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Before Fiducial landed them as a client, Teets Excavating seemed “like a puzzle that was in pieces,” according to Valerie Teets who assists husband Glenn in the operation of this busy excavation business in Manassas, VA.

After the Teets’ long-time CPA became ill and passed away all their business records were lost. That’s when Fiducial stepped in and literally came to the company’s rescue three years ago.

“Fiducial came in and put it all back together,” said Valerie who serves the company as secretary and office manager. “They kept us confident in what they were doing. They never hesitated to double check on things.”

Shannon Hagerich, a CPA and Fiducial business advisor based in Manassas, remembers the efforts to resurrect the Teets’ business records.

“The records were not in great shape and it seemed like we were trying to reconstruct numbers,” said Hagerich. “Their accountant forgot to put in an expense item that cost them $30,000. We got that cleared up and they used the money to purchase some more equipment.”

Putting everything back in order

It was a challenge at first to reconstruct the financial data from scratch but Hagerich says after they were able to get that first tax result, the Teets were more than willing to listen to her advice. From that point on, the Teets kept even better business records after being shown how to improve their bookkeeping.

These days, Valerie says there’s no doubt about where any business records are and how to interpret them. Whether she needs to find the amortization rates, payroll data or the new insurance rates on workman’s compensation, she knows that when she looks in the books she’ll get the answers she’s seeking.

“Now when I look in the books I know when it’s time to purchase new equipment,” Valerie said. “They’ve put everything back in order for us to feel comfortable that it’s accurate.”

Accurate and reliable financial records helped make it easier for the Teets to get a loan to build a second business “because everything was in order.” They recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of their second business—Apollo Gymnastics.

Among the ways Fiducial has helped Teets Excavating include resolving IRS notices; preparing various payroll reports, setting up new businesses (payroll accounts, employer identification numbers, etc.), daily accounting tasks, making client aware of tax law changes, tax preparation, consulting and determining ways to reduce overall tax liabilities.

Fiducial also helped enroll Glenn and his workers in a 401(k) plan and profit sharing plan that will help them retain employees and attract new ones. Not only has this helped secure the Teets’ retirement but given the company tax breaks as well.

Valerie remains impressed with the prompt attention and swift response time the company receives from Fiducial advisors.

“I can call the Manassas office and whoever answers the phone knows it’s me,” she said. “It’s like a family. Wow! These guys are great. I can’t say enough about them. We felt like we were the only clients that existed. They moved so quickly and were so thorough that we were very comfortable.”

Freeing the way for expansion

After their business records were lost, Glenn realized that his company faced some serious problems. It seemed that no matter how hard he and his crew worked it was tough for them to make much headway at the end of the year especially with their heavy tax burden. Having been in the construction industry for 32 years including 24 with his current business, he knows what a difference it makes having some working capital especially to upgrade equipment and keep up with rising demand. Before Fiducial came along, his company was paying out an awful lot in taxes each year which made expanding the business difficult.

After Fiducial got caught up on all the Teets’ back work including resubmitting tax returns, he discovered that some of his money was finally being freed up so it could be used to help the business rather than going towards taxes.

“We’ve saved quite a bit of money by Fiducial knowing the tax laws,” Glenn said.

It’s certainly a family affair for the Teets’ in the excavating business. In addition to his wife, a daughter, Mandy, works in the office while a son, Jason, is an operator out in the field. Another son, Curtis, will be joining the team after serving in the U.S. Army. Glenn’s brother, Terrance, and father, Glenn Sr., also work for the company.

Teets Excavating has a full schedule these days doing work on new home building projects. Since his business was showing “too much profit,” Fiducial advised that he needed to get some additional tax write-offs. With the expanded work load came the need for more equipment. They recently purchased two pieces of heavy equipment including a front end loader and a bulldozer.

Yes, things are going well for the company but Glenn’s quick to point out that couldn’t have happened without Fiducial’s expert guidance.

“My company wouldn’t be half the size it is today without Fiducial’s help and I don’t know if we would even be in the business,” he said. “Before Fiducial came in I couldn’t grow the business because everything went into paying taxes. Now I’ve got money to spend.”