#job-costing
Track costs per project or job for accurate profitability analysis
A construction WIP schedule recognizes revenue as work is performed using cost-to-cost percentage-of-completion, then exposes over- and under-billing on every job — the report banks and surety underwriters read before the income statement.
Job costing assigns every dollar of cost to the job that caused it. Fully burdened labor runs 30 to 50 percent above base wage, overhead is applied with a predetermined rate, and committed costs reveal a budget overrun before the invoices arrive — read the variance column weekly.
How construction contractors use the work-in-progress schedule and ASC 606 percentage-of-completion accounting to surface overbillings, underbillings, profit fade, and the financial signals sureties and banks actually read.
How bid, performance, and payment bonds work in 2026 for small construction contractors — the Miller Act's $35K and $150K federal thresholds, the SBA's 80–90% guarantee covering contracts up to $14 million, and the working-capital and WIP discipline that decides which builders get bonded for the largest jobs.
Public construction contracts above the FAR $150,000 threshold require performance and payment bonds under the Miller Act, with state Little Miller Acts setting thresholds from $25,000 to $500,000. The SBA Surety Bond Guarantee Program—which guaranteed $10.6 billion in bonds for 2,200+ small businesses in FY2025—lets approved sureties write bonds for small contractors by absorbing 80–90% of loss risk.
AIA G702 and G703 pay applications, schedules of values, retainage, WIP schedules, and over/underbilling reconciliations are what tie construction billing to GAAP revenue recognition under ASC 606. Here is how each piece works, why a $312 line error can delay a $1.4M wire by 41 days, and the patterns that rattle sureties.
A practical guide to the three audits every cost-reimbursable federal contractor faces — the SF 1408 pre-award accounting system survey, daily timekeeping compliance, and the Incurred Cost Submission due six months after fiscal year-end — with a 90-day preparation plan and the five most common audit findings.
A side-by-side comparison of the Percentage of Completion (PCM) and Completed Contract (CCM) methods for construction revenue recognition, with worked examples, ASC 606 over-time criteria, the IRC Section 460 small contractor exception (~$31M for 2026), WIP schedule mechanics, and the overbilling/underbilling traps that wreck contractor cash flow.
Learn the essentials of construction accounting including job costing, revenue recognition methods, WIP schedules, retainage tracking, and change order management. A practical guide for contractors and small builders.
