Intro:

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.