How We Work
The same process, in the same order, every month. That's the whole trick — and it's why our clients' books are always current.
The Monthly Rhythm
Clean books aren't a year-end scramble. They're the result of the same work, done well, on the same schedule — week in, week out.
Keeping pace with your jobs
- Every transaction categorized against your chart of accounts and coded to the job it belongs to
- Receipts matched to the expenses they support
- Receivables tracked — who owes you, and how long they've owed it
- Payables tracked — supplier bills and sub invoices recorded before they surprise you
Closing the month properly
- Every bank and credit card account reconciled to the statement, to the penny
- Job cost postings checked against source documents
- GST collected and GST paid reviewed and tallied
- A second-pass review of the full month before anything goes out the door
Your monthly report package
- Profit & loss for the month and year to date
- Job costing summary for every active job
- Your GST position, so the quarterly filing is never a surprise
- A short list of anything that needs your input
What Lands in Your Inbox
Three kinds of email from us — and nothing you have to chase.
Your monthly report package
One email, by the fifth business day of each month. P&L, job costing, GST position, and your personal portal link — everything you need to know where the business stands.
Quick questions
When something needs your answer — an unlabelled e-transfer, a deposit we can't place — you get one short, specific question. Not a pile of homework at month-end.
Quarterly GST prep
Ahead of each GST deadline: what you owe (or what's coming back), the numbers behind it, and confirmation once it's filed. No last-minute estimates.
Getting Started
Four steps from first call to clean books, on a schedule we commit to up front.
Book a call
We talk through your business: the jobs you run, who does the books now, and where things stand. If we're not the right fit, we'll say so on the call — no commitment, nothing to prepare.
File assessment
We go through your QuickBooks Online file: chart of accounts, uncategorized backlog, reconciliation status, and how your jobs are tracked today. You get written findings and a fixed monthly quote.
Cleanup & setup
We bring the backlog current, rebuild the chart of accounts around your jobs, set up job costing and holdback tracking, and give you a dedicated email address for receipts. Timeline depends on how far behind the books are.
Ongoing service
The monthly rhythm above, on a fixed schedule: weekly categorization, month-end reconciliation and review, report package by the fifth business day.
Built for Construction
Generic bookkeepers keep tidy books that tell you nothing about your jobs. These four things are where they fall down — and where we start.
Job costing
Every dollar of labour, material, subs, and equipment lands on the job it belongs to. A bookkeeper who lumps it all into one cost-of-goods line can tell you the company made money — but not which job made it, or which one quietly ate the margin.
Holdbacks
Under BC's Builders Lien Act, 10% of your billings can sit unpaid for months — legitimately. If holdbacks aren't tracked separately from regular receivables, your receivables report lies to you and your cash flow forecast is fiction.
T5018 subcontractor tracking
CRA requires you to report what you paid each subcontractor. We track sub payments all year, so filing season is a formality — not a February spent digging through twelve months of e-transfers and cheque stubs.
Work in progress
On longer jobs, what you've billed and what you've earned drift apart. Over-billed jobs look profitable until the work catches up; under-billed jobs starve your cash. WIP reporting keeps the two honest with each other.
Common Questions
The things contractors usually ask on the first call.
What do you need from me each month?
Very little. Forward receipts to your dedicated intake email as you get them — a photo from your phone is fine. Answer the occasional quick question when a transaction needs context. That's it; everything else runs on our schedule, not yours.
Do I keep my own QuickBooks account?
Yes. Your QuickBooks Online subscription stays in your name, and the file is yours. We work in it as your accountant, and you can look at your books any time. If we ever part ways, nothing has to be migrated — you already own everything.
How do you handle receipts?
You get a dedicated intake email address for your company. Snap a photo or forward the supplier email, and we take it from there — each receipt is matched to its transaction and filed to your client folder. No shoebox, no month-end envelope.
What about payroll and T5018 slips?
Payroll processing and T5018 subcontractor reporting are included from our Structure tier up. We track subcontractor payments through the year and prepare the T5018 slips and summary at filing time, so the CRA deadline is a non-event.
When is my monthly report ready?
By the fifth business day of the following month, every month. That's a commitment, not a target — the month-end close is scheduled work, and the report doesn't go out until it has passed a second review.
How does pricing work?
A fixed monthly fee, quoted after the file assessment so it reflects your actual transaction volume, job count, and service tier. No hourly billing and no surprise invoices — if your business grows and the scope changes, we requote before anything changes.
Can I leave anytime?
Yes — 30 days' written notice, as set out in your Engagement Letter. Because you own your QuickBooks file, there's no hostage situation: your books, your documents, and your history stay with you from day one.
Is my data safe?
Your QuickBooks authorization credentials are stored encrypted, your documents live in an access-controlled folder dedicated to your company, and we never sell or share your financial data. The full details are in our Privacy Policy and API Authorization Agreement.
See if we're a fit.
30 minutes, no pressure. We'll tell you exactly what working together would look like — and tell you straight if we're not the right choice.