For a growing construction company, the accounting system that worked at the start has a way of revealing its limits at exactly the wrong moment. Reports that were once “good enough” stop answering the real questions. And when growth forces a change in how the books are kept, a system that can’t keep up turns a routine transition into a roadblock.
That was the moment Window Traditions reached. The 20-person construction company, with locations in Atlanta and Nashville, Georgia, had run its books in QuickBooks Online. As the business grew, the platform’s limits became harder to work around — and a required change in accounting method brought things to a head.
The questions were familiar ones for a growing contractor. How do we move to a system that can handle where the business is headed? How do we get reporting we can trust? And how do we make the switch without losing momentum?
THE CHALLENGE
When QuickBooks Can’t Keep Up With Growth
For Window Traditions, the core issue was that QuickBooks Online simply wasn’t a sophisticated enough accounting platform for the company’s size. Reporting was limited, and the system grew more difficult to use as the business expanded.
The breaking point was a change in accounting method. As the company grew, it needed to move from cash to accrual accounting — and QuickBooks wasn’t built to make that switch. According to Office Manager Amanda Cunningham, the transition was simply too difficult to manage in QuickBooks, and that was what finally pushed the company to look for a new solution.
“We were required to move from cash to accrual accounting, and QuickBooks just wasn’t set up for that.”
— Amanda Cunningham, Office Manager, Window Traditions
THE SOLUTION
A Smooth Move to a Platform Built to Scale
Window Traditions found its answer through a trusted source. The company’s owner, Dan, reached out to other owners in the industry to learn what they used — and a personal referral led the company to Sage Intacct and to Alliance Solutions Group.
From there, the implementation defied the usual expectations. Alliance laid out the full process from beginning to end, and the training team kept the project on track — answering questions on the spot or tracking down answers quickly. The result was a go-live that beat the timeline by a wide margin: Alliance had estimated five to seven months, but Window Traditions started in late January and went live on March 31.
“In a word: smooth sailing. The whole process from beginning to end — everything was accounted for.”
— Amanda Cunningham, Office Manager, Window Traditions
THE RESULTS
Real-Time Visibility and a Smoother Financial Workflow
The move to Sage Intacct changed how Window Traditions works day to day. For Amanda, the immediate gain was efficiency — recording and managing the company’s financials is faster and cleaner than it was in QuickBooks.
The bigger shift has been visibility for the owner. In QuickBooks, Dan had access to the books but no practical way to navigate them or pull what he needed. With Sage Intacct, he has a dashboard of his own — he can review AR, pull a P&L, or open a balance sheet whenever he wants, without waiting on a report.
- A dashboard for the owner — real-time visibility into AR, P&L, and the balance sheet, on demand.
- More efficient accounting — faster, cleaner recording and day-to-day financial work.
- Smoother communication — far less back-and-forth between the owner and accounting to answer “where do we stand?”
- A foundation for accrual accounting — the reporting sophistication QuickBooks couldn’t provide.
At a 20-person company where accounting runs through one person, the change shows up most in clarity and communication. The owner no longer has to ask where the business stands — he can see it himself, and the conversation between him and the accounting team has gotten markedly smoother.
“He has a dashboard now. He doesn’t need me to pull reports, and he doesn’t have to wonder where we stand at any given time.”
— Amanda Cunningham, Office Manager, Window Traditions
THE PARTNERSHIP
Fully Supported From Sales Through Go-Live
What stood out most to Window Traditions was the support — and the contrast with what came before. When the company had implemented QuickBooks, Amanda recalled, their data was loaded in and they were essentially left to figure it out on their own.
With Alliance, the experience was the opposite. From the first sales conversation through implementation and beyond, Window Traditions felt supported at every step. The training team’s preparation and responsiveness were what made the accelerated go-live possible.
“When we implemented QuickBooks, they threw our data in and said ‘here you go,’ and we were left to figure it out. That’s not what happened here — we’ve been fully supported the entire time.”
— Amanda Cunningham, Office Manager, Window Traditions
THE TAKEAWAY
A Scalable Foundation for Growing Construction Businesses
Window Traditions’ experience reflects a turning point many growing construction businesses reach. General-purpose accounting can hold a company back precisely when it’s trying to move forward — whether that’s adopting accrual accounting, producing reporting leadership can trust, or simply giving the owner a clear view of the numbers. Moving past that takes a platform built to scale and a partner to guide the switch.
By moving from QuickBooks to Sage Intacct with Alliance, Window Traditions gained the reporting sophistication its growth demanded, a faster path to go-live than expected, and an owner who can finally see the business in real time.
“We’d recommend Alliance to anybody in our industry. Hands down, 10 out of 10.”
— Amanda Cunningham, Office Manager, Window Traditions
For growing contractors weighing the same move, the takeaway is clear. The right platform scales with you. The right partner makes the transition smooth.
