Bookkeeping cleanup for contractors & construction firms
General contractors, remodelers, and trade subs run their numbers in the field, not behind a desk, so the books are usually the last thing to get attention. We catch them up, rebuild job costing, and hand you financials a bank or bonding company will actually accept.
Billed hourly against a written estimate, agreed before any work starts. Most cleanups are done in 2–6 weeks.
Why contractors & construction books get messy.
Construction is one of the hardest industries to keep clean books in, and it has nothing to do with how good a contractor you are. Revenue arrives in irregular progress draws while costs hit weeks earlier. Retainage sits unpaid for months and quietly distorts both receivables and cash. Subs get paid fast to keep a job moving, so W-9s and 1099 tracking fall behind. And because most contractors start with one bank account for the truck, the materials, and the mortgage, personal and business spending blur together until the P&L is meaningless. None of that means anything is wrong with the business. It just means the bookkeeping never got a system built for how construction actually works.
What trips up contractors & construction.
Job costing that doesn’t exist (or doesn’t tie out)
Revenue and expenses are booked in bulk, so you can’t tell which jobs made money and which bled cash. Without cost codes and class or project tracking, bidding is a guess.Retainage distorting your receivables
Retention held back on draws is recorded as if it were due today, or not tracked at all, so your AR and cash position are both wrong until the job closes out.1099 subcontractors with missing W-9s
Subs get paid quickly to keep the crew moving, and the paperwork lags. Come January you’re chasing W-9s and reconstructing who crossed the reporting threshold.Personal and business commingled in one account
The same card buys lumber, fuel, and groceries. Until those are separated, your CPA can’t tell what’s deductible and the P&L overstates expenses by tens of thousands.Equipment booked as an expense instead of an asset
Expensing trucks, trailers, and excavators in full one year, then ignoring them the next, wrecks your balance sheet and your depreciation schedule. Lenders notice.
What we handle for contractors & construction.
Every cleanup is led by Elizabeth Olsen, a West Point graduate and QuickBooks Advanced Certified ProAdvisor, and built around how your industry actually earns and spends.
- Rebuild job costing with cost codes and class/project tracking so every dollar of revenue and expense ties back to a specific job
- Track retention and retainage correctly on both the receivable and payable side so AR and cash reflect reality
- Reconstruct 1099 subcontractor activity, flag who crossed the reporting threshold for the year in question, collect missing W-9s, and prepare overdue 1099 filings
- Separate commingled personal and business transactions across every bank and credit card account
- Capitalize equipment and vehicles correctly and build a clean depreciation schedule
- Deliver bank-ready and bonding-ready financials: P&L by job, balance sheet, and work-in-progress support
Contractors & construction bookkeeping questions.
Cleaning up your contractors & construction books starts with a free call.
Every engagement starts with a conversation and a clear scope and price in writing: billed hourly, no monthly bookkeeping retainer, no surprise invoices.