Construction accounting is its own discipline: revenue that spans years, retainage you’ve earned but can’t touch, subs who are one misclassification from being employees, and a bonding company reading your financials like a loan officer. We’ve kept books for builders since 2009.
Without job costing, a profitable-looking year can hide two jobs that lost money and one that carried them. We cost every job — labor, materials, subs, equipment time — so the next bid is priced on evidence.
Work-in-progress schedules are the first thing a bonding company or lender requests, and building one from scratch under deadline is miserable. Ours are maintained continuously, showing over- and under-billings job by job.
Control the schedule, supply the tools, and pay by the hour — and your ‘sub’ may be an employee with back payroll taxes attached. We review arrangements before the state or IRS does.
Earned-but-held retainage distorts both taxes and cash planning when it’s coded like ordinary receivables. We track it separately, so you know what’s truly collectible and when.
Business and owner returns prepared together, with the construction-specific schedules handled by people who’ve seen them before.
Tax Preparation →Monthly closes with costs posted to jobs, retainage tracked separately, and statements a bond agent can underwrite from.
Bookkeeping →§179 and bonus depreciation on iron and trucks, timed against your income — and accounting-method questions surfaced before they surface you.
Tax Planning →Cash forecasting that respects draw timing, plus the lender-ready packages that get the next project financed.
Analysis & Forecasting →Modeled on builder economics: lumpy income, equipment cycles, and what reasonable comp looks like for an owner who still swings a hammer.
Entity & S-Corp Analysis →W-2 crews, certified-payroll-adjacent recordkeeping, W-9s collected before the first check, and 1099s out on time.
Payroll →Credible, consistent statements with a work-in-progress schedule that ties to them: contract values, costs to date, billings, and the over/under-billing position on every open job. Bond underwriters read WIP the way banks read collateral — a builder with clean WIP and modest equity often bonds better than a bigger builder with messy books.
It depends on your size, contract length, and entity — the tax code gives smaller contractors real choices here, and the right method can defer meaningful tax. It’s also easy to get wrong by default: the method you started with as a one-truck operation may not be the method you’re entitled to, or best served by, today. This is a facts-and-numbers analysis we run, not a checkbox.
Retainage is earned revenue you can’t collect yet, and depending on your accounting method it may not be taxable until the right to receive it is fixed. Coding it like an ordinary receivable can accelerate tax on money you won’t see for a year. We track it separately in the books and treat it deliberately on the return.
Yes — and what we need is simple but non-negotiable: a W-9 from every sub before their first check. Chase it in January and you’ll chase it forever. We build W-9 collection into the payment workflow, track payments all year, and file the 1099-NEC and 1096 transmittals on schedule.
Every tax return prepared and signed by a licensed CPA or IRS Enrolled Agent. Everything runs through the secure portal and e-signature.
Fifteen minutes with Kevin Hemingway, CPA. We discuss your tax or accounting needs, determine whether our firm is a good fit, and you leave with an estimated fee range and next steps. This consultation is for engagement evaluation and does not include tax advice, tax planning, or detailed analysis of specific tax situations.
Book a Free ConsultA paid, flat-fee review of your prior return and current books, ending in a prioritized action list you keep either way.
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