Welcome to the Construction Disruption Podcast, where we
Intro:uncover the future of design, building, and remodeling.
Todd Miller:I'm Todd Miller, Vizay Industries manufacturer of specialty metal
Todd Miller:roofing and other building materials.
Todd Miller:Today, my co host is Ethan Young.
Todd Miller:Mr.
Todd Miller:Young, how are you?
Ethan Young:I'm doing good, Todd.
Ethan Young:It's a holiday weekend.
Ethan Young:Excited to be here with you and getting, you know, excited
Ethan Young:to wrap up this weekend well.
Ethan Young:This week.
Ethan Young:Well, I should say that's true.
Todd Miller:I wonder if someday you'll be called old.
Todd Miller:Mr.
Todd Miller:Young, you know,
Ethan Young:forever young, you know,
Todd Miller:forever young.
Todd Miller:That's good.
Todd Miller:That's a good one.
Todd Miller:Okay.
Todd Miller:Well, let's go into things.
Todd Miller:I do want to mention.
Todd Miller:We are once again, this episode doing our challenge words were
Todd Miller:both Ethan and myself and also our soon to be announced mystery guest.
Todd Miller:Uh, we each have a word that we have been challenged to
Todd Miller:work into the conversation is.
Todd Miller:Seamlessly as possible, you, the audience, can be listening for any unusual words
Todd Miller:we might use, and perhaps you'll figure out what our challenge words were.
Todd Miller:And at the end, we will tell you whether we were each successful
Todd Miller:at working in our word or not.
Todd Miller:So, um, let's go ahead and get this thing started.
Todd Miller:So, um, one thing that many construction companies struggle with is bridging
Todd Miller:that gap between their work in the field, um, which oftentimes
Todd Miller:they are really, really good at.
Todd Miller:But then also their financial tracking, their reports, and even their results.
Todd Miller:And unfortunately, of course, if they do have difficulties bridging that gap,
Todd Miller:they end up struggling to make ends meet.
Todd Miller:Um, today's guest is Timothy Wingate Jr.
Todd Miller:Um, Timothy is the founder of G plus F business and financial
Todd Miller:consulting, uh, based in beautiful West Palm beach, Florida.
Todd Miller:Timothy founded G plus F in 2016 to provide specialized accounting
Todd Miller:and tax services specifically for construction companies.
Todd Miller:Timothy provides his clients with tools, advice, and financial advice, uh, so
Todd Miller:that they know better or so that they can better understand their finances
Todd Miller:and they can improve their cashflow.
Todd Miller:With a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University
Todd Miller:of South Florida, Timothy is also a member of the Construction
Todd Miller:Financial Management Association.
Todd Miller:Timothy, welcome to Construction Disruption.
Todd Miller:Pleasure to have you here today.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Ah, thank you for having me.
Todd Miller:I feel blessed to be here and Just glad to be on the show.
Todd Miller:I can share what I have.
Todd Miller:Well, that's what we're looking forward to.
Todd Miller:So, um, you had your start in construction, uh, working for many
Todd Miller:years with your father, um, who was a licensed general contractor.
Todd Miller:I, now I got started in this industry also.
Todd Miller:Uh, you then went on to work in banking, uh, nonprofit management
Todd Miller:and also real estate investing.
Todd Miller:Kind of curious, what is it about?
Todd Miller:All of those experiences, because a lot of stuff there, uh, that
Todd Miller:made you want to help constructions the way that you're able to today.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: You know, growing up with my father, I start with him.
Todd Miller:You know, he raised us in the field.
Todd Miller:So in bright, sunny Florida, sweating in the sun,
Todd Miller:you know,
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: carrying a wheelbarrow and dumping dirt.
Todd Miller:So definitely had my fair share of working out there in the field and just really
Todd Miller:got a true understanding of what it means to work hard and most construction owners
Todd Miller:or people who work in the construction industry, they are very, very hard
Todd Miller:workers and I respected that, but.
Todd Miller:I also found out that they didn't like working in the office.
Todd Miller:And so a lot of paperwork was spread out across my father's desk all the time,
Todd Miller:plans, bills, papers, you know, all these different things and just never saw.
Todd Miller:Office, you know, organized and, and I, at the time I didn't know
Todd Miller:if he was getting things done timely in a timely fashion or not.
Todd Miller:But, um, when I became of age, come to find out that he needed
Todd Miller:a lot of help in the office.
Todd Miller:This sounds just like my dad.
Todd Miller:I gotta tell you.
Todd Miller:Okay.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Yeah.
Todd Miller:So that was really, um, where I just had my exposure to the construction
Todd Miller:industry, but then I had a love for just, Helping small business owners,
Todd Miller:because working with the nonprofit organization there, I was helping
Todd Miller:my grandmother run her organization.
Todd Miller:And so seeing the struggles that she had within the organization when it
Todd Miller:came to, you know, not having proper accounting, not having any systems
Todd Miller:in place on how to manage employees or how to hire, how to recruit, you
Todd Miller:know, do all these different things.
Todd Miller:And so to bring all of that and to gain that experience.
