QuickBooks Online Setup for Contractors: Items Classes and Job Costing

Start with the right foundation

Choose the right QuickBooks Online plan. Job costing and advanced reporting require higher tiers (Plus or Advanced) — don’t start on a plan that can’t track projects.
Set up your chart of accounts for a contractor — income by service type, cost of goods sold (materials, labor, subs), and overhead. A clean chart is the backbone of useful reports.

Items: the key to contractor bookkeeping

Set up products and services (items) that map to what you sell and what it costs — so each invoice line ties revenue and cost together. Use two-sided items where possible so you capture both the income and the expense. This is what makes job profitability visible.

Classes and projects for job costing

Projects let you track income and costs per job, so you can see true profit per job — the number most contractors fly blind on.
Classes can segment by division, location, or service line for higher-level reporting.
Assign every transaction (invoice, bill, expense, time) to the right project so costs land where they belong.

Connect the rest of your stack

Sync your FSM so field invoices flow in — see syncing your FSM with QuickBooks.
Connect bank feeds and payments for automatic reconciliation.
Add payroll and time tracking so labor costs hit the right jobs (time tracking apps).

Reports that actually help you run the business

Profit & Loss by Project — which jobs make (and lose) money.
Job costing reports — labor, materials, and margin per job.
A/R aging — who owes you and how late.

Pair these with a simple owner’s dashboard — see the KPI dashboard template.

Is QuickBooks right for you?

It’s the standard for good reasons, but it can be more (and pricier) than a tiny business needs — see QuickBooks alternatives if you want something simpler.

Get the books right, then grow the top line

Clean books tell you which jobs are profitable; reviews bring in more of those jobs. Tailwind is the reputation layer that drives the leads your well-run books will thank you for — see how it works and the full tech stack.

Run your books like a pro, then grow. See how Tailwind works.