Job costing software for framing contractors
Framing mixes piece rate and hourly labor, and the plan price is fixed while lumber isn't. CFOS ties QuickBooks Online costs to your estimate by cost code. You can see what each plan or floor cost to frame.
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How framing bills and where the money leaks
Framing is bid by the plan or by the square foot, then billed in phases: floor system, walls, roof framing, sheathing and punch. Commercial and multifamily work bills a schedule of values on a monthly pay app with retainage. Production builders may pay by lot or by the draw, and change orders come from plan revisions.
The leaks start with labor. The the bid is in square feet and the crew gets paid by the hour or by the unit. Nothing converts one to the other unless you track it. Lumber is priced when you bid and bought when you build, and a plan that repeats for months can be built on stale pricing. Waiting on trusses, shimming around a slab that's out of square, and rework after plan changes all take crew time that the bid never included.
How framing costs split and what CFOS tracks
Framing cost is labor, lumber and sheet goods, engineered members, hardware, equipment and sometimes subcontracted trusses or hauling. Piece rate crews and hourly crews should both be tracked by phase and plan, so you can compare them against the bid. Material is bought in loads and gets used across floors, so the code needs to say where it went.
CFOS compares your estimate by cost code to actual cost from QuickBooks Online every hour. Time is entered in the field, approved, and posted by job and cost code, with burden by class. Bills emailed to your bills inbox are read, coded to the job and checked against the PO, so a lumber drop is on the right job the day it's entered.
Workflow from the field to the office
The foreman files a daily with the crew, equipment and photos. It records when the deck was ready, when trusses came and who was waiting on whom. If the GC or builder asks for extra work, the T&M ticket rides on the daily and the GC signs it on site, and it becomes a change order draft.
Time goes through approval to QuickBooks Payroll, with T&M rate sheets, wage classes and overtime set in advance. The PM bills phases complete on the pay app, with retainage and stored material where the contract allows. RFIs and punch items are tracked, so plan questions have a date on them.
What the owner sees every month
Every month the PM enters cost to complete on each open job. It gets approved, and the WIP schedule then shows over and under billing, which tells you whether you've been paid for the work in place on each project. The master WIP shows the company.
Your CEO Report grades gross margin, overhead and net profit before taxes against the published average and CFOS target for framing at your size. The 13 week cash forecast reads your pay apps and marks the lowest week. Lumber, labor and callbacks stay visible by job, so the next bid starts from what the last one cost.
Framing 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 |
|---|---|
| Floor systems | Joists, beams, subfloor and sheathing, labor and material. |
| Wall framing | Studs, plates, headers and wall panels, framed on site or in the shop. |
| Roof framing and trusses | Rafters, trusses, girders, setting labor and crane time. |
| Sheathing and housewrap | Wall and roof sheathing, wrap and flashing at openings. |
| Engineered lumber and hardware | LVLs, I-joists, connectors, straps and fasteners. |
| Piece rate labor | Crews paid by the unit, tracked by plan or area against the bid. |
| Hourly labor | Hourly crews, cleanup crews, tracked by phase. |
| Equipment and scaffolding | Lifts, scaffolds, cranes and trucks charged to the job. |
| Shimming and corrections | Labor spent fixing out of square conditions or others' work, kept visible. |
| Change orders and T&M | Plan revisions and added scope coded separately, tied to the signed ticket. |
How framing 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 13% Framing 14.1% CFOS target | 22.1% all-trade average 18% Framing 25% CFOS target | 7% all-trade average 5% Framing 11% CFOS target |
| $5M to $10M | 14.1% all-trade average 12% Framing 13.1% CFOS target | 23.4% all-trade average 19% Framing 26% CFOS target | 9.4% all-trade average 7% Framing 12.9% CFOS target |
| $10M to $25M | 13.1% all-trade average 11% Framing 12.1% CFOS target | 24.6% all-trade average 20% Framing 27.1% CFOS target | 11.5% all-trade average 9% Framing 15% CFOS target |
| $25M to $50M | 12.1% all-trade average 10% Framing | 25.7% all-trade average 22% Framing | 13.7% all-trade average 12% Framing |
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 framing 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 framing contractors ask
How do I compare piece rate and hourly labor?
Time entry posts hours by job and cost code, and you can code piece rate work on its own line. Both are measured against the same estimate by phase. You can then see which crew approach cost more on that plan.
Can I track lumber price changes?
Bills from QuickBooks Online are coded to the job by cost code, so you can compare what you paid to what you budgeted. When prices move, the job cost report reflects it as the bills come in. That keeps a stale plan price from hiding.
What happens when a plan revision changes the work?
The T&M ticket rides on the daily and is signed on site. It becomes a change order draft. Revisions are kept, so the added cost goes on the next pay app.
Can I bill framing in phases?
Yes. The schedule of values can have lines for floor system, walls, roof and punch, with retainage. G702 and G703 pay apps are supported, lump sum and unit price.
Does this work with QuickBooks Desktop?
No. CFOS works with QuickBooks Online only. More accounting systems are coming.
- 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
- Framing benchmarks
QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Run On CFOS isn't affiliated with Intuit.