Bookkeeping Services for Contractors & Construction Companies
Construction bookkeeping isn’t just about keeping the books balanced. You need to know whether each job is actually making money.
Capacity Bookkeeping has extensive experience working with contractors and construction businesses. From everyday bookkeeping to job costing, subcontractors, payroll, progress billing, retainage, and cleanup, we understand the additional moving parts that come with project-based businesses.
Need a bookkeeper who understands contractors? Call (845) 430-1347 to talk with us about your business.
Know Which Jobs Are Actually Making You Money
Getting the bank reconciled is the easy part. Construction bookkeeping becomes more difficult when you need to know what each individual job is really costing you.
Labor, materials, subcontractors, equipment, and other costs need to be assigned correctly so you can see which jobs are profitable — and which ones aren’t. If those costs are sitting in broad expense categories instead of being tracked to the right jobs, your overall profit-and-loss statement may look fine while individual projects are quietly losing money.
Capacity has extensive experience with construction job costing. We can help structure and maintain your books so you can see profitability by job instead of simply knowing whether there is money in the bank.
Bookkeeping Services for Contractors
Depending on your business, we can help with:
- Ongoing bookkeeping and account reconciliation
- Job costing and project profitability tracking
- Labor and material cost allocation
- Subcontractor tracking and 1099-related bookkeeping
- Payroll-related bookkeeping
- Progress billing and retainage bookkeeping
- Equipment, vehicle, and job-related expense tracking
- QuickBooks and other bookkeeping software
- Monthly financial reporting
- Cleanup and catch-up bookkeeping
- Year-end preparation for your CPA or tax professional
Construction Job Costing Requires More Than Basic Bookkeeping
A bookkeeper can reconcile every account correctly and still fail to give a contractor the information needed to run the business.
Construction owners need to understand the financial performance of individual projects. That requires consistent decisions about where costs belong, how labor and materials are tracked, how subcontractor costs are handled, and how the bookkeeping system is structured.
Done correctly, job costing can help answer questions such as:
- Which types of jobs are most profitable?
- Are actual costs running above the estimate?
- Is labor consuming more of the job than expected?
- Are material costs eroding the margin?
- Which projects or customers consistently perform well?
- Are we pricing future work based on what jobs really cost?
General Contractors, Subcontractors & Trades
We work with project-based businesses with very different bookkeeping needs, including general contractors, builders, remodelers, electricians, plumbers, HVAC contractors, roofers, landscapers, specialty subcontractors, and other construction-related businesses.
The details vary by trade, but the underlying challenge is similar: the books need to show more than total income and total expenses. They need to help management understand where the money is being made and spent.
Your Own Dedicated Bookkeeper
You shouldn’t have to explain job costing, your projects, and the way your company operates to a different person every month.
Capacity clients receive a dedicated bookkeeper they can get to know and work with directly. Your bookkeeper learns your business, your jobs, recurring transactions, and the way you want financial information organized.
That person is also backed by an established professional bookkeeping company serving hundreds of clients, with experienced team support, systems, organizational oversight, and insurance.
QuickBooks for Contractors — And Other Platforms
QuickBooks is the bookkeeping platform we encounter most often, and our team includes Certified Elite QuickBooks ProAdvisors. We have extensive experience using bookkeeping systems in project-based businesses, including job-costing environments.
But Capacity is not QuickBooks-only. Our team has experience with dozens of other bookkeeping and accounting platforms as well. If your construction business uses another system, talk with us about your setup before assuming you need to change software.
Behind on Construction Bookkeeping?
Construction books can get complicated quickly when multiple jobs, bank accounts, credit cards, payroll, subcontractors, materials, and equipment expenses are all moving at the same time.
If the books are already behind or the job costing has never been set up correctly, we can start with cleanup and catch-up work. The goal is to get the historical bookkeeping into better shape and then establish an ongoing process that produces useful information going forward.
If bookkeeping problems have contributed to unfiled tax returns, we can also help get the books caught up and organized so your CPA or tax professional has the financial information needed to address those returns.
Professional Bookkeeping Without Another Full-Time Employee
Many contractors need experienced bookkeeping but do not need — or want to pay for — another full-time office employee.
An in-house employee is paid for the entire workday, including breaks, downtime, vacation, payroll taxes, benefits, training, and turnover. With Capacity, you pay for professional bookkeeping support without funding an entire employee workweek.
You still get your own dedicated bookkeeper, but that person has the support and safeguards of the larger Capacity organization behind them.
Why Contractors Choose Capacity Bookkeeping
- Real construction bookkeeping experience — including job costing, subcontractors, payroll, project expenses, progress billing, and retainage.
- Job costing expertise — one of the most important and frequently mishandled parts of contractor bookkeeping.
- Your own dedicated bookkeeper — someone who learns how your company and projects operate.
- Certified Elite QuickBooks ProAdvisors — plus experience with dozens of other bookkeeping and accounting platforms.
- Experienced U.S.-based professionals — people you can communicate with directly.
- Fixed monthly fees for ongoing service — predictable bookkeeping costs.
- No long-term contracts — clients stay because the relationship works.
- Professional-company safeguards — established systems, oversight, team support, and insurance.
Related Bookkeeping Services
Outsourced Bookkeeping Services • Small Business Bookkeeping Services • QuickBooks Bookkeeping & ProAdvisor Services • Bookkeeping Cleanup & Catch-Up Services
Bookkeeping Services for Nonprofit Organizations
Frequently Asked Questions About Construction Bookkeeping
Can you handle job costing?
Yes. Job costing is a major part of our experience with contractors and construction companies. We can help structure and maintain the bookkeeping so costs are assigned to the appropriate jobs and project profitability is more useful.
Do you work with subcontractors and 1099s?
Yes. Subcontractor activity is a common part of contractor bookkeeping, and we can incorporate it into the ongoing bookkeeping process.
Can you handle progress billing and retainage?
Yes. We have experience with the bookkeeping associated with progress billing and retainage in construction businesses.
Can you clean up existing construction books?
Yes. We can review existing books, correct problems, catch up missing work, and improve the bookkeeping process going forward.
Do I get a dedicated bookkeeper?
Yes. You work directly with a dedicated bookkeeper who learns your company and its bookkeeping needs.
What if we don’t use QuickBooks?
That’s fine. QuickBooks is common, but our team has experience with dozens of other bookkeeping and accounting platforms.
Get Bookkeeping That Understands the Job — Not Just the Bank Account
Your bookkeeping should help you understand the financial performance of the work you’re doing. If you need a bookkeeper who understands contractors, construction, and job costing, let’s talk.
Call (845) 430-1347 to request a no-pressure consultation.