QuickBooks for Contractors: Best Plan + Simple Setup (2026)

Last updated October 18, 2026. This is a guide based on Intuit’s official QuickBooks pricing and support pages and IRS pages; plan prices come from Intuit’s official pricing page in US dollars before tax. It is general information, not tax or accounting advice. ScopeRivo may earn a commission from some links; read our affiliate disclosure.

QuickBooks for contractors usually means QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced, because Intuit’s support pages say projects and class tracking are available on those plans, and projects are the backbone of job costing. Simple Start and Essentials can handle invoicing and basic bookkeeping for a solo tradesperson. Desktop Enterprise still has a construction-focused edition, but older Desktop versions are being retired, so check support dates before you commit.

This guide to QuickBooks for contractors covers which version to buy, how to set up job costing, how to bill in stages, subcontractor 1099s and field app integrations. See our editorial policy for how ScopeRivo compiles software guides.

Why QuickBooks for contractors needs a different setup

A contractor buys materials for one job, pays a sub on another, splits crew time across several addresses and bills in stages. If all of that lands in one pile, the profit and loss report looks fine while individual jobs quietly lose money. That is why QuickBooks for contractors needs a job-based setup from day one.

Setting up QuickBooks for contractors is mostly about tagging. Every bill, receipt, timesheet and invoice should carry its project, and ideally a class for the type of work. Then reports show which jobs made money and where estimates ran low. A clean chart of accounts and a few firm office rules turn generic bookkeeping into useful contractor accounting software.

Which QuickBooks for contractors version to use in 2026

Intuit sells several QuickBooks Online plans and still markets QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise. The table summarizes the QuickBooks for contractors options listed on Intuit’s pricing page today. Promotional prices change often, so treat the regular price as the planning figure and confirm on Intuit’s pricing page before you buy.

Plan	Listed monthly price	Users	Contractor-relevant features listed by Intuit
QuickBooks Free	$0	1	Income and expense tracking, 2 invoices per month, profit and loss report
Simple Start	$38 (promo $19 for 3 months)	1	Invoicing with payments, automated bookkeeping, general reports
Essentials	$85 (promo $42.50 for 3 months)	3	Employee time added to invoices, enhanced reports
Plus	$140 (promo $70 for 3 months)	5	Project profitability tracking, inventory, classes and locations (40), budgets
Advanced	$340 (promo $170 for 3 months)	25	Automatic project creation and cost allocation, unlimited classes, custom permissions, batch invoices, construction and advanced project financials

QuickBooks Online plans for contractors as of October 18, 2026, from Intuit’s official pricing page (US dollars, before tax; promotions are temporary).

Simple Start and Essentials: QuickBooks for contractors who work solo

For a one-person handyman, painter or electrician who mainly sends invoices and tracks expenses, Simple Start can be enough QuickBooks for contractors. Essentials adds users and lets employee time flow onto invoices.

The limitation is job costing. Intuit’s projects article is written for “QuickBooks Online Plus, QuickBooks Online Advanced, or Intuit Enterprise Suite”, so the lower plans do not give you the project view that groups income, costs and labor per job. That gap is the main reason to move up.

Plus: the usual starting point for QuickBooks for contractors

For most small contractors with a crew, Plus is where QuickBooks for contractors starts to make sense. It lists project profitability tracking, budgets, inventory, and classes and locations, so you can see each job’s profit and split results by trade.

Plus is also the lowest plan where class tracking is documented. Intuit’s class tracking article explains how to turn on class tracking in “QuickBooks Online Plus, QuickBooks Online Advanced, and QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.” Classes keep service, install and remodel divisions apart in one company file.

Advanced: QuickBooks for contractors with larger teams

Advanced is aimed at growing firms with more users and more complex permissions. Intuit’s pricing page lists automatic project creation and cost allocation, unlimited classes and locations, custom user permissions, workflow automation, batch invoices and expenses, and construction and advanced project financials. Advanced costs considerably more than Plus, so the test is whether the automation saves real office hours. With fewer than five users, Plus usually covers core job costing.

