The Job Cost Tracking Toolkit. Stop guessing what each job actually made.
Most contractors find out if a job made money after it's over. The contractors who win read the score before the game ends. Two free downloads — the printable checklist and the 30-job Excel tracker — that put a system around it.
"Most contractors find out if a job made money after it's over."
A quick take from Joe on the habit that separates the contractors who guess from the ones who know — and how the toolkit installs that habit in your books.
A checklist for setup. A tracker for the next 30 jobs.
Two artifacts, built to work together. Use the checklist to get the system clean. Use the tracker to log every job and watch the gross-margin pattern emerge.
Job Cost Tracking Checklist
The one-time setup, the per-job routine, the 15-minute weekly review, the red flags, and the 3-number question to ask at every job close.
- Chart of accounts + Customer:Job tagging rules
- Daily field routine for receipt capture
- Weekly 15-minute review (3 reports)
- Red flags that mean "call the office now"
Job Cost Tracker (Advanced)
A live workbook that mirrors the Job Cost Calculator and lets you build a portfolio view of your last 30 jobs. Auto-colored zone flags. Trade benchmarks for 16 trades. Open-jobs WIP tracking.
- Job Tracker — 30 rows with auto-zone color coding
- Single Job Detail — matches the online calculator
- Trade Benchmarks — healthy GM for 16 trades
- Dashboard, Trade Summary, Customer Summary, WIP
The 30 / 35 / 45 gross-margin zones.
Every closed job lands in one of four zones. Once you can see the pattern, you can fix the bid — not just the job.
Won't cover overhead.
Re-price or walk away. A job below 30% GM is funding losses you don't see on the P&L until quarter close.
Survival pricing.
One sub overrun, one rework, one extra day on site — and the job flips to a loss. Don't bid more like this without raising prices.
Target range for most trades.
You're covering overhead, paying yourself, and putting margin in the bank. This is the floor for a sustainable trade business.
Replicate the pricing, not just the work.
Strong jobs are a signal. Find the pattern in customer, scope, or pricing — and bid the next one to match.
The checklist installs the system. The tracker reads the score.
Get the books wired right
Use the PDF checklist to clean up the chart of accounts, customer-job tagging, items list, and the receipt-capture rule. Skip this and every job report after it is partially wrong.
Run the per-job routine
Field crew tags receipts the same day. Crew time is logged to the job. Change orders go in writing before work starts. Final invoice goes out within 5 business days of close.
Watch the pattern in the tracker
Drop each closed job into the Excel tracker. Compare to your trade's healthy GM benchmark. After 10 jobs, the bid pattern that's leaking margin will be obvious.
The episode this toolkit was built for.
Joe walks through the 30 / 35 / 45 gross-margin framework on the Behind the Books podcast — why most contractors find out a job lost money 45 days too late, and the weekly routine that fixes it. The toolkit on this page is the system from the episode.
Watch on YouTube →Built to pair with the Job Cost Calculator.
The online calculator scores one job in depth. This toolkit gives you the routine to clean every job — and the spreadsheet to track the next 30. Same framework, same zones, designed to be used together.
Open the Job Cost CalculatorPair it with these.
Profit First Bank Flow
The five-account setup — percentages, triggers, transfers.
Download →Cash Flow 101 Template
A 12-week rolling forecast you can actually maintain.
Download →Financial Health Checklist
The 12-point owner checklist we walk through with every new client.
Download →If your last 5 jobs are mystery numbers, we can fix that.
Best Decision Bookkeeping installs construction-grade job costing for contractors and trade businesses. 30-minute call. No pitch. We'll walk your books and tell you what's missing.