Default chart of accounts
No separation between job costs and overhead, so gross margin is meaningless the moment the file is created.
Service
QuickBooks Online for Contractors
A QuickBooks file set up for construction, not for a coffee shop.
QuickBooks Online can do job costing well. The default setup does not do it at all. Out of the box you get a generic chart of accounts, no cost codes, and an income section that lumps every kind of work together — which is why so many contractors conclude the software does not work for them.
We configure QBO around the way your business bills and spends, then do the ongoing work inside that file. You keep ownership of the account and the data; nothing lives in a system you cannot access.
The problem
What this usually looks like.
No job or cost code structure
Customers exist, jobs do not, so there is nowhere for a cost to land even when someone wants to code it correctly.
Bank feed rules doing damage quietly
Auto-categorization rules set up once, months ago, now file half the material spend to the wrong account without anyone noticing.
Duplicate customers, vendors, and accounts
A file that has been through two bookkeepers usually has three of everything, and reports that no one trusts.
What Crew Bookkeeping does
Rebuild the chart of accounts for construction
Job costs separated by type and kept distinct from overhead, with income split in a way that matches how you actually sell work.
Set up jobs, cost codes, and items
A structure that makes correct coding the path of least resistance for whoever enters a bill.
Fix feeds, rules, and duplicates
Connections checked, rules reviewed, and duplicate records merged so reports stop contradicting each other.
Run the monthly work in your file
Ongoing bookkeeping happens in your QBO account, so your tax preparer and any future bookkeeper can pick it up cleanly.
Who it's for
- Contractors already on QuickBooks Online who are not getting job-level answers from it
- Businesses moving from spreadsheets, paper, or QuickBooks Desktop
- Files that have passed through several bookkeepers
- Owners who want to keep control of their own accounting file
What you get
- Construction-specific chart of accounts
- Job, cost code, and item structure
- Bank feed and rule review
- Duplicate cleanup across customers, vendors, and accounts
- Ongoing monthly bookkeeping inside your QBO account
Related guides
Job costing
Job costing for contractors: what it is and how to set it up
Company-level profit tells you almost nothing about which jobs earned it. Here is the cost code structure and setup sequence that makes job margin visible.
Cleanup
Getting contractor books clean before tax season
Most of what your tax preparer bills you for at year end is cleanup they should not have had to do. Here is the sequence to fix it yourself.
Find out what your jobs are really earning.
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