Job costing software for sitework contractors
Sitework mixes grading, utilities, paving and flatwork on one contract. Each part bills and spends differently. CFOS for QuickBooks costs each phase to the job so you know which one made the money.
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How sitework bills and where the money leaks
Sitework is usually a unit price or lump sum contract with a GC or owner, and it covers several trades under one job number. You might bill mass grading in the first month, pipe in the next three, and curb, base and paving at the end. The early work bills quickly, so the job looks healthy long before the last phases are priced out.
The leaks come from the pieces you priced as one. You bid two mobilizations and the job needs five, because other trades rut the pad, pile spoil on it or wait on a permit change. Regrading a pad you already graded is your cost, and there's no pay item for it.
Haul miles are the other soft spot. The yards are fixed in the contract, but the dump site closes, the route changes or the trucks wait, and the machine hours climb. Retainage is held until the grass is established, so the last check can come months after finished work.
How sitework costs split and what CFOS tracks
A sitework job spends on equipment, operators, trucking, pipe and structures, stone and base, concrete for curb and walks, and subs for paving, striping or landscaping. Each of those has its own pace and its own invoices. One cost code for the whole job tells you nothing.
CFOS reads your jobs and cost codes from QuickBooks Online and compares actual cost to the estimate on every line, updated every hour. The estimate imports as the budget by cost code, so grading, storm, sanitary, water, base and paving each have their own budget and their own actual. That's how you find the one phase that went over while the others made up for it.
Equipment daily rates are charged to the job each day the machine is on a daily. Hired trucking and sub bills are coded to the phase they belong to. Seven cost types keep labor, materials, equipment, subs and other costs apart inside each cost code.
The workflow from the field to the office
The foreman writes the daily with the crew, the equipment and photos, and tags the work to the phase. Time is entered in the field, approved by the PM and sent to QuickBooks Payroll. Equipment on the daily is charged to the job at the daily rate.
When the engineer redlines a plan or the city changes a grading permit, the extra work goes on a T&M ticket that the GC signs on site. That becomes a change order draft, and the change order goes on the next pay app. Change order numbers and revisions are kept so you can show what was approved and when, and the change orders page covers the steps.
Vendor bills go to the bills inbox by email and are coded to the job and checked against the PO. COIs and lien waivers are read when they come in and flagged when one is missing or about to expire. The office spends less time chasing paper from subs and suppliers.
What the owner sees every month
Each month the PM enters cost to complete by job, you approve it, and CFOS builds the WIP schedule with over and under billing. Sitework jobs front-load billing, so this is where you see whether the early pay apps are covering the work still to do. A master WIP adds the jobs together.
The CEO Report compares your gross margin, overhead and net profit before taxes to the published average for sitework and the CFOS target for your size. It tells you if the whole job is on target. The 13 week cash forecast marks the lowest week, which helps when retainage is waiting on seed and a pipe supplier wants payment now.
If you want a quick answer, ask Claude or ChatGPT about a job. It reads your numbers and can't change them. It sees only what that person is allowed to see.
Sitework 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 |
|---|---|
| Clearing and demolition | Tree clearing, demolition, haul-off and disposal fees for the site. |
| Mass grading | Cut, fill, topsoil, compaction and machine time by phase, with equipment daily rates. |
| Storm drainage | Storm pipe, inlets, manholes, headwalls and detention structures, with bedding and backfill. |
| Sanitary and water | Sewer and water mains, services, valves, hydrants and tie-ins, along with testing and tap fees. |
| Subgrade and base | Fine grade, geotextile, aggregate base, lime or cement treatment and proof rolling. |
| Curb, walks and flatwork | Forms, rebar, concrete, finishing, curb machine time and saw cuts. |
| Paving and striping | Asphalt subcontract or self-performed paving, tack, striping and signage. |
| Erosion control | Silt fence, inlet protection, construction entrance and maintenance trips through the job. |
| Trucking and haul | Hired trucks, export and import, haul tickets, spoil site fees and tolls. |
| Mobilization and remobilization | Each trip of equipment to the job, regrading after other trades and closeout punch. |
How sitework 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% Sitework 14.1% CFOS target | 22.1% all-trade average 18% Sitework 25% CFOS target | 7% all-trade average 3% Sitework 11% CFOS target |
| $5M to $10M | 14.1% all-trade average 14% Sitework 13.1% CFOS target | 23.4% all-trade average 20% Sitework 26% CFOS target | 9.4% all-trade average 6% Sitework 12.9% CFOS target |
| $10M to $25M | 13.1% all-trade average 13% Sitework 12.1% CFOS target | 24.6% all-trade average 22% Sitework 27.1% CFOS target | 11.5% all-trade average 9% Sitework 15% CFOS target |
| $25M to $50M | 12.1% all-trade average 12% Sitework | 25.7% all-trade average 24% Sitework | 13.7% all-trade average 12% Sitework |
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 sitework 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 sitework contractors ask
Can one sitework job show grading, utilities and paving separately?
Yes. Cost codes have three levels, so you can set up each phase with its own budget and track actual cost against it. The estimate imports as the job budget by cost code. You then see which phase is over before the job is finished.
How do I handle regrading a pad that other trades damaged?
Put the regrade on a daily with the crew and equipment, and add a T&M ticket if the GC should pay for it. The GC signs on site and it becomes a change order draft. If it isn't billable, the cost still goes on its own cost code so you can see what it cost.
Does CFOS work with unit price and lump sum lines on the same pay app?
Yes. The schedule of values supports both lump sum and unit price lines, and CFOS lays out G702 and G703 pay apps with retainage and stored materials. Revisions are kept, and you can send the pay app to the GC from QuickBooks.
What about retainage that's held until final stabilization?
CFOS tracks retainage on every pay app, and the cash forecast uses it. You can see how much you're owed on each job and plan around it. The WIP schedule keeps that money visible instead of letting it disappear into receivables.
Do my subs and suppliers need to learn new software?
They get a vendor portal where they can upload documents like COIs and lien waivers and see their payments. Their bills can also come by email at your bills inbox. Nothing else changes for them.
- 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
- Sitework benchmarks
QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Run On CFOS isn't affiliated with Intuit.