Todd Miller:Uh, of how to do that.
Todd Miller:I seen that, Hey, this is something that all small businesses need.
Todd Miller:And I said, I want to make sure that I can be a part of the solution.
Todd Miller:So starting G plus F.
Todd Miller:Was part of the solution of being able to come out here and help
Todd Miller:small business owners altogether.
Todd Miller:Very cool.
Todd Miller:So I also understand that, uh, the name G plus F was chosen very intentionally
Todd Miller:and has very special meaning.
Todd Miller:Uh, can you tell us what that is?
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Yeah, it means God plus family.
Todd Miller:Because when I left the nonprofit organization and it started G plus
Todd Miller:F, well, I'll say, you know, let me give you the in between that.
Todd Miller:So when I left the nonprofit organization, I didn't know what I was going to do.
Todd Miller:And I say, you know, um, I know I want to help small business owners,
Todd Miller:but in what way can I help them?
Todd Miller:And I went back to my.
Todd Miller:The roots of what I was able to do for my grandmother's organization, which is
Todd Miller:bring financial structure to a company.
Todd Miller:And so I said, well, let me just because I didn't go the
Todd Miller:traditional accounting route.
Todd Miller:You know, I got my degree in finance.
Todd Miller:So I said, let me go ahead and understand this accounting at a higher level.
Todd Miller:And I went out and got my enrolled agent license.
Todd Miller:And so that gave me the tax knowledge that I needed to help people get out of tax
Todd Miller:problems and to help them get in a better tax position or understand what their tax
Todd Miller:position will be at the end of the year.
Todd Miller:And so G plus F was given to me as the name, because it says when you go
Todd Miller:through what you're getting ready to go through, you're, you're only going to be
Todd Miller:able to depend on God and your family.
Todd Miller:And so that's where G plus F came from, God plus family.
Todd Miller:And it has been carrying me through ever since.
Todd Miller:Wow.
Todd Miller:That's very cool.
Todd Miller:And I understand that, you know, faith, your, your life revolves around it.
Todd Miller:And so you reflect that in your business and, uh, That just makes a lot of sense.
Todd Miller:And yeah, kind of what we try to do here at Isaiah Industries too.
Todd Miller:So I love that.
Todd Miller:Absolutely.
Todd Miller:Love it too.
Todd Miller:I'm kind of curious, um, in what areas do you find that many owners
Todd Miller:of construction businesses really don't understand their businesses?
Todd Miller:And, you know, I think a lot of times we find that.
Todd Miller:These are folks who, you know, became, uh, really good at doing things out
Todd Miller:in the field and eventually got a, uh, their own crew or a nicer truck
Todd Miller:or whatever they thought it was that made them start their own business.
Todd Miller:But, you know, what, what are some of the things that you find they, they
Todd Miller:kind of struggle with once they make that jump into their own business?
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Yeah, a lot of times they, they struggle with,
Todd Miller:it's like three things, you know, number one, cashflow management.
Todd Miller:Yeah.
Todd Miller:Number two, estimating.
Todd Miller:And then number three, managing the accounts payable process.
Todd Miller:So a lot of times cash is a constant worry.
Todd Miller:And to know that, you know, money's coming in at the right time, at
Todd Miller:the right speed, um, it, it usually starts with what happens up front.
Todd Miller:So setting the tone with the, with the client and the customer, with your
Todd Miller:And also setting the tone with the subcontractors as well, um, to let them
Todd Miller:know, and everybody needs to be on the same page, know how they're going to get
Todd Miller:paid, when they're going to get paid.
Todd Miller:Like you gotta have a lot of conversation around getting paid.
Todd Miller:You know, and paying out in the very beginning and make sure that it's clear.
Todd Miller:And so a lot of them, they just don't do that.
Todd Miller:They, you know, some of these guys are still doing handshake deals.
Todd Miller:Um, and that kind of can blow up in their face a little bit at the end.
Todd Miller:Cause it's a friend, they don't want to offend them and, you know, all these
Todd Miller:different things and, or they end up doing more work for them than they should have,
Todd Miller:because they actually don't realize that they're actually paying workers to go
Todd Miller:do this work for a friend for free, but.
Todd Miller:You know, you're basically financing that whole, that whole, uh, project
Todd Miller:or that part of the project.
Todd Miller:So teaching them how to, um, So, yeah, so they usually just have problems managing
Todd Miller:those three specific areas, you know, cash management, estimating, and the
Todd Miller:accounts payable process can get out of hand quickly, especially when the same
Todd Miller:vendor is sending reminder invoices.
Todd Miller:So those reminder invoices can sometimes get double paid.
Todd Miller:Right.
Todd Miller:Yep.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: And that becomes a problem.
Todd Miller:Now you're trying to, you know, get a credit and now you're trying
Todd Miller:to, or you, you can't get a credit.
Todd Miller:So you're trying to sell off material to another job, you know, so it just,
Todd Miller:a lot of different things can happen.
Todd Miller:With the accounts preamble process, it's not managed properly.
