Construction Bookkeeping With Real Job Costing
Construction bookkeeping for contractors in Moreno Valley, Riverside County, and Orange County. Every expense and payment tagged to its job inside QuickBooks Online, so you know which jobs made money — before the next bid, not after tax season.
Adham Abadier, CPA - California License #158599. QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor.
Don't Know Which Jobs Made Money? We Track Every Dollar by Project.
Construction bookkeeping is different from regular bookkeeping because the profit lives at the job level. Catalyst CPA sets up job costing inside QuickBooks Online and tags every expense, invoice, and payment to its project as it lands in your books — materials, labor, subs, and overhead — under California CPA license #158599. You get a per-job profit report every month.
A construction company can be profitable on paper and still be losing money on half its jobs. If your books show one revenue number and one pile of costs, you cannot see which half. That is the problem we built our in-house automation to fix: project-level books without paying for a separate job-costing platform on top of a bookkeeper.
Construction Bookkeeping Problems We Fix
These are the calls we actually get from contractors.
Job Costs Lumped Into One Account
Materials, labor, and subs all posted to one expense line. No job costing means no job margins — we rebuild the file so every cost carries its project.
Over- and Under-Billing You Cannot See
Progress billing that has drifted from actual completion hides profit swings. A monthly work-in-progress schedule shows exactly where each contract stands.
No WIP Schedule for the Bank or Bonding Company
Lenders and sureties ask for work-in-progress reporting. We produce a WIP schedule an underwriter can actually read, tied to your books.
Retainage Nobody Is Tracking
Retention withheld on your invoices is your money. If it is not tracked as a receivable, it gets forgotten — and taxed wrong.
Months Behind Mid-Project
Jobs running while the books sit untouched since spring. We catch up oldest month first so each period closes clean and the open jobs get real numbers.
Materials, Labor, and Subs Commingled
Cost type matters: markup, 1099 reporting, and workers comp audits all depend on knowing what was material, what was wage, and what was subcontract.
No Per-Job Profit Report
You finished the job. Did it make money? We answer that with a job profitability report every month, not a shrug in April.
Paying for Job-Costing Software on Top of a Bookkeeper
Dedicated job-costing platforms commonly run $99-$199+ per month before per-user fees. We do the job costing inside QuickBooks Online, so many clients drop the extra subscription.
Job Costing & Construction Bookkeeping Services We Provide
One firm for the books, the job costing, the 1099s, and the tax return. Construction bookkeeping runs $500–$1,200/month depending on job volume and number of active projects, quoted flat after a free review of your file — call (951) 223-1826.
Job Costing Setup in QuickBooks Online
Projects, cost codes, and item structure built for how you actually bid and build. Our in-house automation tags each expense and payment to its job as it hits the books.
Percentage-of-Completion & WIP Reporting
Earned revenue, over/under-billings, and a work-in-progress schedule computed monthly — the reports banks, sureties, and good decisions run on.
Progress Billing & Retainage Tracking
Draws and progress invoices tied to the contract, retention tracked as its own receivable, and change orders recorded instead of lost.
Monthly Per-Job Profitability Reports
Every month you see each job's revenue, costs by type, and margin — plus budget versus actual, so a job that is bleeding shows up while you can still fix it.
Catch-Up Construction Bookkeeping
Behind six months with three jobs running? We rebuild oldest month forward, job-tagged from the start, so the file ends current and stays current.
1099 Subcontractor Compliance
Sub payments tracked all year with W-9s collected as vendors are set up, then 1099-NEC forms e-filed with the IRS at the January deadline.
Trades We Serve
Bookkeeping for contractors across the trades — residential and commercial, from a two-person crew to multi-crew operations.
General Contractors & Remodelers
Multi-phase jobs, subs on every project, draws and change orders — the full job-costing picture.
Bookkeeping for Painters
Crew labor versus materials by job, so you know your real cost per square foot and which estimates hold up.
Bookkeeping for Plumbers
Service calls and contract jobs split correctly, parts inventory costs tied to the work that used them.
HVAC Contractors
Install jobs costed separately from service work, equipment purchases matched to the job they went into.
Electricians
Job materials and labor tracked per project, progress billing on commercial work handled cleanly.
Roofers
Insurance jobs and retail jobs separated, supplements tracked, crew costs tied to each roof.
Landscapers
Install projects costed job by job, maintenance routes tracked as recurring revenue with their own margins.
Concrete & Flooring
Material-heavy jobs where yardage and waste decide the margin — costs tagged to the pour or the install.
Not in construction? We do the same per-project books for agencies, architects, engineers, and other project businesses — see our job costing services.
Construction Bookkeeping — Frequently Asked Questions
How much does construction bookkeeping cost?
Do I need to buy job-costing software?
What is percentage-of-completion accounting and do I need it?
Can you catch up books in the middle of active jobs?
How do you track costs to each job?
Do you also do the taxes?
Do you serve my area?
Know Your Job Margins. Every Month.
Book a free 30-minute review. Bring your QuickBooks file or your last few statements and you will leave knowing what job costing would look like on your books and what the flat monthly fee would be.