Plumbing businesses run on volume: dozens of service calls, a few bigger remodel or repipe jobs, materials flying out of supply houses and truck stock. The books have one job — telling you which work is profitable and who still owes you — and most plumbing books can't answer either.
Service work vs. bid jobs
Track service-call revenue separately from bid jobs (remodels, repipes, new construction). Service runs on labor margin; bid work lives or dies on materials estimating. Blended into one income line, a bad quarter of bid work hides inside good service volume until the bank balance asks questions.
On bid jobs, deposits collected up front are a liability until the work is done — recording them as income on day one is how a busy month's books overstate what the business actually earned.
Materials, supply house accounts, and truck stock
Supply house statements deserve a monthly reconciliation of their own: returns, core charges, and contractor pricing adjustments routinely differ from what was recorded at purchase. Materials bought for a specific job belong against that job's revenue; truck stock replenishment is fine as a general materials cost.
Equipment like drain machines, cameras, and jetters are fixed assets to depreciate; fittings and consumables are expenses. Mixing the two distorts both your profit and your tax picture.
Receivables: the silent leak
Property managers and GCs pay slow. An accounts receivable aging you actually review monthly — who owes what, how old — is the difference between collecting and quietly financing other people's businesses. Books that are months behind can't produce one, which is how five-figure balances go stale past the point of collection.
Get the books off your evening schedule
If invoices live in one app, materials in a shoebox, and the bank feed hasn't been touched since spring, start with a cleanup: $199 for each month behind, every month categorized and reconciled, done within 2 days and guaranteed in writing. Then $199/month flat keeps it closed monthly with reports by day 2. No contracts, cancel anytime — instant quote on our homepage.