Bookkeeping for Central Florida Contractors

Why Contractor books are different

A contractor is project-based, which means you don't earn money evenly. (No news to you, huh?) Cash arrives in chunks costs come out in bursts, and a job that sounded profitable on the bid often loses money by the final invoice. 

Standard bookkeeping tells you whether the business made money last month. Contractor bookkeeping tells you whether each job made money: which is the only number that lets you bid the next one correctly.

Job costing: profit per job, not just per month

Every dollar of materials, labor, subcontractor cost, and equipment time should be tied to the job it belongs to. When it is, you can see your true margin on a kitchen remodel versus a re-roof and stop guessing which work is worth taking. Most contractors we work with are surprised to learn their busiest job type is their least profitable. We make that number visible before you bid, not after you've lost it.

Deposits & progress billing: cash you have isn't revenue you've earned

When a client pays a 40% deposit, that money is in your account but isn't yours yet. Spend it on the next job's materials and you've started a cash-flow problem that compounds with every contract. We track deposits and progress billing as money owed to work you still have to perform, so you always know how much of your balance is truly free to spend.

Subcontractors & 1099s: get it right before January

If you use subs, you carry compliance risk the IRS takes seriously. We collect a W-9 and certificate of insurance from every sub before their first payment, track what each is paid through the year, and file clean 1099-NECs in January. Done right, this also protects you from a 5-figure renewal bill in a workers-comp-classification audit.

Work in progress: knowing where a long job really stands

Jobs that take months to finish distort your books if you only look at cash. Bill ahead of the work and you look profitable while digging a hole; bill behind it and you look broke while sitting on value. We track work in progress so your financials reflect what you've actually earned to date.

Common questions