General contractors

Accounting for Florida General Contractors

Job costing by phase, subs and 1099s, retainage, and WIP handled by a team that has worked the construction side, so you can see what each project is really making.

What we handle

Built Around How a GC Actually Books Work

The pieces a general contractor lives and dies on, kept current all year instead of pieced together at tax time.

  • Job Costing by Phase and Cost Code

    Every cost tied to the project and the phase it belongs to. Site work, framing, MEP, and finish track separately, so you can see where a job slipped instead of staring at one company total.

  • Subcontractor and 1099 Tracking, Done Right All Year

    W-9s collected before a sub gets paid, payments tracked as they go out, and 1099s that aren't a January scramble. 1099 reporting rules change, and we keep you on the right side of them.

  • Retainage and WIP Reporting

    Retainage tracked as the receivable it is, with over- and under-billing on every open job. You see which projects you've billed ahead of and which are carrying cost you haven't invoiced.

  • Progress and Draw Billing Support

    Billing tied to schedule of values and percent complete, so draws go out clean and match what the project shows. Fewer questions from the lender, faster money in the door.

  • Tax Planning and Preparation Under One Team

    The people who keep your books are the ones who file your return. Equipment timing, entity setup, and Section 179 get planned against your actual year, not guessed at in April.

Why it matters

A GC's Numbers Live or Die on Job Costing and WIP

When several projects run at once, the company P&L hides as much as it shows. The detail you need sits at the job and phase level.

Run everything through one bottom line and a project that's underwater can stay invisible for months. Bill a job ahead of where the work actually is and that over-billing pads revenue while a different job quietly runs over. Both net out against each other, the totals look fine, and you don't find out which one paid you until it closes. Job-cost and profit reporting puts costs against the project that incurred them, so a thin job shows up while it's still open and you can still do something about it.

Subs and 1099s stack up compliance risk if they aren't tracked as the work happens. A missing W-9, a sub paid by check with no record tied to the job, a payment that should have hit a 1099 and didn't. Chasing all of that down in January, after a sub has moved on or shut down, is where the penalties and the headaches come from. Tracked as you go, it's a non-event. Job costing for construction is the same discipline applied to cost: catch it on the job, not at year-end.

Retainage ties up real cash for months after the work is done. Ten percent held across several projects is a serious number sitting on someone else's books, and a profitable GC can still run short on cash while waiting on it. That's why cash planning matters as much as margin here. We map what's coming in against draws, payroll, and material buys so a slow retainage release doesn't catch you flat. See cash flow planning for how that side fits.

Who we work with

Who This Is a Good Fit For

General contractor accounting earns its keep once you're running enough work that the company total stops telling you anything useful.

  • You run a residential or commercial GC here in Florida and take projects from contract through closeout.
  • You've got multiple projects and phases running at once and can't keep the numbers straight in your head.
  • You lean on a lot of subs and 1099s and want W-9s and payments tracked before year-end.
  • You're carrying retainage across jobs and need cash planning that accounts for it.
  • You use draw or progress billing and want it tied cleanly to schedule of values and percent complete.
  • You want WIP and margin by job, not one P&L line that nets the good projects against the bad.

Is every job actually in the black?

That's okay. You might just want to ask a few questions first and see if this makes sense. Book a quick call and we'll talk through your business and where the books stand. If we can help, we'll tell you what that looks like. If not, no worries.

We're accountants, not salespeople, so you won't feel pressured.

Book a free review call

Get started

Built for How GCs Run

A free 30-minute review call with Ian. Bring a project or two and we'll show you what phase-level job costing and WIP would look like for your business. No pressure to sign up.

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