Bookkeeping for Contractors & Construction — you track jobs, we track the money
Contractors don't fail because they can't build — they fail because they don't know, job by job, which work actually made money. Book Guardian keeps your construction books job-costed, current, and tax-ready at a flat price — so you can stop being your own back-office and get back in the field. You approve every dollar; your accountant stays for the tax return.
Construction bookkeeping is its own beast. It kills more shops than bad workmanship.
Materials on credit, subs to pay on schedule, retainage sitting in the receivables, change orders that never got coded, GST/QST or sales tax that has to be exact. Generic bookkeeping drops the ball here. We build the books around the job — materials, labour, subs, and equipment tagged to the project they belong to — so you can see which jobs carry the business and which ones quietly lose it.
Does this sound like you? The signs are clear.
If two or more are true, the fix isn't a busier office manager — it's a job-costed system that runs itself, flat monthly, without a payroll line.
How it works. Hands-free, job-costed, CPA-grade.
- Job-costed books — materials, labour, subs & equipment per project
- Bank-reconciled, coded to the jobs they belong to
- Sales-tax (GST/QST) kept straight and ready to file
- You approve everything; nothing posts or pays without you
Need more (weekly cash reports, retainage tracking, multi-entity, union/payroll-heavy work)? Those move up the tier — Growth $395–1,500/mo, Controller $1,500–4,000/mo — still flat. See packages on the plans page.
Why contractors trust Book Guardian.
We work inside your existing tools — QuickBooks or Xero, your payroll and job or project management system. Nothing about your setup changes. And we stay out of the tax return and audit — your accountant keeps signing, which means an independent set of eyes stays on the books and you keep an established CPA relationship at year-end.
FAQ
How is this cheaper than my bookkeeper or office manager?
Bookkeepers and office managers charge for hours. We automate the full cycle and charge a flat monthly that scales with your transaction volume — so a contractor pays contractor rates, not hourly fix-up fees. From $195/mo, no salary, benefits, or turnover.
Do I lose my accountant?
No — your accountant stays. We keep the books clean, job-costed, and tax-ready so your accountant does the return fast and bills less for fixing the mess. Same relationship, cleaner file.
What about GST/QST and sales tax?
We keep sales tax straight month-to-month — what you billed, what you paid, and the net you owe — so the filing isn't a scramble and there are no surprises at tax time.
Can you handle retainage and change orders?
Yes. We code retainage held back from receivables and make sure change orders are in the records and billed — not lost in a folder or a text thread.
Do you work with businesses outside my city?
Yes — Book Guardian serves contractors and small businesses across Canada and the US remotely. Send documents as they come; we handle everything else.
What if I've been burned by a bookkeeper before?
You approve every pay run and journal entry. Nothing posts or pays without you. Segregation of duties is built in — no single person ever has unchecked access to your money.