Job costing software for EIFS and stucco contractors
EIFS and stucco jobs are bid by the square foot and built coat by coat, with scaffold on the wall the whole time. CFOS ties QuickBooks Online costs to your estimate by cost code. You can see what each elevation cost.
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How EIFS and stucco bills and where the money leaks
Most EIFS and stucco work is bid from a takeoff in square feet, with trim, reveals, sills and control joints counted in lineal feet. Commercial jobs bill a schedule of values by elevation or floor, with a pay app each month and retainage. Residential and builder work may bill per house, in draws at lath and at finish, or on completion.
Labor and access are where the money goes. Three coat stucco needs cure time between scratch, brown and finish, and EIFS needs dry weather and the right temperature for base coat and finish. Every day the crew can't work, the scaffold is still on the wall and still costing you. Window returns, foam bands and reveals take far more labor per foot than the flat field of the wall.
Patching is the leak that seldom gets a ticket. Other trades cut in vents, lights and hose bibs after you've finished, and the patch has to match color and texture. Moisture inspections, third party EIFS inspections and failed details can also send a crew back to cut out and redo an area.
How EIFS and stucco costs split and what CFOS tracks
The cost splits into substrate and weather barrier, lath or insulation board, base coats, finish, trim and accessories, scaffold or lifts, and labor by coat. Labor is the largest piece, and lathers, plasterers and finishers don't produce at the same rate. Tracking hours by coat and elevation tells you which part of the wall cost more than the bid.
CFOS compares your estimate by cost code to actual cost from QuickBooks Online every hour. Bills emailed to your bills inbox are read, coded to the job and checked against the PO, so pails of finish, board and mesh go to the right job. Scaffold rental bills go to the job too, which shows what access cost apart from the wall itself.
Field time is entered by job and cost code, approved, and sent to QuickBooks Payroll with labor burden by class. Equipment daily rates charge your own mixers, pumps, lifts and trucks to the job on the days they're on a daily. At closeout you can work out cost per square foot by coat.
Workflow from the field to the office
The foreman files a daily with the crew, equipment and photos. Weather days, cure time and areas that weren't ready because windows or flashing were missing all get a date on the daily. Photos of a finished wall before other trades cut into it are your record when the patching starts.
When the GC asks for a patch, a color change or added foam trim, a T&M ticket goes on that day's daily. The GC signs it on site, and it becomes a change order draft for the next pay app. Work that isn't signed still gets coded to patching, so you know what it cost.
The PM bills by elevation or floor on the schedule of values, with stored material where the contract allows it, and sends the pay app to the GC from QuickBooks. Inspections and punch items are tracked by job. RFIs about flashing and window details get a date, which helps when the building sequence delays the wall.
What the owner sees every month
Every month the PM enters cost to complete on each open job, and it gets approved. The WIP schedule shows over and under billing, so a job billed beyond the coats on the wall is easy to spot. The master WIP shows the whole company.
Your CEO Report grades gross margin, overhead and net profit before taxes against the published average and CFOS target for EIFS and stucco at your size. The 13 week cash forecast reads your pay apps and QuickBooks and marks the lowest week. Slow weather months and scaffold rental bills are easier to plan for when you can see them coming.
Scaffold cost and patching cost stay visible on each job. When you bid the next building, you can price access and return trips from what they cost last time. Retainage is tracked by job so it doesn't get forgotten after the last elevation is done.
EIFS and stucco 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 |
|---|---|
| Substrate and weather barrier | Sheathing repair, fluid applied or sheet barrier and flashing tape. |
| Lath and accessories | Metal lath, casing bead, corner aid, weep screed and control joints. |
| Insulation board | EPS board, adhesive and rasping on EIFS walls. |
| Scratch and brown coats | Cement, sand and plaster labor for the base coats, by elevation. |
| EIFS base coat and mesh | Base coat, reinforcing mesh and heavier impact mesh near grade. |
| Finish coat | Acrylic or cement finish, color and texture labor. |
| Trim, bands and details | Foam trim, window returns, reveals and sills counted by the lineal foot. |
| Scaffold and access | Scaffold rental, erect and dismantle, lifts and mast climbers. |
| Patching and inspections | Return trips to patch penetrations, inspection repairs and warranty work. |
| Change orders and T&M | Added scope and color changes, tied to the signed ticket. |
How EIFS and stucco 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 15% EIFS and stucco 14.1% CFOS target | 22.1% all-trade average 23% EIFS and stucco 25% CFOS target | 7% all-trade average 8% EIFS and stucco 11% CFOS target |
| $5M to $10M | 14.1% all-trade average 14% EIFS and stucco 13.1% CFOS target | 23.4% all-trade average 24% EIFS and stucco 26% CFOS target | 9.4% all-trade average 10% EIFS and stucco 12.9% CFOS target |
| $10M to $25M | 13.1% all-trade average 13% EIFS and stucco 12.1% CFOS target | 24.6% all-trade average 25% EIFS and stucco 27.1% CFOS target | 11.5% all-trade average 12% EIFS and stucco 15% CFOS target |
| $25M to $50M | 12.1% all-trade average 12% EIFS and stucco | 25.7% all-trade average 26% EIFS and stucco | 13.7% all-trade average 14% EIFS and stucco |
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 EIFS and stucco contractors write to us about
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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 EIFS and stucco contractors ask
Can I track labor by coat on a stucco job?
Yes. Set up cost codes for lath, scratch, brown and finish, and import your estimate as the budget. Crew time is entered by job and cost code. You can compare each coat to what you bid.
How do I see what scaffold cost on a job?
Scaffold rental bills are coded to the job from your bills inbox, and your own equipment is charged by daily rate. Both go to the scaffold and access code. That shows what a slow wall cost in access alone.
Can I bill a wall by elevation?
Yes. Your schedule of values can have a line for each elevation or floor, and the pay app bills the percent complete with retainage. G702 and G703 pay apps are supported.
How do I get paid for patching after other trades?
Put the patch on the daily with photos and a T&M ticket, and have the GC sign it on site. It becomes a change order draft. Patching that doesn't get signed still goes to its own code, so the cost is visible.
Does an EIFS or stucco company still need QuickBooks Online?
Yes. CFOS works on top of QuickBooks Online, which keeps your books, and it doesn't replace it. It doesn't work with QuickBooks Desktop.
- 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
- EIFS and stucco benchmarks
QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Run On CFOS isn't affiliated with Intuit.