Pearl City GCs, framers, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and landscape crews are building on island time and island logistics — from resort and residential work across central Oʻahu to the tenant build-outs anchored by Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. We handle job costing, material-shipping cost tracking, multi-crew payroll, W2/1099 mix, retainage, and — critically for Hawaii — Hawaii's General Excise Tax (GET) — the ~4% (4.5% on Oʻahu with the county surcharge) gross-receipts tax that applies to nearly all business income, not just retail sales on every contract, so you can stay on the jobsite instead of buried in QuickBooks.
No setup fees · Cancel anytime · Dedicated bookkeeper
Building in Pearl City means building where nearly every stud, panel, and fixture arrives by barge — and where Hawaii's General Excise Tax (GET) — the ~4% (4.5% on Oʻahu with the county surcharge) gross-receipts tax that applies to nearly all business income, not just retail sales lands on your gross contract, not your net. Tides builds books around how central Oʻahu contractors actually operate across the City & County of Honolulu: by job, by crew, by draw, and by GET period.
Island logistics change the math. Lumber, steel, concrete, fixtures, and equipment mostly ship in through Honolulu, Kahului, Hilo, Kawaihae, or Nawiliwili harbors — so material lead times, freight surcharges, and price swings hit your job costs harder here than almost anywhere on the mainland. Working around Waipahu and the rest of Pearl City, general contractors and framers juggle multiple active jobs with long material-lead-time gaps between draws. Without real job costing, a profitable central Oʻahu job and a money-losing one look identical on the bank statement. We track every project as its own P&L — materials landed, freight, labor, subs, and equipment — so you know which builds and which scopes are actually paying.
Then there is the commercial and resort side. Work tied to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Pearlridge Center, Leeward Community College, and the City & County of Honolulu pulls a steady flow of tenant improvements, hospitality renovations, and residential builds across central Oʻahu. That work comes with grown-up accounting requirements: retainage held for months, change orders that change three more times, progress billing, and lien waivers tied to every draw. On top of it all sits Hawaii's General Excise Tax (GET) — the ~4% (4.5% on Oʻahu with the county surcharge) gross-receipts tax that applies to nearly all business income, not just retail sales — Hawaii has no sales tax, so instead you owe GET on your gross receipts, commonly passed through to the customer, and you reconcile it on the annual G-49 return. We set up your books to handle retainage receivable, work-in-progress, and a running GET liability so nothing sneaks up at filing time.
And the specialty trades are the backbone of it all. Electrical, plumbing, HVAC, framing, solar, roofing, painting, and landscaping crews run mileage-heavy routes along H-1, the H-1/H-2 interchange, Kamehameha Hwy, and Kaonohi St, split time across W2 employees and 1099 subs, and blow through materials at the supply house every morning. We separate labor from materials per job, keep contractor-license and GET records clean, track 1099s throughout the year, and reconcile it all monthly so your CPA is not guessing in April. Serving Pearl City and all of central Oʻahu — 100% remote, built for how Hawaii trades actually run.
Whether you're a solo tradesperson or running a crew, we build the bookkeeping system around how your business actually operates.
Managing subs, materials, timelines, and client billing all at once means your finances can get out of control fast. We track job-by-job profitability so you always know which contracts are worth taking.
Service calls, parts, warranties, and variable crew sizes create a bookkeeping puzzle most generalists can't solve. We understand how trades businesses operate.
Mowing, hardscaping, irrigation, tree services — high-volume, recurring contracts with equipment-heavy operations. We keep the numbers straight so you can grow your route.
Contractors and trade businesses face financial challenges that general bookkeepers routinely miss. Here's what we hear from nearly every new client.
You finish a job and it feels like a win — but after materials, labor, and subs, did you actually make money? Without job costing, you're guessing.
Big projects pay on draw schedules. Slow seasons hit hard. Without visibility into your cash position, you can't plan ahead or make smart hiring decisions.
Paying subs by check, Venmo, or cash through the year — then scrambling in January to figure out who gets a 1099. We track it all in real time.
Running to Home Depot on a personal card. Paying subs from a personal account. It feels fine until your CPA tells you it'll cost extra to sort out.
Every Tides plan includes all seven core services. Contractor clients also get specific treatment for job costing, subcontractor tracking, and equipment depreciation.
Every account reconciled, every transaction categorized, every month — without exception. You receive a clean P&L and balance sheet you can actually understand and use to make decisions about your business.
Monthly reports that show your income, expenses, and profit by category and by job — so you always know where you stand and can make smarter business decisions.
Every business account and credit card matched and verified each month. No mystery charges. No unresolved transactions. No surprises.
We track vendor bills, subcontractor payments, and outstanding invoices so your cash flow stays healthy and nothing gets missed or paid twice.
Months or years behind? We clean it all up before we start your regular monthly service — no matter how far back the backlog goes.
If you have crew members or pay subcontractors, we coordinate payroll processing and keep your tax filings clean and on schedule.
"Working with Tides has given our contracting business the financial clarity we never had before. We finally know which jobs are making money and which ones aren't."
Questions we hear from contractors and tradespeople before they sign on with Tides.
100% remote bookkeeping for small businesses across Hawaii and throughout the United States.
Tides Bookkeeping specializes in bookkeeping across 12 distinct industries. Industry-specific expertise means fewer errors, better categorization, and a bookkeeper who already understands how your business makes money.
Schedule a free 15-minute call. We'll review your current setup, answer your questions, and give you a flat monthly quote — no pressure.
No credit card required · No long-term contracts · Cancel anytime