Best Bookkeeping Software for Construction Companies

Construction businesses have unique accounting needs that traditional bookkeeping software often can’t meet. To streamline financial management, it’s important to choose software designed for project-based accounting, complex labor tracking, and industry-specific billing. The more tailored your solution, the more time you’ll save, allowing you to focus on revenue-generating work. 

Whether you’re a small contractor or a large firm managing multiple projects, you need a bookkeeping solution that can support the scale and complexity of your business. Below, we take a deep dive into construction business software, breaking down the key features to look for and highlighting the top options available.

Software	Price	G2 User Rating
Sage 100 Contractor	Custom pricing	★★★  3.8 out of 5 (based on 20+ reviews)
	Verdict: Best for small- to medium-sized construction businesses
QuickBooks Plus	$115 monthlyAdditional tiers: $38, $75, $115,	★★★★  4.0 out of 5 (based on 3,000+ reviews)
	Verdict: Best for outsourced bookkeeping
Xero Established	$80 per monthAdditional tiers: $20 or $47 monthly	★★★★  4.5 out of 5 (based on 700+ reviews)
	Verdict: Best for beginner construction companies
Jonas Construction Software	Custom pricing	★★★  3.1 out of 5 (based on 20+ reviews)
	Verdict: Best for field service management
Buildertrend	Custom pricing	★★★★ 4.2 out of 5 (based on 100+ reviews)
	Verdict: Best for residential builders
Viewpoint Vista	Custom pricing	★★★★ 4.0 out of 5 (based on 100+ reviews)
	Verdict: Best for medium- to large-sized construction companies

Honorable mentions:

• Deltek ComputerEase: Custom pricing
• CMiC: Custom pricing 
• FreshBooks: $21 to $65 monthly, or custom pricing
• Wave: $0 to $170 monthly
• Zoho Books: $12 to $249 monthly

Features to Look for When Choosing Construction Bookkeeping Software 

In addition to core bookkeeping features like expense tracking and financial reporting, look for industry-specific tools such as job costing and progress billing. Robust integrations with common construction software are also important to consider.

Job Costing

Job costing support is one of the most important features to look for in construction company bookkeeping software. As a construction company, you will want a bookkeeping software that helps you track, manage, and calculate all project costs, from labor to materials to overhead. 

A good bookkeeping software will let you do the following:

• Automatically record and tag direct costs, such as labor, materials, subcontractors, and equipment.
• Automatically record and tag indirect costs, such as admin and insurance.
• Generate real-time dashboards or reports that compare actual costs to budget expectations
• Track revenue per job
• Calculate gross profit per job

By streamlining job costing, bookkeeping tools help maximize profitability, make effective and informed pricing decisions, and improve overall project efficiency. 

Progress Billing

Given the size and duration of construction projects, customers generally prefer not to pay the full amount upfront. This means that, unlike most businesses, which are paid in full upon delivery, construction companies typically receive staggered payments across project phases. 

To ensure steady cash flow and fair payments for both parties, you need to implement an invoicing schedule that aligns with how your business performs and delivers work. 

A progress billing feature will let you:

• Build a schedule of values to break down costs per work category 
• Track work completed per work category
• Generate custom progress invoice based on templates or industry-standard forms
• Automatically hold back retainage

Work in Progress Reporting

The work in progress (WIP) reporting feature provides a snapshot of the financial progress of an ongoing construction project at a given point in time. This feature compares budgeted costs against costs incurred, revenue earned, and amounts relative to the percentage of project completion.

WIP reports also calculate each project’s cost-to-date, projected total cost, revenue recognition, and under‑ or over‑billing status.

In practice, WIP reports generate their calculations through the following steps:

1. The software tracks expenses, bills, and field progress.
2. It uses your project data to calculate the percentage of completion, costs, and billing status.
3. It then generates reports on project profitability and cashflow, highlighting any possible red flags

WIP reports show your business how well your construction projects are performing relative to your projections or goals. They help you identify problems, such as delays or cost overruns, early on, allowing you to course-correct proactively. 

