Hiring a Bookkeeper for Your Plumbing Business? Ask These Questions First
Most plumbers don't hire a bookkeeper until something hurts. Tax time gets ugly. Or the bank balance stops making sense. By then you just want someone to take the pile off your desk.
That's fair. But the first conversation matters more than people think. A few good questions will tell you fast whether this person gets how a plumbing business actually runs.
Here's what we'd ask if we were sitting on your side of the table.
"How would you split service calls from new construction?"
A lot of plumbing shops do both. A drain call on a Tuesday and a rough-in on a new build out in Belgrade are very different kinds of work. They get priced different, paid different, and they eat up your time different.
If your books lump them together, you can't tell which side is carrying the business. A good bookkeeper should have a plan for keeping them apart without making you do extra paperwork in the truck. Our post on figuring out which construction jobs actually made a profit shows why this matters on the build side.
"What do you do with the parts on my trucks?"
Every plumber carries stock. Fittings, valves, maybe a water heater or two. Some of it gets used this week. Some of it rides around for months.
Ask how they'd handle that. You don't need a perfect answer. You want to hear that they've thought about it, and that they'll ask how you buy parts before they set anything up. If they've never heard the term "truck stock," that tells you something.
"How fast will I hear back from you?"
Plumbing doesn't run on a schedule. One cold snap in a Montana January can fill your week with frozen and burst pipes. That's when a question about a big supplier bill or a payroll problem can't wait until next Friday.
Ask them straight up how long it takes to get an answer. At Blackfin, we respond the same day. Whoever you pick, get a real answer, not "we'll be in touch."
"Who handles my taxes?"
Some bookkeepers stop at the books. Then you hand everything to someone else at tax time, and that person has questions about stuff nobody wrote down.
That handoff is where things fall through the cracks. Ask if they do both, or who they work with. If you're not sure which kind of help you need, we wrote about the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant.
"How do you handle my helpers and subs?"
Plenty of plumbing shops use a mix of employees and outside help on bigger jobs. How those people get paid and recorded matters. Our post on what changes in your books with 1099 contractors versus W-2 employees covers the basics.
You're not looking for a legal opinion in the first call. You just want to hear that they know it's a thing and they'll ask about it.
"What will I get from you each month?"
This one is simple. What shows up in your inbox, and when? A profit and loss? A list of who owes you? A quick call to go over it?
If they can't tell you, you won't know what you're paying for. Also ask what you need to keep on your end. For that, our guide to which records a Montana contractor should keep and for how long is a good place to start.
A few red flags
They talk a lot and don't ask about your jobs.
They can't explain their setup in plain English.
They take a week to answer the first email.
They promise big tax savings before they've seen a single number.
Let's talk
If you run a plumbing business in Bozeman or anywhere in the Gallatin Valley, we're happy to have that first conversation. Bring your questions. We'll ask plenty of our own too.
We handle bookkeeping and tax under one roof, and you can see how it works on our Bozeman bookkeeping and tax services page. Or just give us a call at 406-404-8955.