Staffing, recruiting & HR services
Books and taxes for construction labor staffing agencies.
Skilled trade placements, certified payroll on public jobs, workers comp that runs high for job site work, and crews idled by weather. Gus sorts it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
June came in at $27,100. Three rain days on the Delmont job site meant a week of idle wages, so I kept those apart from billable hours to see the real hit.
- Delmont General Contracting payoutTrade billings
- County school project payoutCertified payroll billings
- Union hall dues remittanceUnion payments
- Zurich comp premiumWorkers comp
- Weather-idle wage payoutIdle time wages
Why your books are different
Construction labor staffing books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist sees deposits and payroll runs. Your business is a crew paid by the trade, a public job that demands certified payroll paperwork, and weather that can wipe out a week of billable hours without warning. When the books don't know that, you can't tell whether a job site is actually paying for itself.
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1
Certified payroll jobs get billed like any other project
A public works job under prevailing wage rules requires certified payroll records showing exactly what each worker was paid by trade classification. Treated like a standard invoice with no wage detail tracked, that documentation gets rebuilt from scratch under deadline instead of kept as you go.
What we doKeeps certified payroll billings and their wage detail in their own line so the records line up when the paperwork is due. -
2
Weather-idle wages disappear into regular payroll
A crew paid for a rained-out day still costs real money, but no client billing covers it. Buried in general wages, it makes a slow week look like a normal one and hides how much weather is actually costing the business.
What we doFlags idle time wages separately so weather-related cost stays visible against billable hours. -
3
One workers comp rate covers every trade
An electrician and a general laborer carry very different injury risk and very different comp class rates. One blended rate either overprices the safer trades or undercharges for the riskier ones.
What we doKeeps placements coded by trade so comp premiums track the right class and true labor cost by trade stays visible. -
4
Union dues and benefit remittances blur into wages
Union placements often carry dues, pension, and benefit fund remittances on top of wages. Lumped into one payroll figure, you lose sight of what a union crew actually costs versus a non-union one.
What we doKeeps union remittances in their own line so true cost per crew type stays clear.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a construction labor staffing agency.
Set up once for trade-based billing and job-site payroll. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Trade billingsWeekly invoices for electricians, laborers, and other trades billed to general contractors.
- Certified payroll billingsPublic works and prevailing wage projects, kept apart for their own recordkeeping.
- Temp-to-hire conversion feesWhat a contractor owes when they hire a placed tradesperson on permanently.
- Rush placement premiumsShort-notice crew fills to keep a job site on schedule.
Money out
- Crew wages and payroll taxesW-2 pay for placed trades and laborers, run through payroll weekly.
- Idle time wagesPay for weather-delayed or rained-out days, tracked apart from billable hours.
- Workers comp premiumsBilled by trade class: electrical, general labor, and equipment operation all differ.
- Union dues and benefit remittancesPension, health, and dues payments for union placements.
- Background checks and site safety trainingOSHA training and screening required before dispatch to many sites.
- PPE and tools supplied to crewsHard hats, harnesses, and job-site gear.
- Staffing softwareThe system running dispatch, timesheets, and certified payroll reports.
What we watch for you
- Idle time cost
Wages paid on weather-delayed days. Tracked against billable hours, it shows the real cost of a bad-weather stretch.
- Margin by trade
Billings minus wage cost, by trade classification. Shows which crews are actually worth the overhead.
- Comp rate by trade class
Pulled straight from payroll by trade, so a mismatched class code gets caught before the comp carrier's audit finds it.
- The set-aside
What you'll owe across the building season, tracked every month, so April doesn't land as a surprise.
Ask Gus
Things construction labor staffing 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.
It cost you real money, about $4,200 in idle wages, but I kept that separate so you can see it plainly instead of it just making June look like a bad month overall.
Yes. I keep the wage detail for those jobs tracked by worker and trade as you go, so the certified payroll paperwork is ready when it's due, not rebuilt under deadline.
Dues and pension remittances are running about 18 percent on top of wages for those placements. I keep it in its own line so you can compare union and non-union crew cost directly.
The tax side
The tax side of a construction labor staffing agency.
Most of what goes wrong here is classification and recordkeeping. A trade worker treated like a contractor, and payroll records that aren't ready when a public job asks for them.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Worker classification for tradesA tradesperson working a job site under a contractor's supervision and schedule is usually a W-2 employee, not a 1099 vendor, no matter how the trade itself is licensed.
- Certified payroll recordkeepingPublic works projects under prevailing wage rules usually require detailed payroll records by worker and trade classification, kept and ready to submit, not reconstructed after the fact.
- Multi-state and multi-jurisdiction payrollPlacing crews across a metro area that spans state lines can create payroll tax obligations in more than one state, even for short-term job site work.
- The pass-through deductionMost owners can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income, a benefit that comes out right when margin by trade is tracked all year.
Deductions construction labor staffing agencies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Staffing and dispatch software
- Job board and union hall recruiting costs
- Background checks and safety training
- PPE and job-site tools supplied to crews
- Workers comp premiums
- General liability insurance
- Recruiter mileage to job sites
- Staffing agency bonds
- Phone and tablet for dispatch
- Certified payroll reporting software
- Referral bonuses for skilled trade leads
- Vehicle costs for crew transport
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 construction labor staffing year, kept every month.
Job sites run on weather and permits, and your taxes still land on a fixed schedule. 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
Set the year's crews up right
Last year's return gets started, W-2s go out for every trade on the roster, and a monthly set-aside begins before the spring building season ramps.
- April
Filed, job sites unaffected
Your return is filed and signed without pulling anyone off a job site. No surprise bill, since the set-aside has been building since January.
- July
Building season check-in
Where margin by trade stands at the midpoint of the busy building season, and whether idle time is eating into it.
- October
Before winter slowdown
Outdoor trade work often slows as weather turns. Gus looks at what that means for crew size and the year's set-aside before it hits.
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 construction labor staffing agencies. 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 construction labor staffing owners ask first.
Can Gus keep certified payroll records straight for public works jobs?
He keeps the wage detail for those jobs tracked by worker and trade as the month goes, so the recordkeeping certified payroll requires is ready when it's due instead of rebuilt at the last minute.
Weather idles our crews some weeks. Does that wreck the monthly number?
No. Gus tracks idle time wages in their own line, apart from billable hours, so a rained-out week shows up as its real cost, not as a mystery bad month.
We place both union and non-union crews. Does that change the books?
It changes what gets tracked, not the approach. Gus keeps union dues and benefit remittances in their own line so you can compare true cost between union and non-union placements.
How does Gus handle different comp rates across trades?
He keeps placements coded by trade, electrical, general labor, or equipment operation, so comp premiums track the right class instead of one blended rate.
A worker we placed says they should be an employee, not a contractor. What now?
That's worth taking seriously. A tradesperson working under a contractor's schedule and supervision is usually an employee. Gus flags it and the accountant reviews the arrangement.
Our books are behind after a busy building season. Can we catch up?
Yes. Send the bank statements and payroll records you have, and Gus and your bookkeeper sort through them so you 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