Industries
Construction and job costing
Finbryn sets up job costing so a contractor can see profitability by job, not just by month, with labor, materials and subcontractor costs assigned to the job that generated them. We track work in progress, retainage and change orders inside QuickBooks Online alongside Procore or Buildertrend, closing by business day five.
Management report
Illustrative client · August 2026
USD
| 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 three jobs at once needs to know which job is profitable and which one is bleeding money, and a company-wide profit and loss cannot answer that question. Costs need to be assigned to the job that generated them, which means every labor hour, material purchase and subcontractor invoice has to be coded to a specific job from the start, not sorted out after the fact.
Finbryn builds the chart of accounts and job list around how the contractor actually bids and runs jobs, then codes costs to jobs as they happen. When a change order changes the contract price, it gets reflected in the job cost report, not left as a side conversation that never makes it into the numbers.
Work in progress and retainage
A job that is further along in the field than it has been billed for has revenue that has not been recognized yet, and a job billed ahead of the work performed has the opposite problem. We calculate work in progress each month using percentage-of-completion or completed-contract methods, whichever matches how the contractor already recognizes revenue, so profitability on active jobs is visible before the job closes, not after.
Retainage, the portion customers hold back until final completion and the portion owed to subcontractors under the same terms, gets tracked separately from ordinary accounts receivable and payable. Left buried in the general balances, retainage makes cash flow look worse or better than it actually is.
Working with Finbryn
You keep your QuickBooks Online file, integrated with Procore or Buildertrend if that is what the field 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. Every file is reviewed by a senior principal before delivery, and pricing is published on our pricing page.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Construction and job costing
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, then moves into ongoing job costing on a monthly basis.
Do you calculate work in progress each month?
Yes. Work in progress is calculated using percentage-of-completion or completed-contract methods, matching whichever approach the contractor already uses for revenue recognition.
How do you track retainage held by customers or owed to subcontractors?
Retainage is tracked in its own accounts, separate from ordinary receivables and payables, so it does not distort the contractor's cash flow picture.
Can change orders be reflected in job cost reports?
Yes. When a change order adjusts the contract price or scope, the job cost report is updated to reflect the revised numbers.
Can you track retainage held on contracts separately from regular receivables?
Retainage withheld by a customer until project completion is tracked as its own receivable, separate from amounts currently due, so your aged receivables report does not overstate what is collectible right now. Retainage payable to subcontractors is tracked the same way on the other side of the ledger.
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.