Industries · Construction
Construction Accounting & Tax Services
A team that reads a WIP schedule the way you read a set of plans.
Construction is the engine of South Florida. From high-rise cranes on Brickell to single-family infill in Homestead, general contractors and builders here juggle aggressive schedules, tight subcontractor markets, and owners who expect progress yesterday. What most of them do not have is financial reporting that keeps pace with the work. Edgar Gomez built his practice around this industry, and construction remains the deepest specialty at Integris Accounting.
The accounting problems in construction are unlike any other business. Revenue has to be recognized on percentage-of-completion for long-term contracts, which means your books are only as good as your job costing. Underbillings hide losses, overbillings mask cash problems, and retainage sits on your balance sheet for months after the work is done. Add change orders, lien releases, and a bonding company that wants a CPA-prepared financial statement, and a generalist bookkeeper is simply outmatched.
We set up job-cost structures in QuickBooks that mirror how you actually estimate, maintain your WIP schedule monthly instead of once a year, and prepare the compiled financial statements sureties want to see before they extend your bonding line. Tax planning runs year-round, so decisions about equipment purchases, entity structure, and the timing of contract completion are made before December, not discovered in April. English or Spanish, you get a team that speaks contractor.
The landscape
50,000+
licensed construction contractors across Florida
500,000+
Floridians employed in construction trades
20+
years of construction-focused CPA experience behind the firm
Core services for construction
The challenges
What makes construction accounting hard
Profit fade you cannot see coming
Jobs that bid at 15 percent margin quietly close at 5 because change orders, rework, and labor overruns never hit the job-cost reports until closeout. Without monthly WIP reviews, fade shows up when it is too late to fix.
Retainage strangling cash flow
Five to ten percent of every contract sits with the owner until final acceptance. Contractors who do not track retainage receivable separately routinely misjudge how much cash they actually have to fund the next job.
Bonding and lending roadblocks
Sureties and lenders want CPA-prepared financials with a proper WIP schedule and percentage-of-completion revenue. Tax-basis books thrown together at year-end can cap your bonding capacity and stall your growth.
1099 crews and workers' comp exposure
Misclassifying field labor as subcontractors invites IRS reclassification, back payroll taxes, and workers' comp audits. Florida construction is a priority enforcement target, and the penalties land all at once.
Our approach
How we help
Job costing built into your books
We structure QuickBooks so every invoice, timesheet, and material purchase lands on the right job and cost code, giving you committed-cost visibility and margin-to-date on every active project.
Monthly WIP schedules
Over- and underbillings calculated every month, not every spring. You see profit fade early, bill ahead of cost where the contract allows, and walk into bank and surety meetings with current numbers.
Bonding-ready financial statements
Compiled financial statements prepared on percentage-of-completion, formatted the way surety underwriters expect, so your bonding line grows with your backlog instead of holding it back.
Contractor-specific tax strategy
Method elections for long-term contracts, Section 179 and bonus depreciation on equipment, entity structure for license holders, and quarterly estimates that track your actual project pipeline.
Crew classification and payroll done right
We help you document legitimate subcontractor relationships, run compliant payroll through ADP for W-2 field labor, and keep certificates of insurance organized before an auditor asks for them.
FAQ
Construction accounting, common questions
Do I need percentage-of-completion accounting, or can I stay on cash basis?
It depends on your contract length, revenue level, and who reads your financials. Many smaller contractors can use cash or completed-contract methods for tax, but sureties and lenders almost always want percentage-of-completion statements. We frequently maintain one method for tax and another for management and bonding, and we will map out which combination saves you the most while keeping every stakeholder satisfied.
What should my WIP schedule actually tell me?
A useful WIP schedule shows contract value, costs to date, estimated cost to complete, percent complete, earned revenue, and billings for every open job, which surfaces overbillings, underbillings, and fading margins. If yours only gets built at year-end for the tax return, you are managing projects blind for eleven months. We update it monthly and walk through it with you.
Can you help me increase my bonding capacity?
Yes. Bonding capacity is driven largely by working capital, equity, and the quality of your financial reporting. We prepare compiled statements sureties trust, advise on balance-sheet moves that strengthen working capital before your fiscal year closes, and can join calls with your bonding agent. Contractors who upgrade from tax-basis returns to proper contract accounting typically find underwriters far more receptive.
How do you handle retainage on my books and taxes?
We track retainage receivable and payable in separate accounts so your cash position is never overstated, and we monitor aging so old retainage actually gets collected. For tax, retainage treatment depends on your accounting method, and in some cases recognition can be deferred until your right to payment is fixed. That timing difference is real money, and we plan around it.
Where we serve construction
Talk to a CPA who knows construction
Put a construction-fluent CPA on your team before the next pay application goes out, call (305) 497-0552.