Bookkeeper for Builders Queensland

You are a builder. You are good at building things.

The books are a different story.

Most builders we talk to are either doing the bookkeeping themselves at 9pm on a Sunday, or handing it to someone who does not really understand construction. Neither works well.

Accounts Advantage specialises in bookkeeping for builders across Queensland. We understand how a building business works. Not just the numbers. The whole operation.

Why Builders Need a Specialist Bookkeeper

A builder’s books are nothing like a simple service business.

You have contracts that run for months. You invoice in stages. You hold retention. You pay subbies. You track costs against jobs. You deal with the ATO on TPAR. You run payroll for a construction workforce.

A generic bookkeeper looks at all of that and gets lost fast. We do not.

Job Costing – Know Your Margin on Every Job

This is the big one.

Most builders we meet do not actually know whether they made money on a job until it is finished and the dust has settled. By then it is too late to do anything about it.

We set up job costing in Xero so you can see the cost of every job in real time. Labour. Materials. Subcontractors. Plant hire. All coded to the job. You know your margin before the job is done, not after.

Progress Claims and Retention

Construction invoicing is not like sending a regular invoice.

You bill in progress claims tied to stages of work. Retention gets held back until practical completion. Getting this right in your books matters for cash flow and for your true financial position.

We manage progress claims, progress payments and track head-contract retentions (HCVs) and subcontractor retentions (SCVs) balances so your numbers always reflect reality.

Subcontractor Payments and TPAR

If your business earns 50 per cent or more of its income from building and construction services, you must lodge a Taxable Payments Annual Report with the ATO by 28 August each year. This covers all payments made to contractors and subcontractors. There is no minimum dollar threshold. Every payment counts.

Miss the deadline and the ATO can issue penalties.

We track every subcontractor payment through the year and lodge your TPAR on time. Every year. You do not have to think about it.

QBCC, Project Trust Accounts and Retention Trust Accounts

If you are a head contractor on commercial construction projects in Queensland, you have obligations under the QBCC trust account framework. Getting this wrong can cost you your licence.

Project Trust Accounts (PTA)

A Project Trust Account is a dedicated bank account required for eligible commercial construction contracts. The purpose is to protect subcontractor payments. Money received from your client goes into the PTA first. Subcontractors are paid from the PTA. You cannot move funds in and out as you please.

A separate PTA is required for each eligible contract. You cannot use one PTA across multiple projects.

The most common mistakes we see are head contractors not setting up the PTA before the first subcontract is signed, paying expenses from the PTA that should come from their operating account, and failing to pay subcontractors from the PTA when they should.

Retention Trust Accounts (RTA)

If you withhold cash retention from your subcontractors on a project that requires a PTA, you must hold those retention amounts in a Retention Trust Account. The RTA keeps retention money separate and protected until it is due to be released.

Unlike the PTA, you only need one RTA as a business. That single account can hold retention amounts across all your eligible projects.

GST on retention amounts

This is one of the most misunderstood areas in construction bookkeeping right now. Most accounting software will process a progress claim invoice and calculate GST on the full invoice amount, including the retention component that has been withheld. That means you could be paying GST to the ATO on money you have not received yet.

The ATO has a specific ruling that defers GST on retention amounts in construction contracts. You do not account for it until the retention is actually released and paid to you. This applies even if your business is on an accrual basis for GST. Retention in construction contracts is treated differently to normal accrual accounting.

The problem is that most software does not handle this automatically. The bookkeeper needs to know the rule and set up the accounts correctly. We do.

Xero for Builders

We run all our builder clients through Xero.

Xero handles job tracking, progress invoicing, and payroll in one place. It connects directly to your bank. You can see your numbers from your phone on site.

We are a Xero Gold Partner. We set up Xero specifically for building businesses, not a generic setup that someone has adapted.

At Accounts Advantage, our Managing Director is CPA qualified and all our team members hold a Certificate IV in Bookkeeping. Many of our team members are registered BAS Agents in their own right, in addition to the firm itself being a registered BAS Agent. That means you get qualified, accountable professionals handling your books. Not just someone who learned on the job.

Common Questions

Do you work with residential and commercial builders?

Yes. We work with both. Residential builders, commercial builders, and specialist subcontractors across Queensland.

Do I need a Project Trust Account?

If you are a head contractor on an eligible commercial construction project in Queensland, yes. A PTA is required when the contract value meets the threshold, at least one subcontractor is engaged, and more than 50 per cent of the contract value is project trust work. Private sector contracts of $10 million or more and Queensland Government contracts of $1 million or more are currently captured. If you are unsure whether your contract is eligible, talk to us. Getting it wrong is not worth the risk.

What is the difference between a PTA and an RTA?

A Project Trust Account holds progress payments for a specific project. All money in and out of that project flows through the PTA. A Retention Trust Account holds the cash retention amounts you withhold from subcontractors. You need a separate PTA for each eligible project but only one RTA across all your projects.

Do I need a separate trust account for every project?

Yes for the PTA. Each eligible contract needs its own Project Trust Account. You cannot reuse a PTA from a previous project or combine two projects into one account. The RTA is different. One RTA can hold retention amounts across all your eligible projects at the same time.

What happens if I pay from the wrong account?

Paying from the wrong account is a breach of your trust obligations under the Building Industry Fairness Act. The QBCC can investigate, issue fines, and in serious cases take action against your licence. It is not treated as a simple accounting error.

When do I claim GST on retention amounts?

Not when you invoice. When the retention is released and paid to you. The ATO’s ruling defers GST on construction contract retentions until the money is actually received. Most software does not handle this correctly by default, which means many builders are pre-paying GST on money they have not received. We set up your books to handle this the right way.

What if I use different software to Xero?

We migrate you across to Xero as part of getting started. No extra charge. Most builder migrations are done within a week.

Do you handle TPAR?

Yes. We track subcontractor payments through the year and lodge your TPAR with the ATO by the August deadline every year.

Are you a registered BAS agent?

Yes. Accounts Advantage is a registered BAS Agent as a firm. On top of that, many of our individual team members hold their own BAS Agent registration too. That means the person handling your books is qualified and accountable in their own right, not just covered under someone else’s licence. You get two layers of professional protection.

What does it cost?

We work on an hourly rate for the first three months while we review your file and get across your job structure. By month three we fix a monthly price. Most builder clients find the first couple of months take more hours because the books need tidying up. Once clean, the hours settle and your fixed price reflects that.

Can you help me understand my job margins?

Yes. Job costing is one of the main reasons builders come to us. We set it up in Xero and show you how to read it.

Ready to get your building business sorted?

Call our Loganholme office on 07 3209 8266 or 1300 400 105