Job costing software for concrete pumping contractors
Concrete pumping bills by the hour, the yard and the setup, and it spends on operators, fuel, wear parts and expensive booms. CFOS for QuickBooks costs each pour and each machine. You see which pumps and which customers make money.
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How concrete pumping bills and where the money leaks
Pumping is billed off the pump ticket. Most companies charge an hourly rate with a minimum, a charge per yard pumped, and extras like added hose or pipe, a second operator, washout and overtime. Some customers are on account for a whole project and get one invoice a month, and a few big jobs bill on a schedule of values like any other subcontract.
The leaks are in the hours that never reach the ticket. Travel time, setup, waiting on the first truck, a late plant and a slow finishing crew all put hours on the pump. If the ticket shows less time than the operator worked, you pay for the difference.
Cancellations and wear are the rest. A pour canceled after the boom is set up still costs the operator, the fuel and the morning. Pipe, elbows, hose, wear plates and rings wear out by the yard, and if they're bought into one shop account, you can't tell which machine or which customer used them up.
How concrete pumping costs split and what CFOS tracks
A pumping company spends on operators and oilers, the pumps and trucks, fuel, wear parts, repairs, boom inspections, insurance and travel. The machine is the biggest cost, and it costs money every day whether it pumps or not. Each pour is a small job, so the cost of the day has to reach the right customer.
CFOS reads your jobs, cost codes and vendors from QuickBooks Online and compares actual cost to the estimate by cost code, updated every hour. You can set up a job for each project or customer account, with cost codes for pump time, travel, setup and extras. Bills for fuel, parts and repairs emailed to your bills inbox are read, coded to the job and checked against the PO.
Each boom and line pump gets an equipment daily rate built from what it costs you to own. That rate is charged to the job on each day the pump is on a daily. Over a month you see which machine billed enough to cover its rate and which one was parked in the shop.
Workflow from the field to the office
The operator's daily lists the crew, the pump, the pour and photos of the setup and the signed ticket. Field time is approved and goes to QuickBooks Payroll, so the operator's paid hours and the hours on the ticket can be compared. When the two don't match, you see it the same week.
Extra work like added hose, a second setup on the same pour or waiting past the minimum goes on a T&M ticket on the daily. The customer or the GC signs it on site before the boom folds. On a project billed by pay app, it becomes a change order draft for the next pay app.
Big project customers can be billed from a schedule of values, and CFOS lays out the G702 and G703 with retainage. Day to day customers are invoiced in QuickBooks Online the way you invoice them now. Either way the cost of the pour is on the same job as the revenue.
What the owner sees every month
Each month you see revenue against cost on every job and customer account. On the project jobs, the PM enters cost to complete and you approve it, and the WIP schedule shows over and under billing. The short pours bill and close the same week, so their margin is plain to see.
The CEO Report grades your gross margin, overhead and net profit before taxes against the published average for concrete pumping and the CFOS target for your size. Pumping has heavy fixed costs in its machines, so the overhead and the equipment rates are the numbers to watch. The 13 week cash forecast reads your QuickBooks and marks the lowest week, which helps when a boom payment, insurance and a big repair come due in the same month.
AR aging and a collections list show which contractors pay their pump tickets late, since a few slow accounts can tie up a lot of small invoices. You can ask Claude or ChatGPT about your own jobs, like which customers had the most standby hours last quarter. It reads your numbers and can't change them.
Concrete pumping cost codes, matched to QuickBooks
Each group below is one set of cost codes in CFOS. Bills, time and equipment post to them. QuickBooks keeps the books underneath, so your bookkeeper sees the same numbers.
