Guides on auditing, restructuring, and optimizing construction cost codes for better job profitability tracking.
Most construction QuickBooks files have no WIP accounting at all — meaning revenue and costs never match actual project progress. Over-billing and under-billing both create tax and cash flow problems builders don't see coming. Here's the journal entry structure that fixes it.
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Most builders are underpricing every job they bid because they don't know their true overhead rate. They guess at a markup, add a little for profit, and wonder why the money disappears. Here's the exact overhead rate calculation I use with builders at every revenue level — and why getting this number right is the single highest-leverage financial move you can make.
Most residential builders at $1M–$3M in revenue have $30,000–$80,000 in past-due accounts receivable at any given time. Slow collections don't feel like a business problem until they become a cash flow crisis. Here's the AR system that prevents slow pay before it starts — and recovers outstanding balances when it does.
Most builders lose money at the end of jobs, not because the work was bad but because the closeout process is nonexistent. Unbilled change orders, unapproved punch list items, and missing final draws are all closeout failures. Here's the six-step closeout sequence I install with every builder I work with.
Most builders create separate invoices for each draw manually or bill in full at the end — leaving a cash flow gap that QuickBooks progress invoicing eliminates in under an hour of setup. Here's the configuration that matches your billing to your draw schedule and keeps your cash position from going negative mid-project.
The job close report is the most valuable document a builder never writes. It compares estimated vs. actual costs by cost code, surfaces exactly where your bid was wrong, and gives you the data to improve every future estimate. Most builders skip it because they're already moving to the next job. Here's the 60-minute process that makes it non-negotiable.
Most builders confuse markup with margin and have no idea whether their gross profit is healthy or a slow bleed. Here are the actual gross profit benchmarks for residential construction businesses at $500K–$3M, and the three places margin disappears without showing up on your P&L.
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