Contractor Management

Construction companies frequently work with multiple independent contractors and subcontractors, leading to a high volume of transactions recorded in their bookkeeping systems. Built-in contractor management features help streamline these workflows, enabling users to track payments, manage compliance, and maintain accurate records efficiently.

Contractor management tools typically provide the ability to:

• Set up contractor profiles with attached contact information, payment terms, contracts, and key documents (W-9, insurance certificates, and licenses)
• Assign contractors to projects and tasks
• Track contractor activity by time, units completed, and progress billing milestones
• Record and organize contractor invoices or timesheets 
• Link contractor expenses to job costing accounts
• Make and track contractor payments 
• Track retainage based on contract terms
• Generate tax forms based on payment data

Change Order Management

Given the length of most construction projects, contract terms (such as scope, timeline, and cost) often change. To effectively track, document, and bill for these contract amendments, it is essential to choose bookkeeping software with change order management features.

With change order management features, you should be able to track the following:

• Added or removed work
• Changes in material specifications
• Timeline extensions
• Contract value increases or decreases

Change order management keeps project changes organized. It also prevents lost revenue from unbilled work, budget overruns, inaccurate job costing, and client disputes. 

Estimates

In construction bookkeeping software, the estimate feature lets you create, customize, and send professional quotes or bids to clients. This helps you set clear expectations about scope and price while tracking the estimated costs of the project.

With estimates, you can:

• Calculate detailed projects for the cost of materials, labor, equipment, subcontractors, overhead, and profit
• Create, customize, and send official quotes or bids
• Track estimated costs against actual costs
• Integrate estimates with other official documents, such as budgets, contracts, and job costing reports

Construction Payroll

Because of the project-based nature of the construction industry, payroll for construction companies requires more advanced features than standard payroll systems. It has to account for multiple job sites, tasks, dynamic wage rates, and additional compliance requirements, such as labor laws and union regulations. 

With construction payroll, you can:

• Record employee hours by task or job site
• Calculate wages based on varying hourly rates and salaries
• Apply overtime, shift differentials, and prevailing wages to wage calculations
• Calculate federal, state, and local taxes with deductions for benefits, union dues, retirement plans, and garnishments
• Ensure compliance with labor laws and wage standards 
• Integrate payroll with job costing
• Generate payroll summaries, certified payroll, and tax filings

Integrations

Your bookkeeping software should integrate seamlessly with your other business tools. Integrations prevent data silos, allowing you to view the full story behind your financial data without having to jump from app to app. Many integrations also streamline your workflows, sparing you from needing to update information manually across multiple platforms. 

Useful integrations for construction bookkeeping software include: 

• Banking, invoicing, and payment processing: Most bookkeeping platforms integrate with banking and payment systems, allowing you to sync your bank feeds directly with your ledger. This simplifies transaction tracking, reconciliation, and cash flow monitoring.
• Project management software: Integrating project management software with accounting software makes the connections between field activity and project costs much clearer. It provides real-time visibility into the financial impact of project decisions, making it easier to stay on budget.
• Time tracking software: Time tracking integrations automatically record labor costs as employees clock in and out. This ensures accurate, real-time labor costing and streamlines payroll processing.
• Document management storage: Connecting your software to document storage platforms (like Google Drive or Dropbox) provides easy access to contracts, invoices, change orders, and receipts. These integrations help you confirm the validity of transactions recorded in your ledger. 

Best Bookkeeping Software for Construction Companies

The best bookkeeping software for your construction business depends on your specific needs. Below, we outline the features, pros, cons, and pricing of the top options, then highlight which types of businesses each one is best suited for.

