QuickBooks Online Review: Accounting & Job Costing for Small Contractors

QuickBooks Online is a cloud accounting platform built for small and mid-sized businesses. For contractors, it can handle day-to-day bookkeeping and basic job costing if it’s set up correctly.

This review looks at where QuickBooks Online fits in a commercial contractor’s stack, who it’s best for, and when you should (and shouldn’t) rely on it for job numbers.

Who QuickBooks Online Is Really For

QuickBooks Online is a strong fit for contractors who:

  • Have a small to mid-sized operation (roughly 5–75 people)
  • Need solid bookkeeping, invoicing, and basic job costing in one place
  • Don’t have a full-time controller or accounting department
  • Want cloud access so owners and bookkeepers can work from anywhere

It’s especially useful for:

  • Commercial roofing, paving, concrete, and HVAC companies that want cleaner job numbers without jumping to a full ERP
  • Contractors currently using spreadsheets or desktop-only accounting software
  • Owners who want simple, high-level financial reports without becoming accountants

If you need reliable bookkeeping and “good enough” job costing for a growing contracting business, QuickBooks Online is often the default starting point.

Where QuickBooks Online Fits in Your Stack

QuickBooks Online sits in the accounting and job costing layer of your stack.

  • Primary role: Track income, expenses, and basic job performance; handle invoicing, bills, and financial reporting.
  • Replaces: Spreadsheets, basic bookkeeping tools, and older desktop accounting systems that don’t play well with cloud apps.
  • Should integrate with: Your time tracking tool, payroll system, and (optionally) your CRM or project management tool.

It’s not a construction ERP, not a field management tool, and not a replacement for good processes—but it is usually the financial backbone for small and mid-sized contractors.

Key Strengths Contractors Will Actually Feel

  • Familiar and well-supported: Many bookkeepers and accountants already know QuickBooks, which makes hiring and support easier.
  • Solid invoicing and billing: You can create estimates, convert them to invoices, and track who owes what with clear aging reports.
  • Basic job costing: With the right setup (customers, sub-customers, projects, classes/items), you can see income and costs by job.
  • Integrations: Connects to banks, credit cards, many payroll systems, and some construction tools, reducing manual data entry.
  • Cloud access: Owners and office staff can log in from anywhere instead of being tied to a single office computer.

Day to day, that means fewer manual spreadsheets, faster billing, and a clearer picture of how money is moving through the business.

Limitations and Deal-Breakers

QuickBooks Online is powerful for the size it targets, but it has real limits for contractors.

  • Not built just for construction: It doesn’t “think” in phases, cost codes, RFIs, or detailed production tracking the way a construction ERP does.
  • Job costing depends on setup: If customers, projects, classes, and items are set up poorly, job reports are confusing or flat-out wrong.
  • Limited field awareness: It has almost no jobsite view—most field data still comes in from other tools.
  • Can get messy as you grow: As jobs, cost codes, and users pile up, a sloppy chart of accounts or item list can make reports noisy.

If you’re running large, multi-phase jobs with deep reporting needs, or heavy WIP/percentage-of-completion accounting, you may eventually need something beyond QuickBooks Online.

Pricing Snapshot

QuickBooks Online uses tiered monthly pricing based on features and number of users. Higher tiers unlock more advanced reporting, inventory, and project features.

For most small and mid-sized contractors, the real question is: “Does this give us clean books and usable job reports for the money?” If you’re currently juggling spreadsheets and a basic checkbook-style system, the answer is usually yes—provided you invest in proper setup.

Implementation Notes

Getting value from QuickBooks Online is 80% setup and process, 20% software.

  • Setup effort: Moderate to heavy if you want clean job costing.
  • Who should own it: A bookkeeper or accountant who understands contracting, ideally with owner/ops input on how jobs are structured.
  • Key setup steps:
    • Design a chart of accounts that matches how your business actually runs
    • Decide how you’ll track jobs (customers/sub-customers vs projects)
    • Set up items or services that align with how you bid and track work
    • Connect bank feeds, credit cards, and your payroll/time tools
  • Training: Your internal bookkeeper will need time to learn the rhythm of coding transactions and maintaining clean books.

A good move for many contractors is to pay an outside construction-savvy accountant to set it up correctly once, then have your team maintain it.

Pros and Cons Summary

Pros

  • Widely used and well-supported in the contracting world
  • Handles core accounting, invoicing, and simple job costing in one place
  • Integrates with many time tracking and payroll tools
  • Cloud-based access for owners and office staff

Cons

  • Not purpose-built as a construction ERP
  • Job costing can be misleading if the setup is sloppy
  • Limited direct visibility for field operations

Bottom Line

QuickBooks Online is a solid accounting and basic job costing platform for small and mid-sized contractors who want professional books without jumping straight into a complex, expensive ERP.

If you pair it with good time tracking and payroll tools, and invest in proper setup, it can give you the financial visibility you need to make better decisions. If you expect it to handle deep project management, field coordination, or advanced construction reporting by itself, you’ll be disappointed.

Used as the financial backbone of a well-thought-out ops stack, QuickBooks Online can do its job well and support your growth until you truly outgrow it.