Todd Miller:And then with the estimating, of course, estimating is there for historical data.
Todd Miller:So estimating gets better as you keep track of it and analyze it at the
Todd Miller:end of these job to see how well you did and how your margins pan out.
Todd Miller:And so just, uh, A lot of, you know, construction, um, owners or, you know,
Todd Miller:project managers are just not used to managing that process in a very
Todd Miller:efficient manner where they can analyze it properly at the end of the job.
Todd Miller:You know, that's interesting.
Todd Miller:I, I, I can't say how many times over the years I've been working with a
Todd Miller:contractor who, you know, already has the contract to do a metal roof and
Todd Miller:he comes to us and is asking us to, to help him kind of detail things out.
Todd Miller:And, you know, my question is, What does the contract say?
Todd Miller:What do you, what did you commit to doing here?
Todd Miller:And honestly, they don't know.
Todd Miller:Um, and I'm just like pretty shocked by that.
Todd Miller:Well, I mean, a contractor out there, a construction company, they have
Todd Miller:tons of options as far as CPAs and accountants and bookkeeper options and
Todd Miller:their sister in law and everything else.
Todd Miller:You know, how, how is it that you feel?
Todd Miller:You focusing just on construction companies can help them more than that
Todd Miller:CPA down, down the street or their sister in law who keeps books, uh, can.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Well, I'll tell you this, you know, there's three areas of
Todd Miller:accounting that are very specialized.
Todd Miller:We've mentioned all of them on the show today, construction,
Todd Miller:accounting, manufacturing, accounting, and nonprofit accounting.
Todd Miller:Very, very different because there's a lot of moving pieces, you know,
Todd Miller:in construction, you're managing multiple jobs and keeping track
Todd Miller:of multiple jobs and tracking the profitability of multiple jobs.
Todd Miller:You know, in manufacturing, you're keeping it together with the raw materials.
Todd Miller:Finished materials, and then with the product sales tax,
Todd Miller:all those different things.
Todd Miller:And then nonprofit, you have all these different grants and things that
Todd Miller:you need to satisfy with, you know, reporting the report just on their grant,
Todd Miller:you
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: know, and, and then you have one system to do that.
Todd Miller:Right.
Todd Miller:So what makes it different or unique in the way that I approach accounting
Todd Miller:versus a traditional accounting is that I have specialized knowledge.
Todd Miller:Um, so I understand, you know, there's a ton of systems out there like this.
Todd Miller:You know, a bunch of project management softwares out there,
Todd Miller:job trip, pro core, build a trend.
Todd Miller:I mean, the list goes on, but what we've done is we pick one to master, you know,
Todd Miller:and we, so we know what project management system that we use is going to integrate
Todd Miller:well with your accounting system.
Todd Miller:Also is going to integrate well with your accounts payable system.
Todd Miller:And then it's going to integrate well with your accounts receivable system.
Todd Miller:So like all these things.
Todd Miller:We know how to set those up and make sure that the information
Todd Miller:flows through all systems properly.
Todd Miller:And so that information is reported properly to you to make
Todd Miller:higher level decisions about a job or the company at large.
Todd Miller:So that is what we do.
Todd Miller:You know, we come to bring organization to your back office.
Todd Miller:We come to clear paper.
Todd Miller:Offer your desk, you know, and make it
Todd Miller:organized.
Todd Miller:Ethan will probably tell you that I could perhaps use your help.
Ethan Young:Yeah.
Ethan Young:I was thinking about that a little bit, but I think it's usually something that's
Ethan Young:better than normal, but I don't know.
Ethan Young:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Now we'll say we don't do that in person.
Ethan Young:We're, we're completely virtual accounting firm, but the, we've have
Ethan Young:perfected, you know, the process and how we onboard and how we do things.
Ethan Young:It's a learning curve for.
Ethan Young:Um, most construction owners when they come with us, but they never go back
Ethan Young:to the papers scrambled on the desk.
Todd Miller:Amen.
Todd Miller:Good stuff.
Todd Miller:Well, I was, I was going to ask you, I mean, I assume you do have, since
Todd Miller:everything is virtual, you probably have clients all over the country.
Todd Miller:I assume.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: I do.
Todd Miller:Yeah.
Todd Miller:We have some clients in Wisconsin, Colorado, North Carolina.
Todd Miller:You know, uh, just to name a few, Arizona.
Todd Miller:Yeah.
Todd Miller:So they are kind of all over and it's, it's, it's really unique.
Todd Miller:So I definitely am able to share a unique, I guess, a, a unique perspective, you
Todd Miller:know, to the construct, construction industry, to any of my clients, because
Todd Miller:sometimes they're wondering like, what, what are the other guys doing?
Todd Miller:You know, and I can tell them what's working and what's not.
Todd Miller:So what does that relationship look like?
Todd Miller:I mean, do you have weekly calls?
Todd Miller:They're sitting there in their office, sipping on their coconut water and you're
Todd Miller:helping them out or what, what does that relationship typically look like?
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Now they're not sipping coconut water and eating flapjacks
Todd Miller:and doing the other kind of thing.
