Accounting for fence contractors.
Materials margin (wood, vinyl, ornamental iron each different), crew payroll, and the equipment math for shops running 1–10 trucks.
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Fencing has a clear seasonal pattern in Colorado — heavy spring through fall, slow December through February. Your accounting needs to handle the swing. Materials prices on cedar, treated pine, and steel have moved meaningfully in the last three years, and the contractors who price off last year's cost data are eating margin on every job.
We work with residential wood/vinyl fencers, ornamental iron specialists, and commercial chain-link contractors. Each has its own pricing patterns and crew structure.
What we handle for fence shops
- Job costing with materials, labor, and equipment per job.
- Materials cost tracking for cedar, pressure-treated pine, vinyl, ornamental iron — quarterly blended-cost review.
- Seasonal cash flow projection so winter is funded by summer.
- Crew payroll with proper overtime and weather-day handling.
- Equipment depreciation on trailers, post-hole augers, and trucks.
A residential fence shop was bidding off $4.10/linear foot cedar cost. Actual delivered cost was $4.85. Twelve months at the old number cost $32,000 in margin. Quarterly material review would have caught it in month two.
If you are a one-truck owner-operator, quarterly bookkeeping is fine.
If you run multiple crews, monthly job costing tells you which crews are profitable.
If you take any commercial work, separate that revenue stream — margins are different.
Real margin per material type, real crew productivity per job.
From $400/month for small fence shops.
Frequently asked questions
How do you handle materials returns?
Returns to the lumber yard or supplier reduce COGS in the period processed. Damaged-and-not-returnable material is a COGS adjustment.
Workers comp class code?
5403 (Carpentry) is the most common for wood fencing. Chain-link and ornamental have different codes. We split correctly at year-end.
Sales tax on installed fence?
Treated as real-property improvement on most residential — not taxable to customer, you pay tax at the lumber yard. Confirm city by city.
Section 179 on a post-hole auger?
Yes — qualifying equipment under $1,160,000 (2026 limit, verify) gets immediate expensing.