5.0 out of 5 based on 41 reviews
Accounting for HVAC, Plumbing and Electrical Businesses
Track job profitability, labor efficiency, and service agreement performance so growth actually turns into profit.
★★★★★“Since adding Alex with Stronghold Accounting for our bookkeeping, it has truly been a Godsend for our business. Alex cleaned up a difficult QuickBooks transition and became a game changer for our month-to-month bookkeeping.”Patty LeslieTampa
★★★★★“I like that you're helping me strategize, not just giving me numbers. There were still blind spots that you've been able to uncover for me. I didn't think that was possible.”JoelService-business owner
★★★★★“Alex and his team helped bring the books current and continue to provide monthly support while helping plan for growth.”Dr. MaloneLake Mary
★★★★★“Alex is sharp, detail-oriented, and genuinely passionate about his work. He explains the numbers clearly and helps business owners gain more control over their finances.”Baxter McCoyOrlando
★★★★★“Since adding Alex with Stronghold Accounting for our bookkeeping, it has truly been a Godsend for our business. Alex cleaned up a difficult QuickBooks transition and became a game changer for our month-to-month bookkeeping.”Patty LeslieTampa
★★★★★“I like that you're helping me strategize, not just giving me numbers. There were still blind spots that you've been able to uncover for me. I didn't think that was possible.”JoelService-business owner
★★★★★“Alex and his team helped bring the books current and continue to provide monthly support while helping plan for growth.”Dr. MaloneLake Mary
★★★★★“Alex is sharp, detail-oriented, and genuinely passionate about his work. He explains the numbers clearly and helps business owners gain more control over their finances.”Baxter McCoyOrlando
★★★★★“Since adding Alex with Stronghold Accounting for our bookkeeping, it has truly been a Godsend for our business. Alex cleaned up a difficult QuickBooks transition and became a game changer for our month-to-month bookkeeping.”Patty LeslieTampa
★★★★★“I like that you're helping me strategize, not just giving me numbers. There were still blind spots that you've been able to uncover for me. I didn't think that was possible.”JoelService-business owner
★★★★★“Alex and his team helped bring the books current and continue to provide monthly support while helping plan for growth.”Dr. MaloneLake Mary
★★★★★“Alex is sharp, detail-oriented, and genuinely passionate about his work. He explains the numbers clearly and helps business owners gain more control over their finances.”Baxter McCoyOrlando
What makes home services accounting different
Cost per truck. A home services business is a fleet of small businesses, each with a technician, a vehicle, inventory and a service radius. Measured only at company level, a business can look healthy while two of five trucks lose money every week.
Why company-level numbers mislead in this tradeA home services business with five trucks and a healthy consolidated margin can contain two trucks losing money every week, subsidised by three that are doing well. The consolidated P&L is accurate and useless. Cost per truck is the number that changes decisions: who to coach, who to replace, and whether the sixth truck is worth buying.
The problems that only happen in home services
01No margin by job typeInstall, repair and maintenance have very different economics. A business chasing volume on low-margin repairs while under-selling installs is busy and not profitable, and a company-level P&L will not show it.
02Truck stock treated as an expense on purchaseParts bought and loaded onto vehicles are inventory sitting on wheels. Expensed on purchase, gross margin swings with buying patterns rather than work done, and nobody knows what is on the trucks.
03Service agreements recognized on saleAn annual maintenance plan paid up front is deferred revenue released across the year as visits happen. Booked on sale, spring looks excellent and the autumn visits arrive as pure cost.
04Technician pay tangled with job profitabilityHourly, commission, spiff, or a mix. Unless technician cost lands against the jobs they ran, there is no way to see who is profitable and no basis for the pay structure.
05Callbacks that cost twice and bill onceA return visit to fix work already paid for is a real cost against the original job. Most businesses record it as another service call, which makes the original job look better than it was and hides a quality problem.
06Overtime and after-hours work absorbedEmergency call-outs cost more to deliver. If the premium charged does not cover the premium paid, the most stressful work is the least profitable.
