Roofing books that show what every roof really made

This page covers how the books differ for replacement, repair, and commercial roofing, how to job-cost by roof and by square, how insurance-claim jobs should hit the books, and what a monthly close should give a roofing owner. If you run electrical, plumbing, or HVAC instead, see specialty trade bookkeeping.

Want roof-level numbers every month? Call (480) 617-2664, or book the DIG Diagnostic.

The short answer

• Every roof is its own job. Replacement, repair, or commercial re-roof: materials, labor, dumpsters, permits, and commissions land on that job.
• Track cost per square, not just cost per job. Squares are how you bid, so they're how the books should report. That's what makes the next estimate better.
• Repair tickets and replacements are different books. Many small tickets and a few big jobs need different tracking, or the small stuff turns into a black box.
• Insurance money isn't yours until it's in the bank. Claim jobs have several payers and several checks. Track what's owed by whom on each job, and don't book revenue from an adjuster's estimate.
• Material returns are money. Unused bundles, tile, and underlayment that go back to the supplier should come back off the job as a credit, not vanish.
• Monthly beats year-end. A roofer who sees margin per square monthly can adjust pricing before the next busy season, not after it.

Replacement, repair, and commercial roofing: why the books differ

Most roofing companies do more than one kind of work, and the books need to know which is which.

On a phone, scroll sideways to compare replacement, repair, and commercial roofing.

If you do commercial work, the contract side looks like any other commercial subcontractor: see AIA billing, retainage, and percentage of completion. Your CPA decides the revenue recognition method. Our job is to keep the records clean enough that the method gets applied the same way every month.

Roofing job costing: per job, per square, per phase

The foundation of roofing bookkeeping is simple to say and hard to keep up: every cost lands on the right roof when it's entered, not corrected at year-end.

• One job per roof. Name jobs consistently (customer, address, job type) so reports sort cleanly and repair tickets don't mix with replacements.
• Cost codes that match your estimate. If you bid tear-off, underlayment, roofing material, flashing and metal, labor, dumpster and disposal, and permit, the books should use the same lines. That's what makes budget-vs-actual possible. See job costing.
• Record squares on every job. Put estimated and actual squares on the job so you can report cost and margin per square by roof type: shingle, tile, foam, or low-slope.
• Materials ordered to the job. Supplier invoices should be coded to the job they were delivered to, not to a general materials account.
• Returns and restocking credited back. When unused material goes back, the supplier credit should hit the same job, and any restocking fee should stay visible.
• Overhead kept separate. Decide what's a direct job cost (crew, materials, dumpster, permit) and what's company overhead (office, trucks you share across jobs, marketing), write it down, and apply it the same way every month. See job cost report vs P&L.

A simple example with made-up numbers: a roofer bids two shingle replacements at about the same price per square. Both material orders get entered against Job A, and the return of leftover bundles from Job B never gets credited. Job A looks like it lost money and Job B looks like a great job. The owner raises prices for jobs like A and keeps bidding jobs like B the same way. Clean coding would have shown two jobs at about the same margin per square and no reason to change pricing at all.

Insurance-claim and storm jobs

Arizona's monsoon season brings bursts of storm and leak work, and much of it is paid through homeowner insurance. Claim jobs are where roofing books get messy fastest, because the money comes from more than one place and on more than one timeline.

• Track each payer on the job. The insurance company, the homeowner (their share), and sometimes a mortgage company co-payee. The job should show what's expected from each and what's been received.
• Don't book revenue from the adjuster's estimate. An approved estimate isn't cash and may change. Record what you've earned and billed under your CPA's method, and track amounts still to come, such as a second check after the work is done or approved supplements, as receivables you follow up on.
• Log supplements like change orders. Additional scope approved after the first estimate should be logged, tied to the job, and billed when approved. See change order accounting.
• Match checks to jobs on deposit. Multi-payee checks and partial payments should be applied to the right job the day they're deposited, not parked in "undeposited funds" for weeks.
• Watch aging on claim receivables. Claim jobs can stay open long after the crew leaves. A monthly receivables review by job and payer keeps them from turning into write-offs.

How deductibles, assignments, contract terms, and insurance-claim rules apply to your business is a legal question for your attorney. We keep the job-level records clean so you always know what's still owed.

Materials, suppliers, and financing

Materials are often the biggest cost on a roof, and suppliers bill in ways that make job costing easy to get wrong.

• Reconcile supplier statements monthly. Match every invoice, credit, and return against the statement so nothing is missing or double-booked.
• Code deliveries to the job, not the order date. A material drop that sits in your yard for a week still belongs to the job it was ordered for.
• Track yard stock separately. If you keep leftover material for repairs, track it as its own account and draw it out to jobs as you use it.
• Financing company fees by job. If you offer homeowner financing through a third party, any fee they keep should be recorded against that job so the margin you see is the margin you got.

Sales tax and transaction privilege tax on materials and roofing work are questions for your CPA. We record what your CPA sets up, consistently.

Crews, subs, and sales commissions

Labor on a roof isn't just crew hours, and every piece of it needs to land on the job.

