You run the crews, the bids, and the calls from the job site. Archer365 handles the books behind them, with job costing, payroll, and tax planning built for contractors who want to know what every job actually earns.
Accounting Support for Contractors
Plenty of contracting businesses start with one skilled owner, a truck, and a phone that won't stop ringing. The bookkeeping gets done at night in whatever time is left over, which is how a profitable year ends with no clear answer about which jobs paid for it. Materials get picked up on the way to the site, subs get paid when their invoices show up, and customer deposits land weeks before or after the work they cover.
Archer365 provides contractor accounting services for owner-run trade and specialty businesses, including electricians, plumbers, HVAC and roofing contractors, remodelers, and landscapers. Contracting is one of several industries Archer365 serves, and for an owner who still bids the work and runs the crew, the support covers the whole cycle from estimate to tax return.
- Bookkeeping: every deposit, supply run, and sub payment recorded in the right category each month.
- Job costing: labor, materials, equipment, and subcontractor costs tied to the job that caused them.
- Payroll and subcontractors: W-2 crew pay, 1099 subs, and worker classification handled correctly.
- Tax planning: quarterly estimates, truck and equipment decisions, and entity structure.
- Cash flow and reporting: a clear view of money coming in and going out before the next big purchase.
Contractor Bookkeeping Services
Contractor bookkeeping has a volume problem. A single week can produce a dozen supply-house receipts, fuel charges, a new tool, two customer deposits, and a sub's invoice, and each one has to land in the right place for the monthly numbers to mean anything. When receipts pile up in the truck, small categorization errors pile up with them, and by year end nobody can say whether the biggest job of the summer made money.
Archer365's monthly bookkeeping reconciles bank and credit card accounts, records vendor and subcontractor payments, and assigns each job-related expense to its job during the month. You get a clean monthly close and reports in plain language: what came in, what went out, and which jobs carried the business. By the time tax season arrives, the numbers are already organized.
Job Costing That Shows What Every Job Earned
A busy season can look great in the bank account and still hide the job that lost money. Job costing ties each hour of labor, each supply-house receipt, and each sub's invoice back to its job, so you can see what every job earned once it closes out rather than only the year's total revenue.
That record changes how you bid. When your last few jobs of the same kind show where the hours really went, the next estimate starts from your own numbers instead of a gut feel. It also shows which kinds of work deserve more of your calendar and which ones quietly eat the margin. Archer365 keeps that tracking current every month, not just at tax time.
"Archer365 always gives me that personal touch by meeting with me and analyzing job costing to maximize profit."
- Tony DiSandro, owner of a site management company
Payroll and Subcontractor Support
Paying the people on a job site comes with more paperwork than most owners expect. Crew members on payroll need withholding, tax deposits, and W-2s, while independent subs are paid as separate businesses and reported on 1099s at year end. Getting that classification wrong can lead to back payroll taxes and penalties, and the line between the two isn't always obvious when the same sub works for you every week.
Archer365 sets up payroll so each arrangement is handled correctly and labor cost lands on the right job.
- Crew payroll for hourly, salaried, and overtime pay
- Subcontractor payments tracked for year-end 1099 reporting
- Vendor tax information collected before the first payment, not in January
- Payroll tax deposits and filings on schedule
- Owner pay planned into the setup from the start
Tax Planning for Contractors
Most contractors meet their tax bill in April. Planning moves that conversation into the months when decisions can still change it. A new truck, a trailer, or a piece of equipment carries tax treatment worth weighing before the purchase, and income that swings with the seasons makes quarterly estimates easy to miss in either direction.
Archer365 reviews income through the year, sets estimates that match what the business is actually earning, and handles year-end tax preparation with a team that includes CPAs. Entity structure belongs in the same conversation, since the way a business is organized shapes how the owner gets paid and what the profit costs in tax. The firm's guide to choosing a business entity for tax efficiency in Pennsylvania walks through those trade-offs in detail.
- Quarterly estimates adjusted as income rises and falls
- Timing and treatment of truck, tool, and equipment purchases
- Deductions documented through the year, not reconstructed in March
- Entity structure and owner pay reviewed as the business grows
- Year-end planning before the books close
Types of Businesses We Help
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Auto Body, Maintenance & Repair Shops
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Building Contractors
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Building Product Suppliers – B2B & B2C
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Bars
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Consultants
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Dental Practices
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Distributors
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Electricians – Commercial & Residential
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Equipment Rental
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Fabricators
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Franchises
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Hair Salons
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HVAC – Commercial & Residential
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Importers & Exporters
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Insurance Agents & Brokers
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IT Consultants
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Landscapers
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Logistics Companies
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Maintenance – Commercial & Residential
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Manufacturers
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Medical Practices
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Medical Product Distributors
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Online Retailers
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Online Services
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Party Rental
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Plumbers – Commercial & Residential
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Private Equity
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Real Estate Agents
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Real Estate Developers
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Real Estate Investors
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Retail Construction
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Retail Stores – Brick & Mortar, Online, B2B & B2C
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Roofers – Commercial & Residential
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Skilled Trades
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Software Developers
Cash Flow and Financial Reporting
A contractor can be profitable on paper and still come up short on a Friday. Crews, suppliers, and subs usually get paid before the customer's final check clears, so the timing of money matters as much as the amount. Seeing that gap in advance is what lets an owner say yes to a bigger job, add a helper, or finance a truck without guessing.
Archer365's virtual CFO support turns monthly reports into a regular conversation about those decisions, with profit by job and by type of work, cash flow mapped ahead of payroll and tax payments, and trends that surface while there's still time to act. As a contracting business grows into multiple crews and larger projects, the reporting grows with it, and construction accounting services cover that next stage.
Getting Started with Archer365
1) Discovery call. The first conversation covers how you bid, how your crew and subs get paid, and where the books stand today. Schedule your free discovery call.
2) Cleanup and job setup. Archer365 organizes your existing records and builds a chart of accounts around your jobs, crews, and overhead, so every cost has a clear home.
3) Monthly close. Each month, Archer365 reconciles your accounts and brings job costs up to date, with reports delivered on a regular schedule.
4) Planning checkpoints. During the year, we review estimates, owner pay, and planned equipment purchases while there's still time to change the outcome.
5) Ongoing access. Fixed-fee pricing includes unlimited phone and meeting support with no hidden fees, so you can call about a bid, a new hire, or a surprise bill whenever it comes up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. A sole owner with a truck and a few regular subs needs the same foundations as a larger shop: clean books, correct 1099s, quarterly estimates, and a clear picture of what each job earned. The setup scales with the business as it adds crews and work.
Classification depends on how the work is controlled and performed, not on what the paperwork calls it. Archer365 looks at how each arrangement works in practice and points out the ones that deserve a closer look, and some situations may also call for guidance from an employment attorney.
Yes, and plenty of contractors start there. The first step is recording job expenses in the books consistently, and from that point each month builds a cost history for future bids.
Sometimes, when the business needs the equipment anyway. A purchase made only for the deduction still costs cash, and that cash may matter more in a slow month than the tax it saves. Archer365 runs the numbers with you before the purchase, while the decision is still open.
Recent bank and credit card statements, your current payroll setup, a list of the subs you paid last year, and your most recent tax return. If some of it is hard to find, the discovery call will pin down what's still needed.
Ready to get started?
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