Job costing software for underground utility contractors
Underground utility work is billed by the foot and the structure. Pipe and fees are paid long before the first pay app. CFOS for QuickBooks costs pipe, trench, structures and return trips to each job.
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How underground utility bills and where the money leaks
Water, sewer and storm contracts are normally unit price. You bill linear feet of pipe by size and type, each manhole, valve, hydrant, service and structure as an each, and special items like boring or testing as their own lines. The GC or owner pays on measured quantities, and the engineer or inspector often has to agree to those quantities first.
Money goes out before it comes in. Bond premium, permits, tap fees, traffic control plans and stockpiled pipe are paid before there's a foot of pipe to invoice. A tapping valve or a precast structure that's weeks out can stall a pay app even though most of the cost on that section is already spent.
Then the job drags behind. Testing, mandrel and camera inspection, final tie-ins, adjust-to-grade after paving and municipal acceptance all come late, and the retainage waits on top of that. Each trip back to the job is a mobilization you probably priced once.
How underground utility costs split and what CFOS tracks
The costs split between pipe and fittings, structures, trench work, bedding and backfill, equipment, labor, testing and traffic control. Pipe and structures come from suppliers on bills and POs, and the quantities need to match what's actually in the ground. Trench production is the one that varies most, because depth, rock, water and shoring change the crew's feet per day.
CFOS reads your jobs, cost codes and vendors from QuickBooks Online and compares cost to the estimate by cost code, updated every hour. When the estimate has water, sewer and storm as separate budgets, each one gets its own actual. Equipment daily rates charge each machine to the job on the days it's on a daily.
Bills emailed to your bills inbox are read, coded to the job and checked against the PO. That check catches pipe billed for more than was ordered. It also catches pipe delivered to the wrong job.
The workflow from the field to the office
The foreman's daily records the crew, equipment, photos and the footage installed. Time is approved and goes to QuickBooks Payroll, and if the job is on certified payroll, the week is laid out from approved time with wage classes. Deductions stay with your payroll company.
When the inspector adds a test, the plans change or you hit an unmarked line, a T&M ticket rides on the daily and the GC signs it on site. It becomes a change order draft for the next pay app, with numbers and revisions kept. The change orders page shows how that flow works across trades.
For billing, you enter measured quantities against the unit price lines and CFOS builds the G702 and G703, with retainage and stored materials. Stored pipe can be billed when the contract allows it. The cash forecast shows when that money should come in.
What the owner sees every month
The PM enters cost to complete each month and you approve it. The WIP schedule then shows over and under billing by job, which is the number to watch when pipe is stockpiled or a section is installed but not accepted. A master WIP rolls up every job.
The CEO Report grades your gross margin, overhead and net profit before taxes against the published average for underground utility and the CFOS target for your size. The 13 week cash forecast marks the lowest week, using your QuickBooks data and your pay apps. That's the week to watch when bond, fees and pipe are due before the next pay app is paid.
AR and AP aging with a collections list keep retainage and past-due pay apps from being forgotten. You can ask Claude or ChatGPT about any job. The answer is limited to what your sign in allows.
Underground utility 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 |
|---|---|
| Bond, permits and fees | Bond premium, permits, tap fees, inspection fees and traffic control plans paid before work starts. |
| Mobilization and demobilization | Each lowboy trip, setup for each phase and return trips for tie-ins and closeout. |
| Trench excavation and shoring | Excavator and operator time, trench boxes, shoring, dewatering and rock. |
| Pipe installation | Pipe and fittings by size and material, laying labor, joint restraints and thrust blocks. |
| Structures | Manholes, inlets, vaults, valves and hydrants, including delivery and setting. |
| Bedding and backfill | Bedding stone, select backfill, compaction and trench patch. |
| Testing and inspection | Pressure tests, bac-T sampling, mandrel, camera inspection and standby for the inspector. |
| Tie-ins to existing lines | Shutdowns, tapping, cut-ins, bypass pumping and night work. |
| Surface restoration | Asphalt and concrete patch, adjust-to-grade, seeding and traffic control. |
| Stockpiled materials | Pipe and structures bought and stored before installation, tracked for stored materials billing. |
How underground utility 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% Underground utility 14.1% CFOS target | 22.1% all-trade average 18% Underground utility 25% CFOS target | 7% all-trade average 3% Underground utility 11% CFOS target |
| $5M to $10M | 14.1% all-trade average 14% Underground utility 13.1% CFOS target | 23.4% all-trade average 20% Underground utility 26% CFOS target | 9.4% all-trade average 6% Underground utility 12.9% CFOS target |
| $10M to $25M | 13.1% all-trade average 13% Underground utility 12.1% CFOS target | 24.6% all-trade average 22% Underground utility 27.1% CFOS target | 11.5% all-trade average 9% Underground utility 15% CFOS target |
| $25M to $50M | 12.1% all-trade average 12% Underground utility | 25.7% all-trade average 23% Underground utility | 13.7% all-trade average 11% Underground utility |
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 underground utility 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 underground utility contractors ask
How do I bill linear feet of pipe and structures on a pay app?
Set up the schedule of values with each pipe size and structure as a unit price line. Each period you enter the measured quantity, and CFOS lays out the G702 and G703 with retainage. Stored materials can be added where the contract allows.
Can CFOS show pipe stockpiled but not installed?
Yes. Bills coded to the job and checked against the PO show what you bought, and the WIP schedule shows what's billed against what's done. That helps you see over and under billing when material is on the ground before the pipe is.
How are extra tests and unmarked utilities handled?
Put them on the daily as a T&M ticket and have the GC sign it on site. It becomes a change order draft that goes on the next pay app. You keep the ticket, the photos and the revision history in one place.
Does CFOS handle certified payroll for public work?
It lays out the certified payroll week from approved time, with wage classes. Deductions stay with your payroll company. You review it before it goes anywhere.
Can I see which crew is making money by the foot?
Yes, if you set up cost codes by pipe section or phase. The foreman's daily and approved time put labor and equipment on those codes. You compare actual cost to the estimate by cost code and see where the footage is costing more than you bid.
- 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
- Underground utility benchmarks
QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Run On CFOS isn't affiliated with Intuit.