QuickBooks contractor edition and Desktop Enterprise status

Many owners search for the QuickBooks contractor edition because it was the long-standing Desktop version built for construction. On Intuit’s Desktop Enterprise page today, the industry option is presented as a Construction edition with job cost tracking and customized reports, and Desktop Enterprise is shown with buy and upgrade options. Intuit’s pricing FAQ points Desktop Pro and Premier users toward QuickBooks Online Advanced or Intuit Enterprise Suite.

Watch the support calendar. Intuit’s Desktop discontinuation policy states that after May 31, 2026, QuickBooks Desktop 2023 software will be discontinued, which includes Enterprise Solutions 23.0. If you still run an older contractor edition, plan an upgrade or a move to Online.

Quick checklist: QuickBooks for contractors by business size

Solo, invoicing-first: Simple Start, and revisit once you hire.
Small crew billing time and materials, little need for per-job profit: Essentials.
Crew plus subcontractors, need job costing and divisions: QuickBooks Online Plus, the default choice for most crews.
Many users and heavy project financials: Advanced.
Existing Desktop file with years of history and a construction workflow: compare Desktop Enterprise Construction with Online Advanced, and confirm support dates first.

How to set up QuickBooks for contractors step by step

Set up the file before importing transactions; fixing tags later is slow. These steps assume QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced.

Turn on projects. Intuit’s projects article says to go to Account and settings, select Advanced, and switch on the setting that organizes all job-related activity in one place.
Turn on class tracking. Go to Settings, then Account and settings, then Advanced and Categories, and select Track classes. Choose whether classes are assigned per transaction or per line.
Turn on progress invoicing if you bill in stages (covered below).
Build your products and services list with a few labor, materials, subcontract and equipment items.
Clean up the chart of accounts so job costs sit in cost of goods sold, not general overhead.
Connect bank and card feeds, then create bank rules that never post job costs without a project.
Invite your accountant to review the QuickBooks for contractors setup before go-live.

Customers and projects in QuickBooks for contractors

Create each client as a customer, then a project under that customer for each job. A homeowner with a kitchen this spring and a deck next year gets one customer and two projects.

Intuit says you can use projects to track income and costs for specific projects, and its projects help article also covers adding labor costs. Name projects consistently, such as job number plus street address.

Classes for trades, divisions or crews

Projects answer “how did this job do?” Classes answer “how is this part of the business doing?” Intuit describes it this way: “Classes represent important parts of your company, like store departments or product lines.” For a contractor, that might be service versus new construction, residential versus commercial, or plumbing versus HVAC.

Keep the class list short; a handful of classes is easier to apply consistently than dozens.

QuickBooks job costing: how QuickBooks for contractors tracks profit

QuickBooks job costing works when three types of cost reach the right project: materials, subcontractors and labor. Equipment and permits are a fourth bucket for some trades. Every cost must carry the project name at the moment it is entered, whether it comes from a bill, a card swipe, a receipt photo or a timesheet.

Materials and purchases

Enter each supplier bill with the project on every line, and split lines when one invoice covers two jobs. For card purchases, attach the receipt and assign the project during bank feed review. The rule: no job expense without a project.

Subcontractor costs

Set up each sub as a vendor, collect a W-9 before the first payment, and assign every sub bill to the project. This feeds both QuickBooks job costing and your year-end 1099 work. Flag 1099 vendors when you create them.

Labor and time

Labor is where contractors most often lose track of profit. Time recorded against a project lets QuickBooks for contractors show labor cost per job once payroll or labor rates are set up. If crews log hours in a field app, sync them to the same project names.

Budgets and estimate versus actual

Plus and Advanced list budgeting and project profitability. Set an expected cost for each job, then compare actual costs weekly while you can still adjust crews or raise change orders.

