An excavation bookkeeper keeps the ledger for a company that runs on machines, dump trucks and builder lots. They check hired hauler bills against field tickets, post machine loan payments by serial number, file the yearly heavy truck tax, and apply each builder's payments to the right lots.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, other specialty trade contractors · BLS, May 2025
Serve as the key financial steward for our Excavation & Site Work division, ensuring accurate processing of financial entries, reconciliations, and management of payables/receivables. Support the overall financial health of the organization by maintaining precise records and contributing to strategic financial planning. Act as a liaison between operational teams and finance to improve cost control and reporting accuracy.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Process daily financial entries and ensure the accuracy of accounting records.
Reconcile bank accounts and internal ledgers on a regular basis.
Manage accounts payable and receivable to maintain cash flow stability.
Prepare monthly, quarterly, and annual financial reports for management review.
Collaborate with external auditors and provide necessary documentation during audits.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review and record daily financial transactions including invoices, payments, and receipts.
Verify the accuracy of financial records and resolve any discrepancies.
Reconcile bank statements and maintain up-to-date ledger entries.
Communicate with vendors and customers to address inquiries regarding payments.
Coordinate with the operations team to ensure alignment between project expenses and financial entries.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Timeliness of financial entries: 100% of transactions recorded on the day of occurrence.
Account reconciliation accuracy: Achieve 99% accuracy in monthly reconciliations.
Invoice processing error rate: Maintain an error rate of less than 2%.
Collection efficiency for receivables: Secure 95% collection within 30 days.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
Minimum of 2 years of bookkeeping or accounting experience.
Proficiency in accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero, or equivalent) and MS Office applications.
Strong attention to detail with excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
Effective written and verbal communication skills.
6. Preferred Experience
Prior experience in the excavation, construction, or home services industry.
Familiarity with job costing and financial reporting for site work projects.
Experience in managing vendor and customer invoicing in a similar operational setting.
Proven ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced, project-driven environment.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to sit for extended periods while working at a desk.
Occasional lifting of documents or files up to 10 lbs.
Minimal physical activity required in a typical office environment.
Prolonged use of a computer and telephone.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Typical work hours: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
Office-based role with occasional site visits as needed.
Limited travel requirements within the regional area.
Occasional extended hours during month-end financial closings and audits.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Salary range: $45,000 – $55,000 USD per year, based on experience.
Performance bonus opportunities based on meeting quarterly financial targets.
Comprehensive benefits package including Health, Dental, and Vision insurance.
Additional benefits include a 401(k) plan, paid time off, and professional development opportunities.
10. Company Culture and Overview
At [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE], we pride ourselves on fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous growth. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where every team member is empowered to excel and contribute to our shared success. Our focus on customer satisfaction, along with our dedication to operational excellence, makes us a leader in the home services industry. We are excited to invite talented professionals to join us in achieving new milestones and making a meaningful impact in the communities we serve.
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
Most of a site work company's money goes out to machines, diesel and trucks, and most of it comes back lot by lot or phase by phase. The bookkeeper traces each cost and payment back to its job.
Hired trucks bill by the hour or by the load
On a big dig or a fill job, hired dump trucks cover what your own trucks can't. Some haulers bill by the hour and some by the load. Before paying, the bookkeeper holds each line up against a ticket the foreman signed: hours in and out for an hourly truck, a load count for the rest. A truck billed for a full day that left the site after lunch gets questioned.
The heavy truck tax comes due each summer
Dump trucks and the tractor that pulls the lowboy often reach 55,000 pounds or more in taxable gross weight. That brings the IRS heavy highway vehicle use tax, filed on Form 2290, and the weight a truck is registered at can set its taxable weight. The tax year starts July 1, so trucks on the road that month are due by August 31. A truck bought and first driven in November is due by December 31. States generally want the stamped Schedule 1 before they register a truck. Source: IRS: Instructions for Form 2290 (07/2026), heavy highway vehicle use tax.
Each machine loan gets its own line
A fleet bought on credit means a stack of monthly payments, each part interest and part principal. The bookkeeper splits every payment by the lender's schedule, ties each loan balance to the lender's statement at month-end, and keeps the machine's serial number on its loan. When a machine is traded or sold, the payoff and any new loan post in the same week, with the papers sent to the CFO.
Rain-outs get a code of their own
Each foreman's daily sheet shows which crew, machines and trucks worked which lot, and for how long. The bookkeeper posts those hours to jobs. Hours lost to rain, yard days and travel between lots go to codes of their own, kept on the job or in overhead by the CFO's rule. Folded into a lot's dig time, a wet week makes that lot look badly bid, and nobody sees what the weather cost.
