Accounting for electricians — residential, commercial, low-voltage.
Job costing for the electrical contractors who actually need to track materials, prevailing wage, and equipment depreciation. Built for Denver-area shops running 1–30 electricians.
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Electrical contracting splits into very different businesses. A residential service electrician and a commercial low-voltage contractor share almost no accounting in common. Residential is high-volume, low-ticket, and runs on field-service software. Commercial is project-based, often prevailing-wage, and lives in QuickBooks with progress invoicing. Industrial and low-voltage have their own wrinkles — long-tail receivables, retainage, and equipment that depreciates fast.
We have built books for all three. The framework adjusts to your actual mix of work.
What we handle for electrical contractors
- Industry-specific chart of accounts separating service revenue, project revenue, retainage, and warranty work.
- Job costing with material, labor (including burden), permit, and inspection fees coded per job.
- Prevailing wage tracking for jobs with Davis-Bacon or state prevailing-wage requirements — separate certified payroll reports.
- Subcontractor 1099 prep with W-9 collection at engagement.
- Equipment depreciation on trucks, lifts, generators, test equipment — Section 179 timing optimized.
- Sales tax handling for materials sold separately vs incorporated into a job (the distinction Colorado cares about).
- Quarterly tax planning with cash-flow projections for the slow winter months residential shops always face.
Software we work in for electrical
- ServiceTitan, Jobber, Housecall Pro — for residential service shops.
- QuickBooks Online + QuickBooks Time — for project-based commercial.
- Knowify or Buildertrend — for commercial contractors who need progress invoicing and AIA billing.
- STACK or PlanSwift — for estimating; we link the estimate to actual job costs at close-out.
Pricing
| Shop size / mix | Monthly fee |
|---|---|
| Owner-operator residential, 1 truck | $400 – $600 |
| 3–8 electricians, residential service | $700 – $1,200 |
| Commercial GC subcontractor, 5–15 electricians | $900 – $1,800 |
| Mixed shop with prevailing wage | $1,200 – $2,500 |
A commercial electrical contractor with three active prevailing-wage jobs had been paying everyone at the same rate. They owed roughly $42,000 in back-wage adjustments after the certified payroll audit caught it. We rebuilt their payroll in Gusto with per-job wage rates so future jobs were compliant from day one.
If you do residential service only and run on Jobber or Housecall Pro, monthly bookkeeping is enough.
If you take any commercial work over $50K, add job costing — the alternative is finding out the job lost money after it is over.
If any of your jobs are prevailing wage, you need certified payroll set up correctly before the first crew goes on site.
Built for the way electrical contracting actually books revenue.
Residential service, commercial project, prevailing wage — we know the difference and the books reflect it.
Frequently asked questions
Can you handle certified payroll?
Yes. We run weekly certified payroll reports (WH-347 federal or state-equivalent) and align fringe-benefit accruals with the right craft-class rates. We have done this for state, city, and federally funded projects.
How do you handle retainage?
Retainage is recorded as a contra-asset against accounts receivable, not as written-off revenue. We track the retainage release timeline so you know exactly when each held-back dollar is due, and we age it separately from regular A/R.
Do you know AIA billing?
Yes. We prepare G702/G703 documents directly from QuickBooks or Knowify for commercial GC subcontractor work. We also reconcile the AIA-recognized revenue back to actual job-cost cash flow so you see what is truly profitable.
What about Section 179 on equipment?
Most equipment a small-to-mid electrical shop buys (trucks under 6,000 lbs gross, lifts, generators, test equipment) qualifies for Section 179 immediate expensing up to the annual cap. We model the timing — sometimes deferring a purchase one month into next tax year saves real money.
Can you do the workers comp audit?
Yes. Electrical has its own NCCI class codes (typically 5190 for residential, 5188 for commercial/industrial). We provide the year-end wage report split by class code with subcontractor payments excluded so you do not get re-rated incorrectly.