Todd Miller:But they, they, um, They're definitely what it looks like is we have to
Todd Miller:meet with a construction company every week or every two weeks.
Todd Miller:So they're meeting with someone from our team every week and it's usually to
Todd Miller:discuss everything accounts receivable and accounts payable, because those
Todd Miller:are the most fluid things that are moving, um, in a construction company.
Todd Miller:And then they choose to meet with me either monthly, bimonthly, quarterly,
Todd Miller:at, um, at, at the least to discuss.
Todd Miller:All things strategic, you know, strategy.
Todd Miller:Hey, I want to buy a house, a car, a building, you know, I
Todd Miller:want to hire a new employee.
Todd Miller:I want to pay someone commission.
Todd Miller:I want to find a new estimator.
Todd Miller:How much is it going to cost me?
Todd Miller:Is it the right time?
Todd Miller:Um, does it make sense?
Todd Miller:You know, so all those things, Hey, this last job, you know, these things went
Todd Miller:wrong and I helped them to strategically think about the job because when you're
Todd Miller:in it, you think a different way.
Todd Miller:When someone's on the outside looking in, they bring a
Todd Miller:totally different perspective.
Todd Miller:And so that's what I do.
Todd Miller:I help them think about the jobs differently and what happened,
Todd Miller:because a lot of times what you see in the numbers is just didn't
Todd Miller:happen from a financial standpoint.
Todd Miller:Like it, it wasn't.
Todd Miller:Just an estimating problem or a, um, accounts payable problem or whatever
Todd Miller:it is, it may be something operational.
Todd Miller:It may be saying that, hey, it took Tommy 10, 10 hours longer to do this part of the
Todd Miller:project than Billy, who would have done it in 5 hours, you know, and that's where.
Todd Miller:You lost money or that's where the margins have changed.
Todd Miller:So it's just looking at those different things all the time.
Ethan Young:I would guess most people like new prospective clients come to
Ethan Young:you, like in a time of like struggle, it's probably not, it's kind of the
Ethan Young:opposite of a fair weather friend.
Ethan Young:You know, they want you around when things are really going
Ethan Young:bad, not the other way around.
Ethan Young:Is that, is that true?
Ethan Young:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Most time it is because we're, we're best suited for.
Ethan Young:Someone who's kind of bumped their head a little bit.
Ethan Young:We're not really suited for the startup construction company.
Ethan Young:Definitely, you know, they may have found a way to, to reach
Ethan Young:their first million already.
Ethan Young:And now they're, they're just on the overload.
Ethan Young:Like it's, it's getting out of control, you know, because the jobs are moving
Ethan Young:quickly, they have more people on the team and they've, you know, found a way to
Ethan Young:make it that far, but now they need some help bringing some organization around
Ethan Young:the company to really streamline and grow.
Ethan Young:Uh, at a better rate with a lot more peace.
Todd Miller:I like that.
Todd Miller:Like the piece.
Todd Miller:Well, I think one thing I have seen a lot of construction companies struggle
Todd Miller:with is how to set their profit margin.
Todd Miller:I mean, uh, you kind of go into this and you think, well, as long as I sell
Todd Miller:anything above what I know my cost is going to be, I'm going to work.
Todd Miller:It's all going to work out.
Todd Miller:And that just isn't necessarily the case.
Todd Miller:Um, so any advice for, Listeners out there who may be thinking
Todd Miller:about, well, how do I decide what my optimal profit margin should be?
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Yeah.
Todd Miller:So this is going to sound maybe way left, but I'm a different accountant,
Todd Miller:you know, from when you think about profit margin, you have to think
Todd Miller:about your operation, profit margin.
Todd Miller:As well, and then you also need to think about what type of company you want to
Todd Miller:be, because it really starts with the big picture, which is what type of company
Todd Miller:I want to be, because I may want to make sure that all my employees get 10 days
Todd Miller:paid time off every year, the construction company down the street may not want that.
Todd Miller:They don't care if the guys get one day or two days.
Todd Miller:You know, I may wanna offer my guys a 401k company down the street.
Todd Miller:May not think that way.
Todd Miller:So what I'm getting getting at is if I'm construction company A, who wants
Todd Miller:the 401k and want to give the guys PTO versus construction company B, then
Todd Miller:my margins on the job needs to support my operating margin, which will then
Todd Miller:support the growth of my company and allow me to provide those things.
Todd Miller:To my employees.
Todd Miller:So I need to think about setting my prices based on where I want to go.
Todd Miller:And that is different.
Todd Miller:It sounds like, well, it may be like Tim, well, how, how do we, how do we do that?
Todd Miller:And, or where do we start and all those things?
Todd Miller:Well, I always say there's, there's, you know, I forgot who the author was,
Todd Miller:but there's a book, I think that's titled start with the end in mind.
Todd Miller:Okay.
Todd Miller:You know, and if you don't know where you're going, you would just go anywhere,
Todd Miller:you know, and it definitely ties down to the Bible where you should plan,
Todd Miller:you know, um, how are you going to build before you actually build it.
