Framing is one of the most labor-intensive trades in construction. Your margins live and die on crew productivity. A crew that frames a floor a day makes you money. A crew that takes a day and a half on the same scope just ate your profit. But if your books don’t track labor at the job level, you’ll never see the difference until it’s too late.
What Framing Contractors Need From Their Books
Labor burden as the primary cost driver. In framing, labor is typically 50-65% of your total job cost. That makes it the single biggest lever on your profitability. We track labor costs per job, per phase, and per crew so you can see exactly where your labor dollars are going and where productivity is slipping.
Piece-rate payroll management. If you’re paying crews by the piece, by the square foot, or by the unit, your payroll is more complicated than a standard hourly setup. We handle piece-rate payroll calculations, make sure the rates meet minimum wage requirements (they have to, even on piece work), and allocate the costs to the correct jobs.
Lumber price impact on bids. Lumber prices have been volatile for years, and a framing contractor who bids based on last month’s pricing can get burned when prices spike before the job starts. We track material costs per job and compare actual material spend to estimated material spend so you can see the impact of price movements on your margins.
Job costing by scope. Walls, floors, roof framing, stairs, decks, trusses. Different scopes have different labor requirements and material profiles. We set up cost codes that let you compare profitability across scope types.
Subcontractor cost allocation. If you sub out truss setting, stair packages, or specialized framing, those costs need to be on the right job. We manage the sub AP and reconcile it against your contracts.
Workers’ comp and insurance tracking. Framing carries some of the highest workers’ comp rates in construction. We track your insurance costs and make sure they’re allocated properly, because they’re a real part of your cost per job, not just overhead.
The Problems We Solve for Framers
Framing contractors call us when they know they’re busy but can’t tell if they’re making money. When lumber costs ate their margin on three projects in a row and they didn’t see it coming. When they’re trying to compare crew productivity across jobs but don’t have the data.
We also work with framing contractors who are growing from one crew to three or four and need financial systems that can handle the added complexity. More crews mean more payroll, more material purchasing, and more jobs running simultaneously. Your books need to keep pace.
Common Questions From Framing Contractors
How do you handle piece-rate payroll? We calculate piece-rate payroll based on your rate schedules, verify minimum wage compliance, track the costs by job, and handle all payroll tax obligations. Your crews get paid correctly and the costs land on the right project.
Can you track productivity by crew? Yes. We structure job costing to show labor cost per unit (per square foot, per unit, or whatever metric you use) by crew. That gives you a direct comparison of which crews are most efficient.
What about lumber tracking? We track lumber costs by job with variance reporting against your estimate. When prices move, you’ll see the impact on each active project immediately.
Let’s Look at Your Labor Numbers
We’ll review your books and show you what framing-specific job costing looks like. If labor cost tracking is the gap, we’ll close it.