About Us
A Long Beach CPA practice for trade and service businesses that want their accountant involved year-round.
Built for the Trades
CPA
Licensed in California
10+
Years in Accounting
Most trade businesses don't have a bookkeeping problem because they tried and failed. They have a bookkeeping problem because the work never got started. The business grew, jobs got busier, and the financial records never kept up. By the time tax season arrives, the owner is digging through bank statements and trying to reconstruct a year's worth of activity from memory.
That's where the real cost shows up. Not in the filing itself, but in everything that gets missed along the way. Equipment purchases that should have been depreciated. Subcontractor payments that weren't tracked properly. Vehicle expenses, materials, insurance. When the books don't exist, those deductions disappear. The business pays more in taxes than it should, and nobody catches it because there was nothing to catch it against.
TradeBuilt Accounting was started to close that gap. We handle the bookkeeping and the tax work under the same roof, which means the financial records stay current throughout the year and the tax strategy is built into the process from the start. There's no scramble in March. No reconstructing transactions from a stack of receipts. When it's time to file, the work is already done.
We also stay involved between filings. If you're thinking about buying a truck, adding a crew, or taking on a larger contract, those decisions are easier when you have accurate numbers to work from and an accountant who already knows your situation. That kind of planning only works when the books are clean and someone is paying attention to them regularly.
We work exclusively with service-based businesses in the trades. Contractors, electricians, plumbers, HVAC companies, landscapers, cleaning operations. That focus means we understand how these businesses run, where the financial blind spots tend to be, and what the books need to look like for both tax purposes and everyday decision-making.
Meet Michael Garr, CPA
I'm Michael Garr, a licensed CPA based in Long Beach. I run TradeBuilt Accounting, where I handle bookkeeping, tax preparation, and financial planning for contractors and trade businesses across the South Bay and Greater Los Angeles.
I earned my accounting degree and have spent over ten years working in the field, much of that time in family-operated practices that served individuals and small businesses. That environment shaped how I think about the work. You learn quickly that small business owners don't want a textbook explanation of their financials. They want to know if they're making money, how much they owe, and whether they can afford the thing they're about to buy. The job is to give them those answers clearly and on time.
What led me to start TradeBuilt was a pattern I couldn't ignore. I kept sitting down with contractors and trade business owners to prepare their tax returns, and nearly every time the story was the same. The business was doing well, but the books were either incomplete or nonexistent. We'd spend hours trying to piece things together, and every time, I could see deductions being lost simply because nothing was tracked throughout the year. These weren't careless people. They were busy running their businesses. The financial recordkeeping just never had anyone responsible for it.
I wanted to be that person, and not just at the end of the year. If I'm the one keeping the books and preparing the return, nothing gets lost in a handoff between two different firms. I see the full picture. I can flag things early, answer questions when they come up, and make sure the tax outcome reflects what the business actually did over the course of twelve months.
If you run a trade or service business in the Long Beach area and you've been getting by without real bookkeeping, I'd be glad to talk through what cleaning that up would look like. You can reach me directly.
Long Beach's CPA for Contractors and Trades
The Next Step:
A Quick Conversation
Tell us about your business and where you need help. We'll ask a few questions, let you know what we can do, and give you a quick quote.