A deck and patio bookkeeper ties every bill to the build it belongs to, whether it came from the lumber yard, the decking distributor, the town or a sub. They chase credits for returned boards and HOA deposits until the money comes back, and keep sub insurance and tax records ready for the CPA and the insurer.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, other specialty trade contractors · BLS, May 2025
Responsible for accurately processing and recording financial transactions for our deck and patio building operations while ensuring compliance with industry standards and contributing to the overall financial health of the company.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Process daily financial transactions, including invoices, receipts, and payments.
Reconcile bank statements and company accounts monthly.
Manage vendor invoices and ensure timely payments.
Maintain and update accurate financial records and ledgers.
Prepare routine financial reports for management review.
Assist with budgeting, payroll, and audit preparation.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Enter and categorize financial data using accounting software accurately.
Conduct daily bank and account reconciliations to ensure financial integrity.
Process and verify incoming invoices and expense reports.
Communicate with vendors and suppliers regarding billing discrepancies.
Prepare and send regular financial updates to management.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Invoice Accuracy Rate: Achieve a 99% accuracy rate in invoice processing.
Account Reconciliation Completion: Complete 100% of reconciliations within the month-end closing period.
Report Submission Timeliness: Submit all financial reports within 2 business days of the reporting deadline.
Vendor Satisfaction Rating: Maintain a vendor satisfaction score of >4.8 stars.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
Minimum of 2 years of bookkeeping or accounting experience.
Proficient in accounting software (e.g., QuickBooks, Xero) and Microsoft Excel.
Strong attention to detail and excellent organizational skills.
Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
6. Preferred Experience
Previous experience working in the construction or home services industries.
Familiarity with bookkeeping practices specific to deck and patio building services.
Experience working in a fast-paced, project-oriented environment.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to sit for long periods while working on a computer.
Occasionally lift up to 15 pounds (e.g., file folders, documents).
Work in an office environment with standard lighting and climate control.
Some exposure to noisy job sites when occasionally visiting project locations.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Standard office hours with flexibility during peak financial periods.
Minimal travel required to project sites for occasional on-site financial reviews.
No on-call duties expected; work primarily conducted in-office.
Collaborative environment with a focus on team support and professional growth.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Competitive salary range: $45,000 - $55,000 per year depending on experience.
Eligibility for performance-based bonus programs.
Health, Dental, and Vision insurance provided.
401(k) plan with company match.
Additional fringe benefits including paid time off and professional development opportunities.
10. Company Culture and Overview
At [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE], we foster a collaborative, innovative, and inclusive environment where every team member is valued. We are committed to excellence in every deck and patio that we build, and our employees are the foundation of our success. Join us if you’re looking for a place where your skills are recognized, your growth is supported, and your passion for quality work is shared by a dedicated team.
11. How to Apply
If you meet the above criteria and want to be part of a growth-oriented company focused on customer satisfaction, please send your resume to [INSERT EMAIL HERE] or apply online at [INSERT WEBSITE LINK HERE].
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
One deck can draw bills from a lumber yard, a composite distributor, a town, an HOA and a roofer or electrician before the homeowner's last check clears. The bookkeeper ties each one to the right build, so the job's cost is real.
Returned boards are money owed back
Composite and PVC boards and railings are ordered in the homeowner's color, with extra for cuts. Full boards left over often go back to the distributor, sometimes less a restocking fee. Post each credit and fee to the build that ordered the boards, not to general supplies. Keep a list of returns the distributor hasn't credited yet and work it every week, since an unclaimed return is margin lost on a finished job.
Town and HOA fees belong to the build
Permit and plan review fees, an engineer's design for a deck beyond the town's standard details, and HOA application fees are often paid by company card on a portal. Code each one to its build the day it's paid. If an HOA holds a refundable deposit until its final check, book it as money owed to the company, list it with the job, and chase it after the final inspection.
Hawaii's tax lands on the whole contract
In Hawaii, for example, a deck contract is taxed as contracting income under the general excise tax. You can't deduct the cost of lumber and boards. You can deduct payments to a sub, such as an electrician wiring patio cover lights, if both of you hold general excise licenses and each sub's name, Hawaii tax ID and amount go on Schedule GE. Boards built into the deck count as wholesale purchases, taxed at a lower rate, once you give the supplier a resale certificate. Source: Hawaii Department of Taxation: Tax Facts 99-3, general excise and use tax for construction contractors (May 2025).
A sub's lapsed comp can become yours
Covered patios and screen rooms bring in roofers, electricians and concrete crews, often small outfits. Idaho, for example, shows the risk. There, a company owes workers' comp to an injured worker of a sub under it that has no coverage, as if that worker were its own. So the bookkeeper keeps each sub's policy dates next to its bills, and stops payment the week a policy lapses, not at year-end. Source: Idaho Code 72-216: Liability for employees of contractors and subcontractors.
