Commercial & custom builders
Books and taxes for modular and manufactured home dealers.
Floor-plan financing on homes sitting on the lot, land-home packages, chattel loans versus mortgages, and sales commissions on every unit sold. 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
August made $35,000. The Ramirez land-home package closed, so I split the sale between the home itself and the site work instead of booking it as one lump number.
- Ramirez land-home closingHome sales
- Trade-in resale, used unitHome sales
- Clayton Homes factory orderInventory purchase
- 21st Mortgage floor planFloor-plan financing
- Setup crew payrollInstallation labor
Why your books are different
Manufactured home dealer books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist bookkeeper sees a big check when a home sells and calls it a day. Your business carries inventory financed by a floor plan lender, sells some homes with land and some without, and splits every deal between the sales staff, the factory, and the setup crew. When the books do not separate all of that, you cannot tell which homes actually make money.
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1
Floor-plan interest hides inside inventory
A home sits on the lot for four months before it sells, and the interest the floor plan lender charges the whole time quietly eats into what that unit actually earns. Buried in a general interest expense line, it never gets connected to the specific home it belongs to.
What we doTracks floor-plan interest against the unit it financed, so you can see what a home actually cost to carry before it sold. -
2
Land-home deals get booked as one number
A $220,000 land-home package includes the home itself, site prep, a septic system, and utility hookups, each with a different supplier and a different margin. Booked as a single sale, you cannot tell whether the home or the site work is what actually made the deal profitable.
What we doSplits a land-home sale into the home, the site work, and the setup, so each piece's margin is visible on its own. -
3
Chattel loans and mortgages get treated the same
A home-only sale financed as a chattel loan closes differently than a land-home deal financed with a mortgage, with different paperwork, different timing, and sometimes a different lender cutting the check. Mixed together, it is hard to see which financing type is actually moving units.
What we doKeeps chattel-financed sales and mortgage-financed sales in their own lines, so you can see which one is carrying the lot. -
4
Sales commissions blur into payroll
A salesperson earns a flat commission per unit sold, and if that payout looks like regular wages in the books, you lose the connection between what a sale earned and what it cost to close it.
What we doKeeps commissions tied to the specific unit sold, so you can see true margin on every home after the sales cost.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a manufactured home dealer.
Set up once to split home sales from site work and financing costs, and an accountant checks it every month.
Money in
- Home salesThe unit price on every manufactured or modular home sold, home-only or with land.
- Site work and setup billingFoundation, utility hookups, and setup, billed apart from the home itself.
- Trade-in resalesUsed units taken in trade and resold off the lot.
- Dealer holdback and rebatesVolume incentives and rebates paid back by the manufacturer.
- Extended warranty commissionsCommissions earned for selling manufacturer warranty plans.
Money out
- Factory inventory purchasesHomes ordered from manufacturers like Clayton Homes or Champion.
- Floor-plan financingInterest paid on inventory financed until it sells, often through a lender like 21st Mortgage.
- Installation and setup laborCrews who block, level, and hook up utilities on delivered homes.
- Site work subcontractorsFoundation, septic, and utility subs on land-home packages.
- Sales commissionsPer-unit commissions paid to sales staff.
- Lot rent and utilitiesRent, power, and upkeep for the sales lot and model homes.
- Delivery and transportTrucking fees to move a home from the factory to the site.
What we watch for you
- Unit margin
Profit per home after commissions, setup, and floor-plan interest are all in.
- Days on the lot
How long a home carries floor-plan interest before it sells.
- Land-home mix
Home-only sales against land-home packages, since the margins differ a lot.
- Inventory on floor plan
How much of the lot is still financed and owed to the floor-plan lender.
Ask Gus
Things manufactured home dealers 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.
Yes, and I tracked it against that specific home the whole time it sat there, so you can see what it actually cost to carry before it moved.
I already do. The home, the site work, and the setup each show up as their own piece, so you can see which part of the deal actually made money.
It changes how the paperwork closes, and I keep the two apart so you can see which kind of deal is actually moving units off the lot. Worth a look with the accountant if one type is running thin.
The tax side
The tax side of a manufactured home dealer business.
Most of what goes wrong here is inventory. Floor-plan interest, trade-ins, and a sales staff paid on commission all need their own line before the return gets built.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Floor-plan interest deductionInterest paid to carry inventory on the lot is usually deductible as a business expense as it accrues, tracked against the specific units still financed. Gus keeps that running so nothing gets missed at year end.
- Inventory accountingHomes on the lot are inventory, not equipment, so they are handled differently than a job-cost contractor's materials. Gus tracks purchases and sales by unit so the accountant can value inventory correctly.
- Sales commission 1099sAny commissioned salesperson not on payroll who is paid $2,000 or more in 2026 gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps that list current across every unit sold.
- Excess business loss limitA large loss year, which can happen when several units sit unsold and financed for months, is limited to $256,000 for single filers and $512,000 for joint filers before the rest carries forward.
Deductions modular and manufactured home dealers miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Model home upkeep
- Lot rent and utilities
- Delivery and transport fees
- Setup crew tools and equipment
- General liability insurance
- Dealer licensing fees
- Advertising and lead generation
- Continuing education
- Sales office software
- Phone and tablet for sales staff
- Signage and lot displays
- Uniforms with your logo
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 manufactured home dealer's year, kept every month.
Homes move on and off the lot all year, but the tax calendar runs on its own schedule. Your team keeps you ahead of it. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Plan the year
Last year's return gets started, the sales commission 1099 list gets finalized, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been running since January no matter how long units sat on the lot.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand on unit margins and floor-plan interest so far, and whether this year's sales pace is ahead of last year's.
- October
Before year end
A look at inventory still on the lot and any moves worth making before December closes the books on the year.
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 modular and manufactured home dealers. 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 manufactured home dealers ask first.
Do you track floor-plan interest by unit?
Yes. Interest on inventory financing gets tracked against the specific home it belongs to, so you can see what a unit actually cost to carry before it sold, not just a lump interest expense for the whole lot.
Some deals are home-only, others include land and site work. Can the books split that?
Yes. A land-home package gets broken into the home, the site work, and the setup, so each piece's margin is visible instead of one blended number.
We pay sales staff a flat commission per unit. Does that get tracked separately?
Yes. Commissions are tied to the specific unit sold, so you can see true margin on every home after the cost of closing the sale.
Some sales are financed as chattel loans, others as real property mortgages. Does that matter for the books?
It changes how each deal closes, and Gus keeps the two kinds apart so you can see which one is actually moving units off the lot.
Our books are behind after a busy sales season. Can you catch them up?
Yes. Send the bank statements and unit records you have. Gus sorts income and cost by unit, and most owners know where the lot stands 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