Setup & training
QuickBooks Online, set up the way a contractor needs it
The chart of accounts, items, jobs, classes and payroll wired together so the reports mean something. Set up by a QuickBooks Online Certified ProAdvisor who works with Florida subcontractors.
QuickBooks out of the box is built for a business that sells one thing
You opened the file, picked construction from a list, and QuickBooks gave you a chart of accounts. It balances. It also cannot tell you what the Riverview job cost, because nothing in the default setup asks the question.
A file that works as a checkbook and fails as a management tool
Income is one line. Materials are one line. Labour is somewhere between payroll and cost of goods sold depending on who entered it that week. Every report comes out at company level, which is the one level you already know.
The other half of the problem is the owner
Personal charges on the business card, draws recorded as expenses, and a fuel card that covers the truck and the boat. That is the single most common mess in a contractor’s file, and it makes every margin on the P&L wrong in the same direction.
None of this is a QuickBooks failure
The software will do job costing properly. It just will not do it by default, and it will not tell you it isn’t.
What gets built
A chart of accounts that fits the work
Direct job costs separated from overhead, with the categories you actually bid in: material, labour, subs, equipment, permits. Short enough that the person entering a bill picks the right one.
Items and cost categories
So a material invoice lands against the job and against the cost type, and the P&L by job can break down where the money went rather than just how much of it there was.
Jobs and projects
Customers with jobs underneath them, named the way your field paperwork names them, so an invoice, a bill and a timesheet can all be pointed at the same thing.
Classes, used where they earn their keep
Service versus new construction, division, or crew, depending on how you actually make decisions. Classes are the report split that survives a job closing.
Owner pay separated from business spending
A draw account, an owner compensation method that matches how you are set up, and a rule for the card charges that are genuinely personal. This gets decided once, on purpose, instead of drifting.
Payroll wired into job costing
Hours costed to the job they were worked on, and pay items mapped so workers’ comp class codes come off the payroll rather than being estimated at audit. See payroll and 1099 filing.
Bank feeds and rules
Connected accounts with rules that code the recurring things automatically, so the weekly review is ten minutes rather than an evening.
Opening balances that tie
Set from your last filed return or last reconciled period, so the new file agrees with the old one and your CPA does not inherit two sets of numbers.
Whoever enters the bills needs to understand it, and it shouldn't be you
A setup nobody in the office can maintain is a setup that lasts four months.
Training is on your file, not a generic course
As a QuickBooks Online Certified ProAdvisor, training is part of this. Whoever enters bills, sends invoices and runs the bank feed gets walked through the file that was built for your company. Your accounts, your jobs, your rules, and the five things that matter most in your file.
Written instructions, and a list of what to hand back
You get instructions for the routine work, and a short list of the decisions that should come to me rather than be guessed at.
You don't need to understand QuickBooks. You need to understand the job.
The person doing data entry needs to understand both, and that is a couple of hours, not a career change.
Questions I get asked
I'm already on QuickBooks. Do I need a new file?
Usually not. Most files can be restructured in place, which keeps your history. A new file only makes sense when the existing one is beyond repair, and that is a judgement I will only make after looking at it. If the old file is behind as well as badly structured, start with cleanup.
I'm on QuickBooks Desktop. Should I move?
Depends on the year you are in and what you use Desktop for. Mid-year moves cost more than they save more often than not. I will tell you which side of that line you are on rather than sell you the migration.
Can I keep doing my own books afterwards?
Yes, and some clients should. A file that is set up correctly and a person who knows how to run it is a legitimate end state. The offer to do it monthly stands, but it is not the condition of the setup.
Are you a CPA?
No. I am a QuickBooks Online Certified ProAdvisor, which is the claim this page rests on and one you can check. See about. I build and keep the books; anything that needs a CPA’s signature goes to a CPA.
Get the file built right once
The file review tells us what you already have and whether it can be restructured in place. Most of the time it can, which is cheaper and keeps your history.