How much does a construction bookkeeper actually cost in 2026?
Short answer: $500 to $4,000 a month, depending on how much help you need. Here's the real breakdown by tier, with what you get at each price.
DIY / Spouse keeps the books
Your time, QuickBooks subscription, and maybe a 1099 contractor bookkeeper a few hours a week. Works for sub-$500K contractors. Breaks at scale.
Generalist bookkeeper (hourly)
An independent bookkeeper who knows QuickBooks but not construction. Fine for clean P&L and reconciliation. No job costing. No WIP. No CFO work.
Construction-focused bookkeeping (monthly)
Monthly close with an NAHB chart of accounts, bank rec, P&L, balance sheet, year-end tax package. This is our 'Just the Books' tier.
Fractional CFO for contractors
Everything in the bookkeeping tier plus NAHB job costing, WIP schedules, 13-week cash forecast, weekly job reviews, dashboard, quarterly CFO calls. This is BuilderCFO.
Full-time controller or in-house CFO
Full W-2 hire. Benefits, PTO, payroll taxes. Only makes sense above ~$10M in revenue for most contractors.
Setup is where books actually get fixed.
Most construction bookkeepers charge a one-time setup fee to rebuild your chart of accounts, clean up historical transactions, wire up PM software, and set up job costing. This is where a messy book gets made useful. Typical 2026 ranges:
- 1Light setup — $1,500 to $2,500Books are mostly clean, just needs NAHB chart of accounts and reconciliation.
- 2Standard setup — $2,500 to $5,000Rebuild chart of accounts, 6–12 months of cleanup, job costing setup, PM software integration.
- 3Heavy cleanup — $5,000 to $8,000Multiple years of disorder, unreconciled accounts, missing WIP history. This is our Rapid Recovery tier.
Most $1M–$5M contractors pay 0.3%–0.8% of revenue on bookkeeping + CFO.
A $2M builder paying $1,500/mo for BuilderCFO is at 0.9% of revenue. A $5M GC paying $2,500/mo is at 0.6%. If your bookkeeping cost is above 1.5% of revenue, you're overpaying — or your bookkeeper is doing controller work.
What matters more than the price: are your books giving you answers? If you can't open a dashboard and see margin per job in real time, the cheapest bookkeeper in the world is still too expensive.
You'll meet with
Cory Salisbury
Want a real quote for your books?
30-minute call. Tell us your revenue, your PM software, and your pain. We'll give you a real number.
What we'll cover
- A 10-minute look at where your numbers are today.
- 3 specific profit leaks I'd chase first for a business your size.
- Whether we're a fit — honest yes or no, no pressure either way.
Pick a date
Weekdays, 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM MT
“Recovered $34,000 in forgotten retainage in Q1.” — Rachel K. · specialty trade, 8 GCs