How much deck and patio bookkeepers make
The closest BLS group for deck and patio bookkeepers is bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks who work for other specialty trade contractors earned a median of $25.77 an hour ($53,610 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s above the $50,670 median for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in all industries. About 12,430 of the 1,373,680 bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in that survey work for other specialty trade contractors.
In the template, the job pays a yearly salary, with a chance at a performance bonus. BLS puts the median for bookkeepers at other specialty trade contractors, the group in this chart, close to the template's top figure, so a candidate who has costed jobs for a contractor will likely ask for that end.
Other specialty trade contractors
$53,610$53,610 median Middle half $43,850–$63,470 10th–90th $35,430–$75,700
All industries
$50,670$50,670 median Middle half $43,520–$61,470 10th–90th $36,000–$74,550
$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k$80k$90k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Other specialty trade contractors
$35,430
$43,850
$53,610
$63,470
$75,700
All industries
$36,000
$43,520
$50,670
$61,470
$74,550
BLS doesn’t publish pay for deck and patio builders on their own. These figures cover other specialty trade contractors, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
The pay line in the template above is an example from our Role Blueprint. Set yours from these figures and what local companies pay.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has costed jobs where one build drew bills from a yard, a distributor and a town
Tracks open return credits and refundable deposits until the money arrives
Keeps each sub's comp policy dates beside its bills
Reads a distributor invoice down to the board line, color and length
Asks the CPA before setting up tax on a new kind of job, like a screen room
Teach these on the job
Your distributor's return rules and restocking fees
The permit portals and fee schedules in the towns you build in
Your decking, railing, cover and screen room product lines
A cost code for each build stage, footings through railings
How your state taxes deck contracts, as the CPA sets it up
Beyond the accounting system the template names, the bookkeeper works in the distributor's online statements, where return credits show up or don't, plus each town's permit portal receipts and the company card feed. Ask finalists how they would match a permit portal charge on the card to the right build.
Deck and patio bookkeeper interview questions
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Supplier credits
The lumberyard's statement shows a credit you were promised for a damaged load is missing. What do you do?
A strong answer: Pulls the delivery photos and notes, contacts the yard with specifics, holds that amount until the credit posts, and tells the project manager.
Behavioral · Reconciliation
Tell me about a reconciliation problem you solved, such as a supplier statement that didn't match your payables. What was the cause?
A strong answer: Compared the statement to the ledger line by line, found the cause such as a missing credit or a duplicate entry, fixed it and changed a habit.
A deck company's bill count rises and falls with the build season, so one yearly target misleads. Set targets with the CFO for the build months and the slow months apart, and read each month next to its twin from last year.
Invoice Accuracy Rate
Pull a handful of distributor bills and homeowner invoices at random each month. Match each to the order, the return slip and the contract step billed, and log every one that needed a fix, with the cause.
Account Reconciliation Completion
Accounts tied out by the close date, out of all on the list. Count one only when each open item, such as a credit not yet issued or an HOA deposit still out, names its build and a date to clear it.
Report Submission Timeliness
The date each job cost and cash report reaches the CFO, against the agreed date. Note what delayed a late one, such as a missing distributor statement or permit receipt.
Vendor Satisfaction Rating
Ask the lumber yard, the distributor and your regular subcontractors each spring and fall how billing questions and payments are handled. A short call with each account rep tells you more than a form.
Career path
Accounts payable clerk at a lumber yardLearns supplier billing, credits and returns from the seller's side.
BookkeeperPosts each build's bills, fees and returns, and closes the month.
ControllerOwns month-end, the insurance audit and reporting to the bank.
Chief financial officerPlans cash through the seasons and decides which financing sales offers.
Should a deck company pass permit fees through to the homeowner?
That's a pricing choice for the CFO and general manager. Some build the fee into the contract price, and others list it as its own line billed at cost. Either way, the bookkeeper posts the actual fee to the build, so the estimate and the real fee sit side by side. If towns keep raising fees, that report shows it before the price book does.
How much does a deck and patio bookkeeper make?
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks who work for other specialty trade contractors earned a median of $25.77 an hour ($53,610 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $43,850 and $63,470 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
What if a homeowner wants to keep the leftover boards?
Decide the rule before it comes up. Many companies leave a few spare boards for later repairs, since an exact color can be hard to find years on. If boards stay, don't book a return credit for them, and note on the job that they were left on purpose. Full bundles and unopened railing kits are different: return them or bill the homeowner for them.
Does a deck bookkeeper need to know decking products?
Enough to read an invoice line. Composite boards come in different lines, colors and lengths, with grooved edges for hidden clips or square edges for face screws, and railing comes in kits by length. A bookkeeper who spots a wrong color or length on a bill catches it before it's paid. Spend an hour in the yard with the warehouse manager in the first week.
Where does composite bought ahead of a price increase go on the books?
Into an inventory account, not into job costs, when it's bought before any build needs it. Move boards to each build as the warehouse pulls them, and count the racks with the warehouse manager at month-end so the books and the yard agree. Ask your CPA how to value boards still unsold at year-end, especially colors a maker has dropped.
