A commercial remodeling bookkeeper enters bills from subs and suppliers, sends invoices for office, store and restaurant jobs, and checks the bank and ledger each month. They also track what property managers and tenants owe, and tell project managers which subs got paid.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, commercial building contractors · BLS, May 2025
Provide accurate and timely bookkeeping support for our commercial remodeling projects by managing invoices, reconciling accounts, and administering AP/AR functions to support strategic financial decisions.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Process and record invoices and payments accurately for commercial remodeling projects.
Reconcile bank statements and general ledger accounts on a monthly basis.
Manage accounts payable and accounts receivable to ensure timely payments and collections.
Maintain accurate financial records to support project budgets and operational reporting.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review and post daily invoices and expense reports.
Perform routine bank reconciliations and resolve discrepancies.
Communicate with vendors and project managers regarding payment schedules and invoice queries.
Monitor AP/AR aging reports and coordinate follow-ups to ensure consistency in cash flow.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Invoice Processing Time: <48 hours from receipt to entry.
Reconciliation Accuracy: 99% accuracy in monthly bank reconciliations.
AP Cycle Efficiency: Payments processed within 5 business days.
AR Collection Rate: Achieve >95% collection of outstanding receivables.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance.
Minimum of 3 years of bookkeeping or accounting experience.
Proficiency in accounting software such as QuickBooks or similar systems.
Strong attention to detail and excellent organizational skills.
6. Preferred Experience
Prior experience in the commercial remodeling or construction industry.
Familiarity with industry-specific financial reporting and project cost tracking.
Experience working in a fast-paced, project-based environment.
Demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines effectively.
7. Physical Requirements
Primarily an office-based role in a climate-controlled environment.
Prolonged periods of sitting while working on computer systems and handling paperwork.
Occasional lifting and moving of files or office supplies up to 15 lbs.
Minimal exposure to physical hazards.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Standard business hours with a typical schedule of Monday through Friday during the day.
Occasional extended hours during high-volume periods or end-of-month closings.
Minimal travel requirements, primarily for off-site team meetings if necessary.
Collaborative, team-oriented office environment.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Salary range: $50,000 - $65,000 per year depending on experience.
Eligibility for annual bonus based on performance metrics.
Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans.
401(k) plan with company match, plus additional fringe benefits.
10. Company Culture and Overview
A collaborative and growth-oriented work environment where every team member’s contributions are valued.
A commitment to fostering professional development and career advancement.
An inclusive culture that prizes innovation, accountability, and customer satisfaction.
A focus on operational excellence and a supportive community within the company.
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].
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What changes for a bookkeeper at a commercial remodeler
The ledger work is the same anywhere. What changes here is who the clients are, when crews spend money, and which public rules ride along with some jobs.
A client's tax exemption may not reach your materials
In Maryland, a contractor can use the exemption certificate of a qualifying nonprofit charitable, educational or religious group to buy materials tax-free. That only works for materials that go into the group's own real property. Materials for any other client are taxed, even for a government agency that is otherwise exempt. Keep the certificate in the job file. Ask your tax adviser how this works when the nonprofit only leases its space. Source: Code of Maryland Regulations 03.06.01.22: Exempt charitable or nonprofit organizations.
State-funded jobs bring payroll reports
Maryland's prevailing wage law covers state and local government construction contracts of 250,000 dollars or more when the state pays at least a quarter of the cost. On those jobs, the company and each sub file certified payroll reports in the state's online portal. Before you pay a sub on one of these jobs, check that its reports for that period are in. Source: Maryland Department of Labor: Prevailing wage.
Night crews buy on the company card
Night crews often buy blades, anchors and patch at a 24-hour store when a supply run can't wait. Ask supervisors to snap a photo of each receipt and label it with the job number before they leave. Card charges with no job pile up fast. By the time the statement comes, nobody remembers which store remodel they were for.
Extra work bills from a signed ticket
At night, the client's contact is asleep when a crew finds a hidden pipe in a wall it was told to tear out. Have the supervisor write a time and materials ticket. Get the property manager or tenant to sign it the next morning. Bill from that ticket and attach it, so the client's payables team can match the charge to an OK.
How much commercial remodeling bookkeepers make
The closest BLS group for commercial remodeling bookkeepers is bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks who work for commercial and industrial builders earned a median of $28.21 an hour ($58,680 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 11,690 of the 1,373,680 bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in that survey work for commercial building contractors.
