Expert guides on QuickBooks, job costing, retainage, WIP schedules, and financial management — written specifically for US roofing and restoration contractors.
A quarter of supplement requests (illustrative): 73% approved, 55% paid and $7,350 of work absorbed on denials. A supplement log with three statuses and a weekly aging check that shows what insurance jobs really pay.
Read Guide →A catch-all account hid a 77% disposal overrun on a $14,800 reroof (illustrative) while total margin looked fine. Seven cost codes, a 2% cap on the Other bucket and a monthly check that keeps costs where the estimate can test them.
Read Guide →A 24.4% blended gross margin (illustrative) hides 40% on repairs and a loss on commercial work. How to tag jobs by type, report margin for each and price every type on its own numbers.
Read Guide →A $99,600 receivables balance (illustrative) with $15,500 more than 60 days past due. How to read the aging report, track days sales outstanding and run a collection cadence that gets invoices paid.
Read Guide →A supplier statement and your accounts payable disagree by $1,735 (illustrative): two unposted invoices and one missing credit. How a 20-minute monthly reconciliation puts every material cost on the right job.
Read Guide →A $13,200 reroof (illustrative) priced for a 10% profit finished at 0.5% because materials, labor, disposal and equipment each drifted a little. How to compare estimate to actual by cost line, tag the cause and fix the next bid.
Read Guide →A 20% markup on direct cost can pay for the office and leave zero profit. On a $13,200 reroof (illustrative), $1,980 of overhead rides on every job. How to calculate your overhead rate from last year's P&L and price for the profit you want.
Read Guide →A 3% card fee takes $396 off a $13,200 reroof (illustrative) and rarely reaches the job report. How to record the full payment, book the fee separately, charge it to the job and decide how to price it.
Read Guide →Payroll taxes, workers' comp and unpaid hours turn a $28 wage into about $41 per job hour (illustrative), an $810 gap and 6.1 margin points on a $13,200 reroof. How to build a burden rate and charge it to the job.
Read Guide →A $28,000 truck, trailer and equipment bill works out to $140 per job day, or 2.1 points of margin on a $13,200 reroof (illustrative). How to build a daily rate and charge it to the job in QuickBooks.
Read Guide →Re-inspection fees, office time and crew standby turn a $300 permit line into $860 on a $13,200 reroof, a 4.2-point margin leak. How to track permit costs by job and set defaults by municipality.
Read Guide →An 8% commission on a $15,000 reroof turns a 36% gross margin into 28%, and 100 jobs means $120,000 that never reaches a job report. When a commission is earned and how to book it to the job in QuickBooks.
Read Guide →A second shingle layer turns a $450 disposal line into $1,250 and costs 5.6 margin points on a $14,400 job. How to track dumpster, overweight, and cleanup costs by job and run the monthly variance check.
Read Guide →Twelve open jobs with 30% deposits means $86,400 of your balance belongs to customers, leaving $33,600 of spendable cash. How to book deposits as a liability and run the weekly cash check.
Read Guide →A 9% dealer fee turns an $18,000 financed roof into $16,380 of cash and cuts a 30% margin to 21%. The price that restores it, and how to record the fee against the job in QuickBooks.
Read Guide →A 2/10 net 30 discount pays you about 37% annualized to settle a material invoice 20 days early. On a $48,000 invoice that is $702 net of line interest. The math, when to skip it, and how to record it by job.
Read Guide →Add 30% to your cost and you keep 23.1% of the price. On a $12,000 job that is a $1,543 gap, and a 12% net profit turns into 5%. The formula, a worked example, and a markup-to-margin table.
Read Guide →Company-wide margin hides the crew that earns 24% and the crew that loses money on identical work. How to track labor hours per square by crew in QuickBooks Online, with a worked example showing a $10,260 gap.
Read Guide →A general contractor going quiet on a $40,000 balance isn't a bookkeeping problem until the preliminary notice window has already closed. Here's the notice-then-file timeline, why it varies by state, and how to track it before it lapses.
Read Guide →Bid a federally funded reroof at your normal shop rate and the gap doesn't show up as lost margin — it shows up as a back-wage bill. How Davis-Bacon prevailing wage and certified payroll actually work, with a worked example.
