Here’s what is scribbled on me

(the stub for an $8,700 check?   hmmmm....):

Smith Job - cabinet trim  $3,000    

Brown Job – final trim labor draw $4,500

Jones job - trim damaged by plumber  $500    

Jacobs job – hardware   $500

I think it’s so much fun to see how much MORE my builder spends on me than he thinks!.......

Builder Dan was a little overloaded the day he paid the trim carpenter, wasn’t he?  He didn’t even notice that the breakdown on the carpenter’s bill didn’t add up to the total!  What was the extra $200 for anyway???   I wonder if he’ll EVER notice? (If he'd been entering the lines in CHS to print the check, or even after hand writing a check, he WOULD have noticed!  tee hee....)

$200

ALSO, in the middle of his chaos, Builder Dan didn’t notice that he had originally agreed to pay the carpenter $8,000 for the trim labor on the Brown job and had ALREADY paid him $4,000 on the first draw!  He should have paid him $4,000 this time, NOT $4,500!  (CHS would have warned him about the overage before printing the check!)

$500

$360

OH NO!   It GETS WORSE!   The trim carpenter’s insurance had expired before Builder Dan wrote my check to him!   NOW, the insurance company wants Builder Dan to pay 2.5% of the amount written for labor to cover the insurance!   Let’s see.... $8,000 was for labor and $200 couldn’t be explained, so Builder Dan has to pay 2.5% of $8,200 (or $205!).  TOO BAD Builder Dan didn’t have the CHS 2006 program.  CHS would have alerted him about the insurance expiration BEFORE he wrote the check.  Not only that, if he wanted, CHS 2006 would have calculated and deducted an insurance amount from the carpenter’s check for him!  (And this doesn’t even count any other checks to the carpenter!)

$205

SHHHH, he’s looking for me again!   I’m hiding!   Builder Dan is trying to figure out how much he paid for the damage done by the plumber on the Jones job, so that he can back charge the plumber.  He had to pay other trades for the damages, too!   Hee, hee!   Builder Dan thinks he found all the checks written for the damage, but he DIDN’T FIND ME!  Looks like he won’t get that $500 back!    Builder Dan ALSO spent an HOUR looking through the stubs!  I think his time is worth at LEAST $75 an hour!  (CHS would have warned him as soon as he entered the damage charges that were not budgeted!  And there's a back charge button right there!)

$575

MORE GROANS FROM BUILDER DAN!   NOW, the customer thinks Builder Dan should deduct $3,000 from the amount paid to him at closing!   That’s because the builder authorized $35,000 in “allowances” for the customer to pick out things like cabinets and appliances.  The customer doesn’t think the builder spent $35,000 on “allowance” items.  The builder is in a hurry to close!   He tried to find the time to go through his check stubs and pick out all of the allowance items, but didn’t.   WELL, I know my check stub had $3,000 on it for trim on the cabinets!  Do you think they noticed?   I guess Builder Dan needs to close.   He’s just going to agree to deduct the $3,000 rather than try to find it.  (CHS?  Click a button!  INSTANT Allowance and Cost Comparison reports!  Oh well...)

$3,000

I, as a proud check stub, feel SO IMPORTANT!   Builder Dan has already spent $4,840 on ME (OVER my check amount)!  And that WON’T be the end of it!  What About how many labor dollars he will spend when he's trying to find me to...

• Prepare 1099’s?

• Figure out why a job's costs were more than the job's budget?

• Gather job costs for an Interim Draw Request?

• Prepare a budget for a new job, so he'll know how much he paid for trim on past jobs?

• Prepare a list of vendors that were paid on a job to give to a customer?

• Prepare Waivers of Lien?

• And what else?   hmmm... Using up hours to find me costs money!  Builder Dan is going to need my stub info for so many things!  I guess he likes to spend money... (or he'd start using CHS and quit searching for me all the time!)

 (And that's just from me!  I wonder how much he loses on the other check stubs?

I hope Builder Dan never figures out how little it would cost to use the CHS program and avoid all of this!   CHS  would instantly find me every time Builder Dan needed me!  Then it wouldn’t be any fun anymore!   But I’m not worried...  I heard him say the other day that he couldn’t afford to spend money to buy a job costing program and the time to set it up!!  Now THAT is  interesting!