Commercial facility services
Books and taxes for commercial floor care companies.
Nightly floor contracts at a grocery chain, a quarterly strip and wax at an office lobby, floor finish bought by the drum, and a burnisher that finally needs replacing. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
April came in at $9,900. The rebuilt burnisher motor went in as equipment repair, and I kept the finish order in its own line since it will cover a few jobs ahead.
- Grocery chain nightly billingRecurring nightly contracts
- Office lobby strip and waxOne-time strip and wax jobs
- Floor finish, drum orderFinish and chemicals
- Burnisher motor rebuildEquipment repair
- Crew night shift wagesCrew labor
Why your books are different
Commercial floor care books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business runs crews at night on standing contracts, takes on one-time strip and wax jobs, and buys finish and chemicals in bulk. When the books do not know that, a stock-up month looks like trouble and a good contract looks worse than it is.
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1
Nightly contracts and strip jobs blur together
A grocery chain's nightly cleaning contract and a one-time quarterly strip and wax at an office lobby land in the same revenue line, so you cannot tell whether the steady contracts or the occasional project job is really carrying the month.
What we doKeeps recurring nightly contract billing apart from one-time strip and wax jobs, so you can see the dependable base under a project month. -
2
A finish stock-up wrecks the monthly number
Floor finish, stripper, and sealer bought by the drum can cover months of work, so one big order makes a good month look thin and the following months look great for no real reason.
What we doKeeps finish and chemicals in one steady line and flags stock-up months, so a bulk order does not read as a bad month. -
3
A burnisher rebuild is not a supply expense
A commercial burnisher, auto-scrubber, or floor machine can cost as much as a used truck, and rebuilding the motor or deck is a real equipment cost, not a routine chemical purchase.
What we doFlags major equipment purchases and rebuilds the day they show up, logs them as equipment, and gets the accountant's call on how to write them off. -
4
Night shift crew pay hides what a contract actually costs
Paying a night crew across several nightly accounts makes it hard to tell which contract is actually worth keeping, so an underbid grocery chain account can quietly run at a loss.
What we doTracks crew labor against contract and account count, so cost per account is visible, not buried in a weekly payroll total.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a commercial floor care company.
Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Recurring nightly contractsGrocery, retail, and office accounts billed monthly for nightly floor care.
- One-time strip and wax jobsQuarterly or annual strip and refinish jobs billed on their own.
- Carpet and specialty cleaningAdd-on services billed separately from the core floor contract.
- Emergency spill and cleanup callsSame-day calls for spills or damage outside the regular schedule.
Money out
- Finish and chemicalsFloor finish, stripper, sealer, and detergent bought in bulk.
- EquipmentBurnishers, auto-scrubbers, and floor machines logged so they get written off right.
- Equipment repairMotor rebuilds, pad drivers, and machine maintenance.
- Crew laborNight shift wages, kept apart so labor is visible against contracts served.
- Vehicle and routeFuel, insurance, and repairs for crew transport vehicles.
- Bid and marketing costsProposals sent to property management companies and retail chains.
- Insurance and licensingGeneral liability and any local janitorial bonding requirements.
What we watch for you
- Contract labor share
Night crew wages against nightly contract income, so an underbid account gets caught before it becomes a habit.
- Finish cost per job
What chemicals actually cost against strip and wax jobs run, so pricing keeps up when supplier prices move.
- Nightly contract share
Nightly contract income against total income, so you know how much of the month is steady versus a project.
- Equipment uptime cost
Repairs and parts against each machine, so you know when it is heading toward replacement instead of one more fix.
Ask Gus
Things commercial floor care owners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
I logged it as equipment repair, not a chemical purchase, so it does not read like a bad month of finish spending.
You bought a big drum of finish that will cover a few strip jobs ahead. I kept it in finish and chemicals with a note that it was a stock-up, not a slow month.
If you pay him $2,000 or more this year and he is not on payroll, he gets a 1099 by January 31. I keep that list running as the shifts get covered.
The tax side
The tax side of a commercial floor care business.
Most of what goes wrong here is labels and timing. A machine rebuild filed as chemicals, a fill-in crew member paid like a contractor who works like an employee, and a set-aside nobody started until the return was due.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Burnishers and floor machinesBurnishers and floor machines bought for the business can usually be written off the year you buy them, with bonus depreciation back to 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Contractor 1099sA fill-in crew member paid $2,000 or more in 2026 who is not on payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps that list current all year.
- Employee or contractorA crew member who works your contract on your schedule with your equipment is usually an employee. Getting that wrong gets expensive, so Gus asks before it becomes a habit.
- The pass-through deductionA profitable floor care owner can usually take up to 20 percent of business profit off taxable income under the pass-through deduction, once the books are right all year.
Deductions commercial floor care companies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Floor finish and stripper
- Burnisher pads and drivers
- Auto-scrubber batteries
- Machine motor rebuilds
- Crew transport vehicle fuel
- Uniforms with your logo
- Safety signage and wet floor cones
- Proposal and bid software
- Tools that live with the crew
- Phone and tablet for scheduling
- Licenses and bonding
- Card processing fees
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A commercial floor care year, kept every month.
Nightly contracts run steady while strip and wax project jobs come and go with lease turnover and retail calendars. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Contract year kickoff
Filing on last year's return begins, the fill-in crew member's 1099 gets confirmed, and a monthly set-aside starts building toward April.
- April
Closed out clean
This month the return is filed and signed. No scramble, because the set-aside has been quietly building since January.
- July
Midyear contract check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether new nightly contracts this year changed the number.
- October
Before the holiday retail push
As retail floors need to be ready for holiday foot traffic, Gus looks at equipment worth buying and anything worth doing before December.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for commercial floor care companies. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions commercial floor care owners ask first.
Can Gus tell my nightly contracts apart from one-time strip and wax jobs?
Yes. He keeps recurring nightly contract billing in its own category from one-time strip and wax projects, so you can see which part of the business is the steady base.
I run crews overnight and get paid on different schedules. Does that matter?
No. Whatever the deposit timing, Gus reads it straight from your bank statement, and if a payout is unclear he asks once and remembers your answer going forward.
Do I write off a new burnisher all at once?
Often you can. A burnisher bought for the business can usually be written off in full the year you buy it, though sometimes spreading the deduction out is the smarter move. Gus flags the purchase and the accountant decides with your whole year in view.
A big finish order made this month look bad. Is that normal?
It happens whenever a bulk chemical order lands ahead of the jobs it supports. Gus keeps finish and chemicals in their own line so a stock-up month does not read as a loss.
It has been a season since I looked at my books. Is that a problem?
No. Send whatever statements you have, even a season's worth of contracts. Gus sorts them, the accountant checks them, and you will know where you stand within a week.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever