard enough without your finance function slowing you down. Yet many SMEs grow quickly, take on bigger projects, and suddenly realise their numbers are unreliable, late, or impossible to interpret. In this blog, we break down the  five most common ways businesses accidentally sabotage their finance department , why it causes real-world problems, and how to fix it. If you’re scaling, taking on £1m+ projects, or jug

Introduction - Fix GRN and PO Bottlenecks If you’ve ever had a site manager call the office saying  “materials are on site but the PO hasn’t been raised”  , you’ve felt the frustration of a  GRN (Goods Received Note)  bottleneck. It’s one of the biggest operational slowdowns in construction and engineering businesses. For most SMEs, these delays don’t just cause admin headaches, they affect  cash flow, supplier relationships, and project margins . Materials get delivered befo

Introduction - Five Tools Your Team Needs Now Construction moves fast: site changes, supply delays, subcontractors, RAMS, plant, traffic management, and a constant stream of calls from site. If your tools don’t connect, operations stall and costs creep. At  Jones Financial Accounts (JFA) , we help UK  construction and engineering SMEs  choose a  joined-up tech stack  that keeps sites moving, protects margin, and gives directors live visibility. Below is the  top 5 operations

Introduction - 5 Finance Tools Lift engineering businesses move fast: call-outs, PPM contracts, installs, subcontractors, vans, parts, and a blizzard of invoices, receipts and payments. If your systems don’t talk to each other, cash slows and margins drift. At  Jones Financial Accounts (JFA) , we help construction and engineering SMEs build smart finance stacks that connect field, finance and banking, so data flows from  receipt → bill → approval → payment → board KPIs  with

Introduction - Efficiency and Business Growth Every construction and engineering business wants to grow, but not every one of them is built to sustain that growth. While most directors focus on turnover and project wins, the real difference between businesses that expand profitably and those that struggle lies in  overhead efficiency . At  Jones Financial Accounts (JFA) , we often tell clients:  you don’t grow by spending less; you grow by spending smarter.  Overheads, your r

Introduction - Prove You’ve Got Capacity Saying “yes” is easy. Delivering profitably is hard. Construction and engineering SMEs don’t usually fail for lack of demand, they stumble when they take on work without the  capacity  to deliver: people, cash, equipment, suppliers, and control. At Jones Financial Accounts (JFA), we help owners answer a simple question before they sign a contract:  Do we genuinely have the capacity for this job, without hurting margin, cash flow, safet

Introduction - Dashboard for Your Lift Business In the lift industry, small inefficiencies quickly become big costs. Engineers running overtime, delayed valuations, unbilled callouts, and rising parts prices all chip away at margin long before anyone notices. For most lift companies, the biggest challenge isn’t lack of data, it’s that information is buried across multiple systems, from service logs to Sage or Xero. That’s why the  right business dashboard  isn’t just a report

Introduction - Protect Your Cash and Margins For construction and engineering companies, every project carries a level of uncertainty, from fluctuating material prices to client payment delays. That’s where  sensitivity analysis  becomes a vital decision-making tool. It allows business owners and finance leaders to test “what-if” scenarios before those risks become costly realities. At  Jones Financial Accounts (JFA) , we use sensitivity analysis to help SMEs understand how s

Introduction - Value Your Construction or Engineering Business When it comes to  succession planning , one of the biggest questions every...

Introduction - The Tax Gap Explained In plain English, the  tax gap  is the difference between what HMRC  should  collect and what it ...

Introduction - Invoice vs Asset Finance Cash flow is the lifeblood of any construction or engineering business. You can have profitable...

Introduction - Stress-Tested Forecasting for SMEs In construction and engineering, no project is free of risk. Payments are delayed,...

Introduction - Should You Take That Opportunity Every construction and engineering business faces moments when a new opportunity looks...