Margins in residential construction are tight, schedules are unforgiving, and material prices change by the hour. That reality makes accurate, up-to-the-minute job costing essential. Without it, a profitable bid can quietly bleed cash on hidden overruns. CountBricks pairs real-time voice estimating with the familiar accounting power of QuickBooks Online to give residential contractors financial clarity before, during, and after every project.
Contractors who grew up on desktop accounting often worry that moving to the cloud will slow them down. In fact, QuickBooks Online (QBO) offers distinct advantages for field teams, especially when combined with CountBricks:
• Anytime, anywhere access on phones and tablets keeps site supervisors in sync with the office
• Automatic bank feeds eliminate manual transaction entry and reduce errors
• Live dashboards surface gross profit by job the moment data posts
• Seamless integration with CountBricks pushes estimates, change orders, and purchase orders directly into QBO—no double entry required
Traditional workflows look like this: estimator builds the bid in a spreadsheet, PM re-keys numbers into accounting, bookkeeper tags costs at month-end. That lag creates budget blind spots. CountBricks breaks the cycle:
• Voice-driven takeoffs create detailed cost codes in seconds
• Materials are priced against live supplier data for day-of-bid accuracy
• Approved estimates sync to QBO as customer estimates, budgets, and class tracking codes
• Field purchase orders created in the CountBricks mobile app post to QBO in real time, preserving the original cost code and phase
The result is a single source of truth that your accountant loves as much as your project managers.
1. Activate Classes and Locations in QBO. Name each class after a cost code or CSI division that matches your CountBricks template.
2. Build a Products & Services list mirroring your typical residential assemblies—framing labor, 2x4 studs, asphalt shingles, and so on.
3. Import your CountBricks cost codes. The import preserves the relationship between phases, tasks, and material SKUs.
4. Turn on Projects in QBO Advanced. Each new CountBricks estimate will automatically generate a Project record when synced.
5. Map bank and credit card feeds to the correct cost codes. With rules in place, every Home Center invoice or subcontractor bill lands on the right project cost bucket.
6. Train field staff to capture receipts with the QBO mobile app. CountBricks populates memo fields with phase and task data so the bookkeeper only approves, never retypes.
• Always start the job in CountBricks; let the software create the Project record in QBO rather than adding it manually
• Use distinct numbering for change orders (e.g., 100-CO1) so added revenue and cost stand out on QBO Project P&L reports
• Reconcile supplier price changes weekly; CountBricks flagging alerts prevent margin erosion mid-project
• Tag subcontractor retainage as a liability class to keep job cost reports clean
• Schedule a monthly three-way match: CountBricks budget vs. QBO actuals vs. field percent complete
Duplicate Cost Codes
When crews code timecards one way and accountants code bills another, QBO reports fracture. Because CountBricks pushes a locked list of codes to every device, field and office always speak the same language.
Lost Change Orders
Verbal changes lead to disputes. CountBricks captures change orders via voice on site, assigns pricing, and syncs them to QBO within minutes so revenue is never left on the table.
Overhead Allocation Chaos
Some builders spread overhead evenly; others allocate by labor hours. CountBricks lets you pick a rule, then automates journal entries to QBO, ensuring consistency and audit readiness.
• Project Profit & Loss—shows real-time gross margin including approved change orders
• Unbilled Time & Costs—flags expenses sitting in limbo so you can invoice faster
• Cash Flow Forecast—combines upcoming draws and payable dates to prevent mid-project shortfalls
CountBricks enhances each report with drill-downs to the original takeoff line, providing context the accounting system alone can’t supply.
Once you master construction job costing in QuickBooks Online, your historical data becomes a gold mine. CountBricks analytics benchmark past projects, highlight your most profitable product types, and recommend markup strategies. Builders using CountBricks have shaved bid prep time by 75% while boosting gross margin by an average of 4%. Those percentages translate into real dollars, funding fleet upgrades, new hires, and marketing expansion.
If your current process involves spreadsheets, paper receipts, or guesswork, it’s time for an upgrade. Visit CountBricks.com/services to schedule a personalized demo. Our implementation specialists will map your existing cost codes, train your team, and have you live in QBO within a week—often without interrupting jobs already in progress. The sooner you start, the sooner every nail, board, and hour shows up exactly where it belongs: on the bottom line.
Rivertown Homes, a 20-unit-per-year custom builder, relied on desktop accounting and handwritten POs. Cost overruns averaged $3,800 per project. After adopting CountBricks and migrating to QuickBooks Online, the company followed this three-phase rollout:
1. Week One—CountBricks imported three years of historical cost codes, creating a standardized class list inside QBO.
2. Week Two—Field supervisors began issuing mobile purchase orders that synced instantly to the correct project and phase.
3. Week Three—The accountant activated Project P&L dashboards, revealing that trim carpentry labor was trending 15% over budget on two active builds.
Armed with live data, management renegotiated the trim contract and updated future estimates. Within six months, Rivertown’s average gross margin climbed from 18% to 24%.
• Real-time visibility: Daily cost feeds from CountBricks replaced once-a-month reviews
• Unified coding: Every labor hour, material receipt, and subcontractor invoice used the same cost codes
• Faster change orders: Voice-captured scope changes hit QBO in under five minutes, ensuring timely invoicing
• Contrast your estimated labor hours with QBO timesheet actuals weekly; small overruns compound fast
• Use CountBricks alerts to review any cost code exceeding 80% of budget before the job reaches 50% completion
• Close projects in QBO only after a final CountBricks vs. QBO reconciliation to guarantee no lingering unbilled costs
Ready to write your own success story? Explore implementation packages at CountBricks.com/consultation and discover how quickly precise job costing can transform your bottom line.
