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Roofing contractor bookkeeping: squares, claims, and holdbacks in order
A roofing company runs three different jobs through one set of books — retail re-roofs, insurance-claim work, and commercial contracts — and each pays differently, ages differently, and fails differently. We cost every roof per square against the quote, run insurance claims as their own receivables discipline, and keep commercial holdbacks out of ordinary AR so the HST lands when the law says it does.
By the AnalytIQ Accounting team · Last reviewed: August 12, 2026
Three job types, three sets of rules
The mistake in most roofing books is treating a retail re-roof, an insurance claim, and a commercial contract as the same sale. They are not: the payer differs, the paper differs, and the cash timing differs by months. We tag every job by type so each stream shows its own margin and its own collection pattern.
| Job type | Who pays | What the books must track |
|---|---|---|
| Residential retail re-roof | Homeowner, deposit plus balance | Deposit as a liability; margin per square against the quote |
| Insurance-claim job | Insurer, plus homeowner deductible | AR split by payer per claim; supplements documented and billed |
| Commercial contract | Owner or GC on progress draws | Progress billings, 10% holdback receivable, HST timing on release |
| Repair and service calls | Owner, on completion | Small-ticket volume — invoiced same-day so nothing slips |
Costing itself is per-square arithmetic: shingles, underlayment, ice-and-water shield, flashing, and fasteners on the material side; crew or sub labour, often priced per square, on the other; then bin rentals, dump fees, and equipment. The job card compares actual cost per square to the quoted price per square, which is how you learn that steep-slope jobs carry the company while low-slope repairs quietly do not.
Materials keep their own honesty check. Shingle orders carry a waste factor, and the gap between quoted squares and bundles actually delivered — net of supplier returns — is worth reconciling on every job. A crew that consistently burns ten percent more bundles than the estimate has either a measuring problem or a shrinkage problem, and only per-job material tracking says which.
Insurance jobs are a receivables discipline
An insurance job is one roof with at least two receivables: the insurer's portion and the homeowner's deductible, and they age on different clocks. We open the receivable by claim, split by payer, so the statement shows exactly who owes what on every open claim — not a blended AR number where a slow insurer and a reluctant homeowner look identical. The deductible is the homeowner's to pay, and it stays visible as their balance until collected.
Supplements are the other half. Rotted decking, extra layers, and code-required upgrades discovered mid-tear-off only turn into revenue if they are documented, approved, and billed as claim supplements — so the job card carries scope changes with photos and approval dates, and the invoice reflects the roof you actually built, not the estimate the adjuster wrote from the ground.
Commercial holdbacks and when the HST hits
On commercial work, Ontario's Construction Act lets the payer retain a 10 percent basic holdback from every draw until the lien period runs. That last ten percent is not ordinary AR — it is a holdback receivable on its own line, aged by expected release date, because mixing it into trade receivables makes your collections look worse than they are and your cash forecast better than it is.
HST follows a special clock here. Under the Excise Tax Act, tax on a holdback amount generally is not payable until the holdback is paid or the holdback period expires, whichever comes first — so we invoice draws with the holdback and its tax presented correctly, and the GST34 does not remit tax on money the Construction Act says you cannot touch yet. Progress billings against work performed also get a monthly sanity check, since chronic underbilling on a commercial roof is an interest-free loan to the GC.
Crews, WSIB, T5018, and the winter
Roofing carries some of the highest WSIB premium rates in Ontario, which makes classification and clearances a bookkeeping matter, not paperwork trivia. Sub crews paid per square get a WSIB clearance certificate before payment and a T5018 slip at year end; employees run through payroll with premiums remitted on actual rates. Getting a crew's status wrong is expensive in both directions.
The season does the rest. Production concentrates from late spring to freeze-up, so the books build a winter view — what the busy months must bank to cover trucks, insurance, and key people through the quiet ones. Receipts run through Dext into QuickBooks Online on the monthly close described on our bookkeeping services page, and when shingle and steel tariffs move your material costs, our cross-border tax guide for roofing contractors covers pricing the pass-through.
Common questions.
How should the homeowner deductible be handled on an insurance job?
As a separate receivable from the homeowner, opened alongside the insurer portion on the same claim. It stays on their statement until collected — the books should never bury it inside the insurer balance.
When is HST payable on a 10 percent construction holdback?
Generally not until the holdback is paid or the lien holdback period expires, whichever comes first. We present holdbacks and their tax correctly on draw invoices so the GST34 does not remit tax on cash you have not received.
Are sub crews paid per square reported on T5018 slips?
Yes — when construction is your primary business income, payments to subcontract crews are reported annually on T5018s, and each sub should provide a WSIB clearance certificate before being paid.
Related reading
Margin you can see per square.
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