Contractors and trades · any state
Bookkeeping that follows the job, for contractors in any state
Reconciled books every month, costs tracked to the job they belong to, payroll registered in the states your crews actually work in. Built for a company with a truck and a crew, not a corporate controller.
Most contractors are not short of a bookkeeper. They are short of a bookkeeper who knows that a deposit is not income, that retainage is money you have earned and cannot spend, and that a job which looks profitable in March can be the one that sinks the year in September. Requests from this site go to one independent bookkeeping firm that works on construction books all day, in every state. The first conversation is free.
Requests answered within one business day · Calls Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm Eastern
From $250 a month · Any state · Payroll included if you need it
What contractor bookkeeping costs
Engagements start at $250 a month. Across the market, monthly bookkeeping for a small contractor generally runs $400 to $1,500 depending on transaction volume, how many jobs are open at once, and whether payroll is included. A cleanup is quoted as a project: a deposit up front, then a monthly retainer until the books are current.
Why contractor books are different
A retail shop sells a thing and gets paid for it in the same breath. A contractor gets a deposit before the work, buys materials before the invoice, pays a crew on Friday for a job that bills on the thirtieth, and may wait ninety days for the last ten percent. Ordinary bookkeeping records those as they land in the bank and produces a profit and loss statement that is true about the bank and false about the business.
Construction bookkeeping records them against the job. Every dollar of labour, materials, subcontractor and equipment is coded to the job it belongs to, and revenue is recognised as the work is earned rather than as the cash arrives. That is the whole trick, and everything else on this site is a consequence of it: job cost reports, WIP schedules, over- and under-billing, and a January that holds no surprises.
Where the money hides on a contractor’s P&L
Under-billings
Work you have done and not yet invoiced. It is the most common reason a busy contractor is broke: the P&L looks fine, the jobs are moving, and the cash is sitting in other people’s accounts because nobody has billed the last two progress draws.
Unbilled change orders
The extra bathroom outlet, the second coat, the rock under the footing. Agreed on site, done, never written up, never charged. On a remodel these routinely add up to five figures a year that the owner simply gave away.
Retainage receivable
The five or ten percent held back on every commercial job until completion. Money you have earned and cannot spend. It belongs on the balance sheet as its own line, not buried in receivables where it makes you look collectible when you are not.
Labour burden
A crew member on $28 an hour costs the job closer to $38 once payroll taxes, workers’ comp and any benefits are added. Bid at $28 and every job is underpriced by the burden. The books should carry the burdened rate so the job cost report and the estimate are speaking the same language.
Is this for your company?
- Two to forty people on payroll or paid as subs, and you are still the estimator
- Jobs that run longer than a month, take deposits, or hold retainage
- More than one job open at once, so you cannot tell which one made money
- Service calls and bid work on the same P&L, with one blended margin
- Books that are behind, or kept by someone who treats a deposit as income
Probably not yet: a one-person business with a few dozen transactions a month and books you keep current yourself. Your bookkeeper will say so if that is you, and the guides on this site are free either way.
How it starts
You send a request or call. Within one business day someone on your bookkeeper’s operations team replies and sets up a conversation about the company: what trades, how many on the crew, what software, how you bid and how you bill. Then your bookkeeper takes a look at the books as they stand and writes a short, honest assessment of their state.
From that comes a quote. For a company whose books are current, that is a monthly figure. For one that is behind, it is a project: a deposit up front, a monthly retainer while the catch-up runs, and then the ordinary monthly figure once the books are clean. Nothing is quoted sight unseen, because a number quoted that way is either padded for the worst case or wrong.
If you are reading this with a tax deadline in view, say so in the request. Your bookkeeper prioritises catch-up work against a date and will tell you plainly whether the date is reachable.
What you get every month
Bank and credit card accounts reconciled. Every transaction coded to a job or a department as well as an account. Accounts payable and receivable aged so you know who you owe and who owes you, including retainage held in both directions. Payroll run, filed and paid in every state where your people work.
And the reports that make the rest worth doing: a profit and loss by job, a job cost report against the estimate for every open job, and a work-in-progress schedule showing where each job stands against what has been billed. If you have ever been asked for a WIP schedule by a bank or a bonding agent and not known what they meant, this is the document, and it is produced every month rather than reconstructed in a panic.
Working with your tax preparer
Keeping the books and filing the return are different disciplines, and the hand-off between them is where contractors lose money in January. Your bookkeeper closes the year with a package built for whoever prepares your return: reconciled statements, a fixed-asset list, loan balances, 1099 data for your subs, and the WIP schedule a preparer needs to apply whichever contract accounting method you are on. If you do not have a preparer, say so; the package is the same either way, and your bookkeeper will work alongside whoever you choose.
