The #1 Reason Contractors Lose Money: Broken Job Costing Systems

Cory Salisbury

Published on: 23/11/2025

Job costing is the single strongest predictor of contractor profitability. When it’s wrong—or missing—your projects “look” profitable right up until they aren’t. This is why contractors struggle with margin fade, surprise losses, and inconsistent cash flow. In this guide, you’ll learn exactly how job costing breaks, how to fix it, and how Salisbury Bookkeeping builds job costing systems that keep contractors profitable year-round.