Bookkeeper for Tradies

You are good at your trade. You should not have to be good at bookkeeping too.

Most tradies we talk to are doing one of three things. They are doing the books themselves late on a Sunday night. They have handed it to a family member who is trying their best but does not really know what they are doing. Or they have a bookkeeper who handles simple businesses fine but gets confused the moment subcontractors, tools, or job costing come up.

None of those options work well for long.

Accounts Advantage works with trade businesses across Queensland. Electricians, plumbers, carpenters, concreters, painters, tilers, landscapers, air conditioning technicians, and more. We understand how a trade business actually runs. The cashflow pressure. The seasonal slowdowns. The jobs that blow out. The clients who take forever to pay. The BAS that sneaks up every quarter.

We handle the books end to end so you can stay focused on the work that pays.

Why Tradies Need a Specialist Bookkeeper

A tradie’s books are not like a regular shop or office business.

You have job costs to track across multiple jobs at once. You pay subcontractors and need to report that to the ATO. You claim tools, equipment, vehicles, fuel, and protective gear. Your invoicing can be complex if you do staged billing or progress claims. If you have employees or apprentices, you have payroll, super, and Single Touch Payroll on top of everything else.

A bookkeeper who only handles simple businesses will miss things. They might miscategorise your tool purchases. They might not know about TPAR obligations. They might lodge your BAS with errors that cost you more than their fee is worth.

We work exclusively in Xero. We set it up for trade businesses, not a generic template. And we know the ATO rules that apply specifically to the building and construction industry.

Job Costing – Know Where Your Money Is Going

This is the part most tradies get wrong, and it costs them.

Most trade business owners we meet cannot tell you which jobs are actually making money and which ones are eating it. They finish a job, send the invoice, and hope for the best. By the time they realise a job type is unprofitable, they have done it twenty times.

Job costing fixes that.

We set up Xero so you can track labour, materials, subcontractor costs, and equipment hire against each individual job. You can see in real time how much a job is costing versus what you quoted. You know your margin before the job is finished, not six months later when your accountant runs the numbers.

Over time, this data tells you which types of jobs to take on and which ones to quote higher on. It is one of the most useful things we do for growing trade businesses.

BAS Lodgement

Your BAS is due every quarter. Miss it and the ATO charges interest and penalties. Get it wrong and you are either overpaying or creating a liability you have to fix later.

We prepare your BAS, check the GST figures, and lodge it on time every quarter. We also make sure your input tax credits are claimed correctly. A lot of tradies either miss credits they are entitled to or claim things they should not. Both create problems.

If you are behind on previous BAS lodgements, we can help you get caught up and manage the ATO conversation.

Subcontractor Payments and TPAR

If you pay subcontractors and 50 per cent or more of your income comes from building and construction services, you are required to lodge a Taxable Payments Annual Report with the ATO by 28 August each year.

This catches a lot of tradies by surprise. There is no minimum dollar threshold per contractor. Every dollar you pay a subcontractor needs to be reported. That means if you pay a subie $500 cash for a day on site, that gets reported. If you forget to track it, or your bookkeeper does not know the rule, you are exposed to ATO penalties.

We track every subcontractor payment through the year as part of your regular bookkeeping. When August comes, your TPAR is ready to lodge. You do not have to chase records or dig through your bank statements.

Payroll for Tradies with Employees

If you have full-time employees, part-time staff, or apprentices, payroll gets complicated fast.

You need to run pay correctly under the right award. Super needs to be paid on time at the right rate. The super guarantee rate is 12% from 1 July 2025. Single Touch Payroll requires you to report every pay event to the ATO in real time.

Get any of that wrong and you are looking at ATO notices, Fair Work complaints, or both.

We manage your complete payroll including pay runs, super calculations, STP reporting, and end of year payment summaries. If you take on a new apprentice, we get them set up correctly from day one.

Xero for Tradies

We run all our tradie clients through Xero. It is the best cloud accounting software for trade businesses and we are a Xero Gold Partner.

Here is what Xero does for a tradie on the tools every day.