What your bookkeeper handles
- Construction Bookkeeping Services
- Contractor Bookkeeping for Trades and Service Companies
- Construction Payroll Services
- Job Costing and WIP Reports for Contractors
- Construction Bookkeeping Cleanup and Catch-Up
Who this is written for
Trades differ more than most bookkeepers admit. A plumber running service calls and a general contractor carrying retainage on six open jobs need different reports, different cost structures and a different conversation in January. Each page below is about one kind of business and what its books tend to get wrong.
- General Contractorsretainage in both directions, a WIP schedule the surety will ask for, and subs to pay
- Plumbersservice tickets and new-construction rough-ins on the same P&L, which hides which one makes money
- HVAC Companiesmaintenance agreements paid up front, equipment on distributor terms, and a cash flow that peaks in July
- Electrical Contractorscopper prices move the material line month to month; apprentice payroll moves the labour line
- Landscapersrecurring maintenance paid ahead, install jobs paid behind, and a crew that doubles in April
- Roofersinsurance jobs with holdbacks and supplements; a storm month that looks like a great year
- Painterslabour is the job; the books have to show hours against the bid
- Remodelersallowances, selections and change orders on a job that runs six months
- Pool Buildersphased draws from dig to plaster on a build that spans a year-end
- Handyman Businessesforty small invoices a month and a truck that is also the family car
- Concrete & Excavationequipment-heavy: loans, fuel, hauling and the cost of an idle machine
Guides
- Construction Accounting 101 for a Small Contractor
- QuickBooks for Contractors: A Setup That Does Not Fall Apart
- Job Costing in QuickBooks Online, Step by Step
- Progress Billing, Retainage and Deposits: Where Contractor Cash Goes
- 1099 Subs or W-2 Crew? What It Changes in the Books
- What Construction Bookkeeping Costs (2026)
- Certified Payroll and Davis-Bacon, Explained for Small Contractors
- Why Contractor Books Go Wrong: Deposits, Materials and Owner Draws
Common questions
What does it cost to use this site?
Nothing. There is no charge for the introduction and no obligation after the first conversation. You pay the bookkeeping firm directly, at whatever you agree with them, and we take no share of it.
What does the bookkeeping itself cost?
Your bookkeeper’s engagements start at $250 a month. Most small contractors land somewhere between that and $1,500 depending on volume, open jobs and whether payroll is included. A catch-up or cleanup is quoted as a project with a deposit up front and a monthly retainer until the books are current. The cost guide goes through what moves the number.
Do they work in my state?
Yes. Your bookkeeper already keeps books and runs payroll for companies in several states. Everything is done remotely: shared access to your accounting software and bank feeds, documents through a secure portal, and a call when a call is faster.
What software do they work in?
All current versions of QuickBooks, Online and Desktop, are the usual. Your bookkeeper also works with contractors who run their field side in a dispatch or project tool such as Jobber, Housecall Pro, Buildertrend or Procore, and reconciles what those systems produce into the books. If you are on something unusual, say so in the request and they will tell you straight whether they can work in it.
How far behind is too far behind?
There is no too far. Two years of bank statements and a shoebox is a project your bookkeeper has done before; it gets quoted as a cleanup with a deposit and a monthly retainer until the books are current, and then rolls into ordinary monthly bookkeeping. The only thing that genuinely makes it harder is missing records, and even those can usually be rebuilt from the bank.
What about my tax return?
Your bookkeeper prepares a year-end package for whichever tax preparer you use: reconciled statements, a fixed-asset list, 1099 data for your subs and the WIP schedule a preparer needs for contract accounting. If you do not have a preparer yet, say so in the request.
What happens in the first month?
A conversation about the business first: trades, crew, software, how you bid and bill. Then access to the books and the bank feeds, and a short written assessment of their state. From that comes a quote. If you accept, the first month is spent getting the chart of accounts and cost codes into a shape that matches how you actually run jobs, because reports built on the wrong structure are worse than no reports.
Are you the bookkeeping firm?
No, and it matters that you know that up front. This site is an advertising and referral service. When you call or send a request we put you in touch with an independent bookkeeping firm that specialises in construction and the trades. We do not keep the books, we are not accountants, and we take no cut of what you pay.
Request a quote for your company
Tell us about the company and the state of the books. Your bookkeeper replies within one business day with a plain answer: what it would take, and what it would cost. Requests answered within one business day · Calls Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm Eastern Or call (888) 720-4009 if you would rather talk it through first.