#job-costing
Track costs per project or job for accurate profitability analysis
How wildlife and nuisance animal control operators should structure their books: separate revenue codes for trip fees ($75–$200), per-animal trapping charges ($100–$250), and exclusion jobs; amortize NWCO licenses on each state's actual term; and accrue a warranty reserve from real callback rates instead of expensing redo visits as they land.
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.
How independent film budgets actually work — above-the-line costs run 30–35% of budget, contingency should be ~10%, and 39 states plus D.C. and Puerto Rico return 15–45% of qualified spend through film incentives. A practical guide to cost reports, loan-out companies, and building a chart of accounts that survives an audit.
A frame-off classic car restoration can run $20,000 to $200,000 in labor and parts against a finished car worth less than the invoice, so restoration shops need per-job cost centers, a Work-in-Progress asset account, and phase-based billing to stay solvent across builds that last one to two years.
Commercial diving companies that depreciate saturation systems on a flat calendar schedule, lump hazard pay and depth pay into a single wages line, or book topside support crew as overhead routinely misprice their bids — this guide covers usage-based depreciation for saturation gear, the diver pay stack, and job-costing topside labor specific to commercial dive operations.
Machine shops that track only labor and materials miss the two costs that decide whether a job is profitable — machine overhead and work in process — so aggregate revenue looks healthy while a third of jobs quietly lose money.
NEMT providers face a documented audit risk unlike most small businesses — a 2022 federal audit found 72% of sampled New York claims non-compliant, and billing a no-show as a completed trip can trigger False Claims Act penalties starting at roughly $14,000 per claim plus treble damages.
Private investigation agencies should book client retainers as liabilities until earned, track costs per case with job costing, and classify subcontractors correctly to avoid misclassification penalties and licensing risk.
Installation labor runs close to 60% of a full vehicle wrap's cost, yet most wrap and tint shops book it in monthly lump sums that hide per-job losses. This guide covers splitting tint, wrap, and PPF revenue lines, tracking redo hours and revenue per bay-hour, booking deposits as liabilities, and measuring film yield against a 10-15% waste allowance.
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.
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.
A practical bookkeeping playbook for solo and two-to-five-truck handyman operators — ASC 606 treatment of time-and-materials and flat-rate work, state licensing dollar thresholds, W-2 vs 1099 subcontractor exposure under the 2024 DOL rule and state ABC tests, Section 179 and de minimis safe harbor for trucks and tools, and the four KPIs that show whether the schedule is profitable.
