QuickBooks and Bookkeeping for Roofers

Bookkeeping for roofers means tracking money per roof, not just per month: the deposit, material order, dumpster, permit, crew or sub labor, and every payment, including insurance checks that arrive in pieces. QuickBooks handles the ledger well. The hard part is getting job data into it accurately and on time.

Why is roofing bookkeeping harder than it looks?

Roofing bookkeeping is hard because the money moves out before it moves in, and it moves in bursts. You order shingles, underlayment and flashing before the build, pay a crew or sub at the end of the week, and then wait on a final payment or an insurance check. Without job-level tracking, you can't tell which roofs made money and which ones you paid to install.

Add storm seasons, where you might start more jobs in a month than in the previous quarter, and the shoebox method breaks fast. Here's a setup that holds up.

How should a roofer set up QuickBooks?

1. 1

   Make every roof a job.

   Use projects in QuickBooks Online (or customer:job in Desktop) so revenue and costs for each address sit together. See how to do job costing in QuickBooks and classes vs. projects.

2. 2

   Split income into roofing lines.

   Replacement, repair, gutters, and insurance work if you want to see how claim jobs perform against cash jobs.

3. 3

   Put materials in cost of goods sold.

   Shingles, underlayment, drip edge, vents, dumpsters and permits belong on the job, not in general overhead. See cost of goods sold.

4. 4

   Separate sub labor from W-2 labor.

   One account for subcontractor payments, one for payroll. It makes 1099s and workers' comp audits much easier.

5. 5

   Track deposits as a liability until earned.

   If you use accrual accounting, a deposit for an unbuilt roof isn't income yet. See accrual vs. cash accounting and ask your accountant which method fits you.

A clean chart of accounts built for contractors gets you most of the way. The rest is discipline: every receipt, every check, attached to the right job, every week.

Job costing a reroof

If your gross margin swings wildly from roof to roof, look at material waste and labor overruns first. The job costing calculator and markup and margin calculator help you price the next one, and gross margin explains the math.

Insurance checks, supplements and depreciation

Insurance roofing creates bookkeeping wrinkles cash jobs don't have. The homeowner's first check may cover only part of the claim, with recoverable depreciation released after the work is finished. Supplements add line items after the original estimate. If you invoice once and hope, you'll leave money on the table.

• Invoice in stages that match how the money arrives: deposit, first insurance payment, supplement, final or depreciation release.
• Keep the claim number, estimate and supplement notes on the customer record so whoever chases payment knows what's owed.
• Watch open balances on finished jobs. An unpaid final on a $15,000 roof is a bigger problem than an unpaid $300 repair. See accounts receivable and how to collect unpaid invoices.
• If a final payment never comes, know your lien rights and deadlines before they expire. See mechanic's lien.

Roofing crews, subs and 1099s

Many roofing companies use sub crews for installs. That's legal and common, but it puts paperwork on you. Collect a W-9 before the first payment. For payments made after Dec. 31, 2025, the IRS requires a Form 1099-NEC when you pay a non-employee $2,000 or more in a year (it was $600 for 2025 payments). If a sub won't give you a taxpayer ID, the IRS backup withholding rate is 24%.

Whether someone is truly a subcontractor or an employee depends on how the work is controlled, not what you call them. See W-2 vs. 1099 and workers' compensation, and talk to a tax professional if you're unsure.

Roofing taxes and deductions to know

Roofers deal with the same tax basics as other contractors, with a few that hit harder: big equipment and truck purchases, high mileage during storm season, and sales or use tax on materials that varies by state. Start with the contractor tax deductions list, Section 179, use tax for contractors and quarterly estimated taxes. Your state's rules on taxing materials vs. labor are covered on our sales tax on labor vs. materials page.

What BRIX automates for a roofer's books

The calls and estimates that create these invoices start on the AI receptionist for roofers and roofing sales pages. Overview: roofing CRM.