— GENERAL CONTRACTOR BOOKKEEPING SERVICES
General contractor bookkeeping that goes beyond basic number-crunching. We connect you with bookkeepers who understand job costing, retainage, subcontractor management, payroll, and the financial complexities that come with running a construction business.
Every general contractor has different bookkeeping needs. Whether you're a one-crew operation or managing multiple projects with subcontractors, our network of specialized bookkeepers handles the financials so you can focus on building.
Your books deserve someone who understands the trades. We connect you with bookkeepers who know the difference between a change order and an invoice — and how both hit your bottom line. Every transaction is recorded to the right job, every expense is categorized correctly, and your financials are always reconciled and ready for review.
Books organized by someone who gets construction.
Track labor, materials, subcontractor costs, equipment, and overhead for every project. See which jobs are making you money and which ones are eating into your margins. Accurate job costing helps you bid smarter, manage budgets, and grow your contracting business with confidence.
Know your true cost on every job.
Monthly P&L, balance sheets, cash flow reports, and job profitability summaries — delivered in plain English. No accounting jargon, no guessing. Just clear financial statements that help you make smarter business decisions and keep your CPA happy at tax time.
Reports that actually make sense for contractors.
Cash in, cash out — timing is everything in contracting. Stay on top of accounts receivable, accounts payable, retainage balances, and working capital so your operation never stalls waiting on a check. We track payment trends, monitor aging invoices, and help you plan around the cash flow gaps that are common in construction.
Keep your crews working, not waiting on payments.
Payroll for construction is more complex than most industries. Prevailing wage requirements, certified payroll reports, time tracking across multiple job sites, union reporting, and proper classification of employees vs. subcontractors — your bookkeeper handles it all. We also manage 1099 filing for subcontractors and ensure compliance with federal and state tax regulations.
Payroll done right, every pay period.
Managing vendor bills, subcontractor invoicing, material supplier payments, and client billing requires precise attention to detail. We track every dollar in and out, manage retainage receivable and payable, process progress billing, and follow up on overdue payments so your cash keeps flowing.
Every invoice tracked, every payment on time.
Construction businesses have unique tax deduction opportunities — vehicles, equipment depreciation, home office, materials, and subcontractor expenses. Your bookkeeper keeps your records organized year-round so your CPA or tax preparer can maximize deductions and file your tax return accurately. No last-minute scrambling, no missing receipts.
Save money on taxes with organized books.
QuickBooks is the most popular accounting software for contractors, but it needs to be set up correctly to handle construction bookkeeping. We configure your chart of accounts, job cost categories, class tracking, and vendor/customer lists so your QuickBooks file works the way a contractor needs it to. Already using QuickBooks? We can clean up your existing file and optimize it.
QuickBooks configured for construction, not retail.
Construction bookkeeping isn't the same as bookkeeping for a restaurant, retail store, or online business. General contractors face financial challenges that most bookkeepers aren't equipped to handle.
Getting started is simple. We match you with a bookkeeper who specializes in construction accounting — not a generalist who treats your contracting business like any other client.
Share the basics: how many projects you run, your crew size, current accounting software, and what bookkeeping challenges you're facing now.
We connect you with a bookkeeper experienced in general contractor accounting, job costing, and construction industry compliance.
Your bookkeeper reviews your existing books, sets up or cleans up your QuickBooks file, and establishes job cost categories and reporting schedules.
Monthly bookkeeping, financial reports, payroll processing, and year-end tax preparation support. Your financials are always complete, accurate, and up to date.
Construction bookkeeping covers a lot more than just invoicing and expense tracking. Here's a guide to the key areas your bookkeeper manages to keep your contracting business financially healthy.
Labor hours, material costs, subcontractor expenses, equipment charges, and overhead allocation for each project. Know your profitability on every job.
Client invoices, progress billing, aging reports, retainage receivable balances, and follow-up on overdue payments to keep cash flowing.
Material supplier invoices, subcontractor payments, retainage payable, equipment rentals, and vendor credit management.
Employee wages, overtime, benefits, prevailing wage rates, certified payroll reports, and time tracking across multiple job sites.
W-9 collection, lien waiver tracking, insurance certificate monitoring, payment processing, and year-end 1099 filing for all subcontractors.
Project budgets, cash flow projections, revenue forecasting, and variance analysis to help you plan for growth and manage risk.
Our bookkeeping network serves general contractors and trades professionals across the construction industry. Whether you handle residential remodels or commercial build-outs, we match you with someone who understands your trade.
Common questions from contractors about construction bookkeeping, accounting software, job costing, and outsourcing your books.
Construction bookkeeping is different because general contractors deal with job costing, retainage, progress billing, change orders, and prevailing wage requirements that don't exist in most other industries. A standard bookkeeper may not know how to track costs across multiple active projects, handle accounts receivable with retention holdbacks, or reconcile subcontractor payments against lien waivers.
Specialized construction bookkeeping accounts for long project timelines, fluctuating material costs, and complex revenue recognition methods like percentage-of-completion and completed-contract. The construction industry also has unique tax considerations including sales tax on materials, equipment depreciation schedules, and Section 179 deductions that a general bookkeeper might overlook.
