Chart of Accounts · Construction Accounting Structure · ControlQore · Job Costing
Chart of Accounts · Construction Accounting · ControlQore Setup · Job Costing Foundation
Construction Chart
of Accounts Setup.
Your chart of accounts is the foundation of every financial report your business produces. Set it up wrong and every report downstream is wrong — job costing, P&L, balance sheet, WIP, all of it. Most construction subcontractors use a chart of accounts built by a generic bookkeeper that was never designed for construction. Here's how it should be structured.
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SPM vs. Other CFO Firms
Most CFO Firms Serving This Trade
- High revenue minimums — most won't serve under $5M
- Advisory only — no bookkeeping, no implementation
- No job costing setup or ControlQore management
- No monthly WIP as standard deliverable
- No pricing published — discovery call required
- No vetted partner network for bonding, lending, or liens
- No prevailing wage specialty
The Construction CFO — SPM
- Serves $1M–$12M — starts at $1,900/month
- Full implementation — bookkeeping, job costing, CFO advisory
- ControlQore setup and managed for you every month
- Monthly WIP standard in Executive tier
- Full pricing published — no discovery call to find out costs
- Vetted partners for bonding, lending, lien services, payroll
- Prevailing wage and Davis-Bacon specialty
What We See in This Business
01
Your Chart of Accounts Wasn't Built for Construction
A generic chart of accounts lumps direct job costs with overhead, doesn't separate retainage, doesn't have WIP accounts, and doesn't map to how construction jobs actually work. The result is P&Ls that don't show gross margin correctly, job costs that can't be compared to estimates, and financial statements that confuse everyone who looks at them.
02
Your Cost Codes Don't Match Your Estimates
The most common job costing problem — the cost codes in your accounting system don't match the line items in your estimates. You can't compare actual cost to estimated cost by job because the categories are different. The chart of accounts structure determines whether this comparison is possible at all.
03
Retainage and WIP Are Missing From Your Books
Construction-specific accounts — retainage receivable, retainage payable, billings in excess of costs, costs in excess of billings — are absent from most generic charts of accounts. Without them, your balance sheet doesn't reflect construction reality and your WIP schedule can't be reconciled to your financial statements.
How SPM Fixes It
The Construction Chart of Accounts Structure
Income accounts: contract revenue by job type or division. Direct cost accounts: labor, materials, subcontractors, equipment, and other direct costs — each mapped to job cost categories. Overhead accounts: all G&A expenses separated by category — payroll, rent, insurance, equipment overhead, vehicles, marketing, professional fees. Balance sheet accounts: AR, retainage receivable, underbillings (costs in excess of billings), AP, retainage payable, overbillings (billings in excess of costs). Each account should map directly to how you estimate and how you report.
ControlQore Chart of Accounts Built During Onboarding
SPM builds your chart of accounts during the 60-day onboarding — structured for construction, mapped to your estimate line items, and configured in ControlQore. You don't build it yourself and you don't inherit a generic template. It's built for your specific trade, your specific job types, and your specific reporting needs.
CPA-Aligned From Day One
We build your chart of accounts in coordination with your CPA so year-end close, tax preparation, and reviewed financial statements all use the same account structure. Your CPA gets clean books organized exactly the way they need them. Most clients tell us their CPA's year-end bill drops significantly after SPM builds and maintains their books.
Service Tiers
Tier 01
Core Financial
Starts at $1,900 / month
- ControlQore setup and management
- Job costing aligned to your estimate structure
- Cost-to-complete tracking — updated monthly
- Full-service bookkeeping — minimum 30 min/week
- Vendor payments via ACH (you approve, we initiate)
- Accounts receivable management
- Bank reconciliations and transaction matching
- Controllership
- 1 monthly CFO meeting
- 60-day onboarding — books migrated to last taxable year
Most Popular
Tier 02
Executive Financial
Starts at $2,900 / month
- Everything in Core Financial
- Monthly WIP schedule — delivered every month, standard
- 13-week cash flow forecasting
- CEO Report — monthly financial dashboard
- 3 CFO advisory meetings per month
- Strategic accountability and actionable to-dos
- Direct access to Josh Luebker
Pricing by Revenue
Revenue Range
(Last 12 Months) |
Core Financial
Monthly |
Executive Financial
Monthly |
| Under $1M | $1,900 | $2,900 |
| $1M – $3M | $2,600 | $3,600 |
| $4M – $6M | $3,800 | $5,500 |
| $7M – $9M | $5,100 | $6,900 |
| $10M – $12M | $6,100 | $8,500 |
| $13M+ | Quoted | Quoted |
Vetted Partner Network
National Lien Services
When AR gets too long, we connect you directly to our lien services partner to protect what you've earned.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
Payroll Integration Partners
Prevailing wage and regular payroll software partners integrated directly with ControlQore job costing.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
Bonding Partners
Surety relationships and bonding capacity support. We prepare the financials — our partners get you bonded.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
Lending Partners
Working capital lines and equipment financing through vetted lenders who understand construction.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
Reviewed Financials
CPA-level financial statement reviews for banking, bonding, and large contract requirements.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
CPA Coordination
We work alongside your existing CPA — not replacing them. Clean books and job costing make tax time easier.
Included — no extra cost
Common Questions
Straight answers.
How many accounts should a $3M subcontractor have?
A well-structured chart of accounts for a $3M subcontractor typically has 60–100 accounts. Fewer than 50 usually means costs aren't being tracked with enough specificity for job costing. More than 150 for a contractor at this size usually means overcomplexity that makes coding difficult and reports hard to read. SPM builds the right number of accounts for your size and trade.
Can SPM migrate my existing QuickBooks chart of accounts to ControlQore?
Yes — but we don't migrate it blindly. We review your existing chart of accounts, identify what needs to change for construction accuracy, build the corrected structure in ControlQore, and map your historical transactions to the new accounts. The migration is an improvement, not just a copy.
What's included in Core Financial?
ControlQore setup, job costing aligned to your estimates, cost-to-complete tracking, full bookkeeping (minimum 30 min/week), ACH vendor payments (you approve, we initiate), AR management, bank reconciliations, transaction matching, controllership, and 1 monthly CFO meeting. Starts at $1,900/month.
What does Executive Financial add?
Everything in Core plus monthly WIP schedule, 13-week cash flow forecasting, CEO Report, and 3 CFO advisory meetings per month. Starts at $2,900/month. WIP, cash flow forecasting, and the CEO Report are Executive tier only.
Do you handle payroll?
No. We have vetted payroll software partners — including prevailing wage integrations — that connect directly with ControlQore. Those are separate engagements at additional cost.
How long does onboarding take?
60 days. We migrate your books to the start of your last taxable year, set up ControlQore, and build your job costing structure. Fully operational in two months.
What software do clients use?
ControlQore. All SPM clients run on ControlQore for job costing and WIP. We set it up and manage it — you don't have to learn it. Clients switching from QuickBooks, Sage, or other platforms migrate during onboarding.
Do you work alongside our CPA?
Yes. We work alongside your existing CPA — not replacing them. Clean books and accurate job costing make their job easier at tax time.
What happens when we grow past $12M?
We have a clear graduation path. We prepare your financials, systems, and team for the transition and connect you with the right firm for your next stage of growth.