How much excavation bookkeepers make
The closest BLS group for excavation 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.
A salary plus the template's quarterly bonus. Its range begins a bit above the low quarter of the BLS chart here and ends a little past the middle, so anyone who has run job cost for a contractor will ask for the top. Pay the bonus on hauler bills checked before payment and lot balances collected on time.
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 excavation contractors 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 run job cost books for an excavation, utility or paving contractor
Matches hauler and rental bills to signed field tickets before paying
Posts machine loans by serial number and ties them to lender statements
Codes rain-outs, yard days and travel apart from dig time on daily sheets
Knows which trucks owe the heavy vehicle use tax, and by when
Teach these on the job
Your haulers, their rates and how their tickets read
Your lenders and the day each statement closes
Which jobs are builder lots and which are developer phases
How your foremen fill out the daily sheet
Your truck registrations and renewal months
The books live in contractor accounting software that tracks jobs and equipment, fed by daily sheets from a field app or on paper, plus the lenders' online portals and an e-file service for Form 2290. Ask finalists how they handled a hauler bill that disagreed with the foreman's count.
Excavation 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 · Reconciling fuel cards
The fuel card statement shows more fuel than the tickets turned in from the field. What do you do?
A strong answer: Matches charges to tickets by card, date and machine, lists the unmatched charges, asks the card holders and their supervisor, and reports possible misuse to management with the facts.
Behavioral · Accuracy and ownership
Tell me about a time you found a mistake in numbers you had already sent to a manager, such as a job cost or payables report.
A strong answer: Flagged it quickly, explained the impact, sent corrected numbers, and changed a step in their process so it wouldn't happen again.
Gather a year of your own closes first. One wet spring or one builder who pays late can swing a single month far enough to make any target look wrong.
Timeliness of financial entries
Pick one week a month and tally how long each bill, deposit or daily sheet sat in the office before it was posted. Sheets that arrive late from the field get their own count.
Account reconciliation accuracy
At each close, tie the bank, cards, every machine loan and every hauler account to its statement. Count the items still unexplained and how long each one has stayed open.
Invoice processing error rate
Recheck a sample of hauler, rental and parts bills, plus outgoing lot bills, against their tickets each month. Count each one paid, billed or coded to the wrong lot or amount.
Collection efficiency for receivables
Age each builder's and developer's balance by lot or pay request from the invoice date. List slow lots by builder, since one builder's late checks can hide behind others who pay on time.
Career path
Payables or billing clerkKeys hauler, rental and parts bills against signed field tickets.
Excavation bookkeeperKeeps the ledger for trucks, machines, loans and builder lots.
Office managerMoves to stage billing, lot files and leading the office.
ControllerRuns the close, the audit file and reporting to lenders.
A builder pays for several lots with one check. How should it be posted?
Apply it lot by lot from the builder's remittance, not as one lump on the account. If the remittance doesn't name the lots, call the builder's payables desk before posting. A check left as unapplied cash makes paid lots look open and hides the ones that are really late. Note any short pay on its lot, with the reason the builder gave.
How much does an excavation 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.
We sold a dump truck partway through the year. Do we get any heavy truck tax back?
Often, yes. If a truck was sold, destroyed or stolen before June 1 and not used again that tax year, the IRS allows a credit for the months after the one it was sold in. Claim it on the next Form 2290, or as a refund on Form 8849. The claim needs the VIN, the weight category, the sale date, the IRS worksheet and the buyer's name and address. Parking a truck for the winter earns no credit by itself. A truck driven 5,000 miles or less over the whole tax year can get a credit, claimed once that year ends on June 30.
Do our dump trucks need IFTA fuel tax reports?
Only if they cross state lines. Nebraska's DMV, as one example, says IFTA covers carriers that run in two or more states or provinces with a truck that has three or more axles, or a two-axle truck or combination over 26,000 pounds. Licensed carriers file a quarterly return with their base state, listing miles and gallons for each member state or province. Carriers that stay inside Nebraska aren't licensed for it. Near a state line, the bookkeeper needs each truck's miles by state.
Is a four-year degree a must for this bookkeeper?
That degree line ships in the template as written, but you decide how much it counts. Years spent keeping the books for a paving, utility or excavation contractor can teach more about job cost, machine loans and hauler bills than a degree does. If you'll take that experience instead, say so in the posting, or strong candidates may not apply.