Todd Miller:It's the same thing with a company, you know, so I have to think about
Todd Miller:where I want the company to end up.
Todd Miller:You know, do I eventually want to sell it one day?
Todd Miller:Do I want to pass it to my kids one day?
Todd Miller:Do I want to give it to the employees one day?
Todd Miller:Well, they don't want anything that's not profitable.
Todd Miller:And they don't want anything that's going to cause a burden.
Todd Miller:And so you got to set it up in a way where anyone is excited to take it on.
Todd Miller:And anyone is excited to work, work there as well.
Todd Miller:So profit margin is.
Todd Miller:Is is is something that you really have to sit down and think about and you
Todd Miller:think about that first, and then you go all the way back to your estimates.
Todd Miller:And then now you're not going to care if a customer disagrees with you with
Todd Miller:your price, because, you know, it needs to be that price for me to offer.
Todd Miller:What I want to offer to my employees and to everybody who works here.
Todd Miller:You know, it, it just takes a lot of pressure off of everything.
Todd Miller:Um, when you know what that price has to be in and from a selling
Todd Miller:standpoint, it allows you to build your, uh, your value, uh, around that.
Todd Miller:And so it makes a lot of sense.
Todd Miller:Yeah, absolutely.
Todd Miller:You you, you alluded earlier to project management software and
Todd Miller:you said that you have one that you like to see your clients on it.
Todd Miller:You know, one of the things I see in construction, especially
Todd Miller:in recent years, every time you turn around, there's a new app.
Todd Miller:There's a new software platform for construction companies to use to to to.
Todd Miller:Track their numbers, report their numbers, help with communication,
Todd Miller:help with bidding jobs, help with planning, all that type of things.
Todd Miller:Um, I know you mentioned project management software that you folks
Todd Miller:recommend, but in general, um, what advice do you have for construction companies in
Todd Miller:determining what tech is right for them?
Todd Miller:Um, you know, not everything that glitters is gold necessarily.
Todd Miller:They, you gotta know what to chase.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Yeah.
Todd Miller:So the first thing that you, you have to consider is there needs to be an
Todd Miller:implementer, you know what I mean?
Todd Miller:Within the company or who's hired from with outside of the company, because tech
Todd Miller:is complex and there's a learning curve.
Todd Miller:It's going to be challenges.
Todd Miller:But what helps you get through it and see it to the end is the implementer
Todd Miller:being very strong, you know?
Todd Miller:So when they're strong, they can kind of carry and motivate everybody
Todd Miller:and keep everybody, you know, um, from pulling their hat out
Intro:and
Intro:Timothy Wingate Jr.: saying, why did we just, can we just go back
Intro:to Excel spreadsheets and paper and write down estimates, like.
Intro:You're going to constantly fight that, but the implementer is going to be able to
Intro:hold you, hold you to the ground and make sure that we, we, we see it to the end.
Intro:And so I will say this, there's a ton of project management software out there.
Intro:Like I mentioned before, and I was go as far to say that all of them
Intro:work because they have customers.
Intro:So, and so it's all about.
Intro:Identifying whether the implementer, the implementer really understands
Intro:what the software can do.
Intro:And if it's a good fit for your operation, and so, because.
Intro:Because I understand one project management software very, very well.
Intro:And I'm, you know, an outside accounting firm.
Intro:I'm really not going to work with a client who I can't serve with that software.
Intro:So that's kind of where, and I have done that because there's, there's been a, um,
Intro:a client who works, who puts down pipe in the ground, you know, for utility, utility
Intro:companies and those types of things.
Intro:Well, they need, they need to be able to calculate dirt and gravel and,
Intro:you know, and all these different things that are, you know, all project
Intro:management softwares won't be able to do.
Intro:And so you need a very specialized project management software
Intro:for that particular operation.
Intro:And that's kind of where the implementer has to be an expert
Intro:and say, you know, what that is.
Intro:A good fit for us, or this is, this is not.
Intro:And then, cause you gotta think about it.
Intro:As long as you have trust in the implementer, you know,
Intro:that is, he understands it, or she understands it very well.
Intro:So.
Intro:It's going to work.
Intro:It's just, we're going to have to catch up, but they're going to hold our hand.
Intro:They're going to make sure that we obtain the knowledge that we need to obtain.
Intro:So that way we can move forward with this, with this software.
Intro:So if you, as the owner are saying that you're going to be the implementer,
Intro:well, then you need to go out and study these, these different softwares,
Intro:like I did, and take demo classes and take certifications and test the
Intro:software out, buy a subscription.
Intro:Test it out, do a test project, all those different things.
Intro:In order to know if it's going to work, you're not going to know it's
Intro:going to work just by hearing about it.
Intro:I can tell you that.
Todd Miller:Yeah.
Todd Miller:And the people selling it are always quick to tell you, oh, it's
Todd Miller:going to do all that and more.
Todd Miller:Yeah, that's good advice.
Todd Miller:That's good advice.
Todd Miller:You know, one of the things I can tell about you is that.
