Job Costing

How to tie income and costs to individual jobs so you can see true profitability by job, customer, or trade.

Job costing answers the question that matters most: did this job actually make money?

How it works

Tag materials, labor, and subcontractor costs to a job, then compare them against what you invoiced. The result is a real margin per job instead of only a business-wide total.

Why it’s worth it

Spot jobs that look busy but lose money.
Price future work more accurately.
See which customers and trades are most profitable.

Classes and locations add another layer — segment reporting by division, trade, or site.

Setting up job costing on a new job

Create the job, link it to the customer and any estimate, then make sure materials, labor, and subcontractor costs get tagged to it as they’re entered — the earlier you start tagging, the more accurate the final margin will be.

Frequently asked questions

Does job costing require a separate setup step per job?

You just need to link costs and income to the job as they’re entered — a job created from an accepted estimate typically carries that link forward automatically.

Can job costing include overhead, not just direct costs?

Direct costs (materials, labor, subcontractors) are the core of job costing; allocating overhead is a more advanced step best planned with your accountant if you want fully loaded job margins.

What if a job runs across multiple invoices?

Job costing aggregates every cost and every invoice tied to that job, regardless of how many separate invoices were needed, so the final margin reflects the job as a whole.