Commercial remodelers usually put this bookkeeper on salary and a bonus each year tied to the measures listed below.
Commercial building contractors
$58,680$58,680 median Middle half $48,060–$67,480 10th–90th $37,660–$78,640
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
Commercial building contractors
$37,660
$48,060
$58,680
$67,480
$78,640
All industries
$36,000
$43,520
$50,670
$61,470
$74,550
BLS doesn’t publish pay for commercial remodelers on their own. These figures cover nonresidential building construction, 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
Matching each sub bill to its contract and the project manager's approval
Monthly bank and ledger reconciliations finished without reminders
Polite, firm collection calls to property managers and tenant payables teams
Coding every cost, card charges included, to a job and cost code
Clear notes in the books so the CFO can see why a bill is on hold
Teach these on the job
Your job numbers and cost codes
Maryland's sales tax rules for contractor purchases
The prevailing wage portal and how to check a sub's reports
Each repeat client's billing format and approval steps
The job cost reports in your accounting software
Most of these books sit in QuickBooks, or in construction accounting software like Foundation or Sage 100 Contractor that links to the project managers' job tools. A tool that scans bills and card receipts into the books keeps paper from going missing.
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 · Card charges without receipts
The crews' company cards show a stack of hardware store charges with no receipts or job numbers, and month-end is in three days. What do you do?
A strong answer: Lists the charges by cardholder, asks each for receipts and job numbers by a deadline, uses store receipt lookup if available, codes once confirmed, and proposes a same-day photo-receipt rule.
Behavioral · Collections
Tell me about a time you collected a past-due invoice from a property manager or retail client without hurting the relationship.
A strong answer: Found out why it was late (missing waiver, purchase order mismatch, disputed ticket), fixed the company's side, got a payment date in writing from the person who approves payment, and followed up on that date.
The template's targets are rough examples only. Pull three or four months of bills, reconciliations and collections, then set goals this bookkeeper can reach.
Invoice Processing Time
Log the date each bill reaches the office and the date it's entered against a job. Pull the gap from your accounting system each week, and list bills still waiting on a project manager's approval.
Reconciliation Accuracy
Have the CFO review each month's bank reconciliation and count items corrected after it was marked done. Differences carried into the next month without an explanation count as misses.
AP Cycle Efficiency
Count business days from an approved sub or supplier bill to the payment going out. Show sub payments on their own line so the CFO can see them apart from supplier bills.
AR Collection Rate
Compare cash collected with receivables due, by client and by month. Break the results out by client type, such as property managers, chain retailers and restaurant owners, so slow payers stand out.
Career path
Accounts receivable clerk at a property management firmSees how landlords approve and pay contractor bills.
BookkeeperKeeps the books for every renovation and collects what clients owe.
Senior bookkeeper or project accountantOwns billing and job cost reports on the larger tenant projects.
ControllerManages the accounting staff and the files a surety or outside accountant asks for.
Chief financial officerWorks with the surety and the bank so the company can take on bigger jobs.
How should a bookkeeper handle a client who pays only part of an invoice?
Property managers often short-pay when they question one line, such as a change order or a night premium. Apply the payment to the lines it covers. Mark the open line as disputed, and send the project manager the client's reason that day. A dispute nobody flags looks like a slow payer in the aging report. It also gets harder to collect the longer it sits.
How much does a commercial remodeling bookkeeper make?
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks who work for commercial and industrial builders earned a median of $28.21 an hour ($58,680 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $48,060 and $67,480 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Does a commercial remodeling bookkeeper need construction experience?
Not required, though it helps. Someone from a property management office knows how landlords approve bills. Someone from a supplier knows how material statements work. Either one will need to learn your cost codes, change orders and how subs bill. Test for careful matching and steady follow-up, and teach the trade words on the job.
When should the bookkeeper put a client on credit hold?
Set the rule with the CFO before you need it. For example, a client past a set number of days gets no new work orders without the CFO's OK. The bookkeeper flags the account and tells the project manager, and the CFO decides. Don't stop work on a job already underway without the CFO and the project manager. The contract may say how and when you can.
Which tasks fall under the bookkeeper template's 15-pound lifting line?
It covers small office tasks. Think of hauling a carton of closed job folders to the storage room, moving a case of printer paper, or bringing in a bin of signed tickets from a project manager's truck. Heavier loads, such as archive boxes going off site, go on a hand truck or to someone else. Naming them in the ad tells applicants what the line really asks.
