In construction, what you build matters. But what you track might matter more.

If your accounting processes are clunky, backlogged, or dependent on tribal knowledge, you're not just creating a bottleneck. You're putting your entire business (and its value) at risk.

In this episode of Builders, Budgets & Beers, Reece sat down with

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Andrea Gallion, Director of Client Accounting Services at Melton & Melton, to talk about the unsexy but essential foundation of a healthy construction business: real-time job costing, WIP reporting, and daily financial discipline.

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And if you think that sounds like overkill, think again.

How a Lack of Process Cripples Growing Builders

Andrea sees it all the time: builders with revenue in the tens of millions... and no real accounting system.

• Books not reconciled for 5+ years
• No job costing
• No WIP (Work In Progress) schedule
• Pay apps and invoicing processes stitched together with spreadsheets, sticky notes, and memory

In one case, a builder approached her for help getting their books in order before selling the business, only to reveal they hadn’t reconciled their bank accounts in half a decade.

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“That tells me there was no job costing, no projects set up... just chaos,” Andrea says. “They were trying to build a business, but their finances weren’t telling the story.”

The Consequences Go Far Beyond Admin Chaos

Poor financial tracking doesn’t just lead to messy books. It impacts:

• Cash flow: When you don't reconcile, your bank balance may mislead you. You think you have $60,000, but $55,000 of that is tied up in stale checks or misallocated funds.
• Tax liability: Without clean WIP reports and reconciled books, you're likely over- or under-reporting income, both of which can trigger IRS issues.
• Exit readiness: If you can’t produce real, accurate financials, your business is harder to sell, harder to value, and harder to transfer.

So... What Should Builders Be Doing?

Andrea lays it out clearly: There are three non-negotiables for a strong construction accounting function.

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1. Track costs daily. Not weekly. Not monthly. Daily. “You go to Home Depot for fasteners. A week later, will you remember which job they were for? Probably not.”
2. Reconcile monthly. This is how your accounting software (QuickBooks or otherwise) becomes a true source of truth. Without reconciliation, your books are just guesses.
3. Run WIP reports monthly. WIP tells you how far along your jobs are and how much income you should recognize. This is critical for:
   • Accurate tax reporting
   • Preventing over/underbilling
   • Understanding your real-time profitability
   “A lot of contractors only do WIP annually. But if you’re bringing in millions in revenue, how can you afford to not know where you stand month by month?”

Outsourcing vs. In-House: What’s the Right Fit?

According to Andrea, it depends on your people.

• If your in-house team is experienced and consistent, you may only need outsourced oversight or controller-level review.
• If your “bookkeeper” is really just your office manager winging it, you’re likely missing critical processes, and need more robust support.

The key is to ask: “Does your team really know what they’re doing, or are they just using workarounds someone showed them when they got hired?”

Tech Stack ≠ Tech Success

Many builders assume buying a tool solves the problem. Andrea disagrees:

“You need the right process, not just the right tool. Software is only as good as your implementation and discipline.”

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She points to Adaptive’s job costing and WIP features as tools that make this easier, but they don’t replace ownership.

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With Adaptive:

• Receipts and pay apps flow in automatically
• Credit card charges can be coded by the person who made the purchase
• WIP updates in real-time as actuals hit the job
• Time tracking, bill rates, and draw prep are all connected

“I processed 30+ invoices in under 15 minutes in Adaptive,” Andrea said. “No scanning. No stamp. No Excel. It’s not just faster, it’s cleaner.”

Final Word: Builders, Know Your Numbers

If you're a builder doing between $8M–$30M in annual revenue, you're big enough for the IRS to care and small enough for sloppy back-office processes to stall your growth.

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Andrea’s advice? “Look at how long it takes your team to process pay apps. If it’s painful, it’s time to reassess your tech and your process. The faster AP gets done, the faster you get paid. Don’t wait for a crisis or a buyer to get serious.”

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