Job costing for construction, done right.
Job costing is the difference between knowing which jobs make money and guessing. Here's how we actually do it — phase codes, cost types, NAHB chart of accounts, and the wire-up to your PM software.
What job costing actually is
Every dollar that enters or leaves your business gets tagged with three things: which job it belongs to, which phase of that job it belongs to, and what type of cost it is. Do this consistently and you can answer any question about any job at any time.
Don't do it, and your P&L is a black box. You know total revenue and total expenses. You don't know which job made money. That's how $3M builders go broke on good years.
Every dollar gets one of these labels.
Labor
Your own crew's wages, plus payroll taxes, workers' comp, insurance — the full burdened rate. Not just the hourly.
Materials
Lumber, concrete, fixtures, finishes. Everything you buy and physically install.
Subcontractors
Every sub invoice. Tagged to the job AND the phase the sub worked.
Equipment
Rental and owned equipment time. Owned equipment gets charged at an internal rate per hour.
Other / overhead allocation
Permit fees, temp power, dumpsters, site supervision — job-specific costs that don't fit the above.
The NAHB phase code structure we use.
NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) publishes a standard set of phase codes that most residential builders, remodelers, and GCs use. You can customize it — but start from this list and you'll be 80% of the way there.
- 01Land / acquisition (spec builders)
- 02Site prep & excavation
- 03Foundation
- 04Framing
- 05Roofing
- 06Mechanical / Electrical / Plumbing (MEP)
- 07Insulation & drywall
- 08Interior finishes
- 09Exterior finishes
- 10Landscaping & final grade
- 11Punch list & closeout
Labor burden, under-allocated.
If your framer makes $28/hr and you bill him to a job at $28/hr, you're under-pricing by 30–45%. The burdened rate includes payroll taxes, workers' comp, general liability, health insurance, vacation, sick time, and any overhead you allocate per labor hour.
We calculate the true burdened rate for every BuilderCFO client in the first 30 days. Almost every one of them was under-pricing labor. Fix that, and margin per job goes up immediately.
You'll meet with
Cory Salisbury
Want us to build your job costing system?
Book a free 30-minute call. Bring your last 3 jobs. We'll show you what a real job cost report looks like.
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