Allowances exceeded without a paper trail
Tracking allowance budget against actual selection cost per line shows overages while there is still a conversation to have with the client.
Remodelers & Renovation Contractors
Bookkeeping for Remodelers & Renovation Contractors
The bid was clean. Then came the selections, the allowances, and eleven change orders.
Remodeling margin is decided after the contract is signed. Allowances get exceeded, selections upgrade, and scope grows in conversations on site. If those movements are not tracked against the original contract, the final number is a surprise to everyone including you.
We track the original contract, each approved change order, and allowance usage per job, and tie the draw schedule to actual cost incurred so billing keeps pace with the work.
What goes wrong
Where remodeling margin usually leaks.
Change orders built before they are billed
A monthly reconciliation of approved change orders against invoiced amounts catches unbilled scope before the job closes.
Draws out of step with cost
Billing on a calendar while spending on a schedule is how a job runs out of money at eighty percent complete. Cost-to-date reporting keeps draws aligned.
Owner's personal spending in the business account
Mixed transactions are the single most common cleanup item we see. We separate them and set a rule so the boundary holds going forward.
What we track for you
- Original contract, approved change orders, and revised contract value
- Allowance budget vs. actual selection cost
- Draw schedule billed vs. cost incurred to date
- Subcontractor payments, lien waiver status, and W-9s
- Client deposits held as liability until earned
Your cost structure
- Subcontractors
- The majority of remodel cost. Each bill coded to job and phase, with W-9 and payment totals tracked for 1099-NEC support.
- Selections and allowances
- Fixtures, tile, and appliances tracked against the allowance they were budgeted under, so overage is attributable.
- In-house labor
- Carpenter and lead hours allocated by job with burden, separating supervision from production time.
- Client deposits
- Held as a liability until work is performed, so a large deposit does not read as a profitable month.
What lands in your monthly report
- Job margin against original and revised contract
- Allowance overage summary by job
- Unbilled change orders and unbilled cost
- Deposit liability balance
- Company profit and loss and balance sheet
Remodeling questions
See the full monthly plans and pricing, or read how the onboarding process works.
Related guides
Job costing
Change orders: how to track them so they don't eat your margin
The extra work got done. The paperwork did not. Here is how to log, price, approve, and bill change orders so the work you added shows up in the money you collect.
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.
Other trades we work with
Find out what your jobs are really earning.
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