Industries · Construction

Accounting for Construction Contractors

Job costing that matches your bids. WIP schedules your banker can read. Certified payroll done right. A CPA who knows how the work actually gets done.

Construction accounting is not generic accounting

A CPA who solves problems with modern tools. Not your typical CPA firm.

Most accountants can record what happened on a job. Far fewer can tell you whether that job actually made money, whether your bid was off, whether your equipment costs are out of line, or whether your prevailing-wage reporting is going to pass scrutiny. Construction has its own accounting rules, its own software, its own compliance obligations, and its own ways of going sideways.

We work with general contractors, electricians, plumbers, HVAC, framers, concrete, and other trades businesses across Indiana. We speak the language. WIP, retainage, change orders, T&M, lump sum, prevailing wage, certified payroll. None of it needs to be explained to us first.

And we use modern tools to do the work faster and more accurately than a manual process ever could. That keeps your monthly fee reasonable while giving you better visibility into your business than most contractors ever get.

The pain points we fix most often

Job costing that does not match your bids

If your books cannot show you whether the last 10 jobs were profitable, your next bid is a guess. We set up cost coding that ties actuals back to original estimates so you can price the next one with confidence.

WIP schedules your banker cannot read

Banks and sureties expect a specific format. We produce WIP schedules that match what they ask for, not a generic report dump that triggers follow-up questions.

Certified payroll compliance gaps

Prevailing-wage jobs require WH-347 filings, fringe tracking, and specific reporting. Missing or wrong filings can put your bid eligibility at risk on future public work.

Retainage tracked in someone's head

If you cannot pull up how much retainage is owed to you across active jobs in 30 seconds, you are leaving money on the table. We give retainage its own account and dashboard.

Equipment capitalization decisions made wrong

Capitalize or expense, Section 179 or regular depreciation, what counts as a repair versus an improvement. These choices change your tax bill by real money. A CPA should be making the call.

Cash flow that lags by months

Construction cash flow runs on a delay. Forecasting helps you plan payroll, hire confidently, and know when to bid the next big job. We build the forecast so you can sleep through draw cycles.

The full stack, scoped to your business

01

Bookkeeping with Job Costing

Monthly bookkeeping with cost coding by job, phase, and category. Reports tie back to your bids so you know which jobs made money.

More on bookkeeping →
02

Certified Payroll

Weekly WH-347 filings, fringe benefit tracking, prevailing wage compliance, and clean reporting to general contractors and public agencies.

More on payroll →
03

Outsourced CFO

Cash flow forecasting, banking and bonding support, growth planning, and the strategic finance work that grows a construction business.

More on outsourced CFO →

Construction-friendly software, integrated cleanly

We use what fits your size and your work. No vendor pressure.

QuickBooks Online + Job Costing

QBO with the right job-costing add-ons works for most small and mid-sized contractors.

Buildertrend

For builders and remodelers running projects start to finish, with estimating and change orders.

Bill.com, Ramp, Melio

AP and subcontractor payment tools that integrate cleanly with your books.

Other platforms

Procore, CoConstruct, Sage 100 Contractor, others. We have worked with most of what's out there.

Things contractors ask us

Do you handle certified payroll for Indiana prevailing-wage jobs?

Yes. Certified payroll is one of the niches we work in. We handle the weekly WH-347 filings, fringe benefit tracking, and the reporting required by the general contractor or public agency on the job. If your current provider does not handle this cleanly, it is worth talking to us.

Can you produce WIP schedules for my banker or surety?

Yes. We prepare WIP schedules that match the format your banker, lender, or surety expects. Most bonding companies and construction lenders ask for specific reporting, and we format it to their requirements rather than handing them a generic template.

What if I am behind on job costing?

We do catch-up work regularly. If your job cost data is incomplete, miscategorized, or just missing for months, we work backward from your bank activity, change orders, and invoices to rebuild it. Once historical jobs are clean, we set up a system to keep current jobs accurate going forward.

How do you handle retainage and progress billing?

Retainage gets its own account so you always know how much is owed to you across active jobs. Progress billing is tracked against contract value and original bid, with variance flagged when actuals start to diverge from estimate. Both are normal parts of a construction engagement, not bolt-on add-ons.

Do you work with construction-specific software?

Yes. QuickBooks Online with job-costing add-ons, Buildertrend, Procore, and others. We will help you pick the right one for your business size and the kind of work you bid on. Sometimes the right answer is sticking with what you have and connecting it better. Sometimes it is replacing the whole stack.

What about equipment capitalization decisions?

Equipment versus expense is a tax and cash flow decision, not a clerical one. We help you decide what to capitalize, what to expense, what to depreciate over what life, and when Section 179 or bonus depreciation makes sense. The wrong call can cost you thousands in taxes you did not need to pay.

Ready for construction books that actually help you run the business?

Book a free 30-minute conversation. We will talk through your job costing setup and tell you what we would change.

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