Bookkeeping Built for Ontario Construction Companies
A construction company running several projects at once has a different bookkeeping problem from a single-crew contractor. Revenue is billed in stages against contracts, holdbacks sit unpaid for months, subcontractor and supplier invoices arrive against multiple jobs, and the question that matters most, which projects are actually making money, cannot be answered from a bank balance. BKInk provides cloud-based construction bookkeeping for Ontario construction companies, general contractors and builders: job costing by project, progress billing and holdback tracking, subcontractor and vendor management, and monthly project-level reporting in QuickBooks Online.
Sole-operator trades and smaller renovation businesses are served on our Bookkeeping for Contractors page. This page is for firms with multiple concurrent projects, crews and subcontractors.
Common Bookkeeping Challenges for Construction Companies
Costs that are not tied to a job. Materials, equipment rentals, subcontractor invoices, permits and labour all need to land on the right project. When they are coded to a general expense account instead, every job looks the same on paper and the estimate-versus-actual comparison that should guide the next bid is impossible.
Progress billing and deposits. Contracts are invoiced in draws or by percentage of completion, often with a deposit up front. Deposits recorded as revenue, and draws that are not matched to the contract, overstate income in some months and understate it in others, so the profit and loss statement stops being useful.
Holdbacks on both sides. Under Ontario’s Construction Act a portion of each progress payment is typically held back until the lien period expires. A construction company has holdbacks receivable from owners and holdbacks payable to its subcontractors. If these are buried in ordinary receivables and payables, cash-flow forecasts and job margins are wrong.
Subcontractors, vendors and payroll running together. Employees on payroll, subcontractors invoicing by job, and suppliers on account each carry different CRA reporting: T4s and source deductions for staff, T5018 slips for construction subcontractors, and HST input tax credits on supplier invoices. Mixing them creates year-end reporting problems and inflates or hides labour costs by project.
Year-end that needs project data. Your accountant will ask for costs incurred, amounts billed and contract values by project to prepare year-end financial statements and any work-in-progress adjustments. If the books cannot produce that by job, year-end becomes a reconstruction exercise.
How BKInk Helps
We set up or restructure your QuickBooks Online file around projects. Every job gets its own project record, and every cost, whether a supplier bill, a subcontractor invoice, an equipment rental or payroll hours, is coded to it. Progress invoices are issued against the contract, customer deposits are recorded as liabilities until earned, and holdbacks receivable and payable are tracked in their own accounts so you can see exactly what is owed to you and by you, and when it is due.
Each month we categorize and reconcile every bank, credit-card and loan account, keep accounts payable current so subcontractors and suppliers are paid on time and HST input tax credits are captured, and keep accounts receivable aged so slow-paying draws are chased before they become a cash problem. Subcontractor payments are tracked for T5018 reporting; where you want us to run payroll, our payroll service handles pay runs, source deductions and T4s in the same file, so labour flows straight into job costs. HST is tracked and, if you prefer, filed through our HST filing service.
You receive monthly project profitability reports (estimate versus actual, costs and billings to date, margin by job) alongside your company-level profit and loss, balance sheet and cash-flow view. At year-end, your accountant receives a reconciled file with contract values, billings and costs by project, which is the bookkeeping data needed for the work-in-progress and revenue adjustments they prepare. We provide the bookkeeping and project-cost tracking; the formal year-end WIP schedule and financial statements remain with your accountant, or can be handled through our own corporate year-end and T2 preparation service.
What We Track for Construction Companies
- Job costing by project: labour, materials, subcontractors, equipment and permits coded to each job, with estimate-versus-actual reporting.
- Progress billing and deposits: draws invoiced against the contract, deposits held as liabilities until earned.
- Holdbacks receivable and payable, tracked separately from ordinary receivables and payables.
- Subcontractor and vendor management: bills matched to jobs, payments scheduled, T5018 amounts tracked.
- Accounts receivable and payable aging, reviewed monthly for cash-flow visibility.
- Project-level and company-level monthly reports, plus a clean, reconciled file for year-end.
Why Choose BKInk
- Founder-led, dedicated bookkeeper who is a Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor and Technician of CPB Canada.
- Construction-specific setup in QuickBooks Online: projects, progress invoicing, holdback accounts and subcontractor tracking configured rather than improvised.
- Bookkeeping, payroll, HST and tax under one roof, or a clean handoff to your existing accountant.
- Cloud delivery that works from the site trailer or the office: receipts and bills uploaded from a phone, reports available anywhere, and a real bookkeeper to call.
- Fixed monthly pricing scaled to transaction volume and the number of active projects. See bookkeeping pricing.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Contractors page covers sole-operator trades, renovators and smaller contracting businesses whose bookkeeping centres on HST, expenses, payroll and simple job tracking. This page is for construction companies managing multiple concurrent projects, where progress billing, holdbacks, subcontractor management and project-level profitability reporting are the core of the work.
Holdbacks receivable from owners and holdbacks payable to subcontractors are recorded in their own accounts, separate from regular receivables and payables, so job margins and cash-flow forecasts reflect what is actually collectible and payable, and when.
Yes. support for QuickBooks Onlines projects, progress invoicing against estimates, and project profitability reporting. We configure these features and keep the data disciplined so estimate-versus-actual and margin by job are reliable.
We maintain the project-level bookkeeping, costs, billings and contract values by job, that a WIP schedule is built from, and provide it to your accountant in a reconciled file. The formal year-end WIP schedule, revenue-recognition adjustments and financial statements are prepared by your accountant, or through our own corporate year-end and T2 service.
Payments to construction subcontractors are tracked by payee throughout the year so the T5018 information return can be prepared accurately, kept distinct from employee payroll and T4 reporting.
Yes. Our catch-up and cleanup service reconciles the missing periods, restructures the file around projects, and re-codes historical costs to jobs where the documentation allows, so you start monthly bookkeeping from a clean, current position.
Ready to See Profit by Project?
If you are finishing jobs without knowing which ones made money, the fix is a bookkeeping system built around your projects. Schedule a consultation and we will show you how job costing, progress billing and holdback tracking come together in QuickBooks Online for an Ontario construction company.
Schedule a Consultation | Contact BKInk
Related Services
- Bookkeeping for Contractors & Trades — for sole-operator trades, renovators and smaller contracting businesses.
- Monthly Bookkeeping Services — our core service for Ontario businesses.
- Payroll Services — crews, source deductions, T4s and subcontractor reporting.
- HST Filing Services — input tax credits captured, returns filed on time.
- Cleanup for QuickBooks Online — restructure a file that was never set up for projects.
- All industries we serve