Startup & Small Business Essentials

Introduction - De-Risk and Stabilise Cash One of the biggest cashflow mistakes growing construction and engineering businesses make is this: They fund the job before the customer funds them. Materials are ordered. Engineers are allocated.Subcontractors are booked. And only afterwards does the invoice get raised. For small and mid-sized contractors, this is dangerous. At  Jones Financial Accounts (JFA) , we advise SMEs across construction, maintenance, and engineering services

Introduction - Engineer Scheduling Visibility In construction and engineering, most operational stress comes down to one issue: Not knowing what’s happening next. Managers are firefighting.Engineers are reacting.Customers are chasing updates.And jobs feel constantly out of control. The root cause is often simple: Scheduling visibility is weak. At  Jones Financial Accounts (JFA) , we support construction and engineering SMEs scaling quickly beyond £500k turnover. And one of th

Introduction - Subcontractor Strategy For many construction and engineering businesses, subcontractors are the fastest route to growth. You win more work.You increase capacity.You deliver faster. But subcontractors also create one of the biggest financial dangers in the industry: Margin collapse. At  Jones Financial Accounts (JFA) , we work with construction and engineering SMEs scaling beyond £500k turnover. And one pattern is consistent: Businesses grow output through sub

Introduction - SLA Countdown If you want to win and retain key accounts in construction and engineering, the work is only half the story. The other half is performance. Large clients don’t just pay for repairs or maintenance. They pay for: response times completion targets reporting accuracy reliability under pressure This is where SLAs come in. An SLA, Service Level Agreement, defines how quickly you must respond, attend, and complete work. At  Jones Financial Accounts (JFA)

Introduction - Predictable Job Completion and Cashflow Most construction and engineering businesses don’t struggle because of lack of work. They struggle because of lack of control. Jobs come in fast. Engineers are busy. Customers are demanding. Paperwork piles up. And before long, you hear the same phrases: “We don’t know where we’re up to.” “That job still hasn’t been closed.” “Why hasn’t it been invoiced yet?” “Who is managing that site?” This is where the right CRM system

Introduction - How Poor Communication Becomes a Reputation Problem In construction and engineering, most business owners assume customers leave for one reason: Price. But in reality, customers usually leave for something else: Silence. They can’t reach anyone.Messages go unanswered.Jobs feel unmanaged.Invoices arrive with no explanation. And what starts as a simple communication gap quickly becomes something much bigger: A reputation problem. At  Jones Financial Accounts (JF

Introduction One of the biggest frustrations in construction and engineering is this: You’ve done the work… but the cash still hasn’t arrived. Jobs are completed. Engineers are on site. Customers are happy. Yet the bank account feels tight, suppliers are chasing, and payroll pressure builds. This is what we call the  invoicing gap , the time between delivering the work and raising the invoice properly. At  Jones Financial Accounts (JFA) , we see this all the time with fast-gr

Introduction - Subcontractor Due Diligence If you run a construction or engineering business, subcontractors are often the fastest way to grow. More jobs. More labour. More capacity. But subcontractors also bring risk, and most small businesses don’t realise how serious it can become until something goes wrong. One missing insurance document.One poor-quality job.One unpaid tax issue.One safety breach. Suddenly, the business that was scaling quickly is now dealing with disp

Introduction - Why You Can’t Scale Many construction and engineering business owners want to scale. They talk about hiring more engineers, winning bigger contracts, expanding geographically, or doubling turnover. Growth feels like the natural next step. At Jones Financial Accounts (JFA), we often pause these conversations with a simple but uncomfortable question:  Can you clearly explain what happened financially last month and why? For most £500k–£5m construction and enginee

Introduction - Illusion of “Small Numbers” In construction and engineering businesses, attention is naturally drawn to big costs. Labour, materials, vehicles, and subcontractors dominate conversations and reports. Smaller costs, parking, tolls, travel expenses, minor tools, and sundries, are often ignored because they feel insignificant in isolation. At Jones Financial Accounts (JFA), we regularly find these “small numbers” quietly eroding margin. Individually they do not loo

Introduction - The Hidden Cost of Poor Job Data In construction and engineering businesses, job data is often treated as an administrative inconvenience rather than a commercial priority. Missing job references, vague cost descriptions, and incomplete timesheets are brushed aside with,  “We’ll tidy it up later.” At Jones Financial Accounts (JFA), we see this mindset quietly costing businesses serious money. Poor job data does not just create messy reports, it actively drives

Introduction - Leadership and Planning Failure In construction and engineering businesses, one of the most common phrases we hear is,  “We can’t find enough engineers.”  On the surface, this sounds like a recruitment problem. In reality, for most £500k+ engineering and construction businesses, it is a leadership and planning failure. At Jones Financial Accounts (JFA), we work closely with fast-growing engineering firms where margins feel tight, delivery feels chaotic, and pre

Introduction When most businesses talk about automation, they talk about speed. Faster payments. Faster processing. Less admin. What often gets missed is the most important benefit of automation:  control . At  Jones Financial Accounts (JFA) , we regularly see SMEs that have grown quickly and introduced automation for the wrong reason. Payments are faster, but errors increase. Approval is weaker, not stronger. Directors lose visibility instead of gaining it. This blog explain

Introduction For many construction and engineering businesses, expense control is an uncomfortable topic. Directors worry that tightening controls will feel like mistrust, damage morale, or slow teams down. As a result, expense processes are often left loose, informal, or inconsistent. At  Jones Financial Accounts (JFA) , we see the opposite outcome when expense control is done properly. Strong expense processes do not police staff, they  protect profit, improve clarity, and

Introduction One of the most common reasons we see at  Jones Financial Accounts (JFA)  is not bad sales or poor pricing, but  unresolved invoice disputes quietly sitting in the background. A disputed invoice might feel small at first. A query over hours, a variation not agreed, or a missing purchase order. But when disputes are not actively managed, they age, stall cash flow, and slowly damage supplier confidence and operational stability. This blog explains  why unresolved i

Introduction - Stop Cashflow Crises In construction and engineering, cashflow problems rarely come from one big disaster. They come from  small delays that stack up : a quote that sits in someone’s inbox for a week a job that drags on because of call-backs an invoice that doesn’t go out until “Friday when we get time” credit control that starts at 60+ days (when it’s already too late) The frustrating part? You can be  profitable on paper  and still feel broke. Cashflow isn’t

In construction and engineering businesses, department heads play a bigger role than many directors realise. They control the flow of information, influence margins, shape delivery, and directly impact cash flow. Yet most SMEs, especially those scaling quickly, don’t truly know whether their department leads are performing well. This happens because many owners rely on gut feel, verbal updates, or firefighting indicators rather than structured performance metrics. In this blo

Introduction - Creating Departmental Accountability In growing construction and engineering firms, budgets are often decided at the top and then communicated to department heads without much discussion. The result? Lack of ownership, overspending and finger‑pointing when numbers go awry. True accountability happens when heads of operations, sales and service understand and own their costs. This blog shows how to gather data, measure performance and create a culture of account

Introduction - Training Non‑Finance Managers Many site managers and project leads in construction and engineering are highly skilled in operations but feel uncomfortable with financial reports. Yet understanding numbers, budgets, margins and cash‑flow, is essential for making informed decisions. This blog provides a step‑by‑step approach to training non‑finance managers, using plain language and tools designed for SMEs. Where Is the Best Place to Start? Begin with the basics:

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