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Construction

Accounting practices for construction businesses including job costing, WIP schedules, and retainage

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16 min read

Virginia's New Wage Liability Law: What HB 238 Means for General Contractors After July 1, 2026

Virginia HB 238 makes general contractors automatically jointly and severally liable for wages owed to a subcontractor's employees on construction contracts entered on or after July 1, 2026 — regardless of knowledge, and even when sworn payroll certifications say wages were paid. Here is what changed and how to reduce the exposure with tighter contracts, verified payroll, and clean job-cost accounting.

Mike Thrift

constructionpayrollcompliance
18 min read

Roofing Contractor Bookkeeping: The WIP Schedule That Tells You Whether Your Bank Balance Is Lying

A roofing WIP schedule ties revenue to work actually completed rather than to when you invoiced — percent complete equals costs to date divided by total estimated costs, and earned revenue equals percent complete times revised contract price. This guide walks a $192,000 TPO re-roof through the math, explains over- versus under-billing, retainage receivable and warranty accruals, and covers when Section 460 forces percentage-of-completion for tax (roughly $31 million in average gross receipts for 2026, or contracts running past two years).

Mike Thrift

constructionjob-costingrevenue-recognition
14 min read

Your Workers' Comp Premium Audit Is Coming: How to Pass Without a Surprise Bill

A workers' comp premium is payroll ÷ 100 × class rate × experience mod, so the year-end audit re-tests both variables against your actual records. This guide covers the three audit types and what triggers each, the documents auditors request, why overtime premium is only excludable when recorded separately by employee and week under NCCI Rule 2-B-2, the 2026 NCCI officer caps of $3,400 weekly maximum and $1,700 minimum, and why payments to a subcontractor without a current certificate of insurance get charged to you as payroll.

Mike Thrift

payrollinsuranceaudit
10 min read

New York Voids Construction Retainage Above 5%: A Contractor's Guide to the Prompt Payment Act

New York's Prompt Payment Act amendment voids private construction contract clauses that retain more than 5%, requires retainage release within 30 days of final approval, and adds 1% monthly interest on late amounts — here is how contractors should fix their contracts, book retainage as a contract asset under ASC 606, and run a 30-day closeout.

Mike Thrift

constructionsmall-businesscash-flow
7 min read

Spec Home Builder Bookkeeping: WIP Schedules, Percentage of Completion, and Why Profitable Builders Run Out of Cash

A monthly work-in-progress (WIP) schedule turns four numbers per job — contract price, estimated cost, costs to date, and billings to date — into an early warning for overbilling and underbilling, the cash-flow gaps that sink profitable builders. Spec builders also differ from contract builders on revenue recognition, since homes held as inventory typically use the completed contract method under the IRC Section 460 home construction exemption.

Mike Thrift

constructionjob-costingbookkeeping
9 min read

Environmental Remediation Contractor Bookkeeping: Job Costing When a State Cleanup Fund Pays the Bill

How environmental remediation contractors should structure job costing when a state UST cleanup fund — not the property owner — is the real payer. Covers the five remediation phases as cost codes, ASC 606 collectibility with fund caps and deductibles, tracking 6-to-8-week reimbursement aging separately from ordinary AR, and the documentation that survives a fund audit.

Mike Thrift

bookkeepingsmall-businessconstruction
14 min read

Davis-Bacon Certified Payroll in 2026: A Practical Compliance Guide for Federal and IRA-Funded Construction Contractors

A working contractor's guide to Davis-Bacon compliance in 2026, covering the redesigned WH-347 certified payroll form, fringe benefit annualization, apprenticeship ratios measured daily, the 2023 final rule and 2024 truck-driver injunction, and how the Inflation Reduction Act's five-times tax credit multiplier ties prevailing wage compliance to clean-energy projects.

Mike Thrift

constructionpayrollcompliance
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