Industries
Construction and job costing
Finbryn sets up job costing for Australian builders and contractors so profitability is visible job by job, with labour, materials and subcontractor invoices coded to the job that generated them inside Xero. We track retention, coordinate Single Touch Payroll for site crews, and align payroll with Payday Super since its 1 July 2026 start.
Management report
Illustrative client · August 2026
AUD
| Line | Aug | Jul | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 142,380 | 131,904 | +10,476 |
| Cost of sales | (51,260) | (48,115) | (3,145) |
| Gross profit | 91,120 | 83,789 | +7,331 |
| Payroll | (46,300) | (45,900) | (400) |
| SoftwareNoted | (6,480) | (5,490) | (990) |
| Rent | (8,000) | (8,000) | 0 |
| Other operating | (9,215) | (9,870) | +655 |
| Net income | 21,125 | 14,529 | +6,596 |
Reviewer's note
Software is up on last month after two seats were added mid-month. Revenue includes one milestone invoice that will not repeat next month.
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
Exceptions report
Where the books usually hurt
Labor, materials and subcontractor costs get lumped into general expense accounts instead of assigned to a job
Work in progress does not get calculated, so profitability on active jobs is a guess until the job closes
Retainage held by customers or owed to subcontractors gets buried in accounts receivable and payable
Change orders change the contract price but never make it back into the job cost report
A whole-of-business profit and loss hides the job that is losing money
A builder running several jobs at once needs to know which one is actually making money, and a single company-wide profit and loss cannot answer that. Every labour hour, material delivery and subcontractor invoice has to be coded to the job it belongs to from the start, not sorted out once the job is finished and it is too late to fix a pricing mistake. Finbryn sets the chart of accounts and job list up around how the business actually quotes and runs jobs, then codes costs to the job as invoices land.
Retention and progress claims
Retention money, the portion a client or head contractor holds back until practical completion or the defects liability period ends, gets tracked in its own ledger rather than left inside ordinary debtors where it distorts how much cash is actually available. Progress claims and variations get reflected back into the job cost report as the contract value changes, so the numbers a foreman sees mid-job match what was actually agreed, not the original quote.
Payday Super and Single Touch Payroll for site crews
From 1 July 2026, super contributions for employees have to be paid at the same time as wages under Payday Super, landing in the employee's fund within 7 business days of payday, a tighter cycle than the quarterly rhythm many builders are used to. Every pay run also has to be reported to the ATO through Single Touch Payroll. We coordinate payroll timing with the site's payroll processor so wages, the minimum super contribution rate of 12 per cent and STP reporting move on the same clock, rather than super quietly falling behind while wages go out on time.
GST and working with Finbryn
Builders crossing the A$75,000 GST turnover threshold move onto quarterly BAS lodgement, and we prepare the GST figures behind each one from reconciled job costs, ready for a TPB-registered practitioner to review and lodge. You keep the Xero file. A named pod runs the account, with a recorded handover memo if that changes, books reconciled weekly and the close by business day five. Contractors setting up job costing for the first time usually start with a catch-up project priced separately, before moving to ongoing monthly bookkeeping. Pricing sits on our pricing page.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Construction and job costing
Can you set up job costing if we have never tracked it by job before?
Yes. This usually starts with a catch-up project to rebuild the chart of accounts and job list before ongoing job-by-job costing begins.
How do you track retention held by a client or head contractor?
Retention is tracked in its own ledger, separate from ordinary debtors, so it does not distort how much cash is actually available on a job.
Are you ready for Payday Super?
Yes. We coordinate with your payroll processor so super contributions land within the required window of each payday, since its 1 July 2026 start, rather than running on the old quarterly cycle.
Do you report through Single Touch Payroll?
Payroll coordination is built around STP reporting each pay run, working with the processor your business already uses.
Can you handle progress claims and variations separately from the main contract?
Yes. Progress claims, variations and retention are tracked against each job so the true margin on a contract is visible before it is finished, not only once the final invoice is paid.
Can you set up job costing if we have never tracked it before?
Yes, this usually starts with a catch-up project to rebuild the chart of accounts and job list before ongoing job costing begins.
Do you calculate work in progress each month?
Yes, percentage-of-completion or completed-contract calculations can be built into the monthly close depending on how the contractor already recognizes revenue.
What are the common bookkeeping challenges for a construction and job costing business?
Beyond the basics, retainage held by customers or owed to subcontractors gets buried in accounts receivable and payable and change orders change the contract price but never make it back into the job cost report come up often in this industry. We build the chart of accounts and reconciliation process around those specific patterns rather than a generic template that ignores how the business actually operates.
What software do you support for construction and job costing?
We work inside QuickBooks Online and Procore, along with the other tools listed on this page that are common in the construction and job costing industry. If you have no file yet, we set one up in your name so you own it from day one.
Related services
- BookkeepingMonthly bookkeepingOngoing monthly bookkeeping: transactions sorted into categories, accounts reconciled and month-end reports delivered in the software you already use.
- BookkeepingCatch-up and cleanup bookkeepingMonths or years of books brought up to date and reconciled, with a written record of every adjustment, so monthly bookkeeping can start from a clean base.
Next step
Talk to the team that would run your books
A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.