General contractors and builders
Identify each job, entity and billing arrangement before agreeing the monthly work. Development projects, investor funding and long-term contracts need their own accounting assessment.
Construction bookkeeping services.
Know which project a cost belongs to and what is still unpaid. Bookeeping.us provides monthly bookkeeping for US contractors, builders and skilled trades in your accounting software. AI assists preparation; your named bookkeeper checks the work and asks about unclear transactions before finalization.
Get my bookkeeping quoteAI-assisted work. A named bookkeeper. A dedicated account manager.
Make month-end clearer.
Materials arrive on credit, subcontractors send bills and customers pay in stages. A bank balance cannot explain all that activity. We organize the agreed records so your monthly reports show the accounts, costs and outstanding balances you need to discuss.
Specialist subcontractors
Bring customer invoices, payment applications and any withheld amounts into the scope discussion. Materials, supplier bills and receipts need consistent job references.
Remodelers and skilled trades
Discuss service calls, larger projects, business cards and supplier accounts. Agree useful categories without building a reporting system your source records cannot support.
Records we’ll discuss
Prepare the job and entity list, bank/card statements, supplier and subcontractor bills, customer invoices, receipts, payroll accounting summaries and existing project schedules. Include contract changes and payment terms relevant to the agreed bookkeeping.
Manual statement uploads are an option. A bank connection is not required.
Reports & agreed scope
Agree the monthly profit and loss statement, balance sheet, account reconciliations and open questions. Project views and receivable/payable reports depend on the setup, records and scope accepted. Detailed job costing, work-in-progress schedules and contract revenue calculations need separate assessment.
We work in QuickBooks, Xero, Sage or your current software after checking the workflow. Your proposal confirms the accounts, transaction limits, reports, fees and delivery schedule.
Explore the monthly bookkeeping service for the process, deliverables and scope.
Keep the job context.
Close with clearer numbers.
Agree the projects and accounts
Identify the entities, job list, supplier accounts, accounting basis and reports already used. We assess QuickBooks, Xero or your current system before proposing the workflow.
Check bills, receipts and balances
Review the included records and reconcile financial accounts. Your team supplies missing job references and explains unclear purchases. AI assists preparation; a person resolves the questions with you.
Review the month together
Your named bookkeeper checks the agreed work before finalization. Your dedicated account manager coordinates records and updates. Reports and delivery dates follow your proposal and its record-completeness dependencies.
See the monthly bookkeeping scope and month-end checklist. Our core service closes the month; it does not manage job-site activity or provide daily posting.
Start with the records.
Keep each job identifiable.
Agree who supplies these inputs, the reporting period and the source of truth. A job label on a receipt helps; an unexplained bank description rarely tells the whole story.
| Record | What it helps explain |
|---|---|
| Job, customer and entity list | Which business and project each record belongs to, with consistent job names and any existing cost codes. A project label does not replace separate entity records. |
| Customer billing and receipts | Invoices, payment applications, credits, deposits and collections, with contract terms and approved changes. Identify withheld amounts rather than assuming every unpaid balance is ordinary overdue billing. |
| Supplier and subcontractor bills | Job references, dates, amounts due, payments and credits. A bill and its later payment should remain connected without recording the cost twice. |
| Materials and shared purchases | The purpose of purchases and a supported split across jobs where relevant. Unused stock, equipment and shared overhead need the agreed treatment. |
| Payroll and time summaries | Supported payroll entries and any approved job allocation. Labor burden, certified payroll and time capture need their own scope and reliable inputs. |
| Statements and existing schedules | Bank/card, supplier-credit and loan activity, plus the opening balances and project schedules already maintained. Manual statements are welcome; a live bank connection is optional. |
Read the contractor payment records guide and expense-records checklist. Arrange an appropriate sharing process before supplying identity or financial documents.
Illustrative example · Fictional project
$6,000 more cash.
$8,000 before overhead.
Assume an agreed accrual treatment: a fictional contractor has earned and invoiced $20,000 for work in this period and incurred $12,000 of related costs. It collects $15,000 and pays $9,000 of those costs. There are no opening balances, advances, retainage or other movements.
Cash movement
What arrived.
What was paid.
- Customer cash collected
- $15,000
- Project costs paid
- − $9,000
- Net cash movement
- $6,000
Simplified accrual view
What was earned.
What was incurred.
- Earned revenue for this period
- $20,000
- Related costs incurred
- − $12,000
- Subtotal before overhead and other adjustments
- $8,000
The customer still owes $5,000, and $3,000 of incurred costs remain unpaid. Those timing differences explain the $2,000 gap between the two views. Recording only the bank activity would leave out those receivable and payable balances.
