Construction accounting, explained plainly.

What job cost accounting is, how cost codes, cost types and burden work, the reports a contractor needs, and the mistakes that make job cost wrong.

How retainage works on both sides of a construction contract, the journal entries for retainage receivable and payable, release, and where it goes wrong.

A schedule of values (SOV) splits the contract sum into the line items progress billing draws against: how it is built, what owners check, how change orders affect it.

Committed cost is what a contractor has contracted to spend but not yet incurred: open POs and subcontracts. How it is measured and why it drives the forecast.

The two revenue recognition methods for construction contracts: cost-to-cost percentage of completion under ASC 606, who can use completed contract, and the effects.

How to structure construction cost codes: CSI MasterFormat vs a custom list, cost types, phases, how many codes is too many, and keeping one list company-wide.

How change orders, purchase orders and subcontracts should flow through job cost so projected cost at completion is right before the invoices arrive.

How to build a cost-to-complete forecast by cost code, turn it into estimate at completion, and keep it honest against commitments, change orders and the WIP schedule.

The four lien waiver types, when to collect each, insurance and W-9 requirements, and how to make compliance a condition of payment rather than a spreadsheet.

Subcontractor pay applications from receipt to payment: schedule of values, certification, retainage, compliance holds, conversion to AP, and the controls.

How AIA G702 and G703 progress billing works: schedule of values, retainage, stored materials, change orders, and what billing software has to get right.

How to bill stored materials on G702/G703 pay applications: Column F, retainage on stored materials, what owners require, the double-billing trap, and the accounting.

Why profitable contractors run out of cash: retainage, pay-when-paid, over/under billing as working capital, and a weekly cash view built from open items.

How the WIP schedule works, the percentage-of-completion formula, what over and under billing mean, and how to produce a WIP report your bank and surety trust.

A month-end close checklist for contractors: cutoff, cost accruals, pay applications, WIP posting, reconciliations, and locking the period so the numbers stop moving.

The signs a contractor has outgrown QuickBooks, what construction accounting needs that general bookkeeping lacks, and how to plan a cutover without losing your history.

What a Procore accounting integration should sync, which system owns what, and how to evaluate ERP options that connect to Procore. Forge’s connector is planned.

A cutover checklist for moving a contractor from QuickBooks to a construction ERP: what to bring, what to leave, opening balances by job, and the tie-outs that prove it.

Accounting as a subcontractor: pay applications to the GC, retainage you cannot collect yet, lien waivers you sign, pay-when-paid, and job cost by phase.

Project and service work in one set of books for electrical contractors: labor productivity by phase, truck stock, change orders, pay applications, key reports.

Accounting for mechanical and HVAC contractors: equipment-heavy job cost, shop fabrication, stored materials, service agreements and deferred revenue, pay applications.

Unit-price billing by bid item, equipment charge rates and ownership cost, prevailing wage, force account extras and DOT retainage for heavy civil contractors.

Accounting for residential builders: lot and land inventory, cost of sales at closing, construction draws, buyer deposits, warranty reserves, spec vs custom.