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Industries · construction & contractors

Per-job truth — not one blurred P&L.

Job costing inside QuickBooks, WIP that stops the monthly whipsaw, retainage tracked as the separate money it is, and subcontractor records that make January easy. Books built the way contractors actually bid, build, and bill.

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Bookkeeping side only on 1099s and tax questions — filings and determinations stay with your CPA.

Job-costed, every dollar 40 years, ProAdvisor-led
JOB 014 MARGIN ✓ JOB 015 WIP ✓ JOB 016 RETAINAGE ◌ LABOR MATERIALS SUBS · 1099 EVERY JOB ITS OWN P&L · ONE COMPANY TRUTH

In brief

Construction books, in plain terms.

What's the core discipline?

Job costing: every dollar of labor, materials, subs, and equipment coded to the job that consumed it — so each project carries its own P&L and "did this job make money?" has an actual answer.

Why does my P&L whipsaw month to month?

Billing and costs land in different months on unfinished work. WIP tracking — earned versus billed, per job — bridges the gap so the monthly statement tells the truth instead of the timing.

What about retainage and subs?

Retainage tracked as its own receivable (and payable, on subs you hold from), never blended into regular AR; subcontractor payments and W-9s kept 1099-ready all year. Filings stay with your CPA.

What does it cost?

Monthly from ~$450 (job costing puts most contractors mid-range of $450–$1,500), cleanup typically $1,500–$5,000. Fixed fee in writing after a free review. Pricing →

The work, concretely

Four disciplines that keep contractor books true.

Job costing in QuickBooks

Jobs structured properly in your file — set up once, right — so coding to a job is the default path, not a monthly favor someone forgets.

WIP & progress billing

Earned versus billed per job, progress invoices tracked against contract values — the monthly statement stops whipsawing and starts informing.

Retainage, both directions

Held-back money tracked as the separate asset and liability it is — so the collections picture and the cash-flow view match contract reality.

Sub & 1099 records

Payments by payee, W-9s current, year-end totals organized — January becomes a handoff to your CPA, not a hunt. (Filings and worker-classification calls are theirs.)

Forty years of operational books — contractors among them in the long list — and the same operator model as every file: one senior person who learns how your jobs actually run, led by David and reviewed to his standard. Books never costed by job before? The cleanup rebuilds what the documentation supports and says plainly where it doesn't.

Construction FAQ

The questions contractors ask.

Coding every dollar of labor, materials, subcontractors, and equipment to the specific job that consumed it — so each project carries its own P&L instead of disappearing into one blurred company total. Done properly inside QuickBooks, job costing answers the only question that matters per project: did this job actually make money, and where did it leak if it didn't?
Work in progress is the accounting bridge between what you've spent on unfinished jobs and what you've billed for them. Without it, a contractor's P&L whipsaws — months look falsely rich when big invoices go out and falsely poor when costs land first. WIP tracking smooths the story to the truth: earned versus billed, job by job, so the monthly numbers mean something.
As its own receivable, separate from regular AR. The 5–10% an owner holds back until completion is money you've earned but can't collect yet — and if it's blended into normal receivables, your collections picture lies to you. We track retainage receivable (and retainage you hold on subs, payable) distinctly, so cash expectations match contract reality.
The bookkeeping side, yes: subcontractor payments tracked cleanly by payee all year, W-9 documentation kept current, and year-end totals organized so your 1099 filings are a handoff, not a scramble. The filings themselves and any tax determinations — employee-vs-contractor questions above all — belong with your CPA; we keep the records that make their answer easy.
Yes — it's a cleanup with a construction-shaped order of operations: rebuild the transaction record, then allocate to jobs from invoices, timesheets, and supplier records as far as the documentation supports, and tell you plainly where history is too blurred to allocate. Going forward, the structure makes job costing automatic rather than archaeological.
Published framing, honestly applied: monthly bookkeeping from around $450/month, typically $450–$1,500 — job costing, WIP, and retainage put most contractors in the middle of that range, not at the floor — and a one-time cleanup typically $1,500–$5,000. Fixed fee in writing after a free review.

More industries: who we serve → · the steady rhythm underneath it all: monthly bookkeeping →

For builders & trades

Find out which jobs actually made money — free review.

A senior operator looks at how your jobs flow through the books today and scopes the fix in writing — job costing, WIP, retainage, the works. Fixed fee, no hourly meter.

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Per-job truth 1099-ready Januarys Fixed fee, in writing
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