The earned status and cost treatment are assumptions already agreed for this example; issuing an invoice alone does not establish revenue. This is not a WIP or percentage-of-completion calculation, final job profit, taxable income, forecast or closing bank balance. It excludes overhead, depreciation, tax, financing and other adjustments. Explore cash versus accrual and the accrual service scope.
Know what the numbers cover.
Before relying on them.
Progress billing is one input
Approved billing, collections and work performed may follow different timelines. Keep contract changes, deposits and withheld amounts identifiable. Your construction accountant confirms the applicable revenue and contract treatment.
Job categories have limits
Intuit documents project income and cost tracking in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced. Useful reports still depend on consistent inputs and setup. Tracking a project does not automatically produce a complete WIP or cost-to-complete schedule.
Subcontractor records need context
Keep supplier identities, invoices, payment routes and outstanding amounts available for the agreed review. A W-9 or an expense label does not decide worker status or every information-return obligation. Your tax preparer assesses current-year requirements.
Some projects need specialist reporting
DOL describes certified payroll requirements for covered federal or federally assisted construction work. Payroll compliance, AIA payment applications, lien advice and specialist contract schedules are not automatically included in our monthly service.
A clear proposal.
For the work you need.
Tell us the type of work you do, your software, active jobs, accounts and any missing months. We assess the records before confirming the monthly fee, service limits, reports and additional charges.
Use the bookkeeping cost guide to compare proposals. Missing periods may need catch-up bookkeeping; incorrect balances may need cleanup before regular delivery.
Detailed job costing, WIP, retainage schedules, revenue recognition, forecasts, tax filing and payroll services require explicit assessment. We agree what can be supported and who is responsible before starting.
Your questions, answered.
Is job costing included in construction bookkeeping?
Project labels and agreed cost categories can help organize records when the software and source documents support them. Detailed job costing goes further: labor burden, shared-cost allocation, budgets, committed costs and cost-to-complete estimates need a specific scope. Work-in-progress and contract revenue schedules are not automatically included in routine monthly bookkeeping.
Who will manage and review my books?
Your dedicated account manager is your main contact for updates and records needed. A named bookkeeper manages the work, resolves questions with you and reviews the books before finalization.
Can you help if my books are behind?
Yes. Catch-up and cleanup are assessed separately, with their own agreed records, price and timeline. Regular monthly bookkeeping starts from the baseline agreed with you.
Can you work in QuickBooks, Xero, Sage or our construction software?
We assess your edition, exports, existing project setup and reporting needs before accepting the work. Intuit documents Projects for QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced; features differ by product. A software name does not guarantee support for every workflow or connector. We can assess manual records, and a bank connection is optional. New software, integrations and migrations are separately scoped.
How do you handle progress invoices, deposits and retainage?
We ask for the contract terms, approved invoices or payment applications, receipts and existing schedules. Billed amounts, cash collected and revenue earned can differ. A deposit or loan draw is not automatically a sale. Retainage needs identifiable records and an agreed accounting treatment; specialist schedules, revenue recognition, collection and lien-law advice require separate assessment.
Can you organize subcontractor payments for our tax preparer?
We can assess the agreed supplier and payment records needed for a preparer handoff. Worker classification and information-return requirements are separate decisions for the business and its advisers. The IRS describes Form W-9 as a way to request payee identity information after contractor status has been determined. Tax filings, classification advice and 1099 preparation are not automatically included. Do not send tax IDs through the public enquiry form.
Does the service include payroll or certified payroll?
The monthly scope may include recording supported payroll summaries from your provider. Payroll processing, certified payroll, prevailing-wage compliance and project-level labor allocation are separate workstreams. Covered government-funded projects can have additional requirements. Tell us about them before onboarding so the appropriate provider and scope can be identified.
How much do construction bookkeeping services cost?
We quote after reviewing entities, active projects, accounts, transaction volume, software, accounting basis and required reports. Your proposal states the monthly fee, included limits, delivery dependencies and extra charges. Catch-up, cleanup, software and specialist construction schedules may cost extra. No universal construction package price is published here.
Will the monthly reports show each job’s final profit?
Only the project reporting expressly agreed and supported by your records is included. Costs recorded to date do not capture every future commitment, unapproved change order or remaining cost. A project subtotal is not automatically final job profit. Budgets, cost-to-complete estimates, WIP and forecasts need separate assessment and reliable project-management inputs.
A clear next step
for your books.
Tell us your trade or project type, accounting software, approximate active jobs and the monthly help you need. We will assess records, backlog and specialist requirements before confirming scope, fees and delivery dependencies.
Please share a short description only. Keep financial documents, passwords and account numbers out of this enquiry form.
Your books.
A clear next step.
Tell us what you need help with. We’ll discuss the work, records and price before you decide.
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