Industry focus
Construction Accountant for Contractors
General contractors, subcontractors, roofers, plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians, and ironworkers: we manage your job costing, 1099 compliance, sales tax, and equipment depreciation so every dollar you earn stays accounted for.
How we work with this industry
Construction accounting lives or dies on job costing. If labor, materials and subcontractor payments are not landing against the right job, the monthly numbers describe a company that does not exist, and the tax result follows the same fiction. We set up the books so each job carries its own costs, keep the subcontractor records straight for year-end reporting, and handle multi-state payroll when crews cross state lines.
The second problem is timing. Progress billings, deposits and retainage move on the contract's schedule, not on the schedule the work is performed, so a healthy bank balance can sit on top of jobs that are losing money and a thin month can follow a profitable one. We track billings against cost by job, so you can see which contracts are ahead, which are behind, and which are quietly funding the others.
Then there is the compliance layer that comes with the trade. Florida sales and use tax on materials depends on how your contract is written, equipment and vehicles have to be coded correctly in the year you buy them, and the subcontractors you pay may carry a year-end information reporting obligation depending on how much you paid them and how they are organized. We keep those moving on their own calendar so none of them turns into a scramble in January.
What We Do
What We Handle for Contractors
The back office behind a construction company, built so the numbers hold up when you bid the next job.
Job Costing You Can Bid From
Cost codes, an item list that matches how you actually estimate, and labor allocated to jobs rather than to a single payroll expense line. Set up in QuickBooks by a ProAdvisor and kept current as jobs open and close.
Field Payroll and Labor Burden
Pay runs for crews, with taxes, workers compensation and time off loaded onto the hour so the burdened labor cost reaches the job. Form 941, Form 940 and Florida reemployment tax filed on schedule, plus registration in other states where the crew's work creates one.
Subcontractor Records and 1099-NEC
W-9 information collected before the first check, payments tracked by payee through the year, and the year-end information returns prepared for the payees who require them, without a chase.
Florida Sales and Use Tax
Registration, the DR-15 on your assigned filing frequency, and a review of how your contracts are written, because the contract form drives whether tax belongs on the materials or on the invoice.
Equipment, Trucks and Depreciation
Purchases, trade-ins and financed equipment recorded correctly, with the capitalize or deduct decision made in the year of purchase instead of guessed at from a loan statement later.
Retainage, Change Orders and Billing
Retainage held out of your invoices tracked as an asset you are still owed, and change orders recorded when they are approved so the job cost and the contract value stay in step.
Common Problems
Where Contractor Books Go Wrong
Four patterns we see on nearly every contractor file we take over.
Cash in the Bank Read as Profit
Deposits and progress billings arrive before most of the cost does. A contractor who reads the bank balance as profit is reading a loan from the next job, and the correction shows up when that job needs materials.
Labor Burden Missing From the Job
Recording only the base wage against a job and leaving payroll taxes, workers compensation and time off in overhead makes every job look better than it is. The estimate then gets built on a number that was never real.
Change Orders Built but Never Written
Work performed on a verbal approval carries the cost immediately and the revenue only if someone documents it. This is the most common way a profitable job becomes a break-even one.
Materials Bought Without a Tax Decision
Whether sales or use tax applies to the materials on a job depends on how the contract reads, and that gets settled at signing. Deciding after the material is installed means absorbing the answer rather than pricing it.
Services we offer in this industry
The services most often used by businesses in this industry. Each one is led by an Enrolled Agent.
Related industries
Restaurants & Food Service
Full-service restaurants, cafés, food trucks, catering companies, and ghost kitchens: we handle your Florida sales tax (DR-15), tip reporting, and bookkeeping so your books are as tight as your kitchen.
Healthcare & Medical Practices
From dental offices, physician groups, home health agencies, telemedicine platforms, nurse practitioners, and independent doctors: we handle your payroll, entity structuring, and tax strategy so you can focus on your patients, not the IRS.
Trucking & Transportation
Owner-operators, fleet companies, freight brokers, courier services, and logistics providers: we handle IFTA, per diem, Sec. 179 depreciation, and 1099 driver compliance, keeping your operation road-ready and audit-proof.
Related guides
100% Bonus Depreciation Is Permanent: 2026 Section 179 Cap $2,560,000
Public Law 119-21 made the 100% first year deduction permanent for qualified property acquired after January 19, 2025, and set the 2026 Section 179 cap at $2,560,000 with the phase down starting at $4,090,000.
S-Corp Reasonable Compensation: 7 Court Cases the IRS Cites
S-corp shareholder-employees who perform more than minor services must be paid a reasonable salary subject to FICA, FUTA, and income tax withholding. Here is the IRS rule, the Watson standard, and the seven decisions the agency cites.
Common questions
Questions we hear in this industry
Straight answers, from an Enrolled Agent.
Contact Us
Need help in your industry?
Talk to us about how we can help you stay compliant and grow.