Job costing software for tank and vessel contractors
Tank and vessel jobs bill on milestones, from drawings and plate through erection and hydrotest. CFOS ties QuickBooks Online costs to your estimate by milestone and cost code, so you can see what each tank cost before the final payment.
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How tank and vessel bills and where the money leaks
Field erected tanks and shop built vessels are usually lump sum, billed on milestones: approved drawings, plate and material bought, fabrication complete, delivery or erection, testing and coating. Some owners pay a schedule of values each month with retainage instead, and others pay a deposit up front and the rest on acceptance. Each structure has its own cash curve, and plate is often bought months before the first milestone pays.
Material price is the first leak. Plate, nozzles, flanges and specialty alloy are quoted at bid and bought after drawings are approved, and the price can move in between. Engineering revisions to nozzle orientation or thickness after the mill order leave you with plate you can't use on that job.
Testing and weather are the other leaks. Welds that fail radiography need repair and another test, and a hydrotest needs water, time and a place to dispose of the water after. Wind and rain stop work on a shell course, cranes wait on foundations by others, and coating can't go on until the temperature and humidity allow.
How tank and vessel costs split and what CFOS tracks
Tank and vessel cost splits into engineering and drawings, plate and material, shop fabrication labor, nozzles and appurtenances, freight, field erection labor, welding inspection, hydrotest, coating and cranes. Shop and field are different crews with different rates and belong on different codes. On shop built vessels, most of the cost is spent before anything ships.
CFOS imports your estimate as the job budget by cost code and compares it to actual cost from QuickBooks Online every hour. Cost codes have three levels, so each tank on a multi tank job can be the top level with plate, fabrication, erection and testing under it. You see which tank used the extra weld hours.
Shop hours are entered by job and cost code the same way field hours are, so fabrication cost doesn't hide in overhead. Equipment daily rates charge your own cranes, welding machines and trucks to the job each day they're on a daily. Vendor bills emailed to your bills inbox are read, coded to the job and checked against the PO, so a plate invoice is matched to the order it was bought on.
Workflow from the field to the office
The foreman files a daily with the crew, the equipment and photos, including weather, crane time and which courses or seams were welded. Pictures of the foundation on the day you were ready to set, and of each inspection hold point, are the record when the schedule slips because of someone else. Weld repairs and retests can be noted on the daily too.
When the owner or GC directs extra work, like added nozzles, a changed coating system or standby for a late foundation, a T&M ticket is attached to the daily and signed on site. It becomes a change order draft for the next pay app. Rate sheets for welders, fitters and helpers are set up ahead of time, so tickets are priced the same way every time.
Field and shop time are approved and go to QuickBooks Payroll. The PM builds the pay app from the schedule of values, with a line for each milestone, stored plate where the contract allows, and retainage. RFIs and submittals are tracked, so drawing approval dates are on record when a milestone moves.
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 on tank work tells you how much plate and shop labor you're funding before a milestone pays. The master WIP shows every job on one page.
Your CEO Report grades gross margin, overhead and net profit before taxes against the published average and CFOS target for tank and vessel at your size. The 13 week cash forecast reads your pay apps and marks the lowest week. A plate order and a crane mobilization in the same month are visible weeks before they're due.
Weld repairs, retests and weather days stay on the jobs where they happened. After a few jobs you can see what testing and weather really cost compared to what you included in the bid. You can ask Claude or ChatGPT about your own jobs, read only, limited to what your sign in allows.
Tank and vessel 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 drawings | Design calculations, shop drawings, revisions and approvals. |
| Plate and material | Shell, bottom and roof plate, heads and alloy material, with mill test reports. |
| Shop fabrication labor | Rolling, cutting, fitting and welding in the shop by job. |
| Nozzles and appurtenances | Nozzles, manways, flanges, ladders, platforms and handrails. |
| Freight and oversize hauling | Trucking, permits, escorts and rigging for oversize loads. |
| Field erection labor | Welders, fitters and helpers erecting the shell, bottom and roof. |
| Welding inspection and repairs | Radiography, ultrasonic testing, weld repairs and retests. |
| Hydrotest | Test water, fill and drain time, and water disposal. |
| Coating and lining | Blasting, interior lining, exterior coating and holiday testing. |
| Cranes and equipment | Cranes, welding machines, lifts and trucks charged by the day. |
How tank and vessel 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% Tank and vessel 14.1% CFOS target | 22.1% all-trade average 23% Tank and vessel 25% CFOS target | 7% all-trade average 8% Tank and vessel 11% CFOS target |
| $5M to $10M | 14.1% all-trade average 14% Tank and vessel 13.1% CFOS target | 23.4% all-trade average 24% Tank and vessel 26% CFOS target | 9.4% all-trade average 10% Tank and vessel 12.9% CFOS target |
| $10M to $25M | 13.1% all-trade average 13% Tank and vessel 12.1% CFOS target | 24.6% all-trade average 25% Tank and vessel 27.1% CFOS target | 11.5% all-trade average 12% Tank and vessel 15% CFOS target |
| $25M to $50M | 12.1% all-trade average 12% Tank and vessel | 25.7% all-trade average 27% Tank and vessel | 13.7% all-trade average 15% Tank and vessel |
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 tank and vessel contractors write to us about
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30 days free, a 90-day money-back guarantee, and cancel anytime.
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 tank and vessel contractors ask
Can I bill on milestones instead of percent complete?
Yes. The schedule of values can have a line for each milestone, like drawings, material, fabrication, erection and testing. The pay app bills each line as it's reached, with retainage where the contract has it. G702 and G703 are supported.
How do I keep shop fabrication on the job?
Shop time is entered by job and cost code, the same as field time. Rolling, fitting and welding labor goes on the tank it was for. That keeps fabrication out of overhead and the job margin clean.
Can I track weld repairs and retests?
Give repairs and retests their own cost code so the hours and inspection bills show by job. The daily records which seams were repaired. Over several jobs you see what repairs cost compared to the bid.
What if the foundation by others isn't ready?
The foreman's daily records the crew, the crane and photos of the foundation that day. A T&M ticket for standby is attached to the daily and signed on site. It becomes a change order draft for the next pay app.
Does CFOS replace QuickBooks Online for a tank and vessel contractor?
No. CFOS works on top of QuickBooks Online, which keeps your books. Approved shop and field time goes to QuickBooks Payroll, and Intuit bills QuickBooks Online 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
- Tank and vessel benchmarks
QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Run On CFOS isn't affiliated with Intuit.