Job Costing with QuickBooks

QuickBooks Tip: Discover the useful Source Name in QuickBooks Reports

by Muriel Murray September 14, 2014 Job Costing with QuickBooks

QuickBooks has many hidden goodies that are useful for contractors. I want to teach you all of them. This time I’m going to try something new: I’m adding QuickBooks screenshots to this post. Let me know in the comments if you find these articles more useful with illustrations. I’m also working on a free downloadable […]

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Sample QuickBooks Item Lists

by Muriel Murray August 26, 2014 Job Costing with QuickBooks

Looking for examples of QuickBooks Item Lists appropriate for different types of contractors, a reader writes: Could we have some samples of Item lists for various Contractors pertaining to steel building construction, general building construction, construction design, manufacturing architectural custom moldings. Thank you. This is a perfect opportunity for me to plug my course on […]

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Markup on small Time & Materials jobs in QuickBooks

by Muriel Murray August 21, 2014 Job Costing with QuickBooks

Wondering how to handle markup in QuickBooks on small jobs, a reader writes: I am a contractor that does jobs anywhere from 1k to 500k. Small jobs are often billed at a set labor rate with materials which are marked up 15%. I cannot find any easy way to track materials and add a simple % […]

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I’m back, and my QuickBooks job-costing training videos are done!

by Muriel Murray August 15, 2014 Job Costing with QuickBooks

I’ve finally created my awesome training video about how contractors should use Items in QuickBooks. It will teach you a lot about Items, how to make QuickBooks work for YOUR business, and Job Costing. All these things are related, and for contractors they are at the core of what makes QuickBooks so helpful, but also […]

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QuickBooks Items: Is there a benefit to using Non-inventory Part Items in a construction business?

by Muriel Murray March 26, 2013 Job Costing with QuickBooks

A reader asked this question about using QuickBooks Items in his contracting business, and went on to say: “It is counter-intuitive for me to call materials I purchase then resell a “service.” Would I benefit listing the materials purchased as Non-inventory Parts? Would this categorization help me with use tax tracking?”   I’ll talk about […]

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QuickBooks Items: What does “double-sided” Item mean?

by Muriel Murray March 21, 2013 Job Costing with QuickBooks

You won’t find a reference in QuickBooks Help to “double-sided” or “two-sided” Items, but the terminology is common among QB experts and experienced QB users, especially in construction. In brief, it means that an Item is designed for use in Cost of Goods Sold transactions as well as Income transactions; that is, the Item is […]

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QuickBooks Items: What are they, and why do I need them in my construction business?

by Muriel Murray March 18, 2013 Job Costing with QuickBooks

The basics are these: Items are not an accounting concept. They are specific to QuickBooks.   Items are, in effect, a shortcut to entering sales-related transactions consistently, and a way to summarize and report your company financial information in different detail than you can with your Chart of Accounts. Most importantly, QuickBooks Items are by […]

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