How do I track labor costs by project in QuickBooks?
QuickBooks needs two things to track labor by project: projects set up in the system and time entries assigned to those projects. Without both pieces, you’re either tracking hours with nowhere to put them or tracking projects with no labor data attached.
In QuickBooks Online, enable the Projects feature from your account settings. Create a project for each job you want to track. In QuickBooks Desktop, you use the Customer:Job structure to accomplish the same thing. Either way, the project needs to exist before you can assign time to it.
Time tracking is where most businesses struggle. You need employees logging their hours against specific projects, not just total hours for the day. QuickBooks Time integrates directly and handles mobile time tracking. Employees can clock in and out with a project assigned. Other apps like Busybusy or Clockify also integrate with QuickBooks. Manual timesheet entry works for small crews that reliably fill out their hours daily.
The accuracy depends entirely on your crew’s discipline. If someone enters 8 hours without specifying which project, you have data but no useful information. If they forget which job they worked on by Friday, the allocation becomes a guess. Daily time entry assigned to the correct project is the only approach that produces reliable data.
Payroll integration is what converts hours into actual labor costs. When QuickBooks Payroll or an integrated provider like Gusto runs, it allocates wages based on the time entries. The labor cost hits each project proportionally based on hours worked. Without this integration, you’re tracking hours but not dollars.
If you’re not using integrated payroll, you can manually allocate labor costs. Create journal entries that distribute payroll expense across projects based on your time records. This works but requires more effort and introduces more room for error.
Once everything is connected, run project profitability reports. QuickBooks shows you revenue, labor costs, materials, and other expenses by project. You can finally see which jobs actually made money and which ones cost more than they brought in. This is the foundation of real job costing for contractors.
Common mistakes include not creating projects before entering transactions, forgetting to assign time entries to the right project, and not reconciling time data before running payroll. These errors compound quickly and make your reports unreliable.
If you’re already using QuickBooks but your labor costs aren’t broken out by project, the problem is usually setup or workflow discipline. A QuickBooks bookkeeper in Santa Fe can configure the system correctly and help establish processes that get accurate data from your crew consistently.
Santa Fe's Small Business Bookkeeper
The Next Step:
A Quick Conversation
Tell us about your business and what you're dealing with. We'll listen, ask a few questions, and give you a straightforward quote.
More Questions
What bookkeeping mistakes do contractors commonly make?
The biggest mistake is not tracking costs by job, which makes it impossible to know which projects actually make money. Other common errors include mixing personal and business expenses, mishandling subcontractor 1099s, and waiting too long to reconcile accounts.
Read answerHow do I handle consignment accounting for my art gallery?
Consigned artwork isn't your inventory. When a piece sells, record only your commission as revenue. The artist's portion goes into a liability account until you pay them out.
Read answerWhat is the difference between job costing and process costing?
Job costing tracks expenses by individual project or customer. Process costing tracks expenses by department or production phase for companies making identical products in continuous batches. Most small businesses need job costing.
Read answerShould I use a payroll service or do it myself?
For most small businesses, a payroll service is worth the $40-100 monthly cost. DIY payroll can work if you have one or two employees and are willing to stay on top of tax filings and deadlines yourself.
Read answerWhat bookkeeping services are available in Northern New Mexico?
Northern New Mexico has bookkeeping options from solo practitioners to established firms serving Santa Fe, Taos, and Los Alamos. Common services include monthly bookkeeping, catch-up work, payroll support, QuickBooks setup, and GRT filing.
Read answerHow do I calculate cost per mile for my trucking business?
Add up every expense tied to running your truck and divide by total miles driven. The challenge is capturing all costs, not just the obvious ones like fuel and maintenance.
Read answer
