Skip to main content
Beancount.io Logo

#construction

Construction

Accounting practices for construction businesses including job costing, WIP schedules, and retainage

43 postsView all tagsBack to All Posts

Washington's Homeowner Recovery Program Is Now Paying Claims: A Contractor Bookkeeping and Registration Survival Guide

Since July 1, 2026, a Washington homeowner holding an unsatisfied court judgment against a registered contractor can collect up to $25,000 per parcel from L&I's Homeowner Recovery Program, and the state then pursues the contractor for reimbursement. This guide covers the eligibility rules, the $30,000 general and $15,000 specialty bond requirements, and the job-costing, change-order, retention and sales-tax bookkeeping habits that keep a dispute from ending in a judgment.

mike

constructionbookkeepingjob-costing

New Jersey Home Improvement Contractor Licensing: What Changed and How to Stay Compliant

New Jersey is converting home improvement contracting from registration to licensure under P.L.2023 c.237, with licensing provisions effective February 1, 2026. Registration still costs $110 a year, requires $500,000 in general liability coverage and a displayed 13VH number, and any contract over $500 must be written — violations are automatic Consumer Fraud Act unlawful practices carrying treble damages plus attorney's fees, while unregistered contractors generally cannot sue to collect payment.

mike

constructionlicensescompliance

California's New 5% Retention Cap: What Contractors Must Change About Retainage in 2026

California SB 61 caps retention on private construction contracts signed on or after January 1, 2026 at 5% per progress payment and 5% of the contract price in total, down from the 10% industry norm — here is who it covers, the residential and bonding exceptions, and how to rebuild your retainage receivable schedule so the freed-up cash actually reaches your account.

mike

constructioncash-flowcalifornia

Collecting Certificates of Insurance From Every Subcontractor: What a COI Must Show and the Audit Bill for Skipping It

A certificate of insurance you cannot produce on audit day turns subcontractor payments into your own payroll, billed at your trade rates. Here are the seven things every subcontractor COI must show, the five triggers for demanding a new one, and why certificate holder status is not the same as being an additional insured.

mike

insuranceconstructionindependent-contractor

Crane Rental and Rigging Bookkeeping: What Your Boom Truck Really Costs Per Lift

A crane rental company is three businesses sharing one yard — equipment, labor, and logistics. This guide covers 5-year MACRS treatment for cranes, the $2.5M Section 179 limit and permanent 100% bonus depreciation, splitting bare from operated rental in the chart of accounts, per-lift job costing including mobilization, and the utilization math behind an idle fleet that can cost $209,000 a year.

mike

constructionjob-costingdepreciation

When Steel and Copper Prices Move After You Bid: A Contractor's Guide to Estimates and Change Orders That Hold

Steel mill products are up roughly 21 percent and copper products 16–25 percent year over year after the April 2026 Section 232 tariff restructuring set a 50 percent duty on metal-heavy goods. This guide shows contractors how to break out metals as dated line items, tie escalation clauses to a published BLS index with clear thresholds and proof requirements, and run monthly job-cost reviews so price spikes become approved change orders instead of lost margin.

mike

constructionjob-costingtariffs

California SB 779 Raises Unlicensed Contracting Fines to a $1,500 Minimum: A Compliance and Bookkeeping Checklist for Contractors

California's SB 779, effective July 1, 2026, raised the minimum civil penalty for unlicensed contracting from $200 to $1,500 per violation, with a $15,000 cap, $30,000 for aiding unlicensed work, and inflation adjustments every five years. This guide explains the full penalty stack, including B&P Code 7031 disgorgement that lets clients recover every dollar paid, and gives contractors an eight-step compliance and bookkeeping checklist covering license verification, expiration calendars, subcontractor credential files and nondeductible fine accounting.

mike

constructioncompliancelicenses

Pay-If-Paid vs. Pay-When-Paid: The Subcontract Clause That Decides Whether You Get Paid When the Owner Stalls

A pay-if-paid clause makes the owner's payment a condition precedent and shifts the full risk of owner nonpayment onto the subcontractor, while a pay-when-paid clause only sets timing and still obligates the general contractor. Courts enforce pay-if-paid only when the condition-precedent language is express, and at least eight states (California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin) void it outright. This guide covers how to tell the clauses apart, what to negotiate before signing, the Miller Act's 90-day notice and one-year suit deadlines, and how to book contingent receivables so your aging report and cash forecast tell the truth.

mike

constructioncontractsaccounts-receivable

Washington's Homeowner Recovery Program Is Live: How Contractors Should Reserve for Judgment Claims That No Longer Go Away

Since July 1, 2026, Washington homeowners can collect up to $25,000 of an unpaid contractor judgment from the state's Homeowner Recovery Program, after which L&I can pursue the contractor for reimbursement with interest on payment plans of up to 36 months. This guide explains the eligibility rules, the post-2024 bond levels of $30,000 general and $15,000 specialty, and how a residential contractor should log disputes, accrue probable losses under ASC 450, fund a separate cash reserve, and amortize a state repayment plan in a plain-text ledger.

mike

constructionsmall-businessrisk-management

Virginia's New Wage Liability Law: What HB 238 Means for General Contractors After July 1, 2026

Virginia HB 238 makes general contractors automatically jointly and severally liable for wages owed to a subcontractor's employees on construction contracts entered on or after July 1, 2026 — regardless of knowledge, and even when sworn payroll certifications say wages were paid. Here is what changed and how to reduce the exposure with tighter contracts, verified payroll, and clean job-cost accounting.

mike

constructionpayrollcompliance

Roofing Contractor Bookkeeping: The WIP Schedule That Tells You Whether Your Bank Balance Is Lying

A roofing WIP schedule ties revenue to work actually completed rather than to when you invoiced — percent complete equals costs to date divided by total estimated costs, and earned revenue equals percent complete times revised contract price. This guide walks a $192,000 TPO re-roof through the math, explains over- versus under-billing, retainage receivable and warranty accruals, and covers when Section 460 forces percentage-of-completion for tax (roughly $31 million in average gross receipts for 2026, or contracts running past two years).

mike

constructionjob-costingrevenue-recognition

Your Workers' Comp Premium Audit Is Coming: How to Pass Without a Surprise Bill

A workers' comp premium is payroll ÷ 100 × class rate × experience mod, so the year-end audit re-tests both variables against your actual records. This guide covers the three audit types and what triggers each, the documents auditors request, why overtime premium is only excludable when recorded separately by employee and week under NCCI Rule 2-B-2, the 2026 NCCI officer caps of $3,400 weekly maximum and $1,700 minimum, and why payments to a subcontractor without a current certificate of insurance get charged to you as payroll.

mike

payrollinsuranceaudit
Start Free→Documentation