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P
phxuser
February 12, 2021
Question

WIP (Work in progress) reporting solution for QBO

  • February 12, 2021
  • 5 replies
  • 13 views

Hi.

 

QBO is missing a couple important things for us but we otherwise like it and hence would really like to find a workaround or companion software to manage them. I suppose we'd also be open to a QB upgrade if necessary.

 

The main one is WIP reporting. Meaning, enter a contract amount, have the amount be reduced by subsequent invoices, and be able to pull a reports on status of all contracts. We are in construction and are regularly asked for these... and they are a bear to do manually.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Greg

    5 replies

    john-pero
    john-pero
    Level 12
    February 12, 2021

    Other than manually adding costs to a WIP current asset account for each contract and tracking job profitability by customer:job here are a couple of ideas. One is Projects, built in but only available in QBO Plus and Advanced (you did not say what version you use) Introducing QuickBooks Projects: An Easy Way to Track Your Projects - QuickBooks (intuit.com) another is one of many apps on the quickbooks app store Connect Tradify with QuickBooks Online - Intuit

      Fiat Lux - ASIA
      Fiat Lux - ASIA
      Level 14
      February 12, 2021

      ...

        B
        buildianconstruction
        July 9, 2021

        We are looking for the same solution and have looked at Knowify, Red Team and Builder Prime.  Has anybody tried these knows which is better for job costing and WIP? 

         

         

        C
        CaitlinL
        September 8, 2021

        We use (and love) RedTeam. However, we prefer the QBO tracking of WIP opposed to the RedTeam's WIP Statement. The way we enter it in QBO is that each time we enter an bill (expense of the project) we code it to the "Customer" aka the project in the column on the far right. Then, when we run our Profit and Loss statement at year end, we customize the P&L to View By: Customer. That way, it shows all of the income and expenses for that customer (aka project). For example, an invoice from our engineer for CCDD samples would look like this:
        Category: Direct Material, Description: CCDD samples, amount: $1,535, Customer: (select the customer or client assigned to that job), Class: (select cost code associated to that, for me it is 0140010 - CCDD Testing). 

        R
        RishBR
        October 16, 2021

        Hi Greg,

         

        Rishika here from Better Reports!

         

        Our app Better Reports can show profit and loss by customer and project drilling it down so that each of their invoices show up along with any expenses.

         

        For your specific ask on reducing the invoices from an estimated contract value, this can be done too, depending on how this estimated contract value is being stored in QB. We can fetch it from many available fields.

         

        Better Reports can then also create a summary of this showing all the contracts along with their current balance.

         

        What do you think? Is this what you had in mind? 

        W
        WIPReports
        April 18, 2026

        This thread has been going for 5 years and the core problem is still the same: QBO has no native WIP reporting capability. Even Intuit's new Enterprise Suite (launched Feb 2026) shipped without a WIP report. RedHammer, Intuit's own construction consulting partner, publicly called it "the single most important report in construction accounting and currently absent from IES."

         

        To answer @clacardo's question about retainage: you're right that the P&L by Customer approach includes retainage amounts in billings, which overstates your billed position. A proper WIP schedule needs to separate billings from retainage so you get an accurate over/under billing number. QBO doesn't have a retainage field, so the P&L workaround will always be approximate.

         

        For a proper WIP schedule you need three things QBO doesn't track: (1) contract value, (2) cost-to-complete estimate from the PM, and (3) retainage separation. You can manage this in Excel, but it gets painful above 10 active jobs.

         

        I built a tool that automates this workflow because I hit the same wall. It connects to QBO, pulls costs and billings automatically, collects cost-to-complete from PMs via a magic link (no login needed for them, takes 5 minutes), calculates the full WIP schedule, and emails the PDF to your CPA/surety/bank.

        First month free if you want to try it: wipreports.com

        A
        Anonymous
        May 26, 2026

        Still seeing this come up a lot. I'm a developer researching this exact gap would love to hear from anyone who's dealt with this recently. What's your current workaround and how long does it take you each month?

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