Subcontractors run on the GC's timeline, not their own. You finish the work, submit a pay app, and wait. Retainage comes back months later, if the GC releases it. Generic bookkeepers miss the gap between work performed and cash received, and that gap is where subcontractor businesses quietly run short. Here is how trade-native bookkeeping handles a subcontractor business.
A retail business collects payment at the point of sale. A subcontractor does the work in week two, submits a pay application in week three, receives a partial check (minus retainage) in week six, and waits months for the retained balance. When a generalist bookkeeper records only the cash that hits the account, your books understate what you are owed and overstate how tight your cash position really is.
We set up Class or Location tracking in QuickBooks so every project carries its own labor, materials, and lower-tier sub cost. That turns a vague "we stayed busy" into a Job Profit view: the GC who calls constantly but takes 90 days to pay versus the GC whose projects pencil out cleanly after retainage. On the Crew plan and up, that visibility is part of every monthly close.
When a GC withholds 10% retainage, that money is not gone. It is a receivable you are still owed. Generic bookkeepers either ignore it entirely or bury it in an adjustment. Both approaches leave you blind to how much the GC actually owes you until they cut the final check.
At year end, your GCs issue 1099s for every dollar they paid you. If those payments were not invoiced and categorized as they came in, reconciling the 1099 totals to your books becomes a project in itself. The mismatch also raises questions for your CPA.
Knowing your company made money is not enough when you work for six different GCs across a dozen projects. Without job costing, you cannot see that one GC's projects consistently run over on labor while another's are the most profitable work you do.
We set up a dedicated retainage receivable account so every withheld amount is tracked by project and GC. It stays on your books as money owed until the GC releases it. That way your AR aging is accurate and you know exactly what is still outstanding.
Yes. As payments arrive from each GC we match them to invoices and category codes. At year end, your QuickBooks totals reconcile to the 1099s your GCs issue, so your CPA sees clean numbers rather than unexplained gaps.
Yes. We set up Class or Location tracking so each project carries its own labor, materials, and lower-tier subcontractor cost. You see job-level profit by GC and project type, not just a company-wide number, on the Crew plan and up.
Your AR aging report shows every open invoice and retainage balance by GC. We flag balances that are aging past your standard terms so you have visibility before an account goes stale.
We tie your pay-application paperwork to open receivables in your books so every invoice has a corresponding record. That keeps your lien rights and payment documentation organized alongside your financial records.
Always. We work inside your own QuickBooks Online subscription. If you ever leave, you keep the file and a clean set of workpapers. No proprietary ledger, no hostage data.
Yes. Our 6-month prepaid option includes a catch-up cleanup so you start current. We scope the backlog up front so there are no surprises.
Trade-native categories, job costing, and a CPA-reviewed close by the 15th. You keep your QuickBooks file.