by Laura Schomaker | Jun 2, 2026 | Expert advice
Why year-end WIP surprises happen so often in construction In October, everything looks solid. Margins are holding. Backlog is strong. Projects appear to be tracking right where they should. Then January arrives, and the audit tells a different story. A job that...
by Laura Schomaker | May 26, 2026 | Acumatica, ERP Research
On paper, the job still looks profitable. Costs are within budget. Billings are on track. The spreadsheet says everything is fine. Then month-end hits. Finance updates cost-to-complete, reconciles change orders—and the margin disappears. Nothing changed overnight. The...
by Laura Schomaker | May 19, 2026 | Acumatica, Budgeting, Expert advice
In most construction firms, change orders don’t fail because they’re complicated. They fail because no one owns the full process. A scope change gets approved in the field on Tuesday. Work starts Wednesday. Finance doesn’t see it until Friday—and by then, the paper...
by Laura Schomaker | May 12, 2026 | Acumatica, ERP Research, Expert advice
You sit through a great demo… and still end up with the wrong system You sit through a construction ERP demo. The dashboards are clean. The workflows look seamless. Everything appears to just… work. But six months later, your team is still reconciling job costs in...
by Laura Schomaker | May 5, 2026 | Expert advice
If you’ve been in construction long enough, you’ve probably lived through this moment. On paper, the job looks fine. The spreadsheet doesn’t show any obvious red flags. Labor is trending a little high, but still within range. You’ve accounted for most material...
