QuickBooks cleanup for plumbers: where plumbing books usually go wrong, and how to fix them

Common QuickBooks mess-ups in plumbing shops

• One card for everything. Fuel, fittings and groceries on the same card means every line needs a decision, and personal charges end up as business expenses.
• Supply-house bills with no home. Parts land in Uncategorized Expense, Office Supplies or Repairs instead of the materials or job supplies account your CPA wants, and they’re not tied to the job.
• Same-day card payments counted twice. The invoice is marked paid, then the bank deposit is added again as new income instead of being matched.
• Never reconciled. QuickBooks says one balance, the bank statement says another, and nobody knows which month went wrong.
• Owner pay booked as an expense. Draws coded as wages or “payroll” make profit look smaller than it is, and confuse your CPA.
• Van loans as one lump. The whole monthly payment goes to an expense, so the loan balance and the interest are both wrong.
• Helpers and subs paid by app. No W-9 on file, and nobody knows in January who needs a 1099.

What a DIY QuickBooks cleanup involves for a plumbing shop

1. Pick a starting point. Usually the first day of the year you’re cleaning up. If that year’s taxes are already filed, ask your CPA before you change anything in it.
2. Split business and personal. One business bank account and card connected to QuickBooks. Mark personal charges already in the file as owner’s draw (or whatever your CPA prefers).
3. Reconcile oldest month first. Match QuickBooks to each bank and card statement, one month at a time.
4. Empty Uncategorized. Move each line to a real account, and add bank rules for the supply houses and gas stations you use every week.
5. Fix the big-ticket items. Owner pay, van and equipment loans, and 1099 vendors.
6. Keep it clean. About 30 minutes a week on the bank feed, and a month-end reconcile.

Example (made-up numbers): a $412 supply-house charge sitting in Uncategorized Expense gets moved to Job Supplies and tagged to the customer, and a bank rule sends that supplier’s future charges to the same account.

DIY kit or bookkeeper?

A kit tends to fit when

• you’re in QuickBooks Online with one company file
• you’re a few months behind, not several years
• you (or whoever keeps the books) can set aside a few hours a week
• you want to understand your own numbers, not just hand them off

A bookkeeper is likely the better call when

• you’re more than a year behind, or a tax return is unfiled
• you have letters or notices about payroll tax, sales tax or 1099s
• you need clean books fast for a loan, a sale or a partner buyout
• nobody in the shop has a few hours a week to give it

Some shops do both: a bookkeeper does the big catch-up, then the owner learns the weekly routine to keep it clean. See the full kit vs. bookkeeper vs. doing nothing comparison.

The plumbing kit and its free video

Plumbers Fix walks through the cleanup on screen in a demo QuickBooks Online company. The free first video (about 3 minutes) covers the first three steps above: separate money, empty Uncategorized, reconcile monthly. Watch it free on the Plumbers Fix page or on our YouTube channel.

Quick questions