Job costing software for concrete contractors
Concrete jobs spend money on forms, rebar, ready-mix, pump and finishing crews. They bill by the pour or the yard. CFOS for QuickBooks costs each of those to the job so you know what a slab or footing cost.
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.
How concrete bills and where the money leaks
Concrete is bid by the yard, by the square foot or as a lump sum for a scope like footings and foundations, slab on grade or elevated decks. You usually bill early because the foundation and slab are the first big dollar volume on the site. Then you wait for retainage to release long after you've left. That wait is part of how the job pays.
The leaks are in the pieces. Rebar gets cut and bent to a drawing, and a footing moves, which leaves you owning bundles tagged to the old layout. Form panels and shoring are bought on one job and used on ten, so the first job takes the whole cost unless you spread it.
Extras are the other leak. A change in thickness, a pump moved to a harder spot, a second trip for stairs, pads or curbs, or weekend placement are all change orders. If they aren't written and signed before the pour, you absorb them.
How concrete costs split and what CFOS tracks
A concrete job spends on forms and form labor, rebar and placing, ready-mix by the yard, pump time, finishing labor, curing and testing. Ready-mix comes on tickets from a plant, and the quantity on the ticket should be reconciled against what was poured. Pump and finishing crews can be your own or subs.
CFOS reads your jobs, cost codes and vendors from QuickBooks Online and compares cost to your estimate by cost code, updated every hour. When the estimate has forms, rebar, pour and finish as separate lines, each one has its own budget and actual. That makes it clear whether the overrun is the form crew, the mix or the pump.
Equipment daily rates charge your own pumps, skid steers, screeds and trucks to the job on the days they're on a daily. Form and shoring systems can be handled the same way. Their cost is then spread across the jobs that use them.
The workflow from the field to the office
The foreman's daily lists the crew, the equipment, the pour and photos of the work. Time is approved and goes to QuickBooks Payroll, and the labor goes on the cost code for forms, rebar, placing or finishing. Ready-mix tickets and rebar bills can be emailed to the bills inbox, coded to the job and checked against the PO.
When the GC asks for extra work or the drawings change, a T&M ticket rides on the daily and the GC signs it on site. It becomes a change order draft that goes on the next pay app. The change orders page covers numbers, revisions and how the draft reaches the pay app.
Pay apps use the schedule of values, with unit price lines for yards and lump sum lines for scopes. CFOS lays out the G702 and G703 with retainage. Stored materials can be included when the contract allows, such as rebar bought before the pour.
What the owner sees every month
Each month the PM enters cost to complete and you approve it, and the WIP schedule shows over and under billing. Concrete jobs bill front-loaded, so this tells you whether the early pay apps still cover the formwork and finishing still ahead. A master WIP gives you every job on one page.
The CEO Report compares your gross margin, overhead and net profit before taxes to the published average for concrete and the CFOS target for your size. You see how you compare with the trade. The 13 week cash forecast marks the lowest week, which helps when a big pour or a pump bill comes due before the next payment.
Collections and aging flag retainage that should be released. You can ask Claude or ChatGPT about any job. The answer is limited to what that person's sign in allows.
Concrete 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 |
|---|---|
| Site prep and layout | Survey layout, subgrade prep, vapor barrier and base for slabs and footings. |
| Forms and formwork | Form lumber, panels, ties, stripping, and form labor, including panels and shoring used across jobs. |
| Reinforcing steel | Rebar, mesh, chairs and tie wire, plus placing labor and stored material. |
| Embeds and anchors | Anchor bolts, embeds, sleeves and dowels set before the pour. |
| Ready-mix and placement | Concrete by the yard from the plant, delivery tickets and crew time to place. |
| Pump and equipment | Pump rental or your own pump, plus screeds, buggies and the equipment daily rates. |
| Finishing and curing | Floating, troweling, saw cuts, curing compound and blankets. |
| Flatwork, curb and sidewalk | Exterior pads, stairs, curb and walks, and the return trips to place them. |
| Testing and inspection | Cylinders, slump tests, special inspector standby and any retest work. |
| Extras and change orders | Work outside the original scope tied to a signed ticket and change order number. |
How concrete 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 14% Concrete 14.1% CFOS target | 22.1% all-trade average 21% Concrete 25% CFOS target | 7% all-trade average 7% Concrete 11% CFOS target |
| $5M to $10M | 14.1% all-trade average 13% Concrete 13.1% CFOS target | 23.4% all-trade average 22% Concrete 26% CFOS target | 9.4% all-trade average 9% Concrete 12.9% CFOS target |
| $10M to $25M | 13.1% all-trade average 12% Concrete 12.1% CFOS target | 24.6% all-trade average 23% Concrete 27.1% CFOS target | 11.5% all-trade average 11% Concrete 15% CFOS target |
| $25M to $50M | 12.1% all-trade average 11% Concrete | 25.7% all-trade average 24% Concrete | 13.7% all-trade average 13% Concrete |
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 contractors write to us about
Get on the list for the day it opens
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 contractors ask
Can I track forms, rebar, pour and finish as separate costs?
Yes. Set them up as separate cost codes and import your estimate as the budget. Actual cost from bills, time and equipment is posted to the right code, so you can compare each one.
How do I spread the cost of forms that I use on several jobs?
Treat the forms as equipment with a daily rate built from what they cost you to own. Each day they're on a daily for a job, that rate is charged to the job. That way the first job doesn't pay for the whole purchase.
How are pump charges and extra trips handled?
A pump on a daily is charged at its rate or captured from the vendor bill, whichever fits how you buy. Extra trips for stairs, pads or curbs can be set up as their own cost codes. If they're extra scope, a signed T&M ticket turns them into a change order.
Can I bill by the yard on one job and lump sum on another?
Yes. The schedule of values handles both unit price and lump sum lines. CFOS lays out G702 and G703 pay apps with retainage on either.
What if the rebar was bought for a drawing that changed?
The bill is coded to the job and checked against the PO, and stored materials can be tracked on the pay app. If the change is owner-driven, the T&M ticket and change order record why. You see the unplanned cost instead of finding it at the end.
- 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 benchmarks
QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Run On CFOS isn't affiliated with Intuit.