Construction Bookkeeping Services

Bookkeeping is the transactional work. Coding vendor invoices to jobs, preparing progress billings, processing payroll, reconciling bank and credit card accounts, and closing the month with every cost on a job. Accounting sits on top of clean books. WIP analysis, revenue recognition, financial statements prepared for banks and bonding, and the guidance that comes from a controller or CFO. The two depend on each other. Accounting built on sloppy books produces reports nobody should trust, which is why every RedHammer engagement starts with the bookkeeping and why our outsourced accounting services grow out of it. For the full picture, start with Construction Accounting 101.

An outside team runs your accounting instead of in-house staff. RedHammer works inside your existing software and alongside your team, handling the day-to-day transactions, job costing, financial reporting, and the month-end close. You keep full access to your books and approve what matters, like the weekly payment run, while we do the technical work. See the full list of construction accounting services we provide.

Yes. We keep your books in the software you already own. Our team works every day in QuickBooks Online, Intuit Enterprise Suite, Foundation, Sage 100 Contractor, Sage 300 CRE, Sage Intacct, Viewpoint Spectrum and Vista, and ComputerEase. We do not require you to change systems to work with us. If the software is the problem, we tell you. Our consulting practice handles software selection, new implementations, and remediation of a bad setup, so the firm that keeps your books is the same firm that fixes the system.

Yes, and it is scoped as its own project. Clean-up and catch-up starts with a file health assessment: chart of accounts, cost code structure, job list, open AP and AR, bank reconciliations, and WIP. From there we reconcile every prior period, correct miscoded job costs, rebuild retainage balances on both sides of the ledger, and prepare the WIP schedule. The monthly cycle starts from an accurate baseline instead of inheriting old problems. The timeline depends on how many months are open and the condition of the file, and you get a defined scope and schedule before we start. See what that looked like for a general contractor who hired an inexperienced bookkeeper.

Every transaction we enter carries a job and a cost code. No exceptions and no miscellaneous bucket to sort out later. We set up each job with its estimate, contract, and cost codes, enter change orders as they are executed, and deliver weekly job cost reports showing estimate, committed, actual, and remaining by cost code. Each month we prepare the over and under billings schedule and record the WIP adjustment so revenue follows the work. To see where your jobs stand today, run them through our free WIP calculator, or read our guide to WIP gain and fade.

Yes. Payroll is processed with every hour coded to a job and cost code, so labor burden lands on the job the same week it is worked. Where your projects require it, we prepare certified payroll reports for Davis-Bacon and state prevailing wage work, union remittance reports, and multi-state withholding. We work in the payroll platform you use today. When that platform is the bottleneck, our partnership with Hammr gives contractors a construction-native option.

An outsourced accounting team, not a single bookkeeper. Your Accounting Consultant is the point person who handles the day-to-day and is the one person you call. Working directly with that Consultant on your account are the Controller, a Senior Accountant, an Accountant, and an Accounting Tech. Every one of them is a RedHammer employee who works exclusively with contractors. We are not a staffing company and we do not place people in your office. The structure gives you redundancy when someone is out, parallel processing so the close does not wait on one person, and checks and balances on every entry and every close. Meet the RedHammer team.

No. You keep complete access to and ownership of your books. Everything stays in your own software, and you approve payments before they go out. We work as an extension of your team and deliver reports on a set schedule, so most owners end up with more control than before, because the numbers are accurate and on time.

Yes. That is our co-sourced option. Your office keeps the parts it does well, often billing or payroll, and RedHammer takes the technical accounting work, the close, the WIP, and the Controller review. Your team stays focused on operations, project management, and customers, and we can train them to read and use the reports. See the three ways to engage RedHammer.

Yes. Bookkeeping is where most engagements start, not where they end. RedHammer provides outsourced accounting and controller services for contractors who need reporting and oversight beyond the monthly close, construction accounting consulting for process and reporting problems, and a software practice that covers selection, implementation, and remediation of construction accounting platforms. Because the same firm handles the books and the software, you never have a bookkeeper blaming the system and a consultant blaming the bookkeeper.

Yes. Every RedHammer account has a Controller. Your Controller manages the accounting team, the processes, and the monthly close, reviews every close before it reaches you, and is the person your bank, surety, and CPA talk to. Contractors who are not ready to hire a full-time construction controller get controllership on an ongoing basis, and contractors who already have one get added capacity through month-end and year-end. The Controller also designs and puts in place the accounting policies, procedures, and internal controls that keep the books GAAP compliant. See the full list of construction accounting services above.

Yes. Audit preparation is part of our controller services. An outside CPA firm performs the audit, but getting ready for it is the company's job, whether the audit is for bonding, a bank financing, or a private investment. We identify and research technical accounting issues, prepare audit schedules and draft financial statements with footnote disclosures, review revenue recognition and the WIP schedule, account for equity transactions, and reconcile bank, prepaid, fixed asset, and accrued expense accounts. We organize the electronic files your auditors request and act as their point of contact during fieldwork, so your team stays on the jobs.

Construction is all we do. General bookkeepers and online bookkeeping services are built for businesses that sell a product or bill by the hour. Most have never completed an AIA G702 and G703 billing packet, tracked retainage on both sides of the ledger, or prepared a WIP schedule, and few can tell you what a surety looks for on a contractor's balance sheet. RedHammer works exclusively in construction, and we work with banks and bonding companies every day. The comparison table above lays out the differences line by line, and our guide to the top construction bookkeeping firms shows how the field compares.

From new contractors to general contractors doing $50 million and more. We work with residential builders, commercial and civil contractors, and specialty trades. Companies just starting out often begin with the bookkeeping and add accounting and controller services as they grow.

Less than most owners expect. We need approval of the weekly payment run, timesheets or a time clock export, and answers to the coding questions we cannot resolve from the documents. Everything else, from invoice collection to bank reconciliations to the close, happens on our side. Most owners spend under an hour a week on the books, and that hour is spent reviewing reports rather than chasing paperwork.

Schedule a consultation. We review your books, software, open jobs, and reporting requirements together and confirm the scope. You receive a proposal that fits your business, and once you approve it, the transition follows the six steps above: discovery and RFI, health check, catch up, refine system, team handoff, and the monthly rhythm. If you are not sure bookkeeping is the right starting point, a construction accounting consultation is the place to begin.