General contractors should look for accounting software that supports job costing, change order tracking, AIA billing, subcontractor management, and certified payroll. QuickBooks for Contractors is a popular and well-known choice, but platforms like Sage 300 Construction, Deltek, Foundation Software, and Buildertrend offer more advanced features for larger operations.
Key features to evaluate include multi-job cost tracking, equipment cost allocation, retainage management, accounts payable automation, integrated time tracking for field crews, and the ability to generate WIP (Work in Progress) reports. The right software depends on the size of your company, the number of concurrent projects you manage, and whether you need certified payroll or prevailing wage tracking.
Most contractors aren't trained in accounting, and trying to handle the books yourself — or having your spouse do it — often leads to missed deductions, inaccurate job costs, and compliance headaches. Outsourcing your bookkeeping to a specialist saves time, reduces risk, and gives you precise financial data to run your business by the numbers.
A specialized bookkeeper also provides an objective view of your financials. They can spot trends in your overhead costs, identify unprofitable job types, and flag cash flow problems before they become emergencies. For many contractors, the cost of a bookkeeper pays for itself through better tax deductions, fewer accounting errors, and the hours you save not wrestling with QuickBooks.
Bookkeeping services for construction companies typically cost between $500 and $3,000 per month depending on the number of active projects, employees, and transaction volume. A small general contractor with 5-10 jobs per year might pay $500 to $1,000 monthly, while a larger operation running multiple crews with subcontractors, certified payroll, and prevailing wage requirements could invest $2,000 to $3,000 or more.
Many bookkeeping firms offer tiered pricing based on revenue, transaction count, and the complexity of your construction accounting needs. Some also offer hourly rates between $40 and $100 per hour for contractors who need periodic rather than full-time bookkeeping support.
A construction bookkeeper handles accounts payable and accounts receivable, processes payroll, tracks job costs against budgets, reconciles bank and credit card statements, manages subcontractor payments and 1099s, prepares financial statements, and keeps your books organized for tax season.
They ensure every expense is recorded to the correct job, monitor cash flow so you can cover materials and labor, and provide monthly financial reports so you always know where your money is going. A good construction bookkeeper also manages retainage tracking, produces job profitability reports, handles sales tax filings on materials, and coordinates with your CPA for year-end tax preparation.
Yes, QuickBooks is widely used for construction bookkeeping. QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop both support job costing through the Projects feature, and QuickBooks Desktop Contractor Edition includes specialized tools for AIA billing, certified payroll, and change order tracking.
However, QuickBooks requires proper setup to be effective for construction accounting. A well-organized chart of accounts, job cost categories, and class tracking are essential. Many contractors start using QuickBooks without proper configuration and end up with messy books that don't provide useful job costing data. Working with a bookkeeper who specializes in QuickBooks for contractors ensures your file is set up correctly from day one.
Job costing is the process of tracking all expenses — labor, materials, subcontractor costs, equipment, and overhead — against each individual construction project. It tells you whether a specific job is profitable or losing money, and by how much.
Without accurate job costing, contractors often don't know their true margins until a project is complete. By then, it's too late to course-correct. Proper job costing helps general contractors bid more accurately on future work, identify cost overruns early, manage budgets in real time, and make data-driven decisions about which types of projects are most profitable for their business.
Construction bookkeeping improves cash flow by tracking accounts receivable aging, scheduling vendor payments strategically, monitoring retainage balances, and providing accurate cash flow projections. A good bookkeeper ensures invoices go out promptly, follows up on overdue payments, and helps you time your expenses so you're not paying subcontractors and suppliers before you've collected from clients.
Cash flow management is especially critical for contractors because construction projects often have long payment cycles — sometimes 60 to 90 days — and retainage holdbacks that can keep 5% to 10% of your revenue tied up for months. Understanding these trends and planning for them is the difference between a healthy operation and one that's always scrambling to make payroll.
Retainage is a percentage of payment — typically 5% to 10% — that project owners or general contractors withhold from progress payments until a project is substantially complete. It's standard practice in construction but creates significant bookkeeping complexity.
Retainage affects bookkeeping because it creates a gap between billed revenue and collected revenue that must be tracked as a separate accounts receivable line item. Both retainage receivable (money owed to you) and retainage payable (money you're holding from subcontractors) need to be managed carefully on your balance sheet. Improper retainage tracking is one of the most common bookkeeping mistakes in construction and can significantly distort your cash flow picture and financial statements.
Yes. Construction projects involve unique financial challenges including progress billing, retainage, prevailing wage compliance, subcontractor lien waiver tracking, equipment depreciation, and revenue recognition methods specific to long-term contracts. A general bookkeeper without construction experience may misclassify costs, fail to track retainage properly, or not understand the difference between completed-contract and percentage-of-completion accounting.
Specialized construction bookkeeping ensures your financial records are accurate, compliant, and provide the insights needed to run a profitable contracting business. It's not just about recording transactions — it's about organizing your financial data in a way that helps you make better decisions on every job you bid and every project you build.
Every contractor's situation is different. Whether you need a complete bookkeeping overhaul or just help with job costing and payroll, let's talk about your business — no cost, no commitment.
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