Bookkeeping for construction companies isn’t the same as bookkeeping for a retail shop — job costing, subcontractor payments, progress billing, and T5018 reporting all add real complexity that generic bookkeeping doesn’t account for. This is one of the industries worked with most, with an approach built around how contracting businesses actually operate, not adapted from a generic template.
Most bookkeeping services are built around straightforward retail or service-business patterns — one invoice, one payment, predictable timing. Bookkeeping for construction companies has to account for holdbacks, milestone billing, subcontractor T5018 reporting, and project-level profitability that a generic system simply doesn’t track well.
Records are kept in line with CRA’s T5018 reporting requirements for the construction industry, so subcontractor payments are documented correctly from the start rather than reconstructed at filing time.
For a business managing multiple active job sites at once, that structure is what makes it possible to know — with actual confidence — which jobs are profitable and which ones are quietly losing money.
Job costing — tracking income and expenses by project, not just in aggregate.
Subcontractor payment tracking and T5018 slip preparation.
Progress billing and holdback tracking.
Payables and receivables timed around how construction cash flow actually works — often uneven, with long gaps between invoicing and payment.
HST/GST tracking specific to construction, including the self-supply rules that can apply to certain projects.
If your business primarily earns income from construction activities and pays subcontractors, T5018 subcontractor reporting is a CRA requirement, similar to how a T4A works for other contractors — including handling cases where a subcontractor won’t provide their SIN.
Do I need to file a T5018 for my subcontractors?
If your business primarily earns income from construction activities and you pay subcontractors for construction services, yes — the CRA requires a T5018 (Statement of Contract Payments) for those payments, similar to how a T4A works for other contractors.
What if a subcontractor won’t provide their SIN or business number?
This comes up more often than you’d expect. You’re still required to make a reasonable effort to obtain it and to file the T5018 with the information you have — the CRA has a process for this, and refusing to provide it doesn’t remove your filing obligation as the payer.
How does job costing actually help my construction business?
Without job costing, you know your business made or lost money overall, but not which specific jobs were actually profitable. That’s a problem when you’re quoting future work — if you don’t know your real costs per job type, you’re guessing at pricing. Proper job costing shows you exactly where the margin is and isn’t, project by project.
Can you handle bookkeeping for a small construction business, not just larger contractors?
Yes — small and growing construction businesses are exactly who this is built for. There’s no minimum project volume or revenue requirement to work together. If your books are behind, catch-up bookkeeping can get you current first.
Book a free consultation or call +1 (905) 301-3237.
Whether it’s a two-person renovation crew or a general contractor running several crews across different sites, bookkeeping for construction companies works the same way here: real job costing, accurate subcontractor records, and books that hold up if the CRA or a lender ever asks to see them.
Serving Toronto, Brampton, Mississauga, and the wider GTA, with direct access to the person actually doing the work.