Sage 100 Contractor: Best for Small- to Medium-Sized Construction Businesses

Summary
With detailed job costing, payroll, and customizable real-time reports, Sage 100 Contractor is an excellent choice for small- to medium-sized construction companies. It gives organizations real-time visibility on all aspects of their business, including job costing, accounting, and project management. However, its interface can feel outdated compared to newer solutions, leading to a steeper learning curve.
Pros	Cons
✔️ Complete project management and accounting features ✔️ Offers customizable reports ✔️ Comprehensive integration options	❌ Limited mobile features ❌ Steep learning curve

Basic Features

Sage 100 Contractor is an all-in-one construction management solution designed for small-to-medium construction companies. The software lets you:

• Track income and expenses by job
• Record and categorize job costs
• Manage accounts receivable and accounts payable
• Automate payroll 
• Record and monitor project costs in real time
• Manage budgets, bids, and proposals 
• Use project management tools to track schedules, deadlines, tasks, and resources
• Create custom reports and dashboards

The Sage Group and its products have long had a solid reputation in the business management software space. Its dedicated construction management solution, Sage 100 Contractor, is no exception. Designed for small- to- medium- sized construction companies, Sage 100 Contractor provides all tools necessary to maintain smooth construction operations, including bookkeeping, project management, job costing, estimating, and payroll. 

Where Sage 100 Contractor excels is job costing. You can track the costs of each project by phase, cost code, and job category. You can also connect exported estimates and budgets to create side-by-side comparisons of your projected costs and actual costs. 

Sage 100 Contractor uses your data to generate detailed job cost reports, including job cost status, totals, journals, and summaries. This gives you real-time visibility on profit and loss per job. 

As a project management solution, it also lets you connect your financial data with schedules, documents, and change orders. This streamlined workflow keeps your bookkeepers, field workers, and managers aligned. 

The main issue with Sage 100 Contractor is ease of use. While it offers a comprehensive, all-in-one solution, the abundance of features can be overwhelming for some users. Additionally, its outdated interface falls short of modern design standards, making navigation challenging. 

Sage 100 Contractor was also designed for small- to medium-sized businesses. Larger companies should choose Sage Group’s enterprise solution, Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate, which offers more advanced job costing and financial reporting tools. It also comes with real estate management tools.

QuickBooks Plus: Best for Outsourced Bookkeeping 

Summary
QuickBooks has long been one of the biggest names in accounting software. Because it is so popular, most accountants and bookkeepers are familiar with how to use it, making it a great option for outsourced bookkeeping. It also offers decent construction-specific features, such as job costing, customizable reports, and contractor management.
Pros	Cons
✔️ Used by most accountants and bookkeepers ✔️ User-friendly interface ✔️ Comprehensive integration options	❌ Limited mobile features ❌ Steep learning curve

Basic Features

QuickBooks offers four different packages starting at $38 monthly. Each plan starts with the following basic features:

• Auto-categorizes imported transactions
• Send customized invoices and accept online payments
• Flags potential tax-deductible expenses
• Automated sales tax calculation
• Generates customizable reports like Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Expense Summary
• Capture and attach receipts
• Manage bills
• Mileage tracking 
• Create, customize, and send estimates
• Manage contractors

Simple Start	Essentials	Plus	Advanced
$38 per month	$75 per month	$115 per month	$275 per month
All basic features Connect 1 sales channel	All basic features Connect 3 sales channels Multi-currency support Up to 3 users Enter billable hours	All basic features Connect all sales channels Multi-currency support Up to 5 users Enter billable hours Inventory management Project profitability tracking Financial planning	All basic features Connect all sales channels Multi-currency support Up to 25 users Enter billable hours Inventory management Project profitability tracking Financial planning Auto-track fixed assets Data sync with Excel Batch invoices and expenses Custom access controls Workflow automation Data restoration Support & training Revenue recognition

QuickBooks remains one of the most popular bookkeeping solutions for small businesses, holding a 37.37% market share in 2025. Its widespread adoption has created a positive feedback loop: because so many businesses use it, most accountants and bookkeepers are proficient in it. 

