Common Questions
Answers to questions small business owners ask about bookkeeping, financial planning, and working with us. Don't see yours? Reach out.
How do landscapers track job costs in QuickBooks?
Turn on Projects in QuickBooks Online and assign every expense and labor entry to a specific job when it happens. Material receipts should be captured and coded at the time of purchase, not batched weeks later.
Read answerWhat's the best way to track equipment and fuel costs for a landscaping company?
Equipment over $2,500 gets capitalized and depreciated as a fixed asset. Smaller tools are expensed immediately. Fuel is best tracked per truck or crew using fuel cards that feed into your accounting software for job-level cost allocation.
Read answerHow should a roofing contractor handle storm/insurance jobs vs retail jobs?
Track insurance and retail jobs as separate revenue streams using distinct income accounts or classes. Insurance work has a unique payment structure with ACV and RCV supplements that requires careful accounts receivable tracking to see true profitability.
Read answerDo I need to 1099 my subcontractors as a roofer?
Yes, in most cases. Any individual or single-member LLC you paid $600 or more via check or ACH during the year needs a 1099-NEC. Corporations are generally exempt.
Read answerHow do I price landscaping jobs to stay profitable?
Start with your actual cost per crew-hour, including overhead, then price to hit a 30-40% gross margin. Without job costing data, most landscapers are guessing at prices and finding out too late which jobs lost money.
Read answerWhat expenses can a pest control business deduct?
Most of what you spend running a pest control business is deductible. Chemicals, vehicle costs, equipment, licensing, insurance, and uniforms all count. The key is tracking them properly and knowing which expenses get deducted immediately versus capitalized.
Read answerHow should a pool service company track recurring vs project revenue?
Set up separate service items and income accounts for recurring maintenance and one-off repair or install work. This lets you report monthly recurring revenue independently, which matters for forecasting and business valuation.
Read answerHow do I handle material markups in QuickBooks for a landscaper?
Set up products and services items in QuickBooks Online with both a cost and a sales price. When you add those items to invoices, QBO tracks the cost and revenue separately so your gross margin reports stay accurate.
Read answerWhat's the difference between direct costs and overhead for a roofing company?
Direct costs are expenses tied to a specific job like shingles, crew labor, dump fees, and subcontractors. Overhead covers what you pay whether you have jobs on the schedule or not, like office rent, insurance, and admin wages. Accurate classification is what makes job costing and pricing reliable.
Read answerHow do seasonal landscapers manage cash flow in winter?
The best approach is planning for winter during your busiest months. Reserve a percentage of peak-season revenue, explore annualized billing, and build a cash flow forecast so there are no surprises.
Read answerShould a landscaping business use cash or accrual accounting?
Most landscaping businesses do well on cash basis accounting. It's simpler, widely accepted, and works especially well for maintenance-focused operations with short billing cycles. Accrual becomes worth considering when you regularly take on large installation projects that span multiple weeks or months.
Read answerWhat are common bookkeeping mistakes for roofing contractors?
Roofing contractors commonly mix storm and retail revenue together, pay subcontractors without collecting W-9s, miss dump fees in job costing, and fail to reconcile merchant deposits correctly. These mistakes distort job profitability, create tax compliance issues, and make it harder to understand where your money is actually going.
Read answerHow do I track crew labor costs for job profitability?
Use a time-tracking tool like QBO Time so crews clock into specific jobs. Then load the full labor burden including payroll taxes and workers' comp onto those hours so your job profitability reports reflect what labor actually costs you.
Read answerHow are workers comp premiums handled for a landscaping company?
Workers' comp for landscaping is classified as high-risk, so rates are higher than most industries. Premiums are based on estimated gross payroll and trued up at year-end audit. The right bookkeeping approach is to accrue the expense monthly based on actual payroll rather than just recording premium payments.
Read answerHow should I categorize dump and disposal fees for a roofer?
Dump and disposal fees are a direct job cost and belong under Cost of Goods Sold, assigned to the specific job. This keeps total disposal cost visible per project, which matters because tear-off complexity can swing these costs dramatically.
Read answerShould I pay my cleaners as W-2 employees or 1099 contractors?
For most cleaning businesses, your cleaners should be classified as W-2 employees. If you set schedules, provide supplies, and direct how the work gets done, the IRS considers them employees regardless of what you call them on paper.
Read answerHow do I track recurring cleaning contracts in QuickBooks?
Use recurring invoices for each contract and set up classes or customer types to separate monthly contract revenue from one-time jobs. This gives you a clear view of your monthly recurring revenue.
Read answerDo I need to issue 1099s to cleaning subcontractors?
Yes, if you paid a subcontractor $600 or more during the year via check, cash, or ACH and they aren't incorporated. Collect a W-9 from every subcontractor before you pay them the first time.
Read answerHow do I calculate gross profit margin on a janitorial contract?
Subtract your direct costs (labor, supplies, travel, and equipment depreciation) from the contract revenue, then divide by revenue. Most janitorial operators target 30-40% gross margin to cover overhead and leave room for profit.
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