| Cost code group | What goes on it |
|---|---|
| Pump time | Operator hours on the pour, with the boom or line pump at its daily rate. |
| Travel and setup | Drive time to and from the job, setup, outriggers and teardown. |
| Standby and waiting | Time waiting on trucks, the plant or the finishing crew, coded apart so you see who causes it. |
| Added pipe and hose | Extra pipe, hose and reducers for long placements, and the labor to lay them out. |
| Second operator and oiler | Oiler, hose crew or a second operator on big pours and line pump work. |
| Fuel | Diesel for the truck and the pump, charged to the job each pour. |
| Wear parts | Pipe, elbows, hose, wear plates, rings and pistons replaced by use. |
| Repairs and inspections | Shop and vendor repairs, boom inspections and certifications. |
| Washout and cleanup | Washout fees, disposal and cleanup time after the pour. |
| Cancellations | Pours canceled after setup, with the ticket and photos for billing the customer. |
How concrete pumping contractors do, by revenue
Each row shows the all-trade average, this trade's average and the CFOS target where one is published. These are the numbers your own job costing gets graded against. Net profit is before taxes in every row.
| Revenue | Overhead | Gross margin | Net profit, before taxes |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1M to $5M | 15.1% all-trade average 16% Concrete pumping 14.1% CFOS target | 22.1% all-trade average 23% Concrete pumping 25% CFOS target | 7% all-trade average 7% Concrete pumping 11% CFOS target |
| $5M to $10M | 14.1% all-trade average 15% Concrete pumping 13.1% CFOS target | 23.4% all-trade average 24% Concrete pumping 26% CFOS target | 9.4% all-trade average 9% Concrete pumping 12.9% CFOS target |
| $10M to $25M | 13.1% all-trade average 14% Concrete pumping 12.1% CFOS target | 24.6% all-trade average 25% Concrete pumping 27.1% CFOS target | 11.5% all-trade average 11% Concrete pumping 15% CFOS target |
| $25M to $50M | 12.1% all-trade average 13% Concrete pumping | 25.7% all-trade average 26% Concrete pumping | 13.7% all-trade average 13% Concrete pumping |
Gross margin and overhead come from figures CFMA, Jones Maresca and other sources publish by trade and size. Net profit is computed, not surveyed: net profit = gross margin minus overhead. Nothing comes out for taxes, interest or other income and expense, so it is a before tax figure, on the same basis as CFMA's net income before taxes.
CFMA's 2025 medians are 7.1 percent before interest and taxes and 6.7 percent net income before taxes. Gross margin minus overhead leaves out interest and other income and expense, so a figure here can come in a little above or below a reported net income on the same business.
Above the $10M to $25M band the gross margin and overhead rows are a modeled extension of the same curves. They have not been reconciled against the licensed CFMA Benchmarker, so read those bands as a model and not as a survey result.
Problems concrete pumping contractors write to us about
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30 days free, a 90-day money-back guarantee, and cancel anytime.
We email you when CFOS for QuickBooks opens, plus a few updates before then. Your address stays with Run On CFOS. One click unsubscribes.
30 days free, a 90-day money-back guarantee, and cancel anytime. It opens January 2027. We email you the day it opens.
What concrete pumping contractors ask
How do I compare hours on the pump ticket to hours the operator was paid?
Approved field time goes to QuickBooks Payroll by job, and the daily has a photo of the signed ticket. You compare paid hours to billed hours on the same job. When the operator worked more hours than the ticket shows, you see it that week.
Can I see what each boom costs to own and operate?
Each pump has a daily rate built from what it costs you to own, charged to the job on the days it's on a daily. You can set up cost codes for fuel, wear parts and repairs so each one is visible. Then you compare what each machine billed to what it cost.
How do I bill a canceled pour?
The operator records the cancellation on the daily with the time and photos, and the customer signs the T&M ticket on site. On a project with a pay app, it becomes a change order draft. On a day to day account, the signed ticket backs up your invoice.
Do I need a pay app for every pour?
No. Most pump work is invoiced per ticket. Big projects can use the schedule of values, and CFOS lays out the G702 and G703 with retainage for those.
Does CFOS replace QuickBooks Online for my pumping company?
No. QuickBooks Online keeps your books and CFOS works on top of it. It reads and writes jobs, cost codes, vendors, bills and invoices, so there's no migration and your invoices stay where they are.
- Job costing software that runs on QuickBooks
- One price. Every module. Priced by your revenue.
- Use all of it, or just the part you need
- Job costing software that runs on QuickBooks
- One price. Every module. Priced by your revenue.
- Use all of it, or just the part you need
- Concrete pumping benchmarks
QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Run On CFOS isn't affiliated with Intuit.