As a result, it’s much easier to find professionals who specialize in QuickBooks than any other type of software. There are also more training resources and tutorials available, even from sources outside the company. This means that if you want software that your bookkeeper can quickly get up to speed with, QuickBooks is your best bet. 

It also costs less than most construction bookkeeping software. Unlike its competitors, which typically charge custom pricing, QuickBooks is transparent about the fees it charges. It offers four distinct business bookkeeping plans: Simple Start ($38 monthly), Essentials ($75 monthly), Plus ($115 monthly), and Advanced ($275 monthly). New users get a 90% discount on the monthly fee for the first three months of service. 

Of the four available plans, QuickBooks recommends the Plus plan for construction companies. Unlike the two lower-tier plans, Plus comes with the following useful construction bookkeeping features:

• Job costing: Tracks labor, payroll, and other expenses, then generates project profitability reports
• Financial planning: Lets you collaborate with your team to create budgets from scratch, by spreadsheet uploads, or via spreadsheet sync
• Inventory management: Track availability of materials and get notifications when stock is low

The main issue with QuickBooks is that it isn’t a dedicated construction bookkeeping solution. Although it offers many workarounds for construction-specific needs, it lacks native support for a few common challenges, such as construction payroll, change orders, and retainage. To expand functionality, it’s best to integrate with popular construction tools, such as Buildertrend, Knowify, and TSheets. 

Xero Established: Best for Beginner Construction Businesses

Summary
Xero is another popular bookkeeping software. While not construction-specific, its Established plan provides decent construction bookkeeping functionality through job costing, project tracking, and construction tool integrations. Compared to competitors, it is extremely user-friendly and cost-effective, making it a great choice for new construction companies operating at a small scale.
Pros	Cons
✔️ Affordable plans  ✔️ Integrates with popular construction software ✔️ Live support available	❌ Only 20 invoices per month for starter plan ❌ No detailed job costing

Basic Features

Xero comes with three types of plans: Early ($20 monthly), Growing ($47 monthly), and Established ($80 monthly). Each comes with the following basic bookkeeping tools:

• Sending invoices and quotes
• Entering and reconciling bills and bank transactions
• Capturing receipts and bills with Hubdoc
• Managing cash flow and tracking business performance
• Automating bill payments and viewing of payment timelines
• Setting up W-9 and 1099 forms for contractors
• Tracking and calculating sales tax
• Using multi-currency accounts for international clients
• Claiming business expenses and reimbursements
• Adding inventory tracking with optional add-on
• Getting short-term financial snapshots and projections

Early	Growing	Established
$20 per month	$47 per month	$80 per month
20 invoices/quotes 5 bills Bank reconciliation Basic reporting	Unlimited invoices Expense capture Short-term cash flow tracking	Multi-currency support Project tracking Expense claims Inventory (add-on)

As another leading bookkeeping software, Xero offers many of the same advantages as QuickBooks. It’s widely used by accountants and bookkeepers, features an intuitive interface, and integrates with popular construction management tools. However, compared to QuickBooks, Xero is much cheaper, with plans ranging from $20 to $80 per month. 

The recommended plan for construction companies is the $80-per-month Xero Established, which offers the following useful features:

• Job costing and project tracking: Monitor time and costs per project, then generate clear visualizations of profit and loss in real time 
• Quoting: Create, customize, and send professional invoices and quotes
• Inventory management: Track material availability and generate alerts for low stock

Like QuickBooks, Xero Established is not a dedicated construction bookkeeping solution. However, it can support construction management workflows with the right third-party add-ons. Xero integrates with many popular construction management tools, including Buildertrend, Tradify, ServiceM8, and simPRO.

While Xero’s native features may not meet the needs of larger construction companies, it’s a solid choice for new business owners operating on a smaller scale. With its affordable price point and user-friendly interface, Xero helps you learn the basics of bookkeeping software at minimal cost. 

