#construction

Construction

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

August 16, 2026

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

August 14, 2026

New York Voids Construction Retainage Above 5%: A Contractor's Guide to the Prompt Payment Act

New York's Prompt Payment Act amendment voids private construction contract clauses that retain more than 5%, requires retainage release within 30 days of final approval, and adds 1% monthly interest on late amounts — here is how contractors should fix their contracts, book retainage as a contract asset under ASC 606, and run a 30-day closeout.

mike

constructionsmall-businesscash-flow

August 5, 2026

Land Surveying Firm Bookkeeping: Overhead Rate, Job Costing, and Slow-Paying Developer Clients

Land surveying firms typically run overhead rates of 100-150% of direct labor and need a break-even multiplier of 2.75-3.25x to stay profitable, but most price off gut feel and burdened-labor guesses instead of job-level cost tracking.

mike

bookkeepingsmall-businessfinancial-management

July 30, 2026

Construction WIP Schedules: How Percentage-of-Completion Accounting Exposes Overbilling and Underbilling

A work-in-progress (WIP) schedule ties revenue to actual completion using the cost-to-cost percentage-of-completion method, exposing overbilling and underbilling before hidden losses reach year-end financials. Includes worked examples, a four-project sample schedule, and the signals bonding companies underwrite.

mike

constructionjob-costingrevenue-recognition

July 28, 2026

California and New York Cap Construction Retainage at 5%: What Contractors Should Do for 2026

California's SB 61 caps private-project retention at 5% for contracts signed on or after January 1, 2026, and New York's S5655 voids any retainage clause above 5% on covered private contracts of $150,000+ as of December 19, 2025. Here's what changed, the carve-outs, and how contractors should track retainage receivable in their books.

mike

constructioncash-flowcontracts

July 20, 2026

Spec Home Builder Bookkeeping: WIP Schedules, Percentage of Completion, and Why Profitable Builders Run Out of Cash

A monthly work-in-progress (WIP) schedule turns four numbers per job — contract price, estimated cost, costs to date, and billings to date — into an early warning for overbilling and underbilling, the cash-flow gaps that sink profitable builders. Spec builders also differ from contract builders on revenue recognition, since homes held as inventory typically use the completed contract method under the IRC Section 460 home construction exemption.

mike

constructionjob-costingbookkeeping

July 17, 2026

Environmental Remediation Contractor Bookkeeping: Job Costing When a State Cleanup Fund Pays the Bill

How environmental remediation contractors should structure job costing when a state UST cleanup fund — not the property owner — is the real payer. Covers the five remediation phases as cost codes, ASC 606 collectibility with fund caps and deductibles, tracking 6-to-8-week reimbursement aging separately from ordinary AR, and the documentation that survives a fund audit.

mike

bookkeepingsmall-businessconstruction

July 15, 2026

Construction Retainage: How to Book It So Your Cash Flow Stops Lying to You

Retainage withholds 5-10% of every construction progress payment until project completion, and contractors who book it into regular AR/AP instead of separate Retainage Receivable and Retainage Payable accounts lose visibility into which "earned" revenue is actually collectible now versus locked up for months.

mike

constructionjob-costingcash-flow

July 8, 2026

Percentage-of-Completion Accounting for Contractors: Building an ASC 606 WIP Schedule

Percentage-of-completion accounting recognizes contractor revenue in proportion to costs incurred using the cost-to-cost method, and a monthly WIP schedule tracks the resulting overbilling and underbilling under ASC 606.

mike

constructionjob-costingrevenue-recognition

June 4, 2026

Davis-Bacon Certified Payroll in 2026: A Practical Compliance Guide for Federal and IRA-Funded Construction Contractors

A working contractor's guide to Davis-Bacon compliance in 2026, covering the redesigned WH-347 certified payroll form, fringe benefit annualization, apprenticeship ratios measured daily, the 2023 final rule and 2024 truck-driver injunction, and how the Inflation Reduction Act's five-times tax credit multiplier ties prevailing wage compliance to clean-energy projects.

mike

constructionpayrollcompliance

June 4, 2026

OSHA's Proposed Heat Standard: A HIIPP Compliance Playbook for Construction, Restaurant, and Warehouse Employers

OSHA's proposed federal heat rule sets 80°F and 90°F triggers requiring water, shade, paid breaks, acclimatization, and a written HIIPP. Five state plans — California (Cal/OSHA 3395 and 3396), Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and Maryland — already enforce binding heat illness standards. Here's the compliance playbook construction, restaurant, warehouse, and delivery employers can build today under the General Duty Clause.

mike

complianceconstructionrestaurant

June 3, 2026

Residential Roofing and Storm Restoration Bookkeeping: A Practical Guide for Re-Roof Crews and Insurance-Claim Specialists

How residential roofers and storm restoration contractors should handle ASC 606 variable consideration, Section 460 elections, supplemental claim revenue, customer deductibles under state law, OSHA fall protection costs, and the KPIs (squares per crew-day, gross margin by channel) that separate profitable shops from busy ones.

mike

bookkeepingconstructionjob-costing

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