Todd Miller:You really love this industry and you, you know, you love serving folks
Todd Miller:in serving folks in general, but in particular in the construction
Todd Miller:industry, I'm just kind of curious.
Todd Miller:Is there anything specifically about the construction industry that you
Todd Miller:really, um, love being a part of?
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: I love being a part of that aha moment because I
Todd Miller:get it with every, every new client.
Todd Miller:It's that moment where it's like, man, I'm no longer doing this.
Todd Miller:That used to take me 15 hours a week to do, you know, or five hours a week to do.
Todd Miller:And it's like, man, I'm so glad we made the change.
Todd Miller:I just like hearing that.
Todd Miller:Like, I'm just so glad we made the change and that's always a blessing to me.
Todd Miller:Good stuff.
Todd Miller:Well, I'm sure that, uh, You have, uh, your clients are
Todd Miller:greatly blessed by that as well.
Todd Miller:I'm, I'm kind of curious, are, are most of your clients
Todd Miller:fairly long term relationships?
Todd Miller:Or do you find that, you know, you spend a year or so with them and kind of get
Todd Miller:them to the point of where, uh, they're comfortable going on, on their own?
Todd Miller:Or what's that usually look like?
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: We're long term, you know, I That's what I figured.
Todd Miller:Yeah, we want to stay together, we want to grow together.
Todd Miller:And I still have clients who are still with me from, from, um, 2016.
Todd Miller:Very good.
Todd Miller:And that speaks volumes about you and what you're doing also.
Todd Miller:Yeah.
Todd Miller:So what advice would you have?
Todd Miller:We, we know that a lot of our audience members are folks fairly new to this
Todd Miller:industry and, you know, maybe even young in their careers, any particular
Todd Miller:advice you'd have for younger folks starting out, uh, in this industry,
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Really make sure that you have counted the costs of
Todd Miller:what it takes to survive, because most businesses fail because they didn't count
Todd Miller:the costs and they didn't know how much it true, how much the capital that he truly
Todd Miller:needed to, to start this company because.
Todd Miller:Nothing's going to go perfectly.
Todd Miller:Things are going to crumble, go up, crumble again, grow up, crumble again.
Todd Miller:It's like the stock market, but I hope it's a good stock.
Todd Miller:So it keeps going up.
Todd Miller:And so that's kind of how you got to think about your company.
Todd Miller:It's like, you're constantly always preparing for the worst of times.
Todd Miller:And so in doing that, do that from the beginning, always
Todd Miller:prepare for the worst of times.
Todd Miller:And get help fast.
Todd Miller:Know that it's not a race and that you're, you're not trying
Todd Miller:to build this company overnight.
Todd Miller:And then you're also not trying to eat.
Todd Miller:Like steak, you know, from the first, from the first job, you know, um,
Todd Miller:you're, you're, you're really trying to get yourself to a place where
Todd Miller:hopefully you, you least want to have one or two people on the team, um, to
Todd Miller:help get things done at the company, because putting that all on yourself,
Todd Miller:trying to work and do the office stuff.
Todd Miller:And I mean, get jobs, it's just, it's just a lot you wear yourself out.
Todd Miller:So just knowing that, Hey, get help where you're your weekend.
Todd Miller:Really early.
Todd Miller:Um, don't try to eat a steak from your first, you know, a couple of projects.
Todd Miller:You know, keep eating that ramen noodles and, um,
Todd Miller:and, um, and, and just stay the course and can continue to study the industry,
Todd Miller:knowing what technology is out there because technology needs to be a part of.
Todd Miller:What you do, and you need to find a way of how, how to implement that.
Todd Miller:Um, and so, and if you're not good at the finances from the very beginning,
Todd Miller:don't try to, don't try to start it.
Todd Miller:They just go hire some bookkeeper who certified somebody who really
Todd Miller:understands bookkeeping at a basic level.
Todd Miller:You may not be job costing, but you at least have solid books.
Todd Miller:You know what I mean?
Todd Miller:Because you don't need to be, because when you're doing one or two
Todd Miller:projects, you know, every, every.
Todd Miller:Couple of months or so like that.
Todd Miller:You don't really need a job costing right at right at the start.
Todd Miller:You can you can get you can get away with just.
Todd Miller:Standard bookkeeping and just knowing that you just being profitable for the month.
Todd Miller:Very interesting.
Todd Miller:Well, and I love that where you started out, you know, you got to know the cost.
Todd Miller:And, you know, I think, you know, you were talking about financial
Todd Miller:costs, but I think a lot of folks to, um, kind of underestimate just the
Todd Miller:emotional cost of starting a business and the amount of time and so forth.
Todd Miller:And, you know, I've seen that really.
Todd Miller:Kind of, uh, surprise some folks also and put them in some pretty dark spots.
Todd Miller:So, yeah, find yourself a mentor, uh, find yourself somebody like Timothy
Todd Miller:to help guide you through that.
Todd Miller:Uh, I think that's all good.
Todd Miller:Good stuff.
Todd Miller:Excellent.
Todd Miller:Well, This has been a great time together.
