Retainage counted as revenue
Money held back on a draw is not money you have. Booked as collected revenue, it overstates income and hides a real receivable you still need to chase.
Service overview
Construction Bookkeeping Services
Construction accounting is its own discipline. Revenue arrives in draws, costs land before you bill, money is held back as retainage, and every job is its own little profit center. Generic bookkeeping treats a builder like a retail shop and the numbers stop meaning anything. Here is what real construction bookkeeping covers.
Quick answer
- Construction bookkeeping is job-centered: each job tracks its own labor, materials, subs, and margin, not just a company-wide total.
- It handles the parts retail bookkeeping ignores: work-in-progress, retainage, progress billing, draws, and change orders.
- Subcontractors are tracked all year with W-9s on file so 1099s are a confirmation in January, not a fire drill.
- We do it inside your own QuickBooks Online file and deliver a CPA-reviewed close by the 15th. You keep the file.
What construction bookkeeping actually includes
Full-service construction bookkeeping is more than categorizing transactions. It is a monthly system that keeps your job costs, billings, and cash in agreement so you always know where each project stands and whether the company made money.
- Job costing: labor, materials, equipment, and subs allocated to each job by Class or Location
- Work-in-progress tracking so over-billing and under-billing on open jobs are visible
- Retainage tracked as its own receivable and payable, not counted as cash you have
- Progress billing and draw schedules reconciled against the schedule of values
- Subcontractor and 1099 tracking with W-9s collected at engagement
- Trade-native chart of accounts: materials vs tools vs equipment vs overhead
- CPA-reviewed monthly close: accruals, prepaids, and depreciation handled
How we compare to generic options
There are cheaper ways to get books. The question is whether they give you numbers you can build a business on. Here is an honest read on the common alternatives.
- A local generalist bookkeeper keeps you compliant but usually does not set up job costing, retainage, or WIP, so you cannot see job-level profit.
- QuickBooks Live and similar categorization services sort transactions but do not do construction job costing, 1099 filing, or field-service sync.
- DIY software gives you tools, not a finished close. Someone still has to reconcile, review, and produce reports you can trust.
- We specialize in the trades, work inside your own QuickBooks file, preserve your job structure, and back the work with a CPA-reviewed close and written SLAs.
Where construction books usually go wrong
No work-in-progress view
Without tracking costs and billings on open jobs, you cannot tell if you are over-billed or burning cash on a project until it is too late to react.
Subs reconciled at filing time
Every sub needs a W-9 and a running payment total. Catch it in January and you are chasing missing tax IDs against a deadline instead of confirming clean numbers.
Which plan fits your construction business
- Truck, solo operator, 1 to 2 accounts, simple job tracking
- Crew, growing crew, job costing, FSM sync included
- Shop, payroll, 1099 subs, AR/AP, priority close
- Builder, multi-entity, high volume, custom mapping
Construction bookkeeping FAQ
What makes construction bookkeeping different from regular bookkeeping?
Construction work is job-based and billed over time. The books have to track each job's costs and billings, handle retainage and progress billing, and manage a high volume of subcontractors. Regular bookkeeping treats the business as one bucket and loses all of that.
Do you handle job costing and work-in-progress?
Yes. We set up Class or Location tracking so each job carries its own labor, materials, and subcontractor cost, and we track costs versus billings on open jobs so over-billing and under-billing are visible. Job-level profit is part of every monthly close on the Crew plan and up.
Can you handle retainage and progress billing?
Yes. Retainage is tracked as its own receivable or payable rather than counted as collected revenue, and progress billing is reconciled against the schedule of values so your billed-to-date and earned numbers stay honest.
How do you handle subcontractors and 1099s?
We collect W-9s at engagement, track payments to each sub through the year, and prepare 1099 totals so January is a confirmation, not a scramble. Full 1099 filing support is included on the Shop plan.
Do I keep my QuickBooks file?
Always. We work inside your own QuickBooks Online subscription. If you ever leave, you keep the file and a clean set of workpapers.
What if my books are far behind?
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.
Construction books you can build on
Trade-native categories, job costing, and a CPA-reviewed close by the 15th. You keep your QuickBooks file.