{"id":811,"date":"2015-04-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/how-well-do-you-know-your-job-costs\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T05:38:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:38:55","slug":"how-well-do-you-know-your-job-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/how-well-do-you-know-your-job-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"How well do you know your job costs?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMoney Matters<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHow well do you know your job costs?\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"CRE\t\t\t\tDeb Carpenter-Beck<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRunning construction jobs without knowing your job costs is like driving blindfolded in a NASCAR race. You\u2019ll surely crash and not like the outcome!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This to-the-point analogy comes from construction business coach George Hedley in an article he recently wrote for Metal Construction News<\/a>. According to Hedley, \u201cmany smaller contractors don\u2019t keep accurate and timely updated accounting of their project budgets and job costs until it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve talked with contractors as well who struggle to keep track of their costs, especially as their businesses grow and more money is flowing in and out. Many are trying to track their costs manually or with spreadsheets. In fact, according to the software buyer resource Software Advice, job costing is the number two reason<\/a> why contractors are looking for construction software today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best way to track cost by project is to use an accounting software system that has built-in job cost capabilities. This will give you updated information daily to determine which projects you are making and losing money on based on your current billings and costs. It also allows you to dig into the details (by cost code) so you can identify cost overruns early and make course corrections to preserve your final profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even if you already have an automated job cost tracking system in place, there are ways to fine tune your processes to assure you have the most reliable job costs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n