QuickBooks for contractors comes down to two decisions: which QuickBooks Online plan to pay for, and how to set it up so you can see which jobs actually make money. QuickBooks Online is one of the most common accounting systems for US contractors, often because the bookkeeper already uses it or because the field service software syncs with it. This guide to QuickBooks Online for contractors covers both decisions for general contractors, construction contractors and home service businesses.
Prices and plan details below come from Intuit's pricing page as of October 1, 2026.
QuickBooks Online plans and prices
| Plan | Listed price | Users | Notable for contractors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 1 | Income and expenses, 2 invoices a month, P&L report |
| Simple Start | $38/mo | 1 | Invoicing with payments, bill pay with free ACH, automated bookkeeping |
| Essentials | $85/mo | 3 | Employee time on invoices, tax estimates, enhanced reports |
| Plus | $140/mo | 5 | Project profitability, budgeting, inventory, 40 classes/locations |
| Advanced | $340/mo | 25 | Construction financials, batch tools, unlimited classes, 1099 e-filing |
On the day we checked, Intuit was advertising 50% off for the first three months on the paid plans, and also listed a 30-day free trial; offers like these usually can't be combined, so check which one applies when you sign up. Simple Start through Plus also include access for two accountants (three on Advanced).
Which QuickBooks plan is best for contractors?
Simple Start or Essentials work for a solo contractor or a very small shop that needs to send invoices, take payments and keep clean books for tax time. Essentials adds a second and third user and lets you bill employee time on invoices.
Plus is where QuickBooks starts working as a contractor tool. Project profitability lets you track income, labor and expenses against each job, and budgeting and classes let you split results by service line or crew. If you've ever finished a busy month and wondered which jobs made money, this is the plan.
Advanced adds construction financials, up to 25 users, unlimited classes and locations, 1099 e-filing for subcontractors and batch tools. It's the natural choice when you need QuickBooks for general contractors or construction contractors with an office team.
Setting up QuickBooks for contractors: job costing
Whichever plan you choose, a few setup decisions make the numbers useful:
- Use projects for jobs. Create a project for each larger job (a remodel, a roof replacement, a new system install) so income and costs land in one place. Small service calls don't each need a project.
- Use classes for lines of business. For example, service vs. installation, or residential vs. commercial. That shows you which part of the business is carrying the rest.
- Code every cost to a job. Materials, subcontractors and labor should be assigned to the project when you enter them, not cleaned up later.
- Separate job costs from overhead. Materials, subcontractors and field labor are job costs; office rent, software and office staff are overhead. Mixing them hides your real job margins.
- Track subcontractors for 1099s. Collect W-9s up front and mark vendors who need a 1099 so year-end filing is quick.
Ask your accountant to review the chart of accounts before you start. Fixing it after a year of transactions is much harder.
QuickBooks and field service software
QuickBooks isn't built for scheduling and dispatching technicians. Service contractors usually run field service software for the day-to-day work and sync invoices and payments into QuickBooks.
For example, Housecall Pro's QuickBooks Online sync is included from its Essentials plan ($149 a month billed annually, per its pricing page). See our Housecall Pro pricing guide for the full plan breakdown. When comparing tools, ask:
- Does the sync run both ways, or only from the field app into QuickBooks?
- Are customers, items and tax rates matched, or duplicated?
- Which plan of the field service software includes the integration?
Common QuickBooks mistakes contractors make
- Paying for Advanced too early. Unless you need construction financials or more than five users, Plus covers job profitability.
This guide explains how the plans differ; it isn't tax or accounting advice. Your accountant should sign off on your setup.
- Treating deposits as income. Under accrual accounting, deposits for work not yet done are usually recorded as a liability (unearned revenue) until the work is done. Ask your accountant how to handle them for your books and taxes.
- Not reconciling monthly. Unreconciled bank accounts make every report unreliable.
- Running payroll outside QuickBooks without mapping it to jobs. Labor is usually your biggest job cost; if it isn't assigned to projects, job profitability reports are wrong.
Before committing, run a few real jobs from last month through a trial to see whether the reports answer the questions you actually have. For invoicing-focused alternatives, see our contractor invoicing software comparison.