Your bank transactions feed in automatically. No manual data entry. You can send invoices from your phone on site the moment a job is done. You can photograph your receipts through HubDoc and they land straight in Xero without you touching a spreadsheet. You can see what you are owed, what is overdue, and what is sitting in your account right now.

If you are currently using MYOB, QuickBooks, or a spreadsheet, we migrate you across to Xero as part of getting started. Most migrations are done within a week.

We set up Xero specifically for how a trade business works. Job tracking. The right chart of accounts for the industry. GST codes that match your types of work. Payroll if you have staff. It is not a generic setup that someone has adapted. It is built for you.

Catch-Up Bookkeeping for Tradies

A lot of tradies come to us because they have fallen behind. Sometimes months behind. Sometimes years.

They have been too busy on the tools to keep up with the admin. Or they have been doing it themselves and it has gotten away from them. Or a previous bookkeeper left things in a mess.

We have seen it all. We are not here to judge. We are here to fix it.

We go back through your transactions, reconcile your accounts, sort out your GST, and get your file current. Once we have it clean, we keep it that way from month to month so you never end up in this position again.

Receipt Capture – No More Shoeboxes

One of the most common problems tradies have is receipts.

You buy materials at Bunnings. You fill the ute up twice a week. You pick up tools from the hardware store. All of that is a legitimate business expense but it only works in your favour if you capture it properly.

We use HubDoc with all our tradie clients. You photograph your receipt on the spot with your phone and it uploads straight into the system. No shoebox. No bag of crumpled paper at tax time. Every expense is captured, coded, and ready.

We Know the ATO Rules for the Building and Construction Industry

The ATO treats building and construction differently to most industries. TPAR is one example. The GST rules around construction retentions are another.

A lot of bookkeepers handle tradies without understanding these specific rules. That means errors in your BAS, missed TPAR obligations, and sometimes incorrect GST treatment on subcontractor invoices.

We stay current on ATO guidance for the building and construction industry. It is part of what we do.

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

What trades do you work with?

Electricians, plumbers, carpenters, concreters, painters, tilers, landscapers, air conditioning technicians, fencers, pool builders, and most other trade businesses across Queensland. If you work on the tools, we can help.

Do I need to lodge a TPAR?

If 50 per cent or more of your income comes from building and construction services and you pay contractors or subcontractors, yes. There is no minimum dollar threshold per contractor. Every payment counts. We track your subcontractor payments through the year and lodge your TPAR with the ATO by 28 August each year. You do not have to do anything other than make sure we have a record of every subcontractor payment.

What is a TPAR and what happens if I do not lodge it?

TPAR stands for Taxable Payments Annual Report. It tells the ATO who you paid as a subcontractor and how much. The ATO uses this information to cross-check what contractors are declaring in their own tax returns. If you do not lodge it, the ATO can issue failure to lodge penalties. If you lodge it late, penalties also apply. We handle this for you so it is never a problem.

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?

It depends on your business. For childcare centres we offer a fixed monthly fee from day one. For all other businesses, we work on an hourly rate for the first three months. This gives us time to review your file, understand the scope of work, and catch up anything that is behind. By month three we know exactly how long your books take each month, and we move you to a fixed monthly price from there.

What if I am behind on my books?

We offer catch-up bookkeeping. We go back through your transactions, reconcile your accounts, sort out your GST, and get you current. It happens more often than you think and it is never as bad as people fear.

Do you work with tradies outside Loganholme?

Yes. We are based in Loganholme and we work with tradies across the Gold Coast, Logan, Brisbane south side, and all of Queensland. We work remotely with clients across the state.

What software do you use?

We use Xero for all bookkeeping. We use HubDoc for receipt capture. We are a Xero Gold Partner and we set up Xero specifically for trade businesses. If you are currently on another platform, we migrate you across as part of getting started.

Can you help me understand my job margins?

Yes. Job costing is one of the main reasons tradies come to us. We set it up in Xero and walk you through how to read it. Over time you will know which jobs to take on and which ones to quote differently.

What if I use cash a lot in my business?

Cash transactions still need to be recorded and reported correctly. We help you set up a proper system so nothing falls through the cracks at BAS time or tax time.

Ready to get your books off your plate?

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