Talk to a CPA today — Free Contractor Bookkeeping Assessment
Outsourced Bookkeeping for Home Service Contractors — Job Costing, WIP & Profit-by-Job, Done Right
Stop guessing which jobs made money. ProAxis is a CPA-led bookkeeping team that runs your job-costing, change-order log, WIP schedule, and subcontractor 1099 process — configured in QuickBooks Online, reviewed by a licensed CPA, and built for contractors in the Tri-State.
AICPA Member • QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor • Response within 1 business day
Free Tax Strategy
What best describes you?
What does contractor bookkeeping include?
ProAxis Tax & Accounting Services runs CPA-supervised books for NJ, NY, and PA contractors — built around jobs, not just a bank feed:
- A job-costing chart of accounts — every dollar tagged to a project
- WIP schedules and percentage-of-completion support
- Materials vs. labor coding for NJ sales tax and Form ST-8 exemptions
- Monthly per-job profit reports before the next bid
- Clean handoff into tax planning — Section 179 timing, S-Corp analysis
Pricing follows the published ranges in the bookkeeping cost guide. Tax-side context lives on the construction CPA page and in the contractor sales tax guide.
Sound Familiar?
The 6 Bookkeeping Problems Every Tri-State Contractor Has
Most contractor businesses we onboard arrive with one or more of these problems. Here’s how a CPA-led bookkeeping team helps address them.
You don’t know which jobs actually made money — the P&L looks fine but cash is always tight.
How we fix it
We rebuild your QuickBooks file with proper job costing — every labor hour, material PO, and subcontractor invoice tagged to a specific job. You get per-job gross-margin reports weekly (typically by Friday, when source data is in on time).
Change orders never make it into the books. You’re billing the original contract and eating the extras.
How we fix it
We install a change-order log workflow in QBO so every signed CO becomes a billable line item. In similar situations, contractors have surfaced previously unbilled change orders during setup — amounts vary widely by job mix and backlog.
You can’t produce a WIP schedule when your bonding agent or banker asks for one.
How we fix it
We prepare monthly WIP schedules in surety-acceptable format — contract value, costs incurred, % complete, earned revenue, billings, over/under-billed — the format sureties and bankers expect.
Year-end 1099-NEC filing is a fire drill. Half your subs don’t have W-9s on file.
How we fix it
We collect, store, and TIN-verify W-9s at vendor onboarding, then auto-file 1099-NECs in January, so 1099 season is far less of a last-minute scramble.
NJ sales tax on materials, equipment rental, and capital improvements is a black box.
How we fix it
We classify every material PO against NJ ST-8 / ST-13 exemption rules at entry, to help you avoid overpaying sales tax on resale-eligible items and collect correctly on taxable installations.
Workers’ comp audits keep hitting you with surprise premium assessments.
How we fix it
We code payroll by WC class code from day one and produce audit-ready reports, which helps avoid surprise premium adjustments at your workers’-comp audit.
What’s Included
What's Included in Contractor Bookkeeping
Job Costing in QuickBooks Online
Per-job tracking of labor, materials, subs, and equipment. Real-time gross-margin visibility.
Monthly WIP Schedule
Surety- and lender-acceptable format. Tracks under-/over-billings, contract value, % complete.
Change-Order & Retainage Tracking
Every signed CO logged. Retainage receivable/payable balanced monthly.
Subcontractor 1099 Management
W-9 collection, TIN verification, year-end 1099-NEC filing — all handled.
NJ / NY Sales Tax Compliance
Resale certs, capital-improvement classification (NJ ST-8), sales-tax filings.
Certified Payroll Support
NJ Prevailing Wage Act compliance, weekly certified payroll reports for public works.
Equipment Depreciation Schedule
Sec. 179 + bonus-depreciation strategy for trucks, excavators, and trade equipment.
Monthly Financial Package
P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, and a CPA-narrated review call by the 15th.
Tax-Ready Year-End Close
Books closed, depreciation booked, accruals trued up — ready to hand to your tax preparer (or us).
Why ProAxis
Why Tri-State Contractors Switch to ProAxis
We Read Construction Books Through a Tax Lens
It’s easy to code an excavator purchase to “Equipment” and call it done. We code it to the depreciation schedule, model the Sec. 179 vs. bonus depreciation tradeoff, and tell you in November what to buy before December 31.
IRS Tax Resolution Handled In-House
If the IRS or NJ Division of Taxation comes after you for unfiled 1099s, payroll-tax issues, or sales-tax assessments, you don’t need a second firm. As a licensed CPA firm and authorized IRS e-File Provider, we represent you directly before the IRS and the NJ Division of Taxation.
QBO ProAdvisor Certified, Construction-Configured
We don’t use generic chart-of-accounts templates. We’ve built a contractor-specific QBO setup with classes for divisions, locations for projects, and item-level cost types — so the data you collect actually answers business questions.
100% Virtual — Built for Field-First Owners
You’re on a roof, not in front of a desk. Our entire workflow runs in QBO, secure document portal, and 20-minute monthly Zoom calls. We work around your schedule, not the other way around.
Contractor Bookkeeping — Frequently Asked Questions
How is contractor bookkeeping different from regular small-business bookkeeping?
Construction is a project-based industry, which means almost every accounting decision — revenue recognition, cost allocation, balance-sheet presentation — depends on which job a transaction belongs to. 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: WIP reporting for sureties, 1099 filings for subs, NJ sales-tax rules on materials and capital improvements, prevailing-wage payroll, and workers' comp class-code accuracy. A generic bookkeeper handling a Schedule C business will miss every one of these.
Do you produce WIP (work-in-progress) schedules in the format my surety wants?
Yes. We prepare WIP schedules monthly or quarterly showing contract value, total estimated costs, costs incurred to date, % complete by costs, revenue earned, billings to date, and over- or under-billed status for every open job. 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.
What does your monthly contractor bookkeeping cost?
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. 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're still on QuickBooks Desktop / a spreadsheet. Do we have to migrate?
We strongly recommend QuickBooks Online for any contractor running more than 5–6 jobs at a time. QBO's class- and location-based job tracking, mobile receipt capture for field crews, and direct bank-feed automation 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.
Do you handle NJ Prevailing Wage and certified payroll?
Yes. We configure your payroll system to capture prevailing wage rates by trade and county per the NJ Department of Labor schedules, 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.
Can you help if the IRS or NJ already sent us a notice?
Yes — this is one of the reasons clients pick us over a pure bookkeeping shop. ProAxis runs a full IRS Tax Resolution practice. If you're facing unfiled 1099 penalties, payroll-tax assessments, sales-tax audits, or a Notice CP2100, we represent you directly. You don't need to hire a second firm.
Ready to Know Which Jobs Actually Make Money?
Free 30-minute review of your QuickBooks file. We'll tell you exactly what's broken and what it'll cost to fix — no obligation, no sales pitch.
Serving home service contractors across New York, New Jersey & Pennsylvania — 100% virtual.
More ProAxis Resources for Contractors
- Construction Industry CPA Hub →
- Curated Resource Hub for NJ Contractors →
- S-Corp vs LLC: NJ Tax Comparison 2026 →
- ProAxis Pricing →
- Bookkeeping Cost Calculator → Quick monthly-fee estimate
- Catch-Up Bookkeeping Calculator → One-time project cost if you're months behind