Bookkeeping for Vancouver contractors and trades

Vancouver trades work on everything from house renovations to mid-rises on the Broadway corridor. We keep your books job by job, so a kitchen and a building each show what they made.

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From $225/month

Progress draw 4

Example

Mechanical rough-in, mid-rise on the Broadway corridor

Billed this draw
$64,200.00
Held back, 10%
−$6,420.00
Paid to you
$57,780.00
Holdback waits on the jobPayable 55 days after completion

Amounts before GST.

Renovations, multiplexes and the Broadway corridor

A lot of Vancouver work is on older houses: renovations, additions and, under the Province's small-scale, multi-unit housing rules, multiplexes on lots that held one home. Those jobs are smaller and faster, and there is often a homeowner rather than a GC on the other side of the contract.

Along Broadway, the subway extension to Arbutus is set to open in fall 2027, and the City's Broadway Plan, approved in 2022, sets out thirty years of new homes and job space around it in Mount Pleasant, Fairview and Kitsilano. Mechanical, electrical and finishing trades on those buildings bill against long schedules.

  • Homeowner contracts

    The Builders Lien Act covers work on houses too. On an owner's contract of $100,000 or more, the Act has the owner keep the holdback in a separate holdback account, held in trust for the contractor.

    Source: BC Laws

  • Deposits before the work

    Renovation clients often pay a deposit before anything starts. It is recorded as a customer deposit, a liability, until the work it pays for is done, so revenue isn't counted early.

  • Prompt payment is coming

    BC's Construction Prompt Payment Act passed in November 2025 and isn't in force yet. When it starts, an owner has 28 days from a proper invoice to pay, and a contractor 7 days to pay its subs after being paid.

    Source: Province of BC

The rules on every BC job

The same in Vancouver as anywhere in the province, and kept in your books every month.

  • 10%

    Holdback on every draw

    Whoever pays you on a contract or subcontract keeps back 10% of each payment. We record it as holdback receivable against the job, not as revenue you lost, and you keep 10% from your own subs as holdback payable.

    Source: BC Laws
  • 55 days

    Until a holdback can be paid

    The holdback period ends 55 days after a certificate of completion, or after the head contract is completed. The Construction Prompt Payment Act, not yet in force, will shorten it to 46.

    Source: BC Laws
  • $500

    A T5018 slip per subcontractor

    If construction is more than half your business income, payments to a subcontractor over $500 in the period (before GST) are reported on a T5018, due six months after the calendar or fiscal year you report on.

    Source: CRA
  • PST

    Paid on materials, not charged on install

    Contractors pay PST on materials bought for a job, lump sum or time and materials, and generally don't charge it when those goods become part of the building. That PST is part of the job's cost; only the GST comes back as an input tax credit.

    Source: Province of BC
  • Before and after

    A WorkSafeBC clearance letter for each sub

    If a sub you hired doesn't pay its WorkSafeBC premiums, you can be liable for them. A clearance letter addressed to you, before and after the work, is what protects you.

    Source: WorkSafeBC
  • 1.5×

    Overtime for hourly crews

    Time and a half after 8 hours in a day or 40 in a week, and double time after 12 in a day, unless an averaging agreement applies. Payroll is run from the timesheets.

    Source: Province of BC
  • 5 days

    To issue an ROE after a layoff

    On a weekly, biweekly or semi-monthly payroll, an electronic Record of Employment is due within 5 calendar days after the end of the pay period in which someone's earnings stop.

    Source: Service Canada

Kept by someone from the trade

Liam keeps these books. Before Tallyforth he spent his career in concrete construction as a detailer, surveyor, estimator and quantity takeoff specialist, so a draw schedule, a holdback and a back-charge read to him the way they read to you.

What it costs

Monthly bookkeepingReconciled, closed and reported every month
$225/month
PayrollHourly crews, remittances, T4s and ROEs
$100/month and up
Year-end, corporationsT2 prepared and filed by a licensed CPA
$1,325/year

A contractor with a crew and a holding company

$1,950 to $2,438/month

An example estimate from our pricing page.

Estimates only, confirmed after we review your books. Plans have a 3-month minimum, and prices are before applicable sales taxes.

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Questions from contractors in Vancouver

We mostly renovate houses for homeowners. Do holdbacks apply to us?

Generally, yes. The Builders Lien Act applies to improvements to land, houses included, so the 10% holdback applies to those contracts too, and on an owner's contract of $100,000 or more the owner has to keep it in a holdback account. A construction lawyer can tell you how it applies to a particular contract.

What changes for our books when prompt payment starts?

The clocks. Owners will have 28 days from a proper invoice to pay, contractors 7 days to pay their subs after being paid, and the holdback period drops from 55 days to 46. The Act isn't in force yet and no start date has been set. Your receivables are already aged from the invoice date, which is where those clocks start.

More for contractors

Sources