Bookkeeping and Accounting for Construction Laborers

As a construction laborer, you should be following several specific accounting practices to keep your finances in order. These include:

• Job Costing: It’s essential to track the costs related to each job or project to ensure that it's profitable. This includes labor, materials, and overhead costs.
• Progress Billing: Construction projects usually last for an extended period. Therefore, rather than invoice at the end of the job, it's common to use progress billing, where you invoice in chunks as the work progresses.
• Change Order Management: Any changes or additions to the initial job plan could affect your costs and profit margin. Appropriately accounting for these change orders is crucial to maintain accurate records.
• Retention Tracking: It's common in the construction industry to hold back a portion of the payment until the job is completed. So, appropriate tracking of retainage will guarantee you claim all your dues once the job is finished.

Remember, as a construction laborer, partnering with a competent bookkeeper or accounting service will ensure you are always on top of your finances, allowing you to focus on what you do best – construction work.

Job costing in the construction industry is a specific accounting methodology used to track costs and income related to specific jobs. Each construction project or "job" is treated as a separate entity for accounting purposes with its own set of distinct costs. These can include materials, equipment usage, labor and subcontractor's costs, and indirect costs like insurance, taxes, and permits.

How job costing impacts bookkeeping is quite significant. As a bookkeeper, you must keep track of every expense and income related to a job and match it against the budget for that job. To manage funds and maintain profitability, bookkeepers need to constantly update and analyze job cost reports. It also involves a good deal of forecasting to project future costs and revenues. Job costing directly affects how day-to-day financial transactions are recorded, how project budgets are crafted and managed, and how financial health and project success are measured.

As a construction worker, there are many tax deductions you can claim. These can include:

• Travel and accommodation: If your job requires you to move around or stay overnight in a different location, these costs could be deducted.
• Equipment and tools: Many construction laborers have to buy their own tools and personal protective equipment, these costs can also be written off.
• Uniform and laundry: If you have a uniform that you have to keep clean and presentable, these costs are also tax-deductible.
• Training and certification: Any costs related to maintaining or upgrading your skills are also tax-deductible.
• Union dues and fees: If you're part of a union, your member fees can also be claimed.

Remember to always keep detailed receipts and records of your expenses. As always, it's advised to seek personal advice from a tax professional or bookkeeper to ensure you're claiming all eligible deductions.

Nope! All bookkeeping is completed in-house.

Your bookkeeper will be your main point of contact, but at times you might hear from another member of your team. This is usually when your bookkeeper goes on vacation, is sick, or otherwise unavailable.

We handle the bookkeeping for you but sometimes we’ll need your input, especially at year-end. On average, expect to spend 15 minutes each month answering questions for your bookkeeper, or uploading supporting docs.