Cost type	Where it is entered	Tag it with	Common mistake
Materials	Bill, expense or card feed	Project + class	Leaving supply-house bills untagged
Subcontractors	Vendor bill	Project + 1099 vendor flag	No W-9 on file before payment
Labor	Timesheet or payroll	Project + service item	Hours logged to the customer, not the project
Equipment and rentals	Bill or expense	Project	Booking job rentals as general overhead
Permits and fees	Expense	Project	Paying on a personal card without a receipt

QuickBooks job costing checklist for contractors: what to tag on each cost.

Chart of accounts tips for QuickBooks for contractors

For QuickBooks for contractors, the key chart of accounts change is separating direct job costs from overhead. Job costs belong in cost of goods sold so gross profit reflects what the work earned; rent, software and marketing stay in operating expenses.

Income: keep it simple, for example service income, installation or construction income, and change order income if you want to track change orders separately.
Cost of goods sold: job materials, subcontractors, direct labor, equipment rental and job permits.
Operating expenses: vehicles and fuel, insurance, office, software, marketing, tools under your capitalization policy.
Balance sheet: customer deposits, retainage receivable if you use it, and equipment and vehicle accounts as your accountant advises.

Do not create an account for every job: jobs belong in projects and divisions in classes. Ask your accountant to review the chart before you go live.

Products and services items in QuickBooks for contractors

Items connect estimates and invoices to the chart of accounts. Keep a short list: labor by trade, materials, subcontracted work, equipment and a deposit item, each mapped to the right income or cost account.

Estimates, progress invoicing and retainage

Many trades jobs are billed in stages: deposit, rough-in, trim-out and final. Intuit’s help article says “Progress invoicing lets you split an estimate into as many invoices as you need.” That is the draw billing feature of QuickBooks for contractors.

How to turn on progress invoicing in QuickBooks for contractors

According to Intuit’s progress invoicing article, go to Settings, then Account and settings, then the Sales tab. In the Progress Invoicing section, select Edit and switch on the option to create multiple partial invoices from a single estimate.

Build the estimate with your job costing items so each progress invoice pulls from it and shows what remains to bill. If you send invoices outside QuickBooks, our contractor invoice template shows the fields customers expect on a stage bill.

Retainage: what is and is not documented

Retainage, the portion of each payment a customer holds back until completion, is common on commercial work. The Intuit progress invoicing article reviewed for this guide does not describe a dedicated retainage feature in QuickBooks Online. If retainage is part of your contracts, ask your accountant how to record it. A common approach is a separate retainage receivable account and a clear item on invoices, but the right treatment depends on your contracts and tax situation.

Firms with heavy retainage or AIA-style pay applications should compare QuickBooks for contractors on Advanced or Desktop Enterprise Construction with dedicated construction software.

Paying subcontractors and 1099 basics

This section is general information about QuickBooks for contractors who pay subs, not tax advice; confirm with a tax professional. The IRS Form 1099-NEC page puts it simply: “Use Form 1099-NEC to report nonemployee compensation.”

The reporting threshold changed recently. The current IRS Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC tell filers to enter nonemployee compensation (NEC) of $2,000 or more in box 1a. Earlier tax years used a lower threshold, so check the instructions for the specific year you are filing rather than relying on memory or old blog posts.

Collect a W-9 from every sub before you pay them. The IRS page on forms and associated taxes for independent contractors says the W-9 should be kept in your files for four years for future reference in case of any questions from the worker or the IRS. Attach it to the vendor record in QuickBooks.

Flag 1099 vendors when you create them, and record their tax ID from the W-9.
Review the 1099 vendor summary in December, not late January.
Card and payment-app payments may be reported differently; ask your accountant.
Do not use 1099s for employees; employee wages go on Form W-2.

Worker classification is a separate legal question with federal and state rules; QuickBooks for contractors records your choice but does not make it.

Connecting QuickBooks for contractors to field service tools

QuickBooks is not a scheduling board or mobile job app. Most growing trades firms pair QuickBooks for contractors with field service software for quoting, scheduling and crew time, then sync invoices and payments into the books.

