This is part of our GST, BAS and Reporting series (Chapter 5 of the QuickBooks tutorial hub):

• Lesson 1: How QuickBooks Tracks GST on Every Transaction
• Lesson 2: Preparing and Lodging BAS from QuickBooks
• Lesson 3: TPAR Reporting for Contractors in QuickBooks
• Lesson 4: Job Costing with QuickBooks Projects for Tradies
• Lesson 5: Using Tags for Custom Reporting in QuickBooks
• Lesson 6: Managing Users and Permissions in QuickBooks

If you want to know which jobs are actually profitable, QuickBooks Projects, available on Plus and Advanced, gives you that detail without a separate system.

1. Setting up a project

Create a project for each job and link relevant invoices, expenses and time to it as work progresses.

2. Tagging materials, labour and subbie costs

As you enter expenses, tag them to the relevant project so costs accumulate against the right job automatically.

3. Tracking profitability as you go

Project reports show income and costs together, so you can see whether a job is actually making money before it is finished, not just after.

4. Using past jobs to quote better

Looking back at actual costs on similar past jobs helps you quote more accurately on the next one.

QuickBooks Australia’s YouTube channel has a Projects walkthrough: watch a QuickBooks tutorial on job costing for construction. Our tradie bookkeeping service can help set this up around how you actually run jobs.