Job costing software for curtain wall and glazing contractors
Glazing jobs spend on engineering, aluminum and glass months before a crew sets the first frame. CFOS ties QuickBooks Online costs to your estimate by cost code. You can see what each elevation cost to close in.
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How glazing bills and where the money leaks
A curtain wall or storefront subcontract usually bills on a schedule of values with a pay app each month and retainage on every line. The lines follow the work: engineering and shop drawings, aluminum and glass purchased, fabricated units stored off site, and install by elevation or floor. Storefront, entrances and replacement glass on smaller jobs may bill lump sum on completion or as T&M.
Most of the money leaks before your crew is on the building. Extrusions and glass get ordered from field dimensions, and an opening that's out of tolerance means a remake at your cost unless someone documents why. Glass that's cracked on delivery, scratched by another trade or chipped while it's set has to be replaced, and the new lite has its own lead time. Hoists, lifts and swing stages cost money every day a crew waits for a floor to be ready.
Water testing is the last leak. A failed field test means resealing or reglazing and a second test, and that labor wasn't in the bid. Retainage may also wait on the last test, the last punch item on the last elevation, or the end of the whole project.
How glazing costs split and what CFOS tracks
Glazing cost splits into engineering, aluminum, glass, sealants and hardware, shop labor, field labor, hoisting and freight. Shop labor on unitized panels and field labor on stick systems produce at different rates, so they belong on separate codes. Glass and metal come in large orders that serve several elevations, and the cost code should say where each piece went.
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 a glass shipment or a remake invoice goes to the right job the day it's entered. Remakes can go on their own code, which makes the cost of a bad dimension easy to find.
Shop and field time are entered by job and cost code, approved, and sent to QuickBooks Payroll with labor burden by class. Equipment daily rates charge lifts, hoists and trucks to the job on the days they're on a daily. At closeout you can compare what each elevation cost to what you bid.
Workflow from the field to the office
The foreman files a daily with the crew, equipment and photos. Photos of openings before install and of damage left by other trades are your record when a remake or a back charge comes up. Days spent waiting on the structure, the roof or a dry building go on the same daily with a date.
Sometimes the GC asks for added work, like resetting a frame another trade knocked out of line or replacing glass someone else damaged. A T&M ticket goes on that day's daily and the GC signs it on site. It becomes a change order draft for the next pay app.
The PM builds the pay app from the schedule of values with lines for engineering, stored material and install by elevation, then sends it to the GC from QuickBooks. RFIs and submittals are tracked, so a slow shop drawing approval has a date on it. Punch items are tracked too, which helps when retainage waits on the last one.
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 then shows over and under billing. On glazing that tells you whether the GC is paying for the glass and metal you've already bought or your credit line is.
Your CEO Report grades gross margin, overhead and net profit before taxes against the published average and CFOS target for curtain wall and glazing at your size. The 13 week cash forecast reads your pay apps and QuickBooks and marks the lowest week. A large glass payment due before the next pay app clears is easy to spot there.
Retainage is tracked by job, so what's held on finished elevations stays in view. Remakes and test failures stay on their own codes on the jobs that caused them. You can ask Claude or ChatGPT about your own jobs, and it reads only what your permissions allow.
Curtain wall and glazing 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 shop drawings | Delegated design, calculations, shop drawings and revisions, tracked apart from fabrication. |
| Aluminum framing systems | Curtain wall and storefront extrusions, anchors, finish and the metal buy by job. |
| Glass and glazing units | Insulated units, spandrel, laminated and tempered glass by elevation. |
| Shop fabrication | Unitized panel assembly, cutting and shop glazing by job. |
| Field install labor | Setting frames and panels, anchoring, glazing and caulking on site. |
| Sealants, flashing and door hardware | Perimeter sealant, sill flashing, entrances, hardware and closers. |
| Hoisting, access and freight | Cranes, lifts, swing stages, glass racks and delivery charged to the job. |
| Remakes and damaged glass | Replacement lites and refabricated pieces, kept so the cost of a bad dimension is visible. |
| Water testing and punch | Field water tests, retests, resealing and the last punch items. |
| Change orders and T&M | Added scope and damage by others, tied to the signed ticket. |
How curtain wall and glazing 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% Curtain wall and glazing 14.1% CFOS target | 22.1% all-trade average 27% Curtain wall and glazing 25% CFOS target | 7% all-trade average 9% Curtain wall and glazing 11% CFOS target |
| $5M to $10M | 14.1% all-trade average 17% Curtain wall and glazing 13.1% CFOS target | 23.4% all-trade average 28% Curtain wall and glazing 26% CFOS target | 9.4% all-trade average 11% Curtain wall and glazing 12.9% CFOS target |
| $10M to $25M | 13.1% all-trade average 16% Curtain wall and glazing 12.1% CFOS target | 24.6% all-trade average 29% Curtain wall and glazing 27.1% CFOS target | 11.5% all-trade average 13% Curtain wall and glazing 15% CFOS target |
| $25M to $50M | 12.1% all-trade average 15% Curtain wall and glazing | 25.7% all-trade average 30% Curtain wall and glazing | 13.7% all-trade average 15% Curtain wall and glazing |
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 curtain wall and glazing 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 curtain wall and glazing contractors ask
Can I bill stored glass and aluminum before it's installed?
Your schedule of values can have lines for stored material where the contract allows it. The pay app tracks what you've billed on each line and the retainage held on it. The WIP schedule shows every month whether those purchases are paid for yet.
How do I track the cost of remakes?
Put remakes and damaged glass on their own cost code. Photos on the daily show the opening and the damage before the work. If another trade caused it, a signed T&M ticket becomes a change order draft.
Can I see shop labor apart from field labor on unitized jobs?
Yes. Shop and field time are entered by job and cost code, so panel assembly and install stay on separate lines. You can compare each one to the estimate and see which half of the job made or lost money.
What about retainage that waits on the last water test?
Retainage is tracked by job through the pay apps, and the 13 week cash forecast reads from them. You can see what's held and on which jobs. Punch items are tracked so the last one doesn't get lost.
Does CFOS replace QuickBooks Online for a glazing company?
No. CFOS works on top of QuickBooks Online, which keeps your books. Your bills and payroll stay in QuickBooks, and CFOS adds the job costing, pay apps and WIP.
- 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
- Curtain wall and glazing benchmarks
QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Run On CFOS isn't affiliated with Intuit.