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Bookkeeping for HVAC, plumbing, electrical and landscaping companies: how LedgerBPO runs it
Bookkeeping for HVAC, plumbing, electrical & landscaping companies means a named accountant who posts every job invoice, matches every card payout and supply-house bill, and closes the books inside your own QuickBooks Online file. We work from ServiceTitan, Jobber or Housecall Pro exports, so the ledger agrees with the jobs your technicians actually completed.
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What we handle
Bookkeeping for HVAC, plumbing, electrical & landscaping companies means a named accountant who posts every job invoice, matches every card payout and supply-house bill, and closes the books inside your own QuickBooks Online file. We work from ServiceTitan, Jobber or Housecall Pro exports, so the ledger agrees with the jobs your technicians actually completed.
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Billing and books together
Job invoices, progress payments and card payouts posted to the right customer and job
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Reconciled every month
Sales tax by state, technician commissions and truck stock tracked every month
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What you see
Books closed within five business days with a second accountant's sign-off
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A named accountant, a backup and a team lead
Inside your own software, on a fixed close calendar, with a reply from a person within 1 business day. Call +1-657-777-0006 or start a quote.
Get a custom quote 06 / 06
· Reviewed by Nimra Khalid
Field services accounting challenges
- 01
Field software and the ledger disagree
ServiceTitan, Jobber and Housecall Pro mark a job as invoiced the moment a technician taps complete, while QuickBooks only learns about it when the sync runs. A shop finishing 300 jobs a month can carry dozens of unsynced or duplicated invoices by month-end, so revenue in the two systems rarely matches without a line-by-line tie-out.
- 02
Sales tax on services changes at the state line
Most states exempt pure labor, but Texas taxes landscaping and nonresidential repair work, and Hawaii, New Mexico, South Dakota and West Virginia tax most services. Whether a ticket is taxable often depends on whether the job was repair, new construction or maintenance, and on which side of a county line the property sits.
- 03
Card fees and financing hide the real margin
A $1,200 repair paid by card reaches the bank as roughly $1,165 after a 2.9% processor fee, and consumer financing plans can take a further 5% to 10% off the ticket as a dealer fee. When deposits are posted as revenue at the net amount, sales are understated and the fee expense never shows up anywhere.
- 04
Truck stock walks off the balance sheet
Parts bought at the supply house and loaded onto vans are inventory until they are installed, yet most shops expense them the day the bill arrives. With ten trucks each carrying a few thousand dollars of stock, cost of goods sold swings from month to month based on supply-house statement dates rather than on the jobs completed.
- 05
Commissions are calculated before the month is invoiced
Technician pay plans blend hourly wages with a percentage of sold revenue, and payroll is due before every job from the period has been billed. Owners spend 120+ hours a year on bookkeeping tasks like these (RadCity, UseCalcPro, 2026), and a wrong commission base has to be corrected on the following check.
What we handle for HVAC, plumbing, electrical and landscaping companies
Job-level posting
Every invoice from the field software lands in QuickBooks Online against a customer, a job and a department class. Missed syncs and duplicates are found weekly, not at year-end.
Sales tax by jurisdiction
We set tax codes by state, locality and service type, track the liability by filing period, and hand your preparer or filing service a reconciled worksheet each period.
Processor and financing tie-out
Card batches, financing fundings and dealer fees are posted gross, so revenue, fees and discounts each appear where they belong.
Truck and warehouse inventory
Monthly stock counts from your field software feed an inventory adjustment, so cost of goods sold follows the jobs rather than the supply-house calendar.
Commission and spiff worksheets
Sold-revenue reports become a commission worksheet your payroll provider can run from, with the accrual posted in the month the work was sold.
Seasonal cash planning
A rolling 13-week cash view shows how far the fall shoulder season stretches before heating calls start, and when equipment purchases are safe to make.
Field services software we work in
- QuickBooks Online
- Gusto
- ServiceTitan
- Jobber
- Housecall Pro
- All 50 platforms
Field services compliance notes
Sales tax on services by state
Taxability of labor, parts and maintenance agreements is set state by state, and some states also tax at the city or county level. We map your service items to the right tax codes in QuickBooks Online and reconcile the tax collected against the liability each period. Filing stays with you or your tax preparer; we supply the reconciled workings.
