How Fischman Asphalt cleared a 6-month construction bookkeeping backlog at 4x the pace

Chad and Cory Fischman are brothers who run two heavy civil and asphalt construction companies in Florida: Fischman Asphalt and Battlewagon Civil. For a long time Chad kept the books himself, on top of working in the field, running the business and wearing every other hat an owner wears.

As the companies grew, that stopped working. Chad handed all of the books and reconciliation reports to a well-known accounting firm that specializes in construction and heavy civil work in Florida. On paper it was the right move: an industry specialist taking over the finance function so the owners could focus on the work.

About six months later, Chad realized that none of the reconciliations had been done. In roughly half a year, the firm had worked through about 1,500 transactions and, in Chad's words, was “creating a bigger problem for us on a lot of levels.”

The fees, meanwhile, were extraordinary. They grew to the point that the Fischmans brought in an attorney.

“It was just a sad, difficult scenario for us.”

A construction company with books six months behind cannot show a lender, a bonding agent or an SBA program what it needs to see. The backlog spread into everything downstream.

• Funding stalled.

  “It became an issue with getting funded.”

• Loans were out of reach.

  “It became an issue with getting any type of loan. SBA, you name it.”

• Bills got harder to manage.

  “It became an issue with paying our bills.”

• Fees kept climbing.

  The cost went up while the work did not get done, to the point of legal involvement.

“We could not get anything because we did not have our books up to date.”

When Jaimin M., Twelix's founder, and the Twelix team took over, the first job was not the backlog. It was the bottleneck. Chad had been the only person who could find a bill, a statement or a piece of documentation, and every request landed on him.

1. 1

   Secure remote access instead of document chasing

   Twelix worked through several integration approaches with Chad and settled on secure remote access to his computer and accounts. Bills and documentation now come straight from his accounts, with no waiting on the owner.

   “That has been a game changer for us.”

2. 2

   The backlog cleared at scale

   Twelix processed 6,000 to 7,000 transactions and reconciliations in roughly the time the prior firm had managed about 1,500. Six months of backlog came current.

   “Their team is so fast.”

3. 3

   The whole close, owned end to end

   Day-to-day bookkeeping, reconciliations and the month-end close moved to Twelix in full, not in pieces. That took Chad off the desk as owner, bookkeeper and reconciliation person.

   “Relieved us of all of our bookkeeping chores and just all that admin stuff.”

4. 4

   A cadence that holds

   Phone calls and video chats on a regular rhythm, and Twelix follows up when the owner falls behind.

   “They've stayed on top of me. Sometimes I get behind, but they're on me. And I appreciate that because I need it.”