Job costing software for process piping contractors
Process piping is welded, spooled and tested inside a working plant, often on T&M or cost-plus. CFOS for QuickBooks costs shop spools, field welds, testing and shutdown hours to each job.
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How process piping bills and where the money leaks
Process piping for food plants, chemical plants, refineries and water treatment bills in a few ways. Capital projects bill progress on a schedule of values or by unit rates for welds, footage and supports. Plant maintenance and shutdown work bill on T&M or cost-plus against rate sheets the owner approved, with daily tickets signed by the owner's rep.
On T&M work the leak is the ticket that isn't signed. A shutdown packs a lot of hours into a short window, with overtime, night shift and extra crews, and every hour has to be on a signed ticket with the right rate class. An hour worked and never billed is an hour of wages with no revenue against it.
On lump sum work the leak is everything around the weld. Plant safety orientation, badging, permits to work, waiting on a line to be cleared and locked out, and standby for the owner's operators all take time the takeoff didn't count. Weld repairs found by X-ray, hydrotest failures and material that fails traceability bring the crew back to the same spool.
How process piping costs split and what CFOS tracks
Process piping costs split into shop fabrication, field erection, welding, supports, valves and specialty material, testing and NDE, equipment, and travel and per diem. Material can be carbon steel, stainless or alloy, and the owner sometimes furnishes it, which changes what belongs in your cost at all. Labor is the biggest share, and shop hours and field hours produce at different rates.
CFOS imports your estimate as the job budget by cost code and compares it to actual cost from QuickBooks Online every hour. Seven cost types and three levels of cost code let you budget by area or line, then by shop, field and testing. Field and shop time comes in approved, with labor burden set by class, so a certified welder and a helper each cost what they really cost.
Bills emailed to your bills inbox are read, coded to the job and checked against the PO. Alloy fittings and valves are expensive enough that one bill on the wrong job throws off two margins. Equipment daily rates charge welding rigs, lifts and the crane to the job on the days they're on a daily.
Workflow from the field to the office
The foreman files a daily with the crew, the equipment and photos. On T&M and shutdown work the ticket rides on the daily, with hours by rate class, and the owner's rep or GC signs it on site. It becomes a change order draft, so extra scope on a lump sum job gets billed and T&M hours make it to the invoice.
Shop time on spools is entered by job and cost code, so fabrication is charged to the job it's built for and not to overhead. Field time is approved and goes to QuickBooks Payroll. Per diem and lodging bills are coded to the job on their own line, so a traveling crew's cost is in the job and not in the office.
The PM builds the pay app from the schedule of values, with retainage and stored materials where the contract allows. RFIs, submittals and punch items are tracked on the job. When turnover waits on a hydrotest or a weld repair, the open punch items tell you which line is still open.
What the owner sees every month
Each month the PM enters cost to complete on every open job and it gets approved. The WIP schedule shows over and under billing, which tells you whether spools in the shop are funded by the owner or by your credit line. The master WIP puts every job on one page, T&M and lump sum together.
Your CEO Report grades gross margin, overhead and net profit before taxes against the published average and CFOS target for process piping at your size. On T&M work, gross margin depends on rate sheets priced with your real burden. Comparing job cost to billed hours tells you which rate classes are priced too low.
The 13 week cash forecast reads your QuickBooks Online data and your pay apps and marks the lowest week. Plant owners often pay on long terms, and a shutdown means a big payroll before the first invoice is paid. Seeing that week early lets you plan a draw on the credit line instead of scrambling for one.
Process piping 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 |
|---|---|
| Shop fabrication | Spool cutting, fitting and welding in the shop, charged to the job it's for. |
| Field erection | Setting spools, field fit-up and bolt-up at flanges. |
| Field welding | Field welds by size and material, including certified welders' time. |
| Pipe and fittings | Carbon, stainless and alloy pipe and fittings, with mill certs. |
| Valves and specialty items | Valves, strainers, traps and specialty items your crew installs. |
| Pipe supports | Shoes, guides, hangers and support steel. |
| Testing and NDE | Hydrotests, pneumatic tests, X-ray and other NDE, and weld repairs. |
| Plant access and safety | Orientation, badging, permits to work, lockout waits and standby. |
| Travel and per diem | Per diem, lodging and travel for crews working away from home. |
| T&M and change orders | Shutdown and extra work by rate class, tied to the signed ticket. |
How process piping 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 16% Process piping 14.1% CFOS target | 22.1% all-trade average 24% Process piping 25% CFOS target | 7% all-trade average 8% Process piping 11% CFOS target |
| $5M to $10M | 14.1% all-trade average 15% Process piping 13.1% CFOS target | 23.4% all-trade average 25% Process piping 26% CFOS target | 9.4% all-trade average 10% Process piping 12.9% CFOS target |
| $10M to $25M | 13.1% all-trade average 14% Process piping 12.1% CFOS target | 24.6% all-trade average 26% Process piping 27.1% CFOS target | 11.5% all-trade average 12% Process piping 15% CFOS target |
| $25M to $50M | 12.1% all-trade average 13% Process piping | 25.7% all-trade average 27% Process piping | 13.7% all-trade average 14% Process piping |
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 process piping 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 process piping contractors ask
Can CFOS handle T&M and cost-plus work with owner rate sheets?
Yes. T&M rate sheets, wage classes and overtime are set up in advance, so every ticket is priced the same way. The ticket rides on the foreman's daily and is signed on site. It then becomes a change order draft for billing.
Can spool fabrication in my shop go on the job?
Yes. Shop time is entered by job and cost code, so spools are charged to the job they're built for. That keeps fabrication out of overhead. It also lets you compare shop hours to field hours on each line.
What about material the plant owner furnishes?
Leave owner-furnished material out of your budget and budget the labor to receive and install it. Your job cost then reflects what you spent. The margin compares to what you bid.
How do I see what a shutdown cost?
Set the shutdown up as its own job or as its own cost codes on the plant's job. Approved time, equipment daily rates and bills post to it as the work happens. When it's over, you compare actual cost to what you billed.
Does CFOS replace QuickBooks Online for a piping 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
- Process piping benchmarks
QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Run On CFOS isn't affiliated with Intuit.