How to do bookkeeping for insurance roofing jobs

By Caleb, Plymouth Financial. Updated 2026-09-03.

Insurance roofing money shows up in pieces. If each piece is booked as income the day it lands, your P&L swings by tens of thousands from month to month and no job ever shows its real margin. Here is how to book it so the numbers are true.

The five pieces of an insurance job

1. ACV check. Actual cash value. The carrier pays this first, often before you start. It is the replacement cost minus depreciation minus the deductible.
2. Deductible. Paid by the homeowner. Part of your contract price. Collect it. Never eat it.
3. Supplements. Extra scope you find and get approved: decking, ice and water, code items, steep or high charges. Approved does not mean paid. It has to be invoiced and collected.
4. Recoverable depreciation. The holdback the carrier releases after you send proof of completion and the final invoice. This is the piece most often left on the table.
5. Mortgage company endorsement. When a lender is on the check, cash can sit for weeks. Not a bookkeeping entry, but it changes when you can spend it.

How to book it in QuickBooks Online

Set up the job

One project per job. Name it to match your AccuLynx or JobNimbus job number. Every check, bill, and payroll line for that roof gets tagged to it.

The ACV check before the roof is on

On accrual books, money collected before work is done is a customer deposit, a liability, not income. Book it to a "Customer deposits" liability account tagged to the job. When the roof is complete, invoice the full contract and apply the deposit. Now the revenue lands in the month you earned it, next to the costs.

If you run cash basis, you will see the ACV as income the day it clears. That is why cash basis roofers have a great June and a terrible July. It is the same job.

Deductible

Part of the invoice. If the homeowner pays it separately, receive it against the same invoice. If it is never collected, it sits in accounts receivable where you can see it, instead of disappearing.

Supplements

Create an income account called "Supplement income" under your storm income. When a supplement is approved, add it to the job invoice as its own line. Now approved-but-unpaid supplements show up in AR and you can chase them. If you only add supplements when the money arrives, you never know what you are owed.

Recoverable depreciation

Same idea. It is part of the contract price, so it is on the invoice. Until the carrier releases it, it is a receivable. Run an AR aging report by job once a month. Anything over 45 days with "depreciation" in the memo is money you can call about today. On a $3M storm roofer this is often $10,000 to $30,000 sitting with carriers at any time.

Costs on the same job

• Materials bill from the supplier, tagged to the job. Returns and credits tagged to the same job, even if they come next month.
• Sub labor check tagged to the job. If a sub does three roofs on one check, split the check across three jobs.
• W-2 crew hours with burden. Wages plus payroll tax, workers comp, and benefits. Usually 20% to 35% on top. How to calculate it.
• Permit, dump fees, equipment rental, and the rep's commission, all to the job.

What you get when it is done right

• A job report that shows contract, supplements, costs by type, and gross margin per job.
• An AR aging that tells you exactly which carriers owe depreciation and supplements.
• A P&L that does not spike and crash with check timing.
• A number you can price the next job off of.

The mistakes we see most

• ACV checks booked as income with no job attached.
• Supplements only recorded when paid, so nobody knows what is owed.
• Depreciation never invoiced. The completion certificate never sent.
• Sub checks coded to "Contract labor" with no job.
• Commissions paid on contract price before supplements and depreciation are collected.