Full service accounting for contractors

Honestly? It depends. A part-time bookkeeper might run you $500–$1,500/month but they're only entering data — no tax strategy, no 1099s, no payroll. A generalist CPA charges $300–$800/month for tax prep only. Bench or Pilot? $300–$600/month but it's software, not humans.

Full-service like us runs $1,500–$6,500/month — that covers books, taxes, payroll, 1099s, audit prep, and tax strategy under one roof. Our average contractor pays about $2,500/month, roughly 3% of gross revenue. There's also a one-time foundation fee ($5,000–$35,000) depending on how messy your books are when we take over.

Is that cheap? No. But an in-house bookkeeper costs $35K–$55K/year plus benefits and you STILL need a CPA.

It depends on where you are. If you're a solo operator doing under $500K with no employees and no subs — a generalist CPA or even a good bookkeeper might be fine.

But once you're past $1M, have a crew, and you're paying subs — yeah, it matters. Construction has 1099 rules, workers comp audits, retention billing, WIP reporting, and trade-specific deductions that generalists don't deal with daily. We typically find $5,000–$20,000 in missed deductions when we take over from a generalist. Not because they're bad — they just don't know what to look for in construction.

A bookkeeper enters your transactions. That's it. No tax planning, no 1099 prep, no payroll, no one reviewing your numbers for accuracy. You still need a CPA for taxes, and the bookkeeper and CPA almost never talk to each other.

A full-service firm handles ALL of it — books, tax strategy, tax returns, payroll, 1099s, audit prep — one team.

Is a bookkeeper wrong for everyone? No. If you're under $500K, solo, and just need clean books, a bookkeeper is fine. But if you're scaling past $1M with employees and subs, you're going to outgrow that setup fast.

Yes. This is one of the biggest misconceptions contractors have. You do NOT need a local accountant. We're based in Vero Beach, Florida and work with contractors in 46 states. Everything — monthly calls, document sharing, reporting — works remotely.

The only states we can't serve are California, New York, Oregon, and Hawaii because their state tax rules are complex enough that you're better off with someone local there.

It gets expensive fast. $60 per form if you're 1–30 days late. $130 per form after 30 days. $310 per form after August 1st. Intentional disregard? $630 per form — no annual cap.

So if you have 20 subs and you missed the deadline entirely, you're looking at $6,200 minimum. We've seen worse. The IRS doesn't care that you didn't know — they care that you didn't file.

It depends on your revenue, how you pay yourself, and your state. There's no one-size-fits-all answer.

But here's what we see all the time — contractors still running as sole props or single-member LLCs when an S-corp election would save them $15,000+ per year in self-employment taxes. The math doesn't work for everyone, but if you're doing $1M+ and your CPA has never brought this up? That's a red flag.

We dig into entity structure during our tax strategy sessions — which are included, not billed separately.

Most of them are when contractors call us. That's normal.

The foundation fee covers the cleanup — fixing misclassifications, reconciling accounts, sorting out the stuff your last bookkeeper or CPA left behind. How much it costs depends on how far back we have to go and how bad it is. Some contractors are 2 months behind. Some are 2 years behind.

Either way, we don't start monthly services until the foundation is solid. Most contractors are fully up and running within 60 days.

No — and we're upfront about that. Job costing setup, invoicing, AP/AR, estimating — that's project management, not accounting. Tools like JobTread handle that.

What we DO is make sure your accounting system is set up so that when you track job costs in JobTread or wherever, that data flows into your books correctly and your reports are trustworthy. We also offer a JobTread-QuickBooks integration for $495/month.

The honest answer — we do more, and we cost more. A generalist CPA files your taxes once a year. We do bookkeeping, tax strategy, payroll, 1099s, audit prep, and advisory all under one roof.

Is a generalist CPA wrong for everyone? No. If you just need a tax return filed and your books are clean, a generalist is fine. But if your books are a mess, you have no tax strategy, you're not sure about your 1099s, and you want someone who actually understands construction — that's what we do.