Todd Miller:Um, really enjoyed it.
Todd Miller:Um, we're going to hear shortly, uh, close up the business end of things
Todd Miller:and move on to a little bit of fun.
Todd Miller:But, um, is there anything that we haven't covered yet today that you, uh, wanted
Todd Miller:to be sure to share with our audience?
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: No, I think, um, you know, I'm always available.
Todd Miller:You know, you can always just visit me that construction.
Todd Miller:accountant or at G plus F.
Todd Miller:com and reach out to me.
Todd Miller:And if you're not a good fit for, from a, a month to month client, it
Todd Miller:may be a good fit for just, it's the consulting piece, you know what I mean?
Todd Miller:Just to have someone you can meet with every couple of months and talk
Todd Miller:things through and to make sure that you're heading down the right path.
Todd Miller:So you do have relationships sometimes that are,
Todd Miller:look a little bit more like that also.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Yeah.
Todd Miller:Just like with some startups, you know, they, it doesn't make sense
Todd Miller:for them to hire a big County firm.
Todd Miller:But it does make sense to have someone they can consult with.
Todd Miller:Um, every now and then, um, about some big decisions to make.
Todd Miller:Very good.
Todd Miller:That's a neat option.
Todd Miller:And I, I don't often see that from consultants.
Todd Miller:So I love that.
Todd Miller:You're, you're willing to grow with them also.
Todd Miller:And that's cool.
Todd Miller:Absolutely.
Todd Miller:Absolutely.
Todd Miller:Well, before we do close out, um, I'm going to ask you, uh, Timothy, if you're
Todd Miller:willing to participate in something we call our rapid fire questions.
Todd Miller:So these are seven questions carefully curated.
Todd Miller:Okay.
Todd Miller:Thank you.
Todd Miller:No, maybe not.
Todd Miller:So carefully.
Todd Miller:Um, some of these questions may be serious.
Todd Miller:That may be a little bit silly.
Todd Miller:Um, all you have to do is give your quick response.
Todd Miller:Um, and audience understands you don't have a clue what we're about to ask.
Todd Miller:So you're
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: cool with
Todd Miller:this.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: I'm cool.
Todd Miller:Okay.
Todd Miller:Well, we will alternate asking Ethan.
Todd Miller:You want to ask number question number one?
Ethan Young:Yeah.
Ethan Young:Yeah.
Ethan Young:I can start this off.
Ethan Young:Um, Well, we know you're a busy guy working on the business and all
Ethan Young:that, but what's one of your favorite things to do to relax on the weekends?
Ethan Young:Oh, golf.
Ethan Young:Gotcha.
Ethan Young:Nice.
Ethan Young:Sure.
Ethan Young:It's great down there with the good weather and all the
Ethan Young:shirts, a lot of nice courses.
Ethan Young:Yeah.
Ethan Young:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Perfect weather.
Ethan Young:It's getting too, it's getting a little hot right now, but we
Ethan Young:just came out of golf season.
Ethan Young:So yeah, it was busy.
Ethan Young:It was busy down this way for sure.
Todd Miller:Okay.
Todd Miller:Question number two.
Todd Miller:So last evening, I believe, or at least recently, I don't know, maybe we were
Todd Miller:watching on DVR, but here recently, another season of Survivor wrapped up.
Todd Miller:I'm curious, what TV game or reality show would you most like to be on?
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: I forgot the, I forgot the name of it.
Todd Miller:It was like Expedition.
Todd Miller:It was a show called Expedition before.
Todd Miller:Really?
Todd Miller:Yeah.
Todd Miller:There was a show cause they will, you know, you'll have your own team and
Todd Miller:they'll drop you off in like this country and you have to make this expedition
Todd Miller:to, to a, uh, some different point.
Todd Miller:It may be in a different country too.
Todd Miller:Like from one country to the next, you have to go through, you
Todd Miller:know, mountains or waterfalls and you have to, you know, it was.
Todd Miller:Really, really unique.
Todd Miller:Yeah.
Todd Miller:But I think it was called expedition.
Ethan Young:I want
Todd Miller:to check that out.
Ethan Young:Thank you.
Ethan Young:Alrighty.
Ethan Young:Um, next one.
Ethan Young:Do you have a favorite family tradition?
Ethan Young:And if so, what would that be?
Ethan Young:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Uh, favorite family tradition is.
Ethan Young:On Thanksgiving morning, all the cousins would get together and play basketball.
Ethan Young:And so we'll play half court basketball, four on four, and
Ethan Young:just play until we get tired.
Todd Miller:And then golf in the afternoon.
Todd Miller:Uh, very cool.
Todd Miller:So next question, what is a product or service that you've maybe acquired
Todd Miller:recently that was a real game changer for you, sort of a, you know, where
Todd Miller:has this been all my life moment?
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Uh, there was this.
Todd Miller:Uh, software called fireflies and so fireflies is this AI recording software.
Todd Miller:So every time we log into a zoom meeting, it records everything and transcribes it.