Jonas Construction Software: Best for Service Management

Summary
Jonas Construction software is a full-fledged construction management and bookkeeping software with solid job costing, financial management, and project management functionality. The software is most known for its service management features, which enable streamlined work order management, inventory and parts management, service contract management, and more.
Pros	Cons
✔️ Excellent financial reporting ✔️ Works well for subcontractors ✔️ Webinars and training modules available	❌ Expensive ❌ Steep learning curve

Basic Features

Jonas Construction Software is an all-in-one job cost, construction bookkeeping, project management, service management, and payroll management software. It was designed to accommodate the unique needs of medium- to large sized construction companies. Unlike QuickBooks and Xero, Jonas Construction Software provides deep construction management functionality without the need for add-ons. 

This construction bookkeeping software comes with the following basic features:

• General ledger
• Accounts payable and receivable management
• Payroll with direct deposit
• Electronic payments
• MICR cheques
• Multi-company/subledger check processing
• Silent partner
• Construction management
• Equipment management
• Quote management
• Time and attendance
• Inventory management
• Job costing 
• Document management

One of its biggest strengths is its robust job costing feature, which was designed to support complex construction jobs. It lets you break down jobs by cost codes or set up custom cost categories for your unique type of construction work. 

The Jonas Construction Software job cost feature generates detailed reports, including job cost summaries, cost to complete, WIP reports, and profitability by job or division. As a fully integrated system, it automatically pulls cost data from purchasing, payroll, billing, and time tracking, eliminating the need for manual entry. 

Another major advantage of using Jonas Construction Software is that it offers construction-specific payroll processing. It accommodates common construction payroll needs, such as union rates, prevailing wage, and certified reporting.

Outside of job costing and bookkeeping, Jonas Construction Software also offers service management tools, which are one of its biggest selling points. These tools help construction companies assign work orders, track inventory levels, manage service contracts, monitor equipment history, and evaluate service department performance. 

Jonas Construction Software comes with the same downsides as any enterprise-level solution: it is complex, difficult to learn, and expensive. Because the software is so powerful and feature-rich, setting it up can take as long as a few months. New users may find it overwhelming, often requiring extensive training that increases overall costs. It is not the ideal solution for businesses with simpler bookkeeping needs. 

Buildertrend: Best for Residential Builders

Summary
Buildertrend is a robust construction management software designed for residential and commercial construction companies. While not designed specifically for bookkeeping, it offers many useful basic financial management features, including invoicing, payments, and budget management. You can integrate with QuickBooks and Xero for full construction management and bookkeeping functionality.
Pros	Cons
✔️ Streamlined job costing, invoicing, and financial tracking ✔️ Combines project management and accounting ✔️ Integrates with QuickBooks and Xero	❌ Not a full accounting solution ❌ Payments support exclusive to US customers

Basic Features

Buildertrend is a popular construction management platform known for its project scheduling and client communication. Its streamlined job costing, invoicing, and financial management tools make it a great construction bookkeeping solution, despite not being a full-fledged bookkeeping software. 

Buildertrend also has a lot of dedicated financial management tools. Some of these include: 

• Bid creation and organization
• Bill and purchase order management
• Budget management
• Business insights
• Estimates creation and customization
• General contractor financing
• Homeowner financing
• Payments (US only)
• Invoicing
• Insurance
• Takeoff

Like Jonas Construction Software, Buildertrend is built specifically for construction companies. But what sets Buildertrend apart is how easy it is to use. While Jonas offers more in-depth features, its interface can feel complex and harder to navigate. Buildertrend, on the other hand, keeps things simple and user-friendly without sacrificing the core tools construction teams need. 

Its job costing system lets you track every project expense, including labor, materials, and subcontractors. You can assign cost codes (such as framing, plumbing, and painting) to each expense, which gives you a detailed breakdown of where money is being spent on each job. The job costing system also shows a real-time comparison of budgeted/estimated costs vs actual costs as the project progresses. It offers detailed, customizable job costing reports, such as profit margin per job, cost breakdowns by trade or task, and labor materials vs. cost splits.  