07Fleet costs pooledFuel, maintenance, insurance and depreciation lumped into one line rather than tracked per vehicle, so the truck costing twice what the others do stays invisible.
08Growth funded by working capital nobody is watchingAdding a truck means a vehicle, a technician, a stock of parts and a hiring gap before the revenue arrives. Businesses in this trade often expand into a cash squeeze because the P&L looked fine while the balance sheet was doing the work.
What we handle for home services businesses
The problem
What we do
Margin by job type
Margin by job type, separating install, repair and maintenance
Truck stock
Truck stock tracked as inventory, with parts costed to the jobs that consumed them
Service agreements
Service agreement revenue deferred and released as visits are delivered
Technician cost
Technician cost allocated to jobs, whatever the pay structure
Callbacks
Callback cost tracked against the original job
Cost per truck
Cost per truck, including fuel, maintenance, insurance and depreciation
Overtime and after-hours
Overtime and after-hours premium measured against the premium charged
Payroll
Payroll, typically the largest controllable cost in the business
Monthly close
CPA analysis of the monthly close
Home services benchmarks
40-55%+Target gross margin
10-20%+Target net margin
25-35%Target operating expenses as a share of revenue, excluding direct job costs
20-30%Target direct field labor as a share of revenue
Under 30 daysTarget receivables where credit is extended
Software we work in
QuickBooks Online for the general ledger. During discovery, Stronghold maps the field-service system's customer, job, payroll, and payment data into the accounting workflow.
The integration that matters is the field service system into the ledger. If job data is not reaching the books, margin by job type cannot be produced at all.
How it works
STEP 1Job type baseline first. Splitting revenue and cost across install, repair and maintenance for recent months.
STEP 2Truck and technician structure. Tracking set up so cost lands where the work happened.
STEP 3Foundation Buildout, particularly around truck stock and service agreements. The typical timeline is 2-4 weeks.
STEP 4Monthly close, with margin by job type and cost per truck alongside the P&L.
Proof
$96,000Misclassified or misallocated costs identified, specialty contractor
8 pointsBelow target margin on a category of projects, found after rebuilding two years of activity
What it costsPriced on technician and truck count rather than revenue, since that is what drives the work.
Pricing is custom and flat-rate. The quote reflects company size, industry, headcount, bank and credit-card accounts, locations, entity count, transaction volume, and any cleanup required.
Pricing is custom and flat-rate. The quote reflects company size, industry, headcount, bank and credit-card accounts, locations, entity count, transaction volume, and any cleanup required.
For a specialty contractor with about $4.2 million in annual revenue, Stronghold rebuilt two years of accounting activity, identified about $96,000 in misclassified or misallocated costs, and found a category of projects running roughly eight percentage points below target margin.Specialty contractor
Services home services businesses usually need
See more services for home services businesses
Common questions
Home services questions
Can you show margin by job type?
Yes, and it is usually the first thing that changes how an owner runs the business. Install, repair and maintenance rarely earn what owners assume they earn.
How should truck stock be handled?
As inventory rather than an expense at purchase, with parts costed to the jobs that used them. Otherwise gross margin moves with your buying rather than your work.
We sell annual maintenance agreements. How is that recorded?
As deferred revenue released across the agreement term as visits are delivered. Recognising it on sale makes the selling season look far better than it is.
Can you work with our field-service software?
Stronghold reviews the platform during discovery and maps its job, customer, and payment data into QuickBooks Online. The team has worked with more than 30 operating systems across industries.
How do we know if a truck is profitable?
Revenue generated by that technician against their pay, their vehicle costs and the parts they consumed. Most businesses have never seen it laid out that way.
Do you handle payroll for technicians on commission or spiff?
Yes, when the selected payroll platform supports the compensation structure. Stronghold works with providers including ADP, Paychex, Gusto, and QuickBooks Payroll.
Do you prepare our tax return?
Stronghold handles proactive tax planning and works with an integrated tax-preparation partner for filing. We coordinate the year-end handoff so the books, planning, and return preparation stay connected.