Industries · Trades and field service
You pay for materials and labour before the customer pays you, your margin lives at the job, the truck or the route, and the field app never quite agrees with QuickBooks.
Owner-operated, roughly 5–60 employees and 2–20 trucks, $1M–$25M, running a field-service or construction app and QuickBooks or Xero.
Progress billing on contracts, with retainage and change orders.
Where it breaks
WIP and over- or under-billing, retainage held for months, lien-notice deadlines and bonding capacity. A contract 80% billed and 60% complete means the customer is financing you; the reverse means you are financing the general contractor.
What we do
A monthly WIP schedule with percentage-of-completion adjustments, formatted the way lenders and sureties ask for it; retainage receivable tracked on its own; a pay-app calendar with Notice to Owner deadlines on the close checklist. Clean, current books also make your outside accountant’s year-end work faster.
Field software we reconcile: Buildertrend · Procore · Knowify · JobTread · Foundation · Levelset
Service calls, installs and maintenance agreements; strongly seasonal.
Where it breaks
Install and service margins blur into one number, membership revenue is booked when the cash arrives rather than as it is earned, and the slow season’s payroll is paid from summer’s cash.
What we do
Margin by service line (install, service, maintenance) and by technician; deferred revenue for agreements; membership KPIs in the monthly package; a slow-season payroll reserve in the cash forecast.
Field software we reconcile: ServiceTitan · Housecall Pro · FieldEdge · Successware
Service-heavy work with the highest gross margins in the trades.
Where it breaks
The flat-rate price book drifts behind supplier increases, parts ride on trucks uncosted, and warranty callbacks go unbilled.
What we do
An annual price-book rebuild from the fully burdened labour rate and overhead; parts-on-truck inventory; callback cost tracked by technician.
Field software we reconcile: ServiceTitan · Jobber · Housecall Pro
Service calls alongside panel, project and new-construction work.
Where it breaks
Service and project work share one P&L, so neither margin is visible, and labour is costed at wage rather than fully burdened.
What we do
Job costing by job type with burdened labour; separate service and project P&Ls; technician productivity from the field app reconciled to payroll.
Field software we reconcile: ServiceTitan · Jobber · Housecall Pro
Project work, storm-driven, with insurance-claim receivables.
Where it breaks
Materials are a large share of every job, demand is lumpy, supplements and claim payments arrive late, and the Florida slow season has to be funded from the storm months.
What we do
Job costing with materials tracked per job; claim and supplement receivables aged on their own; a seasonal budget with a slow-season reserve; storm-surge staffing and credit in the cash forecast.
Field software we reconcile: JobNimbus · AccuLynx
Recurring maintenance plus enhancement projects, run on routes.
Where it breaks
Route density and crew hours decide the margin, but the books show one revenue line; equipment depreciation and seasonality hide in the totals.
What we do
Revenue per crew-hour and per route; maintenance and enhancement P&Ls; an equipment schedule with depreciation; a seasonal cash plan.
Field software we reconcile: Aspire · LMN · Service Autopilot · Jobber
Weekly routes billed monthly, with chemicals as the main cost of goods.
Where it breaks
Chemical prices rise while the monthly route price stays fixed, and repair work and route work share one margin.
What we do
Chemical cost per stop and per route; route profitability; repair and route revenue split; a price-review trigger when chemicals pass a set share of revenue.
Field software we reconcile: Skimmer
Recurring contracts on routes; commercial work is taxable in Florida.
Where it breaks
Recurring-revenue share and contract retention decide what the business is worth, and nonresidential work carries Florida sales tax that residential work does not.
What we do
Recurring-revenue and retention KPIs; stops per technician per day; commercial and residential revenue split so the sales-tax-ready records follow the work. Filing stays with your accountant or sales-tax tool.
Field software we reconcile: FieldRoutes · PestPac
Repair orders: parts plus labour.
Where it breaks
Parts and labour gross profit are blended, the effective labour rate drifts below the door rate, and in Florida the whole invoice, labour included, is taxable once any part changes hands.
What we do
Parts and labour gross profit reported separately; effective labour rate against the door rate; technician efficiency; invoice-level sales-tax-ready records.
Field software we reconcile: Tekmetric · Shop-Ware · Mitchell
Cash
Every trade on this page pays for materials and labour before the customer pays. For a subcontractor, the gap looks like this.
Day 0
Materials bought and the crew paid. 86% of subcontractors pay labour before they are paid.1
Day 45
Notice to Owner deadline from first furnishing. Miss it and the lien right is gone.16
Day 83
The average construction invoice is paid.1
5–10%
Retainage per pay app, held until substantial completion.4 (reported)
Florida
Sales tax that follows the contract type, a lien clock, workers’ compensation from the first employee, and a storm season that funds the slow one. Records stay sales-tax-ready; filing runs through your outside accountant or TaxJar/Avalara.
Exports from the field app are reconciled to QuickBooks Online or Xero every month. We are not a certified partner of any of them.
On any package. Their hours count toward your monthly cap like any other included hour.
Trades and field service4 min read
A technician's hour costs far more than the wage on the pay stub, parts go out on trucks without reaching a job, and a 30% markup is not a 30% margin. Here is how a job-margin report puts it right.
Trades and field service4 min read
Storms bring work to Florida roofers, HVAC and restoration trades, but not every year and not on schedule. A reserve sized from fixed monthly cost, and credit arranged before the season, carry the business either way.
Cash5 min read
Retainage, pay applications, payroll every Friday and supplier terms that do not line up. Thirteen weeks is long enough to see a squeeze coming and short enough to be accurate.
Free · 30 minutes
You get a one-page note on what we heard and what we would propose.