Todd Miller:And so it's been a game changer because I don't have to repeat
Todd Miller:myself twice to an employee.
Todd Miller:So game changer.
Todd Miller:I was, uh, I was on a zoom call not too long
Todd Miller:ago and someone was using that.
Todd Miller:And I thought, yeah, that's pretty cool.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Yeah.
Todd Miller:Yeah.
Todd Miller:So like a digital note taker.
Todd Miller:I'm like, I'm like an old dog here.
Todd Miller:It's hard to teach me new tricks, but I may, I may give that one a try.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Oh yeah.
Todd Miller:It's good.
Todd Miller:Change of life.
Ethan Young:All right.
Ethan Young:This is a, this is a fun question.
Ethan Young:Um, if you were a professional wrestler, what would your entrance
Ethan Young:song be like your walkout song?
Ethan Young:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Probably be a Thai tribute song because he can get, you
Ethan Young:know, really how he's a gospel artist.
Ethan Young:Yeah.
Ethan Young:Yeah.
Ethan Young:But he's, um, yeah, it, it probably, maybe victory.
Ethan Young:He got a song called victory.
Todd Miller:I have to look that
Ethan Young:up.
Ethan Young:Yeah.
Ethan Young:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Yeah.
Todd Miller:Okay.
Todd Miller:This next question is a little weird.
Todd Miller:Um, would you rather have hands for feet or feet for hands?
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: It's definitely got to be hands for feet.
Todd Miller:I can't imagine having everything with your feet.
Ethan Young:Good answer.
Ethan Young:All right.
Ethan Young:And last question.
Ethan Young:This is always an interesting one.
Ethan Young:Um, what do you want to be remembered for at the end of your days?
Ethan Young:Timothy Wingate Jr.: At the end of my days, um, a God fearing
Ethan Young:man who, who served everyone.
Ethan Young:You know, family, friends, everybody knows that I was a giver.
Ethan Young:I gave more than what I receive.
Ethan Young:I think that's really good.
Ethan Young:Yeah.
Todd Miller:Good stuff.
Todd Miller:Well, Timothy, you had thrown it in earlier, but please again, tell
Todd Miller:us how folks can get in contact with you or check out your website.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Yeah.
Todd Miller:So you can reach me at construction.
Todd Miller:accountant or gplusf.
Todd Miller:com.
Todd Miller:And then on there, you just go in and there's a booking link.
Todd Miller:And you can book time with me and I'll show up
Todd Miller:very cool and I'm trying to remember is that G plus F the plus sign or
Todd Miller:is that spelled out plus is spelled out.
Todd Miller:Okay.
Todd Miller:G plus F.
Todd Miller:Very good.
Todd Miller:G plus F dot com and we will put that in the show notes as well.
Todd Miller:So, Timothy, thank you so much.
Todd Miller:Um, this has been a great time and, uh, happy to tell your story a little bit too.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Yeah.
Todd Miller:Yeah.
Todd Miller:I'm excited.
Todd Miller:You know, this was good time.
Todd Miller:Love being in on a call, especially with some brothers in the faith.
Todd Miller:So it's, it's, it's been excellent time way to cap off my Friday.
Todd Miller:Amen.
Todd Miller:Good one.
Todd Miller:Well, we were all successful at our challenge words.
Todd Miller:Um, Ethan, you had the word I had fair weather.
Todd Miller:Yep.
Todd Miller:You worked in there real well.
Todd Miller:Yeah.
Todd Miller:Yeah.
Todd Miller:I worked in there.
Todd Miller:Well, thanks.
Todd Miller:Timothy, you had flapjack, you worked at it there while also plus
Todd Miller:you get bonus points for using my word again, which was coconut water.
Todd Miller:So that was cool too.
Todd Miller:So good stuff.
Todd Miller:We had a little bit, a little bit of food, uh, stuff going on there anyway.
Todd Miller:Well, thank you again.
Todd Miller:Timothy has been a pleasure and, uh, enjoyed spending some time
Todd Miller:getting to know you a little bit.
Todd Miller:Timothy Wingate Jr.: Thank you so much, Todd, and I appreciate you as well, Ethan,
Todd Miller:for taking the time to meet with me.
Todd Miller:And I want to thank our audience for tuning into this
Todd Miller:very special episode of Construction Disruption with Timothy Wingate Jr.
Todd Miller:of G Plus F Business and Financial Consulting.
Todd Miller:Please watch for future episodes of our podcast.
Todd Miller:We're always blessed with great guests just like Timothy.
Todd Miller:Don't forget to leave a review, uh, on Apple podcast or YouTube until the next
Todd Miller:time we're together, though, keep on disrupting things, keep on challenging
Todd Miller:things, keep on looking for better ways of doing things and keep on making people
Todd Miller:smile, uh, doing those acts of service to make life a little bit better for others.
Todd Miller:Um, so God bless and take care.
Todd Miller:This is Isaiah Industries signing off until the next episode
Todd Miller:of Construction Disruption.
Intro:This podcast is produced by Isaiah Industries, manufacturer of specialty
Intro:metal roofing and other building products.