QuickBooks is the default accounting software recommendation for small businesses, and for most contractors it's a fine choice. But the way most people set it up — or have it set up for them — doesn't reflect how contracting businesses actually work. The result is a system that technically functions but doesn't give you the job-level visibility you actually need.
Here's how to set it up in a way that works for a field-based operation.
Online vs. Desktop
QuickBooks Online is what most people are sold on now. It's subscription-based, cloud-hosted, and accessible from anywhere. For most small contractors, it works fine. The mobile app is decent for basic invoicing.
QuickBooks Desktop (now called QuickBooks Enterprise for the full version) is more powerful for job costing and some reporting functions, but it's a larger purchase and harder to access remotely. Unless you have a specific reason to need Desktop's capabilities, Online is the practical choice for a small operation.
The chart of accounts that matters for contractors
The chart of accounts is the list of categories your income and expenses get sorted into. The default QuickBooks setup is fine for a retail business. It's not optimized for contracting. Here's what to make sure you have:
Income accounts:
- Construction Revenue (or split by job type if you do multiple trades)
- Service Revenue (for smaller service calls vs. project work, if applicable)
Cost of goods sold (COGS) — your job costs:
- Labor — Direct (crew wages for billable work)
- Materials
- Equipment — Direct (fuel and maintenance directly tied to jobs)
- Subcontractors
Operating expenses — your overhead:
- Vehicle expenses
- Equipment insurance
- General liability insurance
- Workers' comp
- Phone and communications
- Software and subscriptions
- Advertising and marketing
- Professional fees (accounting, legal)
- Tools and small equipment
- Owner compensation (if you pay yourself a salary)
The COGS vs. operating expense distinction matters because it lets you calculate gross margin per job — the difference between what you bill and what the job directly costs — separately from overhead. That's where job profitability lives.
Setting up customers and jobs correctly
In QuickBooks, you can set up sub-jobs under each customer — meaning each project is its own record under the client's name. This lets you run reports that show income and costs at the individual job level, not just the customer level.
This is worth setting up correctly from the start. If you just put everything under a client name with no job distinction, you lose visibility once a client has had multiple projects. You can't tell which project was profitable and which wasn't.
The structure is: Customer → Sub-job (project name). Every invoice, every expense, and every bill gets attached to the specific sub-job.
Connecting to Jobber
If you're using Jobber for scheduling and invoicing, it syncs directly with QuickBooks Online. Invoices created in Jobber push to QuickBooks automatically, clients sync, and payments recorded in Jobber update the QuickBooks record. This eliminates double entry and keeps both systems current without extra effort.
Set this integration up early. It's one of the most time-saving things you can do operationally.
When to get a bookkeeper
When you're spending more time on bookkeeping than on the business — or when you're putting it off because it's become overwhelming — it's time. A part-time bookkeeper doing monthly reconciliation and keeping the books clean typically runs $200–$500/month for a small operation. A CPA for quarterly reviews and annual taxes is separate and additional.
Get the bookkeeper before the books become a problem, not after. Catching up on a year of disorganized transactions costs more than keeping them current all year.
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