Decide which system owns which data. Typically the field app owns jobs and schedules, and QuickBooks for contractors owns accounts, bills, payroll and reports. Sync invoices one way to avoid duplicates.

Match project or job names between the field app and QuickBooks before the first sync.
Map the field app’s services to your QuickBooks items so income lands in the right accounts.
Decide whether payments sync from the field app or are recorded from the bank feed, never both.
Test the sync with a few jobs before turning it on fully.

For options, see our guide to field service software for small business, our roundup of Jobber alternatives, and, for heating and cooling firms, our comparison of HVAC estimating software. Check each vendor’s official integration page for how its QuickBooks sync works and which plans include it.

Common mistakes when using QuickBooks for contractors

Most problems with QuickBooks for contractors come from habits, not software.

Untagged costs. Bills and card purchases without a project make job reports useless. Fix it with bank rules and a weekly review.
Customer deposits booked as income. Large deposits recorded as revenue before the work starts can distort profit; ask your accountant how to treat them.
Two systems sending the same invoice. Duplicate syncs inflate receivables and confuse customers.
Running out-of-support Desktop versions. Check Intuit’s discontinuation dates every year.
No W-9 until January. Collect it before the first payment to each sub.

A weekly QuickBooks for contractors routine

Once a week, tag anything untagged in the bank feeds, send due progress invoices, check jobs running over budget and confirm W-9s are on file. This keeps QuickBooks job costing accurate without a full-time bookkeeper.

Is QuickBooks the right contractor accounting software for you?

QuickBooks for contractors fits small and mid-sized trades businesses that want widely used bookkeeping that most accountants know, plus many field app integrations.

It is a weaker fit when your work depends on heavy construction workflows, such as detailed pay applications, complex retainage, committed cost tracking or union payroll. Then compare it with dedicated construction tools.

Whichever way you go, success with QuickBooks for contractors comes from tagging every cost to a job, billing from estimates and reviewing job profit weekly. That discipline matters more than any contractor accounting software choice.

Related guides

Frequently asked questions

Which QuickBooks is best for contractors?

For most small crews, QuickBooks Online Plus is the practical choice of QuickBooks for contractors, because Intuit documents projects and class tracking on Plus and Advanced. Advanced suits larger firms that need more users and permissions. Simple Start can work for a solo tradesperson who mainly invoices.

Is there still a QuickBooks contractor edition?

Intuit’s Desktop Enterprise page currently presents a Construction edition with job cost tracking and customized reports. Older Desktop versions are being retired on a schedule, so check Intuit’s discontinuation policy and current offer before buying or renewing.

Does QuickBooks for contractors include job costing?

Yes, through projects on Plus, Advanced and Intuit Enterprise Suite. Projects group income, costs and labor for each job. Accurate QuickBooks job costing depends on tagging every bill, expense and timesheet with the right project.

Can QuickBooks for contractors handle progress billing?

Yes. QuickBooks Online has progress invoicing, which lets you split one estimate into several invoices. Turn it on in Account and settings under the Sales tab, then create invoices from the estimate.

Does QuickBooks for contractors track retainage?

The Intuit progress invoicing article reviewed for this guide does not describe a dedicated retainage feature. Many contractors use a separate retainage receivable account, but ask your accountant how to set it up for your contracts.

Does QuickBooks for contractors help with 1099s?

QuickBooks can track 1099 vendors, but whether you must file depends on the payee and payment type. The current IRS instructions tell filers to enter nonemployee compensation (NEC) of $2,000 or more, and earlier years used a lower threshold. This is general information, not tax advice; confirm with a tax professional.

Is QuickBooks for contractors better than construction software?

It depends on job complexity. QuickBooks for contractors suits most small and mid-sized trades firms. Firms with complex pay applications, retainage or union payroll should compare dedicated construction accounting software before deciding.