Industries
Construction and job costing
Finbryn sets up job costing so a UK contractor can see profitability by job, not just by month, tracking Construction Industry Scheme deductions, retentions and change orders inside Xero alongside a site management platform. We close by business day five with senior principal review on every file.
Management report
Illustrative client · August 2026
GBP
| 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 monthly profit and loss does not tell a contractor anything useful
A contractor running several sites at once needs to know which job is profitable and which one is losing money, and a company-wide profit and loss cannot answer that question. Labour, materials and subcontractor costs need to be assigned to the job that generated them from the moment they are incurred, not sorted out afterwards from a pile of invoices.
Finbryn builds the chart of accounts and job list around how the contractor actually quotes and runs work, then codes costs to jobs as they happen. When a variation or change order alters the contract price, it gets reflected in the job cost report straight away, not left as a side conversation that never makes it into the numbers.
Construction Industry Scheme and retentions
Contractors paying subcontractors under the Construction Industry Scheme have to deduct tax at the correct rate before payment and report it to HMRC monthly, and getting a subcontractor's verification status wrong is an expensive mistake to unwind later. We track CIS deductions against each subcontractor payment and keep the monthly return figures ready; the return itself is filed by you, your existing accountant or the UK agent you appoint. Finbryn does not file with HMRC.
Retentions, the percentage a client holds back until practical completion and the matching percentage a contractor holds back from subcontractors, get tracked separately from ordinary trade debtors and creditors. Left buried in the general balances, retentions make a job's true cash position look better or worse than it actually is, right when the contractor needs an accurate number to plan the next stage.
Working with Finbryn
You keep your Xero file, integrated with the site management platform the team already uses. A named pod handles your account, with a recorded handover memo if that pod changes, and books are reconciled weekly with the close landing by business day five. Contractors setting up job costing for the first time typically start with a catch-up project to rebuild the chart of accounts and assign historical costs to the right jobs, priced separately from ongoing monthly bookkeeping. Pricing is published on our pricing page, with terms set out in your engagement letter.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Construction and job costing
Do you track retentions owed to subcontractors as well as those held by clients?
Yes. Both directions are tracked in their own accounts, so the contractor's true cash position is not distorted either way.
Do you track Construction Industry Scheme deductions?
Yes. CIS deductions are tracked against each subcontractor payment and the monthly return figures are kept ready. The return itself is filed by a credentialed adviser.
How do you track retentions held by clients or owed to subcontractors?
Retentions are tracked in their own accounts, separate from ordinary trade debtors and creditors, so they do not distort the contractor's cash position.
Can variations or change orders be reflected in job cost reports?
Yes. When a variation adjusts the contract price or scope, the job cost report is updated to reflect the revised figures straight away.
Can job costing flag a project running over its original budget before it finishes?
Yes, actual cost is compared against the original budget for each job as costs are entered, so a project drifting over budget is flagged while there is still time to act, rather than only becoming visible once the job is complete and the numbers are final.
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.