Financial Clarity for trades businesses
Case Study
Advanced Framing
Construction
Industry
Commercial & residential framing
Team size
70 field crew, 20+ office staff
Systems
QuickBooks transitioning to NetSuite
Case Study
Advanced Framing
Construction
Industry
Commercial & residential framing
Team size
70 field crew, 20+ office staff
Systems
QuickBooks transitioning to NetSuite
You've heard it from a consultant, a peer group, maybe a LinkedIn post that popped up between job photos and equipment ads:
"You need a dashboard."
Maybe you do.
But a dashboard isn't much help if the books aren't right, the information lives in five different places, or your team is spending days manually moving data from one system to another. That's why we don't start with the dashboard.
We start by digging.
The Problem
Advanced Framing (ADF) is a large, growing framing contractor managing 20–30 active construction projects with more than 70 field employees and 20+ people in the office.
Like a lot of growing trades companies, they didn't have one big accounting problem. They had dozens of small processes that had worked when the company was smaller but became harder to manage as the business grew.
Vendor invoices were being manually entered into QuickBooks. PayApp preparation took approximately four days every month. The Controller spent much of every Wednesday comparing payroll information between two systems. Then a phased NetSuite implementation meant financial information temporarily lived in both QuickBooks and NetSuite. The financial information existed.
The problem was getting it connected, validated and into the hands of the people who needed to use it.
What We Did
We didn't start by asking, "What dashboard should we build?"
We asked questions.
Where does the information come from? Who uses it? What are they trying to decide? Where does the process break down? What should a human actually review, and what is the computer perfectly capable of doing for them?
Then we started fixing those problems one at a time.
We automated hundreds of vendor invoices instead of adding another AP employee. We connected project-cost information to the PayApp process, cutting approximately four days from monthly billing preparation and helping costs get billed sooner. We connected field-time and payroll data so the Controller could review the exceptions instead of manually proving hundreds of correct records were correct. And during the company's phased ERP implementation, we connected QuickBooks and NetSuite so management could maintain consolidated financial reporting while projects transitioned between systems.
Sometimes the Answer Isn't a Dashboard
One of my favorite examples had nothing to do with financial reporting. During the NetSuite implementation, the team had a material list of more than 700 inventory items that needed to be expanded by lumber length for the new material master. Doing that manually was taking days.
So Data Hounds Finance built a Power Query process in Excel that systematically expanded the material list by the required lengths. We deliberately kept the output in Excel because Excel was the easiest place for the team to review and validate it.
We also worked with the team to map the information needed for inventory material-master tracking, turning a manual process that could consume more than a week into something structured and repeatable. And sometimes our job is simply asking the questions that help the team see its own data differently. Those conversations helped the ADF team identify another opportunity in its pick-sheet process, which they are now developing internally using AI.
Not every problem needs a model. Not every problem needs a dashboard. But every solution starts with understanding where the information comes from, where it needs to go, and why.
The Result
Across the relationship:
AP automation saved approximately one full day of processing every week and avoided an expected additional hire.
The redesigned AP process represented more than $30,000 in expected annual payroll savings.
PayApp preparation accelerated by approximately four days, helping shorten the path from project cost to customer billing to cash.
Payroll reconciliation shifted from hours of manual comparison toward exception review across 50+ employees and 20–30 projects.
QuickBooks and NetSuite financial information stayed connected during a phased ERP transition, including the trailing 12-month reporting required by the company's bank.
Manual material-master preparation became a repeatable, reviewable Excel process instead of days of repetitive work.
The tools were different. The problems were different. The approach wasn't.
Clean the books.
Connect the data.
Put the information where the owner can use it.
Sometimes that's a dashboard. Sometimes it's Power Query in Excel. Sometimes it's connecting two systems that were never designed to talk to each other. And sometimes it's asking the right question before anyone builds anything at all.
The goal isn't more technology. It's making the information you already have work better for the people running the business.
"They fix the thing you asked about and they find the next thing before it becomes a problem."
Jeff H., CFO
From 10-Month-Old Financials to Yesterday's Results
We helped a metals distributor go from financials months behind to prior-day visibility into sales, margins, profitability, and performance. ...more
Case study
September 29, 2026•2 min read
Keeping Financial Reporting Working During an ERP Transition
We connected QuickBooks and NetSuite to keep financial reporting accurate and reliable while Advanced Framing transitioned to its new ERP in phases. ...more
Case study
September 29, 2026•2 min read
Turning an All-Day Payroll Reconciliation Into Exception Review
We connected field time to payroll, turning an all-day reconciliation into a faster exception review across 50+ employees and 20–30 projects. ...more
Case study
September 29, 2026•2 min read
Getting Construction Invoices Out 4 Days Faster
A smarter PayApp process helped Advanced Framing bill four days faster, capture costs sooner, and accelerate the path from project costs to cash. ...more
Case study
September 29, 2026•2 min read
Automating Accounts Payable in QuickBooks Online
One smarter AP process saved Advanced Framing a full day of work each week and $30K+ in expected annual payroll costs—without replacing QuickBooks. ...more
Case study
September 29, 2026•2 min read
Want to talk through where your business stands?
Book a 15-minute call for an honest look at what would actually help and let's work together.
