Know the True Profit
on Every Single Job
Business Genie job costing tracks materials, labor, subcontractor costs, and overhead for every job you run. Compare budgets against actuals in real time and stop guessing which jobs make money and which ones lose it.
Complete Job Cost Tracking for Contractors
Material Cost Tracking
Log every material, part, and supply used on a job. Pull from your price list or add items on the fly. Track actual material costs against your estimate.
Labor Time by Job
Time clock data links directly to jobs. See exactly how many hours each technician spent on each job, including drive time and on-site work.
Profit Margin Per Job
Revenue minus materials, labor, subcontractors, and overhead gives you the true profit on every job. Identify your most and least profitable work.
Budget vs Actual Comparison
Compare your original estimate against actual costs as the job progresses. Catch overruns early before they eat into profit.
Overhead Allocation
Allocate overhead costs like insurance, vehicle expenses, and tool depreciation across jobs. See the complete cost picture, not just direct expenses.
Profitability Reports
View profitability by job type, customer, technician, or time period. Discover which services make money and which ones drain it.
Track Costs from
Estimate to Invoice
Estimate Sets the Budget
When you create an estimate, Business Genie automatically establishes a cost budget for materials, labor, and other expenses. This becomes your baseline.
Track Costs as Work Happens
Technicians log materials and clock time on the job. Subcontractor invoices and other costs are added as they occur. Everything feeds into the job cost record.
Compare Budget vs Actual
The job costing dashboard shows estimated vs actual costs in real time. Red flags appear when costs approach or exceed the budget before the job is finished.
Analyze and Improve
After the job is invoiced, review the full cost breakdown. Use insights to improve future estimates, adjust pricing, and increase profit margins.
Job Costing for
Every Trade
Plumbing Companies
- Track pipe, fittings, and fixtures per job
- Compare repiping estimates vs actual costs
- Measure profit on emergency vs scheduled work
- Log subcontractor costs for excavation work
- Analyze water heater install profitability
HVAC Contractors
- Track equipment costs for system replacements
- Measure tune-up profitability per technician
- Compare refrigerant costs across jobs
- Budget vs actual for multi-day installations
- Allocate warranty labor vs billable labor
Electrical Contractors
- Track wire, panel, and fixture costs per project
- Compare time-and-material billing accuracy
- Analyze EV charger installation margins
- Log permit and inspection costs
- Track change orders against original budget
General Contractors
- Track costs across multiple subcontractors
- Material procurement cost tracking
- Progress billing against project budget
- Phase-based cost breakdown
- Retainage and holdback tracking
How Job Costing Protects
and Grows Your Margins
Revenue Is Not Profit
A contractor can do a million dollars in revenue and still lose money. Revenue looks good on the surface, but if your costs per job are too high, your margins are thin or negative. Most contractors know their total revenue but cannot tell you the profit margin on an individual job.
Business Genie job costing gives you profit visibility at the job level. You see revenue, direct costs (materials and labor), indirect costs (overhead allocation), and true profit for every single job. When you know which jobs make money and which do not, you can focus on the profitable ones and fix or eliminate the losers.
Catch Cost Overruns Before They Sink the Job
On larger jobs, costs can spiral without anyone noticing until the invoice goes out and the numbers do not add up. A technician uses twice the expected materials. Drive time doubles because of scheduling changes. A subcontractor bills more than quoted.
Real-time budget vs actual tracking in Business Genie flags problems as they happen, not after the fact. When a job hits 80 percent of its budget at 50 percent completion, you know immediately. You can adjust the scope, add a change order, or reassign resources before the job goes underwater.
Build Better Estimates Over Time
Every estimate is a guess. The question is how good your guesses are. Without historical job cost data, you are guessing based on memory and intuition. You might overestimate some jobs (losing bids to competitors) and underestimate others (winning the job but losing money).
Business Genie stores the actual cost data for every completed job. When you estimate a similar job in the future, you can reference what it actually cost last time. Over months and years, your estimates become increasingly accurate, your win rate improves, and your margins become more predictable.
Know When to Raise Your Prices
Material costs, labor rates, fuel prices, and insurance premiums all increase over time. But many contractors keep their pricing flat because they do not have data showing that their margins are shrinking. By the time they realize it, they have been undercharging for months or years.
Job costing trend reports in Business Genie show how your cost structure changes over time. When your average material cost for a specific job type increases 15 percent but your prices have not changed, the data makes the case for a price increase clear and defensible.
Frequently Asked
Questions
How does material cost tracking work?
Technicians log materials used on each job through the mobile app. They can scan barcodes, select from your pre-loaded price list, or add new items manually with cost and quantity. Materials are linked to the specific job so you can compare actual material costs against your original estimate. Purchase orders and supplier invoices can also be attached to jobs for complete documentation.
How does labor time connect to job costs?
When technicians clock in and out of specific jobs using the Business Genie time clock, their hours are automatically linked to the job cost record. You set each technician's loaded labor rate (hourly wage plus benefits, taxes, and overhead), and the system calculates the total labor cost per job. Drive time can be allocated separately from on-site work time.
Can I track subcontractor costs?
Yes. Add subcontractor invoices and costs to any job. The subcontractor expense is included in the total job cost and deducted from revenue to calculate your true margin. This is particularly useful for general contractors and companies that outsource specialized work like concrete, roofing, or trenching.
How does budget vs actual comparison work?
When you create an estimate in Business Genie, it establishes the budget for the job. As the job progresses, actual labor hours, materials, and other costs are logged. The job costing dashboard shows a side-by-side comparison of estimated vs actual costs in real time. You can set alerts when a job exceeds a percentage of its budget so you catch overruns before the job is complete.
What is overhead allocation?
Overhead allocation distributes your indirect business costs (rent, insurance, vehicle costs, tool depreciation, office expenses) across jobs based on a method you choose: per labor hour, per job, or as a percentage of revenue. This gives you the complete cost of each job, not just direct expenses, which is essential for accurate pricing and true profitability analysis.
Is there a free trial for job costing features?
Yes. Job costing is included in the Business Genie free 3-month trial. Material tracking, labor costing, budget vs actual comparison, overhead allocation, and profitability reports are all available from day one. No credit card required.
Related Features
Reporting & Analytics
Job costing data feeds into profitability reports
Estimates & Proposals
Estimates set the cost budget for job costing
QuickBooks Integration
Job costs sync to QuickBooks for accounting
Invoicing & Payments
Invoice data completes the revenue side of job costing
Mobile App
Technicians log materials and time from the field
CRM
Track customer profitability over time
Ready to Know Your True Profitability?
Start your 3-month free trial. Track job costs, compare budgets vs actuals, and protect your margins.
No credit card required