Job costing software for elevator contractors
Elevator jobs pay for the controller, machine and rails months before the car moves. The last payment waits on the state inspection. CFOS for QuickBooks costs install, modernization and service work apart, job by job.
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How elevator bills and where the money leaks
New installs bill progress on a schedule of values, one pay app a month, with retainage held on every line. The equipment is engineered for the building and ordered early, with a deposit at order and payments at release and shipment, so stored material lines are a big part of the first pay apps. Modernizations bill by car or by phase, and maintenance contracts bill every month.
The money leaks around the hoistway. If the pit isn't dry, the walls aren't plumb or the machine room isn't finished, your mechanic and apprentice either wait or leave and come back. Every one of those trips is paid at a full burdened rate for a two person team, and the bid priced the install once.
Then comes the end of the job. The GC often uses a car for construction before turnover, and the cleanup, repairs and service calls that brings are your cost unless they're on a ticket. Final payment and retainage wait on the state or city inspection and the acceptance test, so the last money on an install can come months after your crew moved on.
How elevator costs split and what CFOS tracks
Elevator cost splits into equipment, installation labor, hoisting and rigging, inspection and testing, and a long tail of punch and callbacks. Equipment is the largest purchase and comes on its own schedule. Labor is a team of a mechanic and an apprentice by the day, so a delay costs both of them at once.
CFOS imports your estimate as the job budget by cost code and compares it to actual cost from QuickBooks Online, updated every hour. Labor burden is set by class, so a mechanic hour and an apprentice hour each cost what your payroll taxes, benefits and fund payments say they cost. With each car or each phase as its own cost code level, a modernization shows which car went over.
Bills emailed to your bills inbox are read, coded to the job and checked against the PO. On elevator jobs that check catches a shipment payment billed twice or freight charged to the wrong building. Equipment deposits stay on the job they were paid for, so the WIP shows the cash you put out early.
Workflow from the field to the office
The mechanic files a daily with the crew, the equipment and photos of the hoistway. When the hoistway isn't ready, the photos and the daily itself are your record of the day it wasn't. That's what you'll need when you ask for the return trip to be paid.
When the GC asks for extra work, like cleaning and repairs after construction use of a car, or the owner changes a cab finish, the mechanic writes a T&M ticket on the daily and the GC signs it on site. It becomes a change order draft for the next pay app. Return trips caused by others go on a ticket the same day instead of into a dispute at closeout.
Field time is approved and goes to QuickBooks Payroll with the job and cost code, so install, modernization and service hours stay apart. The PM builds the pay app from the schedule of values with stored equipment and retainage, and sends it from QuickBooks or logs it for the GC's own system. RFIs, submittals and punch items are tracked through the acceptance inspection.
What the owner sees every month
Each month the PM enters cost to complete on every open install and modernization, and it gets approved. The WIP schedule shows over and under billing, which tells you how far your equipment payments are ahead of what the GC has paid. The master WIP shows every job together.
Your CEO Report grades gross margin, overhead and net profit before taxes against the published average and the CFOS target for elevator at your size. The 13 week cash forecast reads your QuickBooks and your pay apps and marks the lowest week. A shipment payment due in the same month a final payment is waiting on inspection is the kind of week it marks.
Maintenance contracts are worth their own jobs or cost codes, so monthly service billing and callback labor don't blend into install margins. Retainage waiting on acceptance stays visible by job. You can ask Claude or ChatGPT about your own jobs, and the answer is read only and limited to what your sign in allows.
Elevator 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 |
|---|---|
| Engineering and submittals | Layouts, shop drawings, calculations and permit applications. |
| Elevator equipment | Controller, machine, rails, cab and door equipment, with deposits and shipment payments. |
| Freight and hoisting | Delivery, rigging and the crane or hoist to set the machine and rails. |
| Installation labor | Mechanic and apprentice hours in the hoistway and machine room. |
| Modernization by car | Removing old equipment and installing new, coded by car. |
| Cab finishes | Cab interiors, ceilings and finish changes from the owner. |
| Inspection and acceptance | State or city inspection fees, acceptance testing and reinspection. |
| Construction use | Service, cleaning and repairs while the GC uses a car before turnover. |
| Warranty callbacks | Callbacks and adjustments after turnover during the warranty period. |
| Change orders and T&M | Return trips and added scope, tied to the signed ticket. |
How elevator 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 18% Elevator 14.1% CFOS target | 22.1% all-trade average 27% Elevator 25% CFOS target | 7% all-trade average 9% Elevator 11% CFOS target |
| $5M to $10M | 14.1% all-trade average 17% Elevator 13.1% CFOS target | 23.4% all-trade average 28% Elevator 26% CFOS target | 9.4% all-trade average 11% Elevator 12.9% CFOS target |
| $10M to $25M | 13.1% all-trade average 16% Elevator 12.1% CFOS target | 24.6% all-trade average 29% Elevator 27.1% CFOS target | 11.5% all-trade average 13% Elevator 15% CFOS target |
| $25M to $50M | 12.1% all-trade average 15% Elevator | 25.7% all-trade average 30% Elevator | 13.7% all-trade average 15% Elevator |
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 elevator 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 elevator contractors ask
How do I bill equipment deposits and shipments?
Where the contract allows it, equipment goes on the schedule of values as stored material with retainage by line. The WIP schedule shows over and under billing every month. You'll see how much of the equipment cost you're funding while the building catches up.
Can CFOS show return trips when the hoistway wasn't ready?
The mechanic's daily records the crew and photos of the hoistway each day. If the GC caused the trip, a T&M ticket goes on that daily and the GC signs it on site. It becomes a change order draft for the next pay app.
How is labor burden set for mechanics and apprentices?
Labor burden is set by class, so each classification costs what it costs with payroll taxes, benefits and fund payments. Approved time posts to the job and cost code. Your job cost uses the burdened rate, not just the wage.
Can I keep maintenance contracts apart from installs?
Yes. Put service on its own jobs or cost codes. Monthly maintenance billing stays in QuickBooks Online, and install jobs show their own margin without service mixed in.
Does CFOS replace QuickBooks Online for an elevator contractor?
No. CFOS works on top of QuickBooks Online and reads from and writes to it. QuickBooks keeps your books, and you still pay Intuit for it separately.
- 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
- Elevator benchmarks
QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Run On CFOS isn't affiliated with Intuit.