Chad and Kristin Shaules, co-owners of Cornerstone Development Company, were just bringing a baby into the world when Chad approached his wife about quitting his job and starting a business. At the time, Chad was chasing the corporate ladder within a big company while Kristin was working as a freelance cosmetologist. Together, they decided to take the leap and go all in - they sold their house and their cars and quit their jobs.
Kristin Shaules, Owner and Design Coordinator, openly admits, “the first year was a lot.” Not only was there a new baby to care for, but the Shaules’ were also trying to get a new business off the ground.
Kristin and Chad explained the complexity involved with getting their business going. “You have the logistics of scheduling bidding projects, figuring out how much things cost.” “We’ve got to figure out how to write an estimate. We needed to figure out how to structure this business and we stumbled upon QuickBooks. We didn’t have any work but man, we were writing a lot of estimates.” “Eventually, we did have a project that we needed to invoice. So, with QuickBooks, we were able to support this new company on its way up.”
The Shaules’ diversified their business “rather quickly”, creating 3 subsidiaries under the parent company, Cornerstone Development Company - Cornerstone Utility Engineering, focused on high-voltage utility engineering, Cornerstone Construction Company, focused on home and commercial building, and Cornerstone Consulting Services, focused on environmental consulting. As they grew, QuickBooks scaled alongside them.
The Shaules’ say that they love home building because it’s a fun, creative outlet where you take a set of plans, design them, and then watch a home be built into something beautiful. On the other hand, Chad Shaules says “It is not easy to understand the impacts of payroll, vendor purchase orders, management reports, all in one platform and, ultimately, that’s why we chose QuickBooks Online Advanced.”
Cornerstone Development Company services large customers and, like many construction and development companies, has to float payroll for upwards of 14 or 15 months before getting paid on projects. QuickBooks reporting has helped them track their cash flow. The Shaules’ have set up a cash flow tracker within QuickBooks Online Advanced that, as Chad describes it, “very simply gives me a trajectory of where we are going for the next few quarters.”
Cornerstone Development Company uses QuickBooks Online Advanced, QuickBooks Payroll and QuickBooks Time together to manage their business. Chad Shaules explains their workflow and how the products seamlessly work together. “You know, estimate, project, assign the work in QuickBooks Time, roll it out. And then on the backend, we invoice the customer. But ultimately, this isn’t about us, but it’s about the people who make your business move forward. It’s important that our people get paid on time because of QuickBooks. Our people understand their benefit structure because of QuickBooks.”
For owners and company leaders, Kristin Shaules explains, “QuickBooks allows us to have eyes on everything from a 5,000-foot view without being in the weeds. It’s robust enough to be able to handle all the functionalities that we need as business owners and yet it’s simple enough that we don’t have to put extra time and energy into it.”
Cornerstone Development Company has continued to thrive while refining and becoming more efficient, and QuickBooks continues to provide the tools to help them make sure their company will be around in 20, 30 or 40 years.
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