If you're a custom home builder using Buildertrend and QuickBooks Online, getting the two systems working together can make your job costing and bookkeeping much easier. The important part is making sure everything is set up correctly from the beginning.
In general, Buildertrend is going to handle more of the project management side of the business, including your estimates, budgets, cost codes, selections, change orders and other job information. QuickBooks is where your bookkeeper or accountant will keep the actual accounting records, reconcile the bank and credit card accounts, track bills and payments, and prepare your financial reports.
When the two systems are connected correctly, they can share quite a bit of this information instead of your team having to enter everything twice.
How Buildertrend and QuickBooks Work Together
Before getting too far into the integration, you'll want to make sure your jobs, vendors and cost codes are set up properly between the two systems. Buildertrend cost codes, for example, are linked to Products and Services in QuickBooks. Your Buildertrend projects also need to be linked to the correct customers or projects in QuickBooks.
This is important for job costing. If you receive a $15,000 framing bill for the Smith Residence, we want that transaction assigned to the Smith project and the correct framing cost code. The same idea applies to plumbing, electrical, cabinets, flooring and the other costs going into the home.
Once everything is mapped correctly, information can move in both directions. Bills and invoices created in Buildertrend can be sent to QuickBooks, while payments and certain costs entered directly into QuickBooks can come back into Buildertrend. QuickBooks expenses, checks, bills and certain credits can also be included in the Buildertrend Job Costing Budget.
This can work nicely because your project team doesn't necessarily need to spend all day in QuickBooks, and your bookkeeper doesn't necessarily need to do all of their work inside Buildertrend.
What's the best set-up? It depends on your workflow
There are some nuances to how this should be set up. Buildertrend's accounts payable workflow is largely centered around creating bills and then syncing those bills over to QuickBooks.
That may work great for subcontractor bills or larger vendor invoices, but not every construction expense starts as a bill. Your company may also have credit card purchases, checks, ACH payments and smaller material purchases that your bookkeeper is recording directly through QuickBooks.
Depending on your business, it may make more sense for certain transactions to start in Buildertrend and others to start in QuickBooks. The important part is agreeing on that workflow ahead of time so you're not entering things twice or accidentally leaving job costs out.
This is also an area where your bookkeeper or accountant can work alongside your project team. They can make sure the transactions flowing into QuickBooks are being recorded correctly, while also checking that the project and cost code information is making its way back into Buildertrend.
What's the goal?
At the end of the day, the goal is to have the information in both systems make sense.
If you're spending money on the Smith Residence, those costs should be assigned to the Smith Residence. If you're spending money on framing, plumbing or cabinets, those costs should also be assigned to the right cost code.
Once you're consistently doing that, your bookkeeping becomes much more useful. Instead of only seeing how profitable the company was overall, you can start reviewing how each individual home performed, where you went over budget, and where you may need to adjust your pricing on the next project.
Additionally, having your bookkeeping done correctly and regularly by someone who understands construction accounting can help you with tracking your Work-In-Progress - giving you a good idea of how many costs you've incurred in relation to how much more the customer will pay you. This will help to prepare your cash and foresee any shortfalls.
