Outsourced Bookkeeping for Home Service Contractors — Job Costing, WIP & Profit-by-Job, Done Right

Construction is a project-based industry. Almost every accounting decision depends on which job a transaction belongs to. Those decisions include revenue recognition, cost allocation, and balance-sheet presentation. Without job costing, you can't answer the most important question in your business: which jobs made money? On top of that, contractors face industry-specific compliance. That includes WIP reporting for sureties, 1099 filings for subs, and NJ sales-tax rules on materials and capital improvements. It also includes prevailing-wage payroll and workers' comp class-code accuracy. A generic bookkeeper handling a Schedule C business will miss every one of these.

Yes. We prepare WIP schedules monthly or quarterly for every open job. Each schedule shows contract value, total estimated costs, costs incurred to date, and % complete by costs. It also shows revenue earned, billings to date, and over- or under-billed status. The format we use is the standard format requested by NJ-area sureties and construction lenders. If your specific surety has a custom template, we'll match it.

Pricing depends on transaction volume, number of open jobs, payroll complexity, and whether you need certified payroll. Most contractor engagements run $600–$1,400/month all-in (typical published range, not an offer). After a free 30-minute discovery call we provide a fixed monthly fee — no hourly billing surprises. We also quote catch-up bookkeeping separately if you arrive with a backlog.

We strongly recommend QuickBooks Online for any contractor running more than 5–6 jobs at a time. QBO offers class- and location-based job tracking, mobile receipt capture for field crews, and direct bank-feed automation. Those features make it dramatically faster than Desktop or any spreadsheet system. We handle the migration as part of onboarding — including chart-of-accounts cleanup and a 12–24-month historical import where appropriate.

Yes. We configure your payroll system to capture prevailing wage rates by trade and county. Rates follow the NJ Department of Labor schedules. We also generate weekly certified payroll reports (Form WH-347-style) and reconcile fringe benefits. If you bid public works in NJ, NY, or PA, we'll keep you compliant.

Yes — this is one of the reasons clients pick us over a pure bookkeeping shop. If you're facing unfiled 1099 penalties, payroll-tax assessments, sales-tax examinations, or a Notice CP2100, we prepare the responses and filings directly, for you to sign and submit. We work under Form 8821, which lets us pull your transcripts and read your notices. ProAxis does not represent taxpayers before the IRS. Where formal representation is required we refer you to a licensed representative and coordinate with them, so the bookkeeping, the filings and the representation stay joined up.

ProAxis starts with a free scoping call that includes a read-only look at your current QuickBooks file. The monthly fee is documented in a written engagement letter before any work begins. We then connect bank feeds and tag labor, materials, and subcontractor invoices to each job. Your open jobs move onto the monthly WIP schedule, with change orders and retainage tracked in the same cycle. Nothing is needed from your current bookkeeper beyond file access — we handle the transition mechanics.