Guides on auditing, restructuring, and optimizing construction cost codes for better job profitability tracking.
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.
The actual cost to employ a worker in construction is 28–38% above their base wage once you add payroll taxes, workers' comp, benefits, and tool allowances. Most builders at $500K–$3M who haven't calculated their labor burden rate are underpricing their labor by $8–$15 per hour. Across a typical crew of 4–6 workers, that's $40,000–$120,000 in lost gross profit every year — and it's invisible until you run the math.
A Work in Progress report is the financial schedule that shows how much revenue you've earned on active jobs versus how much you've billed. Most builders at $500K–$3M don't produce one — and it's exactly what your bank, bonding company, and GC clients ask for when you want more capacity. Here's what WIP measures, why it matters, and how to build the schedule in under two hours.
Most builders use QuickBooks for invoicing and taxes but never configure it for job costing. Here's the Customer:Job setup, item structure, and five-code system that delivers real gross margin visibility by project.
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