Read Guide →Pay yourself too little W-2 salary as an S-corp owner and an audit can reclassify years of distributions as wages at once. Here's the reasonable-compensation math, with a worked example showing the annual savings against the back-tax exposure.
Read Guide →Most roofing companies capitalize small tools and equipment by default, then pay to depreciate a $580 nail gun for years. Here's the $2,500 per-item election that expenses it immediately, and the paperwork it requires.
Read Guide →The IRS's default estimated tax method assumes four equal quarterly payments, even though most roofing companies earn the bulk of their profit in storm season. Here's the annualized income installment method that fixes it, with a worked example.
Read Guide →A single storm job in another state can create a sales tax filing obligation the same week you show up — no revenue threshold required. How nexus actually works for roofing contractors, with a worked example.
Read Guide →The One Big Beautiful Bill Act permanently restored 100% bonus depreciation and raised Section 179 to $2.56M for 2026. Here's the math on your next truck or equipment purchase, with a worked example.
Read Guide →Two roofing contractors, same payroll, same class code, $76,590 apart in workers' comp premium. Here's how the experience mod is calculated and the payroll mistake that inflates it.
Read Guide →Two roofing contractors, same revenue, same profit, and bonding limits $1M apart. Here's the working capital math sureties actually run, with a worked example.
Read Guide →Undocumented change orders are the most common margin leak we find in roofing company books. Here's the pricing rule and paperwork system that stops it, with a worked example.
Read Guide →Steel tariffs and manufacturer price hikes moved roofing material costs mid-season in 2026. Here's the QuickBooks repricing cadence that keeps estimates from lagging reality.
Read Guide →Typical workmanship warranty claim rates, how to calculate your own reserve percentage from claims history, where it sits on the books, and how it affects bonding capacity. With a worked example.
Read Guide →W-9 collection, 1099-NEC deadlines, backup withholding, and the misclassification rule that quietly doubles your exposure if you skip filing. With real numbers.
Read Guide →Job costing, retainage, accrual vs cash basis, and the reports every roofing company needs monthly. The complete guide from a roofing-specialist bookkeeper.
Read Guide →The exact errors we find in almost every roofing company's QuickBooks — from missing job costing to untracked retainage. A fix for each one.
Read Guide →An honest side-by-side comparison for roofing contractors choosing between a generic bookkeeping service and a construction specialist. Job costing, retainage, QuickBooks, and price.
Read Guide →What a Work in Progress schedule is, how to calculate overbilling and underbilling, and how to produce one in QuickBooks. Includes an example calculation.
Read Guide →When your roofing company's QuickBooks is a mess — miscategorized expenses, unreconciled accounts, missing retainage — here's exactly what cleanup involves and what it should cost.
Read Guide →How to record ACV, RCV, depreciation holdbacks, and supplements in QuickBooks. The complete accounting workflow for every insurance restoration job.
Read Guide →What G702/G703 forms are, when roofing contractors need them, and how to connect AIA progress billing to your QuickBooks bookkeeping workflow.
Read Guide →Everything you need to know about bookkeeping for a roofing company — from setting up QuickBooks correctly to tracking job costs, retainage, and running monthly reports.
Read Guide →How to enable Projects, build a roofing chart of accounts, record a job start to finish, and run the reports that show gross margin on every job.
Read Guide →A transparent breakdown of roofing bookkeeping costs in 2026 — from generic services to specialized contractors. What to expect at every price point and how to get the best ROI.
Read Guide →What qualifications actually matter, five questions to ask before you hire, and the red flags that tell you to walk away — from a roofing bookkeeping specialist.
Read Guide →How to plan for a business that earns 80% of revenue in 6 months — building reserves, collecting retainage, and managing the off-season without drawing on credit lines.
Read Guide →Labor burden, overhead allocation, material waste, and callbacks — the costs roofing contractors miss. A $18K job that looks like 65% margin is actually 36%. Here's the math.
Read Guide →Section 179, S-Corp election, retirement accounts, and quarterly estimated taxes — the legal strategies roofing companies use to reduce their tax bill. With specific numbers.
Read Guide →Book a free 15-minute QuickBooks assessment. We'll review your setup and show you exactly what's costing you money.
Book My Free Assessment →