Question

Using classes, job costing, equipment cost, etc

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
August 14, 2020
5 replies
28 views

We WILL be using QuickBooks desktop CONTRACTOR edition. My question is this:

The company owner wants to be able to get report of Profit & Loss for each project, but also wants to track operating cost of trucks/equipment used. Note - Many vehicles and equipment are leased, or rented.

A consultant, who I question is really as knowledegable as she claims at least as it pertains to QB, has told the owner that by using classes he can get all this. I have not used classes in QB but have viewed several videos on this and don’t see how it is going to get the owner the information he wants. Maybe I'm just not getting it, so that's why I am here.

The owner desperately wants to get a handle on how much each truck / piece of equipment costs him to operate, but also wants to know the costs on each as it relates to a particular project.

We know the factors that have to go into figuring out an hourly cost. Whether this can be done in QB or not, I am not aware. And if it can be, how, and also how do we apply this to a particular project?

QuickBooks Enterprise Suite

Angelyn_T

Moderator

Thank you for the detailed information, @pjmitchell55.

Yes, you can use the class tracking feature to track these transactions in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT). Once the feature is activated from the Preferences, you can now add a class to your transactions. That said, you can either open the Profit and Loss by Job or Profit and Loss by Class, then filter the names to your jobs/projects if you want to get a report for each project.

On the other hand, the hourly costs entered in QuickBooks (expense or payroll) can only be track by jobs.

To open the report/s:

Select Company & Financial from the Reports tab, then click on Profit & Loss by Job or Profit and Loss by Class.
Make the customization from the report's page. If you wish to open the Profit and Loss by Class, filter the name/s to show just your project/s.
Tap OK to refresh the page.

To learn more about these features, check out the topics from these articles:

Also, read the details from this link to learn more about running and customizing reports in QBDT.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I'm always here to help as quickly as I can. Have a good day, @pjmitchell55!

Fiat Lux - ASIA

Level 14

@pjmitchell55

If you don't need to have more than 5 users working on the same company file at the same time, consider using QBD Premier with a one time license and integrate it with a construction management app.

S

Sbond

Hi PJ Mitchell,

I am new to QB Desktop Contractors and find myself needing the same type of set-up. Have you had any luck figuring out equipment cost?

M

Maybelle_S

QuickBooks Team

Thanks for joining the thread, @Sbond.

You can follow the steps given by my colleague @Angelyn_T about tracking costs in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

You can also check this article for more details: Tracking job costs in QuickBooks Desktop.

I've added this link about customizing jobs and sales reports in QBDT: Customize customer, job, and sales reports.

You can always visit us again if you have other questions. I'm here to help.

P

Pro Grade Enterprises Inc

The steps you showed are great but where to you enter in the hours which piece of equipment is used

N

Naw-Ruh9000

No text available

MaryLandT

Level 10

Hi there, Naw-Ruh9000.

I can see that you've edited your post. Please don't hesitate to leave a comment below if you need help.

I'm adding these articles to learn how job costing and class tracking works in QuickBooks Desktop.

I'll keep this post while waiting for your response. Thank you and have a great day ahead!

A

AJR6

I have a question relating to overhead expenses. How would you allocate rent, for example? I understand the formula for calculating overhead costs, but how would you set this up in QBDT for the job costing report? We have assigned materials, payroll, etc. to each job, but am not sure how to set up overhead for each job. How would this be done?

J

john675645

QuickBooks Desktop Contractor Edition can track both project P&L and equipment costs, but classes alone won’t give the full picture.

Simple setup:

Use Jobs for project-level Profit & Loss.
Track each truck/equipment as its own class or cost bucket to capture fuel, lease, repairs, etc.
Calculate the hourly equipment cost outside QB, then allocate it to jobs using billable time, journal entries, or cost adjustments (QB doesn’t calculate this automatically).

This gives you:

Accurate P&L per project
Clear operating cost per equipment unit
Allocated equipment cost per job

Many contractors use this structure today—it's the same approach we see when supporting clients at Ledger Labs.

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