We do the bookkeeping for commercial subcontractors doing $1M to $12M, coded to a job cost structure that matches how you estimate rather than to a generic chart of accounts. Books close and bank reconciliations finish by the tenth. We don't do payroll, and this isn't a standalone bookkeeping product.
Almost every contractor we start with already had a bookkeeper, and the books were largely accurate. What they didn't have was a chart of accounts and a job cost structure that let anyone compare a job to what it was bid at, or a close that finished early enough in the month to change a decision. Those two things are what make bookkeeping useful to an operator rather than only to a tax return. We build the structure first, then run the monthly work inside it, and the output feeds the same WIP and forecast the CFO layer uses. It's one layer of CFOS, not a service we sell on its own.
BY JOSH LUEBKERPublished June 2026Updated August 2026
WHAT IS INCLUDED
WHAT THIS SERVICE COVERS.
A chart of accounts and job cost structure built from your estimating assemblies, so job costs post where you can read them
Weekly transaction coding and cost approval, so job costs are current rather than caught up at month end
Books closed and bank reconciliations completed by the tenth of the month
Accounts payable coded to the job and the phase, including vendor and subcontractor commitments
Accounts receivable and retention tracked by job, so nothing ages without somebody seeing it
Committed invoicing only, so revenue reflects what you'll collect rather than drafts and unapproved change orders
ControlQore set up and managed for you, so the job cost record and the accounting record are one system
WHERE THIS FITS IN THE SYSTEM
ONE LAYER OF CFOS, NOT A STANDALONE PRODUCT.
Bookkeeping is the bottom layer of CFOS and it exists to feed the layers above it. Every WIP report, cash flow forecast, and benchmark comparison on the site depends on a job cost record being coded correctly and closed on time, which is why we don't sell this as a standalone product.
What breaks when bookkeeping runs without the system above it's the thing most contractors have already lived through. The books get more accurate, the reports get prettier, and nothing about the business changes, because nobody is using the output to make a decision. Accuracy without a cadence produces a better description of the same year.
The close date is the part that decides whether this work changes anything, which is covered by Operating Model Definition, and the coding structure is what makes a job readable, which is covered by the Job Profitability System.
Pricing is a flat monthly fee set by your trailing twelve month revenue, and this service is part of an engagement and never a separate line item. Thepricing page has every band, and thefractional CFO page covers what the full engagement includes.
COMMON QUESTIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
The job cost layer. A general bookkeeper codes by vendor and expense type, which produces an accurate profit and loss and no way to tell which job or which phase lost money. Construction bookkeeping codes every cost to the job and the phase using the same structure the work was estimated with, tracks retention and committed invoicing separately, and closes early enough in the month that the numbers can still change a decision.
Usually not, and we would rather not. In most cases the person is capable and was never given a job cost structure or a defined close date to work inside. We build the structure, set the cadence, and often keep the bookkeeper who already knows your vendors and your customers. Replacing the person without fixing the structure produces the same reports from somebody new.
Three tiers, and which one you are in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. Core is where you stop guessing: job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a monthly meeting that ends in decisions, while your bookkeeper keeps doing the books. Executive is where you stop touching the books, because we run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Strategic is where every job shows its margin while it is still running, because the job costing and WIP platform is set up and managed for you. No payroll. No scope gaps.
Sixty days. We migrate your books back to the start of your last taxable year, set up ControlQore, and build your job costing structure from scratch. Fully operational in two months.
Former commercial project manager and master electrician: 150+ projects worth $2.1B combined, from $50,000 to $300M. Now fractional CFO to commercial subcontractors.
