Our bookkeeping for construction companies tracks job costing, WIP schedules, retainage and crew payroll, so contractors see profit on each job while it is still running, not months after it closes. Fixed monthly fees start at $150, and plans with payroll start at $350.
Fixed monthly fees from $150/month
Six problems that distort a contractor’s numbers, and what we do about each one.
Costs are not coded to jobs, so one blended margin hides the jobs that lost money.
What we doEvery bill, timesheet and card charge is tagged to its job, and each job gets its own profit and loss, against your estimate if you share it.
Nobody is tracking percent complete, earned revenue and billings for each open job.
What we doA WIP schedule every month: contract value, cost to date, percent complete, earned revenue, billings and the over or under billing on each job.
Extra work lands as cost on the job with no matching revenue, so a good job looks like it is losing money.
What we doApproved change orders added to the contract value and budget, and pending ones listed, so under billing on the WIP schedule has an explanation.
The 5% to 10% customers hold back sits in ordinary receivables, so the aging report shows customers as late when they are not.
What we doRetainage receivable kept in its own account, and retainage you hold from subs kept as its own payable, until each is released.
Payroll is booked as one company-wide expense, because timesheets do not carry a job.
What we doHours captured by worker and job every pay run, so labor cost lands on the job it was spent on.
Labor, materials and subs are paid weeks before pay apps clear, and retainage waits until the job ends.
What we doA cash-flow view (part of Scale) built from open jobs, billings and payables, so the tight weeks show up before they arrive.
A construction business can look fine overall while individual jobs quietly lose money. Without job costing, you find out after the job closes, often after you have bid the next one the same way.
We keep the books at job level, so profit is visible for each project while there is still time to act: a change order to price, a sub invoice to question, a bid to adjust.
Contract value, cost and profit, job by job.
| Job | Contract | Cost | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job A | $80,000 | $62,000 | $18,000 |
| Job B | $45,000 | $51,000 | −$6,000 |
| Job C | $30,000 | $22,000 | $8,000 |
| All jobs | $155,000 | $135,000 | $20,000 |
The company made $20,000. Job B lost $6,000, and only job costing shows it.
We mean construction contractors: the firms that build. Where you sit on the job changes which way the money flows, and what the books have to track.
You bill the owner and pay the subs, so most things run in both directions at once.
You bill the GC, carry your own crew and materials, and wait for retainage at the end.
Months behind on the books? Catch-up bookkeeping brings every open job up to date first, at a fixed price agreed before any work starts.
Crews, field and office staff paid on schedule, with labor landing on the job it was spent on.
Our construction payroll is part of Growth, from $350/month: pay runs, payroll-tax filings and year-end W-2s for your crews and office.
Subcontractors are not payroll. They are paid through payables and get a 1099-NEC at year end when they need one.
Residential work brings its own snags: deposits, insurance checks and houses that take a year to sell.
Deposits taken before work starts are held as a liability until the work is done, not counted as this month’s sales. Small jobs still get their own profit line, so the kitchen that ran over is visible.
Insurance-paid jobs often arrive as several checks from the insurer and the homeowner. Each payment is matched to its job, so a roof does not look unpaid when it is not, and materials are costed to the roof they went on.
Costs on a spec home are held on the balance sheet as work in progress until the house closes, then moved to cost of sales. Construction loan draws and interest are tracked house by house.
Everything runs inside your own QuickBooks or Xero for one fixed monthly fee. Each task links to the service that does it.
From $150/month. Payroll and its filings are part of Growth, from $350/month. Cash-flow reporting and fractional CFO support are part of Scale, from $650/month.
Starter covers the monthly profit and loss and balance sheet, with costs coded to each job. The WIP schedule and agings are priced into your fixed monthly fee after a short look at your open jobs, and your quote lists each report.
Numbers you can watch: margin by job, estimate against actual, over and under billings, retainage outstanding, days to get paid and working capital.
Free books review
Add us as your accountant in QuickBooks Online, Xero or the software you use. You get a written list of what is misclassified or unreconciled, and what it would take to fix. Yours to keep.
Two minutes. Your software, and roughly how many jobs you run.
Invite hello@remotebookkeepersllc.com as your accountant in your QuickBooks Online, Xero or other software. We only read the file, and nothing in it changes.
Within about 48 hours, in plain English.
Free, no obligation. No sales call required. Nothing in your books changes.
Bigger bids, a new surety or a second crew turn the monthly books into the basis for real decisions.
Fractional CFO support is part of Scale, from $650/month, and builds on the same file we keep every month.
Billings, payables, payroll and retainage still to be released, so a tight month shows up early.
