Upstate GCs, framers, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and landscape crews are running flat out — Main Street to Mountain Rest, in-town renovations to foothills custom builds. We handle job costing, multi-crew payroll, W2/1099 mix, draws, retainage, and materials/labor splits so you can stay on the jobsite instead of buried in QuickBooks.
No setup fees · Cancel anytime · Dedicated bookkeeper
The Upstate is in the middle of one of the largest sustained construction booms in the Southeast — and the trades economy across Oconee County is feeling every inch of it. Tides builds books around how Upstate contractors actually operate: by job, by crew, by draw.
The residential side is steady and growing. Walhalla, West Union, and the Blue Ridge foothills are seeing new subdivisions, custom builds, and infill move at a pace the county hasn't seen in years. General contractors and framers here are juggling 8–15 active jobs at once — draw schedules, deposit timing, multi-crew scheduling, subcontractor coordination — and without real job costing, profitable jobs and money-losing jobs look identical on the bank statement. We track every project as its own P&L so you know which builders, which neighborhoods, and which scopes are actually paying.
Then there's the commercial side. County facilities, school district projects, and the industrial employers across Oconee County pull a steady stream of build-outs and renovations — municipal work, commercial fit-outs, and facility upgrades. That work comes with grown-up accounting requirements: retainage held for months, change orders that change three more times, AIA-style progress billing, and lien waivers tied to every draw. We set up your books to handle retainage receivable, work-in-progress, and change-order tracking the way commercial GCs actually need them.
And the specialty trades are the backbone of all of it. HVAC, electrical, plumbing, framing, landscaping, painting, roofing — crews running mileage-heavy routes between jobsites, splitting time across W2 employees and 1099 subs, blowing through materials at Lowe's and the local supply house every single morning. We separate labor from materials per job, track every truck and tool, keep 1099s clean throughout the year, and reconcile mileage so your CPA isn't guessing in April. Serving crews right here in Walhalla — we know how Upstate trades businesses 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 South Carolina 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