However, Buildertrend isn’t a dedicated bookkeeping solution. While it offers decent financial management features, it lacks the core bookkeeping features that others on this list offer, such as a full general ledger, bank reconciliation, taxes, and payroll processing. 

If you want to combine user-friendly construction management tools with in-depth bookkeeping, consider integrating Buildertrend with QuickBooks, Xero, or Sage. Since Buildertrend already includes job costing (a feature usually reserved for higher-tier accounting plans), you can opt for a more affordable bookkeeping plan to keep costs under control. 

Viewpoint Vista: Best for Medium- to Large-Sized Construction Businesses

Summary
Viewpoint Vista is an full-fledged enterprise resource planning (ERP) and bookkeeping solution developed by Trimble Viewpoint, a leading construction software developer. Viewpoint Vista offers extensive construction-specific bookkeeping and job costing features, which are designed to accommodate medium- to large-scale construction projects.
Pros	Cons
✔️ Construction-specific bookkeeping ✔️ Extremely detailed job costing ✔️ Construction-specific payroll	❌ Complex setup ❌ Difficult to navigate

Basic Features

Viewpoint Vista is one of the most powerful and comprehensive construction-specific ERPs. It comes with specialized bookkeeping tools, advanced custom job costing, construction payroll, and detailed reporting. 

The product includes the following features:

• Job-cost accounting
• Construction-specific general ledger
• Accounts payable and receivable management
• Automated invoicing and payment processes
• Contract and bill management
• Workforce and payroll management
• Service management
• Equipment management
• Analytics and reporting

Viewpoint Vista’s bookkeeping tools were designed specifically for construction companies. The software has a full bookkeeping system that handles everything from income and expense tracking to payroll to billing. It comes with a construction-focused general ledger, with customizable charts of accounts tailored to typical construction company accounts. 

It also offers full payroll management tools tailored to common construction payroll needs, including detailed union, certified, and multi-state payroll management. These come with built-in compliance tools to help with union tracking and tax reporting. 

Another strong suit is its bill management feature. Viewpoint Vista can handle common construction bookkeeping and billing methods, such as progress billing and time and materials (T&M) billing. 

Viewpoint Vista particularly excels at job costing. It provides accurate job costing across all areas, including labor, materials, equipment, and subcontractors. It is powerful enough to support job costing for large projects, including projects with multi-division costing and complex billing structures. 

Lastly, Viewpoint Vista provides highly detailed and customizable financial reports. You can build dashboards and tailor views for specific users or internal workflows, such as executives, project managers, and accountants. 

Viewpoint Vista has the same weaknesses as Jonas Construction Software and other enterprise-level software. It’s expensive, highly complex, difficult to learn, and time-consuming to implement. Its advanced functionality makes it a worthwhile investment for large companies, but smaller businesses are better served by simpler solutions.

Honorable Mentions

Some bookkeeping software offer satisfactory support for construction companies, but don’t excel at any particular area. If the above recommendations cannot meet your needs, consider one of the following:

Deltek ComputerEase

Price: Custom pricing

Great for: General contractors, medium to large-sized businesses

Deltek ComputerEase is another excellent solution for medium- to large-sized construction companies. It comes with detailed job costing, construction-specific payroll management, project management tools (including scheduling, WIP tracking, and change order management), and equipment tracking. You can generate highly detailed reports to track project progress and financial health in real time.

The main drawback of Deltek ComputerEase is its lack of flexibility. Report and module customization options are limited, making it difficult to accommodate different workflows. Additionally, like many complex software programs, it’s expensive, challenging to learn, and not particularly intuitive. The user interface feels outdated compared to modern design standards.

CMiC

Price: Custom pricing

Great for: Enterprise-level construction firms

Dubbed the industry standard construction management software, CMiC provides integrated solutions for bookkeeping, job costing, forecasting, payroll, HR, and business intelligence. Its deep functionality and power to accommodate large volumes of data make it suitable for enterprise-level construction firms managing multiple complex projects. 

