Accounting & Tax Services for Construction & Contractors
Job costing, retainage, and percentage-of-completion accounting built for people who bid jobs, not just track expenses.
What Makes the Books Different in Construction & Contractors
Construction accounting runs on the job, not the calendar. Every cost - labor, materials, equipment time, subcontractor invoices - needs to be tracked back to the specific project it belongs to, or your job costing numbers are wrong and so is every bid you base on them.
Revenue recognition is its own decision. Percentage-of-completion works for most ongoing contracts and lets you recognize income as the work happens; completed-contract can make sense for shorter jobs. Which one you use changes your taxable income timing, so it needs to be reviewed as your contract mix changes, not chosen once and forgotten.
Retainage sits on the books as a receivable you may not collect for months after the work is done. If it's not tracked separately from regular accounts receivable, your cash flow reporting will look better than your actual cash position.
Who's on the crew matters for more than payroll. Getting 1099 subcontractor classification wrong is one of the most common ways contractors end up owing back payroll tax and penalties, especially when a sub works exclusively for one GC for months at a time.
Licensing and workers' comp audits add their own layer: multi-city and multi-state license renewals, sales tax that applies to materials but often not to labor, and annual comp audits that want clean, job-coded payroll records to true up your premium.
How We Help
Compliance & Licensing
We track contractor license renewals across every state and municipality you work in, keep your workers' comp audit records organized, and handle the sales tax distinction between taxable materials and non-taxable labor on your invoices.
Bookkeeping & Clean-Up
Every cost gets coded to the job it belongs to - labor, materials, equipment, subs - so your job costing reports are accurate enough to bid the next project off of, not just close the books.
Tax Planning
We review whether percentage-of-completion or completed-contract fits your current contract mix, and plan around Section 179 and bonus depreciation for the equipment you're financing or buying outright.
Tax Return Preparation & Filing
Business and, where relevant, personal returns filed with job costing and work-in-progress schedules that match your books, so nothing gets reconciled after the fact.
Payroll
Payroll that correctly separates W-2 crew from 1099 subs, tracks certified payroll where prevailing wage applies, and keeps records ready for your next workers' comp audit.
CFO Advisory & Consulting
Job profitability reviews, equipment purchase-vs-lease decisions, and cash flow planning around retainage and progress billing cycles.
Choosing the Right Entity
Most contractors start as an LLC for liability protection, then move to an S-corp once profit is consistent enough to make the reasonable-compensation math worthwhile. If you're subcontracting on larger jobs, your GC may also require proof of a specific entity structure or bonding - we can help you confirm what you need before you bid.
Explore LLC FormationFrequently Asked Questions
Should I use percentage-of-completion or completed-contract for my jobs?
It depends on your average contract length and size. Percentage-of-completion is required for most larger, longer contracts under IRS rules; shorter jobs may qualify for completed-contract. We look at your actual contract mix rather than defaulting to one method.
Is my subcontractor really a 1099, or should they be on payroll?
If you control how, when, and where the work gets done, and they work close to full-time for you over months, that's a fact pattern the IRS looks at closely regardless of what the contract says. We'll walk through the actual working relationship with you.
Do I charge sales tax on a job that includes both materials and labor?
In most states, materials are taxable and labor isn't, but the split rules and paperwork - resale certificates, invoice formatting - vary by state and sometimes by contract type. We'll confirm the rule for the states you actually work in.
How should I be accounting for retainage?
As a separate receivable from your regular accounts receivable, tracked by job, so your cash flow reports reflect what you can actually collect on now versus what's held back until project close-out.
Ready to Talk About Your Books?
Tell us where things stand and we'll tell you honestly what needs attention first.