Job costing software for tile and stone contractors
Tile and stone bills by the square foot, but cost is in the layout, the substrate and the material lead time. CFOS ties QuickBooks Online costs to your estimate by area and product, so you can see what each bathroom, lobby or floor cost.
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.
How tile and stone bills and where the money leaks
Tile and stone is bid by the square foot for floors and walls, by the linear foot for base and trim, and by the piece or the room for things like shower pans and countertops. Commercial work bills a schedule of values each month with retainage, often by floor, unit or area. Stone and imported tile are ordered months ahead with a deposit, so stored material billing decides who pays for it while it waits in a warehouse.
The substrate is the first leak. A slab or wall that's out of flat for large format tile needs leveling, a membrane or furring before you can set, and the bid usually assumed it was ready. Every hour spent on substrate work that wasn't in the bid is your cost unless the GC signs for it.
Layout and material are the other leaks. Small mosaics, diagonal layouts and large format tile take far more setting labor per square foot than the plan area shows. Cracked pieces in a shipment, extra waste for the pattern and tile size, and a second shade lot all add material cost the estimate didn't see.
How tile and stone costs split and what CFOS tracks
Tile and stone cost splits into material, setting materials, waterproofing and crack isolation, setting labor, grout and sealer, and for stone, templating and fabrication. Mortar, membranes and grout are a real share of cost on wet areas and get lumped into one line if no one codes them. Large format and stone pieces may need two setters and lifting equipment, which changes the labor cost per piece.
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 a floor or unit can be the top level with floor tile, wall tile, showers and base under it. You see whether the showers or the lobby floor took the extra hours.
Vendor bills emailed to your bills inbox are read, coded to the job and checked against the PO, so a stone deposit and the final invoice both go on the right job. If you fabricate stone in your own shop, shop time is entered by job and cost code like field time. That keeps fabrication labor on the job instead of in overhead.
Workflow from the field to the office
The foreman files a daily with the crew, the equipment and photos. Pictures of the substrate before you start, and of the waterproofing before tile covers it, are the record when flatness or a leak is questioned later. The daily also logs flood tests on shower pans and the date each area was ready for tile.
When the GC directs substrate work, a layout change or replacement of tile damaged by others, a T&M ticket is attached to the daily and the GC signs it on site. It becomes a change order draft for the next pay app. A signed ticket with photos is much easier to collect than a claim at closeout.
Field time is approved and goes to QuickBooks Payroll, posted to the area and product it was worked on. The PM builds the pay app from the schedule of values, with retainage and with stone and tile in storage billed as stored material where the contract allows. Punch items like grout repair, lippage and caulk joints are tracked, so the last trip has a list.
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 stone jobs shows how much of the deposit and material you're funding before it's set. 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 tile and stone at your size. The 13 week cash forecast reads your pay apps and marks the lowest week. A large stone deposit coming due in the same week as payroll is easy to see in advance.
Setting labor by product stays visible across jobs. After a year you can see what large format, mosaic and stone really cost to set compared to the rate you bid. You can ask Claude or ChatGPT about your own jobs, read only, limited to what your sign in allows.
Tile and stone 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 |
|---|---|
| Substrate prep and leveling | Leveling, patching, furring and backer board before setting. |
| Waterproofing and crack isolation | Membranes, shower pans, flood tests and crack isolation. |
| Floor tile | Tile and setting labor by area, including large format and mosaics. |
| Wall tile | Wall tile, backsplash and wainscot by area or room. |
| Stone slab and fabrication | Templating, cutting, polishing and installing countertops and stone panels. |
| Setting materials and grout | Thinset, mortar, grout, sealer and trims. |
| Base, thresholds and trim | Tile base, thresholds, edge trim and transitions by the foot. |
| Deposits, freight and storage | Material deposits, freight, warehouse storage and deliveries to each floor. |
| Punch and repairs | Grout repair, cracked tile replacement, caulk joints and sealing. |
| Change orders and T&M | Directed substrate work, layout changes and added scope tied to the signed ticket. |
How tile and stone 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 14% Tile and stone 14.1% CFOS target | 22.1% all-trade average 22% Tile and stone 25% CFOS target | 7% all-trade average 8% Tile and stone 11% CFOS target |
| $5M to $10M | 14.1% all-trade average 13% Tile and stone 13.1% CFOS target | 23.4% all-trade average 23% Tile and stone 26% CFOS target | 9.4% all-trade average 10% Tile and stone 12.9% CFOS target |
| $10M to $25M | 13.1% all-trade average 12% Tile and stone 12.1% CFOS target | 24.6% all-trade average 24% Tile and stone 27.1% CFOS target | 11.5% all-trade average 12% Tile and stone 15% CFOS target |
| $25M to $50M | 12.1% all-trade average 11% Tile and stone | 25.7% all-trade average 25% Tile and stone | 13.7% all-trade average 14% Tile and stone |
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 tile and stone contractors write to us about
Get on the list for the day it opens
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 tile and stone contractors ask
Can I track substrate work that wasn't in the bid?
Yes. Put leveling and backer work on its own cost code so the hours and material show by job. When the GC directs it, a T&M ticket goes on the daily and is signed on site. It becomes a change order draft for the next pay app.
How do I handle deposits on imported stone and tile?
The deposit bill is coded to the job and checked against the PO. Where the contract allows, the material goes on the schedule of values as stored material. The WIP schedule shows how much of it you're still funding.
Can I see what large format tile really costs to set?
Give large format its own labor code apart from standard floor tile. Approved field time posts to it, and the estimate is the budget. You compare hours per area against what you bid.
Can stone fabrication in my shop go on the job?
Yes. Shop time is entered by job and cost code, the same as field time. Fabrication labor stays on the job it was for, and overhead stays out of the job margin.
Does CFOS replace QuickBooks Online for a tile and stone contractor?
No. CFOS works on top of QuickBooks Online, which keeps your books. Your jobs, vendors and bills stay there, 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
- Tile and stone benchmarks
QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Run On CFOS isn't affiliated with Intuit.