CONSTRUCTION & TRADES
Contractor and Construction Bookkeeping in Dallas
Job-level profit, clean retainage and draw records, and subcontractor files that are ready for 1099 season, reviewed by a senior accountant every month.
Short answer: LUCI Financial Solutions is a Dallas–Fort Worth bookkeeping and fractional CFO firm that keeps the books for general contractors, remodelers and trade companies such as HVAC, plumbing and electrical. We set up job costing in QuickBooks Online, track retainage, draws and subcontractor payments, and deliver monthly financial statements that show which jobs actually made money. Work is done by a team with senior-level review, not a single part-time bookkeeper.
Why construction books break down faster than other businesses
A contractor can have a strong bank balance and still be losing money on half its jobs. Cash arrives in draws that don’t line up with the work performed, retainage sits unpaid for months, and materials bought for one job get coded to another. A general ledger built for a simple service business hides all of that. By the time the owner sees it, the job is closed and the margin is gone.
The usual symptoms we see when a Dallas contractor first comes to us:
- Every job lands in one income account, so there is no way to compare estimated and actual cost.
- Retainage receivable is missing from the balance sheet, which understates what customers owe you.
- Subcontractor payments are scattered across vendor names with no W-9 on file.
- Owner draws, equipment purchases and job materials all run through the same card.
- Progress billings are recorded as income when the invoice goes out, with no view of whether billing is ahead of or behind the work.
What contractor bookkeeping with LUCI covers
Job costing by project
Every job gets its own tracking in QuickBooks Online, with labor, materials, subcontractors and equipment coded to it. You see revenue, cost and gross margin per job, and you can compare jobs of the same type side by side.
Retainage and progress draws
Retainage you are owed and retainage you are holding from subs are tracked in their own accounts, so the balance sheet shows real receivables and payables. Draw requests are matched to the work and the job they belong to.
Subcontractor payments and 1099s
We collect W-9s as subs are added, keep payment history by vendor, and prepare and file 1099s as an add-on. For payments made in 2026 onward, the federal 1099-NEC reporting threshold is $2,000 per recipient.
Trade and service companies
HVAC, plumbing and electrical shops mix one-day service calls with larger install jobs and maintenance agreements. We separate those revenue streams so you can see which side of the business carries the overhead.
Payroll and field labor
Payroll management is available as an add-on. Labor cost is coded to jobs rather than dumped into one wage account, which is where most job-costing setups fall apart.
Monthly statements with review
You receive an Executive Summary, Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flows each month, checked by a senior accountant before it reaches you.
Setting up job costing for a remodeler or GC that is already behind
Most contractors who call us are not starting from zero. They have a QuickBooks file with a year or more of history and a list of things that never quite reconciled. Here is how we turn that into a file that tracks job profit.
- Review the existing file. We look at how jobs, vendors and income accounts are set up today and where the balances stopped matching the bank. The $597 Financial Review is a good starting point if you want this assessment on its own.
- Fix the history that matters. Unreconciled accounts, misclassified materials and missing retainage get corrected. If the cleanup is significant, you receive a separate fixed-fee proposal before that work begins.
- Build the job structure. We set up projects, cost categories and the chart of accounts so labor, materials, subs and equipment post to the right job going forward.
- Connect your other systems. Payroll, estimating or field-service software and bank feeds are mapped so data arrives coded to the job instead of needing to be fixed by hand.
- Close the month and report. From there, each month is reconciled, reviewed and delivered with job-level results.
Onboarding typically takes 2–4 weeks. If your file needs deeper work first, our catch-up and cleanup service in Dallas explains how that project is scoped.
Texas sales tax and tax support for contractors
Texas sales tax treats contractors differently depending on the contract and the property. Under a lump-sum contract, the contractor generally pays tax on materials when buying them and does not charge the customer tax. Under a separated contract, materials are bought for resale and tax is collected from the customer. Repair and remodeling of nonresidential property is taxable on the full charge. The Texas Comptroller’s guide to real property repair and remodeling lays out the rules; your books need to record each job in a way that matches how it was contracted.
For ongoing clients, LUCI offers sales tax filing, multi-state registration, and business tax preparation and planning as add-ons. Our CPA tax strategist reviews the accounting team’s work and prepares returns for clients who choose integrated tax services. We do not prepare standalone returns for businesses that aren’t bookkeeping clients. See how bookkeeping, payroll and tax work together under one engagement.
Which service level fits a construction company
| Your situation | Typical fit | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Owner-operated trade company that needs accurate monthly books | Core | Reconciliations, job-coded transactions, monthly statements, year-end package for your tax preparer |
| Growing GC or remodeler watching margins across many jobs | Growth | Everything in Core plus quarterly review meetings, custom job reports, budget-to-actual and cash flow trends |
| Company bidding larger work, adding crews or financing equipment | Scale (CFO Advisory) | Everything in Growth plus cash flow forecasting, pricing and margin analysis, KPI dashboard and monthly strategy meetings |
Monthly fees are fixed and quoted after a discovery call, based on job volume, number of accounts, payroll and the reporting you need.
Frequently asked questions
Can a Dallas bookkeeper track profit on each construction job?
Yes, if the books are set up for it. LUCI codes labor, materials, subcontractors and equipment to individual jobs in QuickBooks Online, so each month you can see revenue, cost and margin per job. Setting this up is part of onboarding for contractor clients.
How do you handle retainage in the books?
Retainage you are owed is recorded as its own receivable, and retainage you hold back from subcontractors is recorded as its own payable. That keeps both amounts visible on the balance sheet until they are released, instead of disappearing into general receivables.
Do you work with HVAC, plumbing and electrical companies?
Yes. Trade companies are a good fit for our monthly bookkeeping, especially those that mix service calls, installs and maintenance agreements. We separate those revenue lines so the owner can see which work is profitable.
Can you clean up my QuickBooks file and then set up job costing?
Yes. We review the file first, correct the history that affects your current numbers, and then build the job structure going forward. Significant cleanup is quoted as a separate fixed-fee project before any work starts.
Do you prepare 1099s for subcontractors?
Yes, 1099 preparation and filing with W-9 collection is available as an add-on for ongoing clients. Starting with payments made in 2026, the federal reporting threshold for Form 1099-NEC is $2,000 per recipient, so tracking totals by vendor throughout the year matters.
Do I need to meet in person?
No. LUCI works virtually from the Dallas–Fort Worth area using secure cloud systems, with communication by email and scheduled calls or meetings. That lets us serve contractors across DFW and in other states.
See what your jobs are really earning
Schedule a consultation and we will talk through your job volume, current QuickBooks setup and reporting needs, then send a fixed-fee proposal. If you want an outside look at your file first, start with the $597 Financial Review.
214-233-5454 · info@lucifinancial.com