Bookkeeping for Contractors & Home Services
For Houston general contractors, sub-trades, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, remodelers, and home-service operators who need job costing that actually works — not just a monthly P&L.
The bookkeeping problems specific to your industry
You don't know which jobs made money
Without proper job costing, you find out a project lost money 6 months after it closed. By then, three more just like it are already in the pipeline.
Deposits & progress billing are messy
Customer deposits and progress payments have to be tracked as liabilities until earned. Booking them as revenue too early inflates your P&L and creates a tax surprise.
Materials, subs, and labor jumbled together
COGS should split cleanly into materials, subcontractors, and direct labor. Most contractor QuickBooks files don't — so gross margin numbers are unusable.
Sales tax on materials vs. labor
Texas rules for taxing materials vs. labor on construction contracts are specific. Getting them wrong means audits and back-tax bills.
SBA loan or bonding request coming up
Bonding companies and SBA lenders want WIP schedules, backlog reports, and 3 years of clean financials. Most contractors don't have any of that ready.
1099s for subs are a fire drill every January
If W-9s aren't collected up front and sub payments aren't coded correctly through the year, 1099 filing turns into a two-week emergency.
Industry-specific patterns we clean up regularly
- Fixed-price residential jobs where materials cost jumped between bid and PO — margin erosion invisible without live job costing.
- Subs paid on Zelle or Venmo (not through the AP system), so 1099s are missing at year-end and payments aren't in COGS.
- Retainage held by GCs on commercial subs, booked as revenue instead of a receivable.
- Change orders authorized verbally, billed late, and never reconciled against the original contract in QuickBooks.
- Owner's truck fuel, tools, and mileage running through the business card without an accountable plan — audit risk and personal-vs-business commingling.
- Crew labor pushed straight to overhead instead of direct labor in COGS, so gross margin looks like 60% when it's actually 32%.
GC preparing a bonding-line increase after two years of thin financials
Illustrative composite based on the type of engagement we handle. Not a specific client.
A Houston-area general contractor wanted to raise the single-project bonding cap from $500K to $1.5M. The surety asked for two years of reviewed financials, a WIP schedule, backlog, and an aged AR/AP. The contractor's books had no job costing structure, retainage was booked as revenue, and the WIP schedule didn't exist. The surety was preparing to hold the request without accurate numbers.
Outcome: We rebuilt 24 months with Projects, moved retainage to a contra-revenue receivable, produced monthly WIP and backlog reports, and packaged the financials in the format the surety expected. Bonding cap was approved at $1.25M within 60 days, with a path to $1.5M on the next annual review.
A bookkeeping system built for Contractors & Home Services
- QuickBooks setup with job costing (Projects or class tracking)
- Chart of accounts split by materials, subs, direct labor
- Customer deposit & progress billing tracking
- Monthly job profitability reporting
- 1099 vendor tracking with W-9 collection
- Sales tax handling for construction contracts
- WIP-ready financials for bonding & SBA
- Dedicated bookkeeper, monthly close
Bookkeeping across Houston & by industry
Monthly bookkeeping, cleanups, loan-ready financials and QuickBooks setup.
Compare bookkeeping playbooks for contractors, retail, legal, healthcare, and real estate.
Neighborhood-by-neighborhood bookkeeping coverage across the Houston metro.
What lenders want to see in your books before approving an SBA 7(a) or 504 loan.
Common questions
Can you set up job costing in QuickBooks Online?
Yes. QBO Plus and Advanced both support Projects — we set up your chart of accounts, item list, and workflows so every material receipt, sub invoice, and labor entry lands on the right job automatically.
Do you handle bonding-company financial packages?
Yes. We prepare the P&L, balance sheet, WIP schedule, and backlog report bonding companies request. Doug's banking background means we already know the format.
What about payroll for field crews?
We coordinate with your payroll provider and make sure crew labor is coded to the right jobs so direct labor shows up in COGS, not overhead.
Let's talk about your books.
Free 30-minute consultation. No sales pressure — just a clear look at where your books stand.