For most small US contractors, QuickBooks Online Plus is the practical starting point: $140 a month, five users, and job costing through Projects. Add a construction tool such as Knowify or Planyard when you need pay applications, retainage or committed costs per job. Move to Sage 100 Contractor or Foundation when payroll, certified payroll and WIP reporting outgrow QuickBooks.
Frequently asked questions
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Yes, and many US contractors do. QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced track income and costs by project, and QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise has job costing reports. Neither tracks committed costs from signed subcontracts, which Planyard adds. AIA pay applications usually need an add-on such as Knowify, because Planyard does not produce AIA forms yet. Our guide on whether QuickBooks Online can do construction job costing covers the limits.
General accounting tools are cheapest: Xero starts at $27 a month and QuickBooks Online at $38, with project tracking from $97 (Xero Established) and $140 (QuickBooks Plus). QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise starts at $2,210 a year. Knowify starts at $99 a month on annual billing. Sage 100 Contractor, Sage Intacct Construction, Foundation, Premier and Trimble Viewpoint are all quote only.
Construction accounting software handles the ledger, job costing, billing and payroll. A construction ERP adds project management, field data, equipment, service and document control on the same database. Foundation and Sage 100 Contractor sit closer to accounting; Premier, Sage Intacct Construction and Trimble Viewpoint Vista and Spectrum are sold as ERPs.
Not always. If you run a handful of jobs and bill simple invoices, QuickBooks or Xero with good job tracking is enough. Once you bill AIA pay applications, hold retainage, run certified payroll on public work or need a WIP schedule for your surety, a construction system or add-on saves real time and reduces errors.
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