Job costing
Materials, technician hours, subcontractor bills and permit fees are coded to the job they belong to, so a large install can be reviewed against its estimate. Progress payments on installs are held as customer deposits until the work is complete, which keeps revenue in the month it was earned.
Technician commissions
Commission plans based on sold revenue, gross margin or spiffs are documented once and calculated the same way every pay period. We accrue the commission in the month of the sale and reverse it when payroll runs, so the P&L does not spike on payday.
Inventory on trucks
Van stock is an asset until it is used, and unrecorded stock is a common reason field-service margins look wrong. We record a monthly count per truck, post the adjustment, and flag trucks whose usage is far above the fleet average for the owner to look into.
KPIs we report
| KPI | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Invoice issued the same day the job is marked complete | Every day between completion and invoice is a day the customer has forgotten what the technician did. |
| Field-software revenue equals ledger revenue at month-end | If the two systems disagree, neither the commission base nor the sales-tax return can be trusted. |
| Gross margin by department: install, service and maintenance | Installs and service calls carry very different labor and material mixes, so a blended margin hides problems. |
| Days sales outstanding under 30 on commercial and property-management accounts | Residential pays at the door; the commercial book is where cash gets stuck. |
| Truck stock variance under 2% of monthly parts purchases | A variance above that usually means parts are being installed without being invoiced. |
Services for HVAC, plumbing, electrical and landscaping companies
- Outsourced bookkeeping for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
- Invoicing & billing for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
- Accounts receivable management for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
- Accounts payable processing for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
- Bank & credit-card reconciliation for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
- Month-end close for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
- Monthly financial reporting for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
- Catch-up bookkeeping for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
- Payroll processing support for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
- Cash application & remittance posting for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
- Payment processor & marketplace reconciliation for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
- KPI dashboards for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
- Remote controller review for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
- Accounting software setup & migration for hvac, plumbing, electrical & landscaping
Frequently asked questions
How much does bookkeeping for HVAC, plumbing, electrical and landscaping companies cost?
US outsourced bookkeeping typically runs $150 to $1,600 per month, with review-backed plans in the $400 to $800 range (indinero, 2026). Field-service companies sit toward the middle because of job-level coding, sales tax by jurisdiction and processor reconciliation. Pricing depends on volume and scope, so we send a custom quote within 1 business day.
Do you work inside ServiceTitan, Jobber or Housecall Pro?
Yes, we work from the reports and integrations those platforms already provide. Your dedicated accountant uses the completed-jobs, payments and inventory reports, checks the sync into QuickBooks Online, and fixes what did not come across. We do not replace your dispatch software or ask technicians to change how they close a ticket.
How do you handle sales tax on service work?
We map each service item to a tax code by state and locality, then reconcile tax collected against the liability every filing period. Where labor is exempt and parts are taxable, the invoice items are split so the return is right. You or your tax preparer file the return; our accounting software setup service covers the initial tax-code mapping.
Can you track profit by job or by service line?
Yes, through department classes and job-level coding in QuickBooks Online. Materials, labor hours, subcontractors and permits are coded to the job, and each invoice carries a department such as install, service or maintenance. The monthly financial reporting package then shows gross margin by department and a job-cost review for large installs.
Who calculates technician commissions?
Your dedicated accountant prepares the commission worksheet from the sold-revenue report, using the plan you have documented. The worksheet goes to your payroll provider, and you approve it before anything is paid. We accrue the expense in the month of the sale, so the P&L reflects the cost of the work when it was sold rather than on payday.
What happens to the bookkeeping in the slow season?
The work continues, but the focus shifts from volume to cash planning. Fewer tickets mean the bookkeeper spends more time on the 13-week cash view, maintenance-agreement renewals and equipment-purchase timing. Engagements are month-to-month, so scope can be trimmed for a quiet quarter and expanded again when the summer or winter peak arrives.
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