Small businesses represent 99.9 percent of all U.S. businesses and employ roughly 59 million people, nearly half of the private-sector workforce. Construction companies make up a large share of that number, and their owners make value decisions every day, from the cost and value of a Milwaukee M18 9.0 battery to the price of a new trailer. A new study from Equitable, conducted with SCORE, the national small business mentoring organization, surveyed more than 700 small business owners and found that eight in ten say financial professionals drive smarter decisions.
The study, called The Advantage of Advice, explored how trusted advisory relationships influence decision-making, shape planning strategies, and contribute to long-term success. The headline finding: owners who work with financial professionals report more confidence, faster growth, earlier retirement, and stronger teams. The sections below walk through the data, the systems that save time, and the buying habits that protect the bottom line.
What 700 Small Business Owners Reported
The survey results give construction owners a useful benchmark. Eighty-three percent of small business owners consider it important to work with a financial professional for business guidance, and most rank external advice above input from family and friends. Owners turn to financial professionals, accountants, business mentors, bankers, lawyers, and insurance agents, and trust in one advisor often leads to valuing the broader network.
The Study at a Glance
| Finding | Share | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Owners who value advice feel more confident | 8 in 10 | Advice is tied to better decisions |
| Important to work with a financial professional | 83% | Guidance is a priority, not an option |
| Millennial owners seek advisors | 2x vs. Gen X and boomers | Younger owners start sooner |
| Early-stage firms (2 to 5 years) engage advisors | 50% more likely | Advice pays off during growth |
Who Seeks Advice First
The generational gap is the clearest signal in the data. Millennial owners are twice as likely to work with a financial professional compared with their Gen X and baby boomer counterparts, and businesses operating two to five years are 50 percent more likely to engage strategic advisors than firms past the 20-year mark. The pattern suggests advice delivers the most value while a business is scaling, and it is least common among owners who built their systems long ago.
Putting the Findings to Work
The same value discipline shows up in how owners spend on professional development. Construction professionals who plan ahead can save on conference registration and maximize attendance value, which frees money for the advisor relationships that drive growth. Owners who treat advice as an investment, not an expense, tend to apply the same logic to every line of the budget, and they build a team of outside experts the way they build a crew: one trusted hire at a time.
Financial Systems That Save Time
Advice works best on top of clean books. Owners who set up financial systems and processes to save time free themselves for estimating, bidding, and selling, the activities that actually bring in revenue. Without clean records, even the best advisor is guessing.
Five Steps to a Working Bookkeeping Routine
- Separate business and personal accounts, including credit cards, from day one
- Job-cost every project so each bid shows its true profit
- Reconcile the bank account weekly while transactions are still familiar
- Automate invoicing and payment reminders to shorten the cash cycle
- Review a monthly profit-and-loss statement against the annual budget
The routine sounds simple, but the payoff compounds. Contractors who job-cost consistently can drop losing bid categories within a quarter, and weekly reconciliation catches bank errors and double charges while they are still fixable. The five steps take about an hour a week once they become habit, which is less than most owners spend hunting for receipts at tax time.
The Numbers to Review Weekly
- Cash balance and upcoming obligations
- Accounts receivable aging, especially past-due invoices
- Open estimates and their win rate
- Labor hours and overtime by project
- Tool and equipment spending against the annual budget
Strategic Tool Procurement
Equipment is usually the second-biggest line on a contractor’s books after labor, and it is where value discipline pays the fastest. Strategic tool procurement treats every purchase as a decision with a payback period instead of a reflex.
Total Cost of Ownership
The sticker price is a fraction of the real cost. Total cost of ownership adds maintenance, downtime, consumables, and disposal, then subtracts resale value. A $400 saw that runs five years with $60 a year in maintenance and $150 resale costs less per year than a $250 saw that fails in eighteen months with no warranty support. Include training time in the calculation, since a new tool only pays for itself when crews actually use it. The math changes when a crew shares a tool across two jobsites: utilization goes up, the payback period shortens, and a second unit may beat a rental.
When Renting Beats Buying
The rule of thumb most fleet managers use: if a tool will be used more than three days a week, own it; if it sits on a shelf, rent it. Specialized equipment used once a season, such as a plate compactor or a demolition hammer, rents cheaper than it buys, and the rental fee includes the maintenance the owner would otherwise carry. Rental costs belong in the bid like any other line item.
Hand Tool Quality Assessment
Hand tools hide their cost differences better than any other category. A $10 hammer and a $45 hammer look similar on the shelf, but the cheaper one often fails at the worst moment. Run a hand tool quality assessment before checkout, and the pattern becomes obvious.
What to Check Before You Buy
- Steel grade: chrome vanadium and chrome molybdenum resist bending and breaking
- Manufacturing method: forged heads outlast cast heads
- Balance: the tool should sit naturally in the hand with the weight toward the head
- Handle attachment: through-tang designs beat glued or pressed handles
- Warranty terms: lifetime coverage signals manufacturer confidence
Price Bands and Warranty Terms
Quality follows predictable bands. Budget tools work for occasional home use, mid-range tools handle daily professional work for years, and premium tools add marginal gains in weight and balance that matter to someone swinging them all day. Match the band to the use, and spend the difference on the tools that get used hardest. The same assessment applies to every tool in the box, not just hammers, because a failure in any one of them stops the job. For the tools that stay in a truck all week, the premium band usually earns its keep.
Platform Strategy: Combo Kits and Battery Systems
Cordless tools lock buyers into a battery platform, and that lock-in is worth more than any single sale. Evaluating cordless power tool combo kits by platform strategy prevents the most expensive mistake in the category: owning three brands, three chargers, and batteries that fit nothing. The same thinking applies to cordless tools that it applies to trucks: the system you standardize on determines what you can run, fix, and expand later.
One Platform or Two?
Most contractors settle on a single platform for everyday tools, then add a second only for a specialty line the main brand does not offer well. Within a platform, match the battery to the task: compact 2.0 amp-hour packs suit drills and drivers, while 5.0 and larger packs feed saws and grinders. A second charger at the shop and a 12-volt inverter in the truck keep batteries topped up without waiting, and buying bare tools instead of full kits saves money once the chargers and batteries are already on the truck.
Plan for battery replacement when you buy the kit. Batteries wear out in two to four years under daily use, so judge a kit price with a spare pack and a future replacement in mind. Most manufacturers publish the charge cycle rating for each pack, which is a better planning number than the marketing claim on the box.
Advice pays for itself in most categories, and tool buying is no exception. Specialty tool stores still deliver better value for the same reason the advisor study found: an expert who knows the trade saves the buyer more than the markup costs. Specialty dealers demo tools, service what they sell, and steer customers away from the wrong purchase.
The pattern across all of this stays consistent. Owners who bring in outside expertise, whether a financial professional or a tool specialist, make better decisions than owners who go it alone, and the savings show up in the same place: the bottom line. The businesses that pair clean books with disciplined buying are the ones that grow faster, retire earlier, and leave their teams stronger. Construction runs on trust, and the numbers back it up: businesses with steady advice win bids, keep crews, and weather downturns better.