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KGM
Level 1

GC - title company payments

Hello! New to any kind of forums. I am doing accounting for a General Contractor  who builds 3 to 4 single family homes a year for homeowners with their own funds and I don't know how to go about keeping track of bills from the subcontractors or supply companies. I would like to enter them into QB, but most of them are being compensated from the Title company and the construction loan is  the homeowner's, not the GC's. So I only enter my GC's direct expenses. With that there are a couple of issues I have:

*I lose track of whom I owe and how much, etc. especially when there are a few projects going on

*I don't have the idea of the current total expense, unless I add  QB GC expenses and the title company pay outs manually, e.g. in excel which I have to update whenever there are new expenses, which is  even a greater hassle and I am never sure if I entered/retyped  everything from QB, and I have to do it for every house, but it doesn't make sense, because I need the total cost information to be available at least weekly, and it looks that I am doing the work twice for each project and the only info I am sure about is the one that I have in my QB, not the combination of QB and manual entry. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

7 Comments 7
qbteachmt
Level 15

GC - title company payments

Let's start here: "who builds 3 to 4 single family homes a year for homeowners with their own funds"

 

It's from the GC bank. It's always the GC funds.

 

"and I don't know how to go about keeping track of bills from the subcontractors or supply companies."

 

You need to understand your process. Example: You hire the subs, you submit proof of the Costs to pay, and the bank or title company pays the subs per your approvals, using the Homeowner's Construction Loan. This means your entry of the bills are handled as Other Current Asset, as Billable. Then, you invoice the title company along with the details. They send back proof they paid, and you enter this as Payment against the "reimbursement" invoice you created. The easiest way to do all of this is with a Bank type of account named "Construction Clearing." And everything you enter as spent, from that Bank type of account as Write Check, is done using a Single-sided Item linked to one CIP (construction in progress) Other Asset account. You enter the details on the Items tab as Billable to the customer project name. You invoice using the Add Time & Costs button, and this is what you send to the title company. This also Clears out the Other Asset account. You get the notice of total paid out, and you "receive" the payment against the invoice and "deposit" to that Clearing Bank. Now it is $0, in theory, as it just offset what you had entered you incurred (but never actually paid for, directly).

 

"I would like to enter them into QB, but most of them are being compensated from the Title company and the construction loan is  the homeowner's, not the GC's. So I only enter my GC's direct expenses."

 

You can enter Both types of activities.

 

"With that there are a couple of issues I have:

*I lose track of whom I owe and how much, etc. especially when there are a few projects going on"

 

Always Job Track the split details on the Items tab of the checks.

 

"I don't have the idea of the current total expense, unless I add  QB GC expenses and the title company pay outs manually, e.g. in excel which I have to update whenever there are new expenses,"

 

This is why you don't use the Expenses tab for the entries. Instead of a financial report (P&L), you want to run Job Reports. Job Cost reports can be filtered, for instance, on the CIP account only.

 

You want to use the Job Tracking and reporting tools, not rely on the Financial reports for this.

KAGM
Level 1

GC - title company payments

Thank you. I will Try to understand and start changes and see how it turns out. I will have questions going forward, so I will ask you for help later, if that's ok. Thanks for now!

KAGM
Level 1

GC - title company payments

Hello , Hello!

I was able to do handle the bill entry as you suggested. Thanks again. I only worked with two bills so far. Now, before I go any further, I  am looking for a report that I could run to see the job cost totals. I can't find any.  I am worried that I won't be able to run a report that would allow me to see the total cost of direct expenses I already have, plus the ones I entered from title company.  I am a little confused about the reporting. 

* What reports do I have to pull to be able to see that? With the money coming straight to my GC checking account plus the "virtual" money paid from title company and the cost entered  I thought I should be able to see  some kind of totals of cost or profit/loss somewhere. 

What I am doing here now will not  show on P&L and I knew that , but where does it show,and the expenses I already had before (all are job assigned) will. What do I do ?

I run QB Pro Desktop.  Do I need a more advanced version? I already saw that I won't be able to generate Expenses by Vendor with Job Filter, where I was hoping I could see something. Or can I stick with my  QB Pro Desktop. Can you help?

PS. There is one thing you said about " It's from the GC bank. It's always the GC funds."  Can you explain what you mean? Even when GC's  client (homeowner) signed a loan with the bank and is incurring all cost with that , it is GC Bank and GC Funds? I am not that savvy. Thanks!

CustomBldr
Level 1

GC - title company payments

Hello - If I'm using a QB invoice for a sworn statement to a title co, how do I get the vendor info (who will be receiving the payment) on the invoice? I can't see any way to do this, or any way to export the info into a spreadsheet. I'm currently using Desktop but will be switching to Online next month. We're currently transferring all of the payout info into a spreadsheet to present to the title co, but I'd like to find a way to use QB for this (for continuity & avoidance of errors).

Has anyone successfully done this who can advise?

Thank you.

Mark_R
Moderator

GC - title company payments

Hello there, @CustomBldr.

 

I'd love to help you with your concern about getting vendor info on a vendor invoice. But can you please provide more information about it? Are you trying to export the vendor info on a vendor invoice to a spreadsheet? Any additional information could help us provide the best resolution to your concern.

 

Please know that the Community is always open to help you with any concerns you may have with QuickBooks. Have a good one!

CustomBldr
Level 1

GC - title company payments

Hi Mark - Well, no, it's not on a vendor invoice. I'm trying to figure out if other contractors know a way to use a Quickbooks report as a title company sworn statement. It lists work completed & includes the name & address of the subcontractor that the title company will be paying (attachment). I was thinking maybe there is a report that could be exported to Excel then maybe manipulated to look like a sworn statement. The post from "qbteachmt" mentioned invoicing the title co, so I was also curious about that possibility. As much as I like Excel, I hate repeating the information & chancing something getting missed. I'm new to Contractor bookkeeping, it's much more involved than I realized, so I'm trying to keep everything as clean as possible. Thank you!

QueenC
Moderator

GC - title company payments

Thank you for returning and sharing additional details about your objective, @CustomBldr. I appreciate your engagement, and I'm here to offer further assistance by providing information and steps to help you retrieve the desired data.

 

In QuickBooks Desktop, we have a wide range of reports at our disposal, which can be incredibly useful when we require specific information. Moreover, we have the flexibility to customize these reports to display the most relevant data that aligns with our needs and priorities.

 

Since you want a report that shows the name and address of the sub-contractors, and the list of work completed, we can pull up the Job Status report. 

 

To do this, please follow the steps I've narrowed down for you:

 

  1. Go to the Reports menu then select Reports Center.
  2. Select Contractor then double-click on the Job Status report.
  3. To show specific information, hit Customize Report


     
  4. You'll be routed to a page where you can choose what data you want to include. 
  5. In the Display tab, scroll down and select the columns you'll want to show. The selected ones will have a checkmark beside them. You can select the Job Status column, Balance, Bill to, First Name, Company Name, and such.


     
  6. When done, hit OK

 

Additionally, it's worth noting that in QuickBooks Desktop, you have the option to memorize reports. By doing so, you can save the customized settings of a report for future use, eliminating the need to go through the customization process again. For more information on this topic, please refer to the following article: Create, access and modify reports in QuickBooks Desktop

 

Thank you for reaching out and sharing your concerns, Mark. I understand the importance of keeping your bookkeeping clean and avoiding any potential errors or omissions. If there's anything else you need assistance with or if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to let me know. I'm here to support you every step of the way.

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