Industries
Bookkeeping and Tax Services for Construction Businesses
For a builder, the question is never how the business did last year — it is whether this job is making money right now.
Job costing is the whole discipline
This page is for construction businesses running crews and projects. If you are an independent tradesperson working for yourself, our contractors and trades page addresses that situation directly.
Construction accounting differs from ordinary business accounting in one decisive respect: costs and revenue attach to jobs, not just to periods. A profit and loss statement for the quarter tells a builder very little, because it aggregates a job that went well with one that is quietly losing money. Costs have to be captured against the job — labor, materials, subcontractors, equipment — or there is no way to know which work is worth taking.
What we handle for builders
- Job costing so labor, materials and subcontractor costs land against the right project
- Work in progress and retainage tracked rather than discovered at year end
- Payroll for crews, including the deposits and filings that follow headcount
- Subcontractor payment tracking and year-end 1099 preparation
- Equipment purchase timing and how it is written off
- Business and owner tax returns prepared together
Revenue recognition method matters here too — how and when a long project’s revenue is recognized affects which year the tax falls in, and the available options depend on the size and nature of the business.
The services behind this
Industry pages describe how our work applies to a sector. These are the services themselves.
Bookkeeping
Clean monthly books, reconciled accounts and reports you can actually use.
Learn morePayroll Services
Full-service payroll with tax filings, direct deposit and year-end forms.
Learn moreTax Preparation
Federal and South Carolina returns for individuals, families and business owners.
Learn moreS-Corp Setup
S-Corp elections, reasonable salary and the payroll that has to follow.
Learn moreFrequently asked questions
What is job costing and do we need it?
It is the practice of attaching every cost to the project that incurred it, so profitability is visible per job rather than only in aggregate. If you run more than one project at a time, you need it — without it a losing job is invisible until the year is over.
How is retainage handled?
Retainage withheld from your invoices is earned but not yet collected, and treating it as though it does not exist understates both receivables and, potentially, income. It needs tracking explicitly rather than netting off.
Do we need to issue 1099s to our subcontractors?
Generally yes for payments to unincorporated subcontractors above the reporting threshold. The practical difficulty is usually collecting the information needed to issue them — which is far easier at the point of engagement than at year end.
When should a construction business consider an S-Corp?
Once profit is consistently high enough that the payroll tax saving exceeds the added cost and administration. In construction it is worth revisiting as the business grows, because the threshold can be crossed in a single strong year.
Other industries we work with
Nonprofits
Exempt status is not the same as no filing obligation — and the bookkeeping that supports a 990 is not ordinary bookkeeping.
Learn moreReal Estate Investors
Rental property is one of the few areas where the tax treatment can matter as much to the return as the rent does.
Learn moreRestaurants & Food Service
Thin margins, daily cash movement, tipped employees and high staff turnover — restaurant books go wrong faster than almost any other sector’s.
Learn moreContractors & Trades
For the independent tradesperson, the tax problem is rarely the return — it is the quarterly payments and the mileage records nobody kept.
Learn moreHealthcare Practices
Practice income arrives late, unevenly and net of adjustments — which makes cash accounting and tax planning unusually easy to get wrong.
Learn moreE-commerce Sellers
Selling online from South Carolina means one income tax return and a sales tax question that can involve many states.
Learn moreTell us what you need
Send a short note about your situation and we’ll come back to you with a straight answer — whether that’s a quote, a next step, or a referral if it isn’t something we handle.
Prefer to talk it through first? Book a consultation and we’ll find a time, in the Easley office or virtually.
Talk to us about your construction businesses accounting
Reach out to Elite Pro-Tax & Financial Services to discuss your tax and financial needs today.