• Crew time by job. Hours (or pay per square, if that's how you pay crews) should be coded to the roof the crew worked. See construction payroll.
• Subcontracted crews by job. Sub invoices go on the job they belong to, with the paperwork kept clean. Whether someone is a sub or an employee is a question for your CPA or attorney, not your bookkeeper.
• Sales commissions by job. If reps earn commission on signed roofs, tie each commission to the job it came from so you see margin after commission, not before.
• Lien waivers on commercial work. If you collect or give waivers, track them alongside payables and draws. See lien waiver tracking.

Warranty callbacks and repairs after the job

Roofs come back: leaks after the first storm, flashing that needs another look, tile that slipped. Track warranty and callback costs by original job, crew, and roof type, so you can see which crews, materials, or job types generate the most return trips. Whether to record a warranty reserve, and how, is a question for your CPA. Manufacturer warranty registrations and terms are between you and the manufacturer; the books just need the job history to back them up.

What a monthly close should give a roofing owner

A real monthly close for a roofer is more than reconciled bank accounts. By the 15th, you should be able to see:

1. Cost to date vs estimate for every open roof, by cost code.
2. Margin per square for roofs completed this month, by roof type.
3. Repair and service margin, separated from replacements.
4. Insurance and claim receivables by job and payer, with aging.
5. Supplier statements reconciled, with returns and credits applied to jobs.
6. A WIP for commercial contracts showing over and under billing. See over/under billing.
7. Warranty and callback costs by job and crew.
8. A cash view of claim checks, customer payments, and supplier bills due. See 13-week cash flow.

See how we run the month-end close, and if you use QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Online for contractors.

Owner checklist: is your roofing bookkeeping working?

1. Can you pull cost to date vs estimate for any open roof in under a minute?
2. Does every cost carry a cost code that matches how you bid?
3. Do you know your actual margin per square by roof type?
4. Are repair tickets tracked separately from replacements?
5. Are supplier returns credited back to the job they came from?
6. Do claim jobs show what's still owed by the insurer, the homeowner, and any co-payee?
7. Are supplements logged and billed like change orders?
8. Are checks applied to the right job the day they're deposited?
9. Are crew pay and sales commissions coded to the job?
10. Are warranty callbacks tracked by original job and crew?
11. Are the books closed every month, not caught up before tax season?

If you answered "no" to three or more, the books are probably hiding job-level losses or gains you'd price differently if you could see them.

Where Blackline fits

Blackline is a construction-only bookkeeping, monthly close, and fractional CFO firm for contractors doing roughly $1M–$30M in revenue, including roofing companies. We work from our Mesa office with roofers across the Valley and remotely with contractors in other states. We don't do tax prep (sales tax, revenue recognition methods, and worker classification go to your CPA), and we don't give legal advice.

• DIG Diagnostic: A focused look at your books, job costing, claim receivables, and supplier accounts. We'll show you where costs are landing on the wrong roof and what it takes to fix it.
• Foundation / Frame: Ongoing construction bookkeeping and monthly close: costs on the right job, supplier statements and returns reconciled, claim receivables tracked by payer, and a WIP for commercial contracts, scoped to how many jobs you run.
• Blueprint: Fractional CFO support: margin-per-square and pricing review, cash planning around storm season and slow months, and preparation for lender and bank conversations. See also bonding financials if you bond commercial work.

Every engagement starts with a DIG Diagnostic, and every package is custom-quoted. See services and packages.

Serving roofing contractors across the Valley

We work with roofers throughout the Phoenix metro from our Mesa office:

• Construction bookkeeping in Mesa, AZ
• Construction bookkeeping in Gilbert, AZ
• Construction bookkeeping in Chandler, AZ
• Construction bookkeeping in Scottsdale, AZ
• Construction bookkeeping in Phoenix, AZ

FAQ

What do roofing contractor accounting services include?

Job costing by roof and cost code, cost and margin per square, supplier statement and return reconciliation, insurance-claim receivables tracked by payer, crew labor and sales commissions coded to jobs, warranty callback tracking, and a monthly close with estimate-vs-actual for every open roof. Tax prep isn't included; that goes to your CPA.

How should a roofing company track job costs?

Make every roof its own job, use cost codes that match how you estimate (tear-off, underlayment, material, flashing, labor, dumpster, permit), and record estimated and actual squares on each job so you can report cost and margin per square.

How should insurance-claim roofing jobs be recorded?

Track what's expected and received from each payer (insurer, homeowner, any mortgage co-payee) on the job, log approved supplements like change orders, and apply each check to the right job when it's deposited. Don't treat an adjuster's estimate as cash. Your CPA sets the revenue method; claim and contract rules are questions for your attorney.

Should repair work and roof replacements be kept separate in the books?

Yes. Repair and service tickets are many small jobs with their own margin. Lumping them in with replacements hides whether either side is actually profitable.

How should material returns be handled?

Credit the return back to the job the material was ordered for, and keep any restocking fee visible on that job. Otherwise one job looks worse than it was and another looks better.

Do you work with commercial roofing contractors?

Yes. Commercial roofing usually adds progress billing, AIA pay applications, retainage, and a WIP schedule. We set those up alongside the job costing.

Can Blackline do my roofing company's taxes?

No. Blackline doesn't do tax prep. We keep the books clean and organized for your CPA, who handles tax returns, sales tax setup, and revenue recognition methods.