However, like many enterprise-level solutions, CMiC has a steep learning curve and a complex setup process. It also falls behind competitors like Viewpoint Vista in user satisfaction, with a G2 rating of 3.3 stars from over 20 reviews. Users complain of frequent bugs, performance issues, and inefficient document management support.

FreshBooks

Price: $21, $38, $65, or custom

Great for: Beginner business users

FreshBooks is another affordable, user-friendly bookkeeping solution. While it doesn’t offer detailed job costing, it comes with comprehensive bookkeeping tools, including real-time expense tracking, flexible invoicing, and estimate, proposal, and client retainer management. 

Like Xero, FreshBooks is suitable for beginner construction business owners operating at a small scale. It can’t accommodate complex projects, but it provides all necessary bookkeeping features while being affordable and easy to learn. The only downside of FreshBooks is that it’s less popular than QuickBooks and Xero, which means that you’ll have a harder time finding bookkeepers who specialize in it. 

Wave

Price: $0 or $175

Great for: Beginner business users

Wave is a satisfactory bookkeeping solution for construction businesses with very simple accounting needs. Its biggest advantage is that it’s free, though this comes at the expense of advanced features. With the free plan, users get unlimited invoices, estimates, and bookkeeping records. However, all transactions must be imported and categorized manually, which can slow down workflows.

The premium plan, priced at $175, offers more flexibility. It includes automated bank feed imports and transaction categorization, helping streamline bookkeeping tasks. Users can also customize invoices, remove the Wave branding, and create reusable invoice templates.

You need the premium plan to use Zapier, which connects Wave to third-party integrations. Wave offers no native integrations, so streamlining construction workflows requires extra investment. Users may need to spend additional money on other software subscriptions and dedicate additional time to building custom workflows through Zapier.

Zoho Books

Price: $0, 12, $24, $36, $129, or $249

Great for: Users in the Zoho ecosystem

Zoho Books is another general-purpose bookkeeping solution that can accommodate small- to mid-sized construction companies. It is most suitable for business owners that already use the Zoho suite of products. Familiarity with the platform makes onboarding easier, and built-in integrations with other Zoho apps help streamline workflows. Zoho also has a strong reputation for user-friendly design.

While not a dedicated construction bookkeeping software, its features can accommodate construction bookkeeping workflows on a basic level. It offers real-time project profitability forecasts, robust budget planning, construction billing, and timesheet billing. You can generate easy-to-read reports to monitor project performance and financial health in real time. 

Building a Strong Financial Foundation

The best bookkeeping software depends on the size and complexity of your projects. Software built for larger construction firms generally provides more advanced features, but it tends to be more expensive, harder to use, and slower to implement. In contrast, solutions aimed at smaller businesses offer simpler functionality, leaving anything outside the basics to third-party integrations. 

Ultimately, the right choice comes down to balancing your project needs with your team’s capacity and budget.

FAQs

Should construction companies use ERPs or construction bookkeeping software?

The choice between ERP systems and construction bookkeeping software depends on the size of your construction company. Small- to mid-sized companies will find construction bookkeeping software satisfactory, because they typically cover all basic construction bookkeeping needs at an affordable price point. Construction bookkeeping software solutions are also easier to use and set up.

Meanwhile, large-scale or enterprise-level construction firms with multiple departments, big projects, and complex operations need the deep functionality ERPs offer. ERPs combine bookkeeping with other tools, such as project management, HR, inventory, and equipment tracking, to streamline overall construction workflows. While they are more expensive and harder to implement, they give you a full view of your business and help keep everything connected. 

Which method of accounting is best for construction companies?

The best accounting method for construction companies depends on the length of operations. Long-term projects benefit from the percentage-of-completion method, which recognizes income and expenses after the completion of each phase of work, instead of waiting for the entire project to finish. This gives a more accurate picture of your financial health throughout the project.

Short-term jobs benefit from the completed-contract method, which reports income and expenses only when the entire project is complete. This is simpler and requires less upkeep.