Industries · Concrete Contractors
Concrete Contractor Accounting & Tax
Concrete does not forgive mistakes, and neither do thin margins, measure both before the pour.
Concrete is poured into everything South Florida builds, foundations and tie beams in Homestead subdivisions, slabs for Doral warehouses, sidewalks and curbing on municipal contracts from Miramar to West Palm Beach. It is also one of the most capital-hungry trades in construction: pumps, mixers, forms, and finishing equipment tie up serious money, and every scheduled pour commits labor and material whether the GC's draw arrives on time or not.
The accounting failure modes are distinctive. Unit-price bids on flatwork and structural packages mean estimating errors compound across thousands of yards. Weather delays idle crews you still have to pay. Retainage, often five to ten percent, sits locked up until final acceptance on projects that run a year or more. Equipment depreciation is a major tax lever most preparers barely optimize, and bonding requirements for public and larger private work demand financial statements a shoebox operation cannot produce.
Integris Accounting has deep roots in construction accounting, and concrete contractors get the full benefit. We cost every job down to yards poured and finishing hours, maintain WIP schedules that expose losing bids early, track retainage so cash projections stay honest, and prepare the compiled statements sureties require. Equipment purchases get planned into your tax year deliberately. All of it available in English or Spanish.
The landscape
5,000+
concrete and masonry contractors working across Florida
5-10%
of contract value commonly held back as retainage
3
counties of nonstop pours between Homestead and West Palm Beach
Core services for concrete contractors
The challenges
What makes concrete contractors accounting hard
Unit-price bids that compound errors
When you bid by the yard or square foot, a small miss on labor productivity or pump time multiplies across the whole package. Without cost-per-yard tracking from your actual pours, the next bid repeats the same mistake.
Retainage locked up for a year or more
Structural and sitework packages hold retainage until final completion, sometimes long after your crews demobilize. Books that show that money as ordinary receivables paint a cash picture you cannot actually spend.
Equipment costs without a depreciation plan
Pumps, forms, screeds, and mixer trucks represent enormous invested capital. Financing decisions and depreciation elections made casually leave real tax money on the table year after year.
Weather and schedule risk on fixed prices
Rain days, inspection delays, and GC schedule slides idle crews and equipment you are still paying for. Without job-level tracking of standby costs, fixed-price work absorbs losses invisibly.
Our approach
How we help
Cost-per-yard job intelligence
Labor, material, pump time, and finishing hours tracked against yards placed on every job, building a private database of true production costs that sharpens each successive bid.
WIP and retainage reporting
Monthly work-in-progress schedules with retainage broken out separately, so earned-but-unbilled amounts, overbillings, and locked-up cash are all visible months before they harden into real problems.
Surety-grade financial statements
Compiled statements built on proper contract accounting, giving bonding underwriters the working-capital and equity picture they need to back you on bigger public and commercial packages.
Capital equipment tax planning
Purchase timing, Section 179 versus bonus depreciation, and finance-versus-lease analysis run against your projected income, so equipment decisions strengthen both the fleet and the tax return.
Crew payroll and subcontract hygiene
Finishers and laborers on compliant W-2 payroll through ADP, legitimate subs documented with agreements and insurance certificates, and certified payroll handled when public work demands it.
FAQ
Concrete Contractors accounting, common questions
How do I know what my real cost per yard is?
Capture every pour's direct inputs, crew hours including standby, material tickets, pump and equipment time, and finishing labor, against the yards placed, then review the trend across jobs. Most contractors who start measuring discover their bid assumptions were built on their best days, not their average ones. We set up the job-cost structure so this data accumulates automatically from your normal invoicing and payroll.
Why does my P&L show profit while my bank account stays empty?
Usually retainage and timing. Earned revenue includes amounts held back for months, equipment loan principal does not appear as an expense, and material bills come due before draws fund. A cash flow statement alongside your P&L reconciles the two stories. We produce both monthly and flag the gap, so you know exactly how much of your paper profit is actually spendable.
What do I need financially to qualify for bonding on public concrete work?
Sureties look primarily at working capital, net worth, and the credibility of your financial statements, generally CPA-compiled at minimum, on percentage-of-completion with a WIP schedule. They also weigh your largest completed jobs against the bond size requested. We prepare statements in the format underwriters expect and advise on balance-sheet moves before year-end that can meaningfully raise your single and aggregate limits.
Should I buy or lease my next pump truck?
It depends on utilization, financing terms, and your tax position. Ownership with Section 179 or bonus depreciation front-loads deductions and builds equity but concentrates risk; leasing preserves cash and flexibility at a higher lifetime cost. We model both paths against your actual pipeline and marginal tax rate, so the decision is made on numbers rather than a dealer's pitch.
Where we serve concrete contractors
Talk to a CPA who knows concrete contractors
Bid your next package with real production costs behind it, call (305) 497-0552.