Contractors and trades
Accounting software for contractors: job costs, progress billing, retainage
Know which jobs make money. AcboBooks tracks income and costs by customer and job, bills in stages with progress invoicing, holds retainage until the work is accepted, and logs hours against each job.
Built for general contractors, remodelers, electricians, plumbers and HVAC firms in the US and Canada, for $399.99 once.
No card, no account. Windows 10 and 11. United States and Canada.
What it means
In practice
Profit by job
Every bill, cheque, card charge and invoice can carry a customer:job, and hours are logged by job. The Job Profitability report shows income, cost and net for each job.
Bill as the work progresses
Start from the estimate, invoice a percentage or an amount per line as phases finish, and see what is left to bill. Retainage is held as a separate receivable per job and released when the work is accepted.
Subs and crews paid properly
Pay subcontractors as vendors and produce 1099-NEC (US) or T5018 (Canada) slips at year-end. Run payroll for your crew, with workers' compensation tracked.
Invoices from estimates, line by line.
Answer the question every contractor asks: did that job make money?
Materials go on bills with the job attached, crew hours go through time tracking and payroll, and reimbursable costs can be passed on to the customer as billable expenses.
When the job closes, the report shows the margin. When you bid the next one, you know your real costs.
What is in the licence
The whole job, in one price
Jobs
Billing
Costs
People and year-end
Profit and loss by job, by class, by period.
What it does not do
· No certified payroll reports (WH-347) and no AIA G702/G703 forms.
· Windows 10 and 11 for now (a Mac version is coming soon); no phone app.
· It imports your bank's statement file rather than connecting live to the bank.
Questions people ask
Before you download
Can it do progress billing like QuickBooks Desktop?
Yes: create an estimate, then invoice a percentage or amount of each line as the work is done. The remaining balance per line is tracked.
How is retainage handled?
Withheld retainage is moved to a separate receivable for the job and released to bill when the work is accepted, so it never disappears into the general A/R.
Does it track time against jobs?
Yes. Log billable or non-billable hours by employee against a customer:job and service item, and bill the hours on an invoice.
Can my bookkeeper work on it?
Yes, on the office network or with a copy of the file. Accountant access is free.
Coming from something else?
How it compares to what you use now
Get started
Know your margin on every job.
Import your QuickBooks file or start fresh, and run the Job Profitability report on day one.
No card. No account. Nothing to cancel.