Free download

12 things wrong with most contractor books

I've never opened a contractor's books and found none of these. This is the one-page checklist I work through before quoting a cleanup — what to look for, where it hides, and which ones actually cost you money.

  • Job costs sitting in the wrong jobOr in no job at all, which is why your margins look fine right up until they don't.
  • Change orders that never made it into the contractYou did the work. The books don't know you're owed for it.
  • Deposits booked as revenueThe most common reason a profitable-looking year turns into a tax surprise.
  • Subs paid with no W-9 on fileDiscovered in January, every January.

…and eight more, with what to do about each.

Send it to me

One email with the checklist attached. After that, roughly one email a month when I publish something new. Unsubscribe any time — link's in every email.

No spam, no list sharing. A bookkeeping checklist, not tax, legal or audit advice.

Who's sending it

An accountant, not a marketer.

I run period-end closes and job costing for a living, and I build the spreadsheets I wish every contractor had. Square & True serves contractors across Oregon and Washington — and the templates are there for the ones who'd rather handle it themselves.