Where I'm coming from: my company handles the office work around the books for home service businesses: invoicing, chasing unpaid invoices, and keeping receipts and job paperwork organized. We don't do bookkeeping, so we don't compete with any of the bookkeeping options in this guide. I'm not a CPA, and this isn't tax advice. Every price and statistic links to its source.
Plenty of HVAC and plumbing shops are busy all year and still aren't sure which jobs actually make money. Revenue is easy to see. What's harder to see is the parts run in the middle of a job, the second trip, and the hours a tech spent on a callback.
I've spent more than 25 years in customer service, sales, and operations. In this guide I'll cover what a trade business needs to track in its books, what QuickBooks Online costs, and how doing it yourself compares with software, an outside bookkeeper, or a hire.
The short answer
- Track every job's revenue against its materials and tech labor. That's job costing, and it's what tells you which work to chase.
- QuickBooks Online lists at $38, $85, $140, or $340 a month. Plus ($140) is the first plan that lists project profitability tracking.
- A full-time in-house bookkeeper earns a median of $50,670 a year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, before benefits.
- Most small shops do best with field service software that syncs to QuickBooks, plus someone who reconciles the books every month.
What an HVAC or plumbing company needs to track
- Job costing. For each job: what you billed, the materials used, and the tech hours spent. Without it you only know whether the month made money, not which jobs did.
- Materials. Supply house purchases should be tied to a job where possible, with truck stock tracked separately. Receipts that sit in a truck console are lost margin.
- Tech labor. Hours by job, plus drive time and callbacks. This is usually your biggest cost.
- Service agreements and memberships. Track recurring maintenance revenue on its own, so you can see how much of your income repeats.
- Accounts receivable. Unpaid invoices, by age. Following up at 30 days is far easier than at 90.
- Revenue by type. Service calls, installs and replacements, and maintenance usually earn different margins. Classes or locations in your accounting software can help separate them.
The IRS doesn't require any particular system. It says you can use any recordkeeping system suited to your business that clearly shows your income and expenses. It also says to generally keep records for three years, and employment tax records for at least four.
QuickBooks Online prices
| Plan | Users | List price per month | What matters for a trade business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Start | 1 | $38 | Income, expenses, invoices, basic reports |
| Essentials | 3 | $85 | More users, so the office and your bookkeeper can both log in |
| Plus | 5 | $140 | Project profitability, inventory, classes and locations |
| Advanced | 25 | $340 | Larger teams, user permissions, automated workflows |
List prices from QuickBooks' pricing page, which also lists a free plan, a 30-day free trial, and no annual contract. Each paid plan also allows access for 2 accountants (3 on Advanced). QuickBooks often advertises a discount for the first few months; I've used the regular price. Payroll is sold separately; see Gusto vs QuickBooks vs ADP for payroll prices.
Connecting your field service software
The cleanest setup I see is jobs, invoices, and payments starting in your field service software and syncing into QuickBooks, so nobody types an invoice twice. Here's where that sync starts on the two most common small-shop tools:
| Software | QuickBooks Online sync from | Job costing from |
|---|---|---|
| Jobber | Connect: $99/mo annual, 1 user ($149 for 5 users) | Grow: $149/mo annual, 1 user ($229 for 5 users) |
| Housecall Pro | Essentials: $149/mo annual, 5 users | Basic: $59/mo annual, 1 user |
| ServiceTitan | Ask in your demo | Ask in your demo |
From each vendor's pricing page. I compare all three in Jobber vs Housecall Pro vs ServiceTitan.
A sync only helps if what goes in is right. When techs don't close out jobs or log the parts they used, the books inherit the mess.
DIY, outsourced, or in-house?
| Option | What it costs | Good fit when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself in spreadsheets | Your time | Just starting, a handful of jobs a week | No job costing, and it falls behind in busy season |
| Do it yourself in QuickBooks Online | $38–$140/mo plus your time | You're comfortable reconciling monthly | Evenings and weekends; catch-up at tax time |
| QuickBooks Live (Intuit Experts) | Not published; Intuit offers a free consultation | You want a bookkeeper inside QuickBooks | Bookkeeping only; doesn't touch your field software or job close-out |
| Outside bookkeeper or firm | Varies; get quotes | You want monthly books without a hire | Ask if they know job costing for the trades |
| In-house bookkeeper | BLS median $50,670/yr in wages; about $72,400 with benefits (estimate) | Bigger shop with daily volume | One person; coverage for vacations and turnover |
The in-house figure uses the BLS median wage for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (May 2025). The benefits estimate assumes the BLS private-industry split, where wages are 70.0% of total compensation ($50,670 ÷ 0.70 ≈ $72,400, about $6,030 a month). That's a rough estimate, not a quote.
One more data point from BLS: it projects employment of bookkeeping clerks to decline 6% from 2025 to 2035, as software automates more of the work. Software handles the data entry. Someone still has to make sure the numbers are right.
A monthly bookkeeping checklist
- Close out every completed job in your field software, with parts and hours.
- Match supply house invoices and receipts to jobs.
- Reconcile every bank and credit card account to the statements.
- Review unpaid invoices over 30 days and follow up.
- Check that card processing fees and deposits match what was collected.
- Review job costing: which job types made money, and which didn't.
- Set aside money for taxes, and send anything unusual to your CPA.
If unpaid invoices are a bigger problem than the books, the leak may be earlier, at the phone. See what missed calls cost an HVAC or plumbing business.
More guides
- How much does a virtual receptionist cost?
- How much do missed calls cost an HVAC or plumbing business?
- Jobber vs Housecall Pro vs ServiceTitan for small shops
- Scheduling and booking software for cleaning companies
- Payroll for a small cleaning business: Gusto vs QuickBooks vs ADP
Want your bookkeeper getting clean records every month?
When you work with Infinite Time Solutions, you work with me. My team handles the office work around the books for HVAC, plumbing, and other home service companies in South Florida: sending invoices, chasing unpaid ones, keeping receipts and job paperwork organized, and handing clean records to your bookkeeper or CPA. We work in the software you already use. Book a free consultation and I'll look at where the paperwork gets stuck today.
Sources
All prices and government data were checked on October 23, 2026. Software companies change prices and run frequent promotions, so confirm before you buy.
- Intuit QuickBooks, "QuickBooks Online pricing": quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing
- Intuit QuickBooks, "QuickBooks Live / Intuit Experts": quickbooks.intuit.com/live
- Jobber, "Pricing": getjobber.com/pricing
- Housecall Pro, "Pricing": housecallpro.com/pricing
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, "Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks": bls.gov
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026" (released September 9, 2026): bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm
- IRS, "Recordkeeping": irs.gov
- IRS, "How long should I keep records?": irs.gov