What each type of job really earned, so the markup on the next bid is not a guess.
A WIP schedule every month and the figures your surety and bank ask for.
The numbers on a truck or a machine before you sign for it.
| Job | Earned | Billed | Over (under) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maple St. addition$240,000 contract, 50% complete | $120,000 | $135,000 | $15,000 |
| Elm Ave. reroof$90,000 contract, 75% complete | $67,500 | $60,000 | ($7,500) |
| Oak Ct. new home$150,000 contract, 20% complete | $30,000 | $30,000 | $0 |
| All open jobs | $217,500 | $225,000 | $7,500 |
Maple St. is overbilled by $15,000: cash collected for work not yet done, shown as a liability. Elm Ave. is underbilled by $7,500: work done that has not been billed yet.
Example only: a made-up business. The figures add up but belong to no real client.
Most growing contractors use both: a bookkeeper for the monthly work, and a CPA firm when a surety, a lender or the IRS needs one.
| What you need | Remote Bookkeepers | A CPA firm |
|---|---|---|
| Job costing and reconciliations every month | Yes | PartlyIf the firm offers monthly bookkeeping |
| A WIP schedule every month | Yes | PartlyOften prepared at year end |
| Crew payroll and subcontractor 1099s | YesOn Growth and Scale | PartlyIf the firm runs payroll |
| Business tax preparation | YesOn Growth and Scale | Yes |
| Reviewed or audited financial statements | No | Yes |
| Formal representation before the IRS | No | Yes |
| Best when | You want the books right every month, from one named contact | Your surety or lender asks for reviewed or audited statements, or the IRS opens an exam |
Whether you file tax on the cash or the accrual method is settled with whoever prepares your return. We can report both from the same file, so the month of a big deposit does not look brilliant and the month you pay for materials does not look terrible.
We would rather tell you up front than take on work we cannot do well.
You keep your apps and your own QuickBooks or Xero file. Nothing to switch, and your data stays yours.
QuickBooks
Xero
Gusto
ADP
Stripe
PayPal
WiseYes. Each month you get a WIP schedule showing contract value, cost to date, percent complete, earned revenue, billings and the over or under billing on every open job.
If your surety asks for reviewed or audited financial statements, those are issued by a CPA firm.
For each open job, divide cost to date by estimated total cost to get percent complete. Multiply the contract value by that percentage to get earned revenue, then compare earned revenue with what you have billed. The difference is the over or under billing.
This is the cost-to-cost method, the one most contractors use. A $240,000 job with $96,000 spent of an estimated $192,000 is 50% complete, so $120,000 is earned.
Overbilling means you have billed more than you have earned so far: cash collected for work not yet done, shown on the balance sheet as a liability. Underbilling is the opposite: work done but not yet billed, shown as an asset.
A little of either is normal. Large or growing underbillings usually mean change orders or pay apps are running behind.
Retainage is kept as its own receivable, separate from ordinary receivables, so your aging report tells the truth. Retainage you hold back from subs is kept as its own payable. Both are tracked until released.
Approved change orders are added to the job’s contract value and budget. Pending ones are listed, so you can see what is still waiting for a signature.
Yes. Unincorporated subs paid $2,000 or more during 2026 get a 1099-NEC by February 1, 2027 (January 31 falls on a Sunday). The threshold was $600 through 2025. Our guide to 1099s for subcontractors covers who gets one.
Collect a W-9 and a certificate of insurance before the first payment, not in January. We track sub payments all year and file the forms.
Usually a bookkeeper every month, and a CPA firm when you need one. The monthly work (job costing, retainage, WIP, payroll and 1099s) is bookkeeping. Reviewed or audited statements for a surety, and formal representation before the IRS, need a CPA firm.
No. QuickBooks Online or Xero is enough for most small contractors. In QuickBooks Online, jobs are set up as Projects (on the Plus plan or higher) or as customers and sub-customers. In Xero, tracking categories or Xero Projects do the same job.
If you have crews on payroll, that is Growth, from $350/month: payroll and filings, sales-tax filing, tax preparation and a monthly review call. Larger firms that want cash-flow reporting and fractional CFO support fit Scale, from $650/month.
The exact fee is confirmed after a short look at your jobs and payroll. If your volume grows a lot, we talk first, and any change is agreed with you in advance. No long-term contract.
Still have a question? Book a free consultation (opens in a new tab)
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(906) 268-9778 hello@remotebookkeepersllc.com
Mon-Sat, 9am-5pm EST
We only read the file. Written findings in about 48 hours.
A free intro call at a time you pick. No pressure, no jargon.