Xero bookkeeping for builders

What we do in Xero for builders

Each house is a job in Xero, kept as a tracking category option or a Xero Project, whichever suits the way you run your builds. Everything below is recorded against that job.

• Deposits and progress claims raised as invoices on the job, with each payment from the client or their bank matched to its claim, and the amounts carried in the books as your accountant directs.
• Variations kept as separate invoice lines on the job, with the signed variation attached in Xero, so approved extras are easy to tell apart from the original contract price.
• Retentions tracked on the job until they are released, whether the client is holding money back from you or you are holding some back from a subcontractor, and held in the books however your accountant decides.
• Supplier bills for frames, trusses, concrete and fittings entered against the house they were delivered to, with the delivery docket attached to the bill.
• Subcontractor bills from your trades coded to the job they worked on, with the original attached, ready for you to approve and pay.
• A job profit report from the tracking category or the project, comparing what you have invoiced on each house with what it has cost so far.
• Your bank and card statements checked against Xero every month, with any differences explained, and payments that have no job yet coded to the house they were for.

Businesses by main state or territory

These counts are for the ANZSIC class House Construction. Businesses that build other residential buildings, such as apartments, or commercial buildings are counted in other classes, so they are not included here.