Includes index.

A contractor needs three basic things to be successful in business: an accountant, a calendar, and this book. Completely revised and updated, the advice in Smart Business for Contractors all but insures a contractor's increased efficiency and profitability. Kramon, a veteran contractor's attorney, walks his readers through details big and small that make the difference between contractors who have more work than they can do yet barely make ends meet and contractors who work at a manageable pace, keep up-to-date records, and turn a profit job after job, year after year. Covering the spectrum of a contractor's career, Smart Business for Contractors includes new detailed information on what a contractor can expect in his first year in business and updated information on tools every contractor needs to plan intelligently for retirement (yes, a contractor needs to begin planning for retirement during his first year in the business!). Also included in this revision is instruction on how to price jobs accurately, draft successful contracts, bill clients and collect payments, optimize every possible tax deduction available to contractors, including the applicable deduction for a home office. There is also timely information on flex-spending plans, record-keeping, and partnership and corporation options all geared toward increasing a contractor's efficiency and profitability.