Facility Services
We track every dollar by contract so you know which accounts are profitable, which need renegotiation, and where overtime is eating your margins.
The Industry
A building maintenance company runs 15 contracts across the Phoenix metro. Monthly revenue is $110,000. Looks healthy on paper. But three of those contracts require dedicated crews, weekend overtime, and cleaning supplies the owner never tracked separately. When you break the numbers down by contract, four of the fifteen accounts are operating at a loss. The owner has been subsidizing bad contracts with profitable ones for two years without knowing it. He renewed every single one thinking they were all contributing.
Facility services businesses run on contracts, crews, and consistency. You staff buildings with hourly workers, manage supply costs, handle scheduling across multiple locations, and bill clients monthly. Revenue feels predictable. The problem is that costs shift constantly beneath it. Overtime creeps in. Supply prices rise. A crew member quits and the replacement needs training. A contract that was profitable when you signed it may not be profitable 18 months later, and nothing in your bank statement will tell you that.
Who This Covers
Who This Covers
Commercial building maintenance companies, janitorial service providers, security guard services, property management firms, grounds keeping operations, parking lot maintenance, and facility support businesses operating across the Phoenix Valley.
What Makes It Complex
What Makes It Complex
Multiple service contracts with different scopes and billing rates. Large hourly workforces with overtime and shift differentials. Supply and equipment costs that need allocation to specific contracts. Workers’ comp classifications that vary by service type. Subcontractor payments requiring 1099s. Cash flow timing when commercial clients pay on net-30 or net-60 terms.
What We Handle
Facility services accounting comes down to one thing. Knowing what each contract actually costs you. That means tracking labor, supplies, equipment, and overhead by account. Not lumped together in one big expense category. Separated so you can see where money is made and where it leaks out. Without that separation, your profit and loss statement shows a company total that looks acceptable while individual contracts quietly lose money every month.
QuickBooks needs to be configured to track revenue and expenses by contract or location. Without that structure, your reports tell you nothing about individual accounts. Payroll has to account for workers at different sites with varying pay rates. Overtime that gets buried in the total labor number needs to surface at the contract level. These are not generic accounting tasks. They require setup and ongoing attention specific to how facility services businesses actually operate.
Contract-Level Financial Tracking
Contract-Level Financial Tracking
Every expense tied to a specific contract. Labor hours, supplies, equipment, subcontractor costs, vehicle expenses. You see the actual margin on each account. QuickBooks set up with classes or projects so reports show profitability by contract. Historical data that tells you whether a renewal makes financial sense or whether you need to renegotiate the terms.
Payroll and Workforce Management
Payroll and Workforce Management
Hourly payroll processed for crews across multiple locations. Overtime tracked and allocated to the right accounts. Tax withholdings, deposits, and quarterly filings handled. Workers’ comp classifications maintained correctly. Year-end W-2s prepared for employees and 1099s for subcontractors without the last-minute scramble that happens every January.
Common Problems
Facility services owners often look at the bank balance and monthly revenue to gauge how the business is doing. Total revenue is $100,000. Total expenses are $88,000. Profit is $12,000. That sounds fine. But that view hides the fact that five of your contracts are generating $25,000 in combined profit while three others are losing $13,000. You are working harder than you need to and earning less than you should because unprofitable contracts drag down the entire operation. You keep servicing them because the revenue line looks like it matters.
Payroll is the other blind spot. When you have 30 or 40 hourly employees spread across a dozen locations, overtime builds quietly. One employee picks up an extra shift. Another stays late to finish a floor job. A supervisor covers for a no-show. None of it gets flagged until the payroll run comes through higher than expected. By then the money is already spent and you have no idea which contract drove the overage.
Hidden Contract Losses
Hidden Contract Losses
A contract billed at $6,500 per month looks solid. But it takes four workers, 20 hours of weekly overtime, and $800 in supplies. When you add workers’ comp, payroll taxes, and drive time, the real cost is closer to $7,200. You are paying $700 a month to service that account and calling it revenue on your books. Multiply that by a few bad contracts and the damage is real.
Overtime That Eats the Margin
Overtime That Eats the Margin
Overtime is the silent killer in facility services. A few extra hours scattered across multiple sites adds up to thousands per month. Without tracking labor costs by location, you cannot identify which contracts are driving overtime and whether those accounts justify the added expense. You just see a bigger payroll number and wonder where the profit went.
What Changes
You see every contract clearly. Which ones earn their keep. Which ones need renegotiation. Which ones should be dropped entirely. Bidding new work becomes a numbers exercise instead of a gut feeling. You pull up what similar contracts actually cost in labor and supplies and price the new one accordingly. You stop underbidding to win the account and then losing money for the life of the contract.
Payroll runs on schedule without consuming your time. Overtime patterns become visible so you can address them before they eat your margin for the month. Tax obligations are handled throughout the year instead of creating a crisis in April. You stop reacting to financial problems after the damage is done and start making decisions based on data you can trust.
Smarter Contract Decisions
Smarter Contract Decisions
Historical cost data by contract type gives you a real basis for pricing new work. You know what a 50,000 square foot office building actually costs to maintain per month. You know which service types carry better margins. Renewals get negotiated with numbers behind them. Bad accounts get repriced or replaced with ones that actually contribute to the bottom line.
Time and Margin Recovery
Time and Margin Recovery
Payroll processed without your involvement every pay period. Overtime flagged early enough to manage it. Tax deposits and filings handled automatically. You recover the hours every week that used to go toward chasing numbers and fixing administrative problems. That time goes back into operations, client relationships, and growing the business with confidence that the financials support it.
Your Valley of the Sun Bookkeeper
The Next Step:
A Quick Conversation
Tell us what's going on with your books. We'll listen, ask a few questions, and give you a clear quote with no surprises.
