GENERAL CONTRACTORS & REAL ESTATE
Tax and accounting expertise you can build on.
From job sites to investment properties, we know how to work with the numbers behind the work.
From job sites to investment properties, we know how to work with the numbers behind the work.
Whether you’re managing job sites, flipping properties, growing a rental portfolio, or doing all of the above, the financial side of your business is anything but simple. Project costs shift, payments lag, cash flow is unpredictable, and the tax rules for construction and real estate are a world of their own.
At Lange Accounting, we understand how contractors and real estate professionals actually operate. Job costing, retainage, 1031 exchanges, WIP schedules, entity structuring for portfolios—we know the territory. And we bring the same personal, concierge-level care to every client we serve.
The Challenge
The financial complexity of building and investing
Construction and real estate businesses run on razor-thin margins and long payment cycles. The financial challenges are real, and they’re specific to your industry:
• Cash flow gaps created by retainage, slow-paying owners, and seasonal slowdowns
• Job costing that’s hard to track and even harder to use to protect your margins
• Tax rules that vary depending on project type, accounting method, and entity structure
• Real estate deals that require careful planning around depreciation, exchanges, and passive activity rules
• Payroll complexity, especially across multiple jobs, states, or prevailing-wage projects
The Solution
We know construction and real estate—from the ground up
Lange Accounting brings real expertise to an industry that most general accountants aren’t equipped to serve well. We dig into the details of your business and work proactively to keep everything on track:
• We track job-level profitability, so you always know where your margins stand.
• We build tax strategies specific to construction and real estate, including cost segregation, 1031 exchanges, depreciation planning, and more.
• We help you plan around the big financial decisions, like acquisitions, expansions, partner structures, and exit strategies.
• We stay ahead of problems so nothing catches you off guard mid-project.
You build it. We’ll make sure the numbers hold up.
Everything you need, from the ground up
You’ve got enough to manage on the job site. Here’s how Lange handles the financial side so you don’t have to.
Outsourced Accounting
Job costing, bookkeeping, payroll, tax prep, and notice handling—done for you, on time, with no surprises. We keep your books organized around how construction and real estate businesses actually work, so your numbers are always accurate and useful.
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Business Foundation Services
From choosing the right entity structure for your contracting business or property portfolio to setting up accounting systems that track jobs and deals the way you need them tracked, we build the financial foundation your business needs.
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Business Management Services
Our Virtual CFO and cash management services give you the strategic insight to make good decisions, whether you’re managing cash flow between projects, evaluating a new acquisition, or planning for what comes next.
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Services built around how your business works
Construction and real estate have their own financial rules, and so does the accounting that supports them. Here’s a closer look at the specialty services we offer for contractors and real estate professionals.
- Tax compliance & planning
- Job costing & financial reporting
- Cash flow & financing
- Project & deal advisory
- Payroll & compliance
- Entity structure & wealth planning
The right tax strategy can change your bottom line significantly.
Tax planning for contractors and real estate investors requires specific expertise and year-round attention. We handle the full picture:
• Business and personal tax preparation for contractors, developers, investors, and property managers across LLCs, LPs, S corps, and syndications
• Accounting method strategy, such as percentage-of-completion versus completed-contract, and planning around residential versus commercial projects
• Real estate tax strategies, including cost segregation, 1031 exchanges, passive activity analysis, and depreciation planning
• Multi-state tax compliance for contractors working across state lines
Know exactly where every job stands before it’s too late.
Generic bookkeeping doesn’t cut it in construction or real estate. You need reporting built around your projects and deals:
• Industry-specific bookkeeping with detailed job costing, WIP schedules, retainage tracking, and overhead allocation
• Monthly financials and dashboards showing job margins, backlog, change orders, and under- and over-billings
• Property-level P&Ls, rent rolls, NOI, cap-ex tracking, and project-by-project returns for investors and developers
• Reporting that helps you bid smarter, manage tighter, and grow more confidently
Cash flow is everything in this business. Let’s keep it moving.
Few industries feel cash pressure like construction and real estate. We help you plan around it and put you in the best possible position with lenders and bonding companies:
• Cash flow forecasting that accounts for retainage, slow-pay cycles, seasonal swings, and major outlays
• Bonding- and bank-ready financial statements, including CPA compilations, reviews, and audits as needed
• WIP schedules and ratio analysis to support bonding capacity and lending relationships
• Financing structure modeling for acquisitions, developments, refinances, and joint ventures
Better numbers before you break ground or close the deal.
The decisions you make before a project starts or a deal closes have the biggest financial impact. We help you get them right:
• Pre-bid and pre-development projections, pro formas, breakeven analysis, and sensitivity scenarios
• Overhead and cost analysis to sharpen your estimating assumptions and protect margins on fixed-price and GMP jobs
• Acquisition due diligence, hold/sell analysis, and JV structures for investors and developers
• Investor reporting frameworks that keep your partners informed and your relationships clean
Payroll is complicated enough without adding prevailing wage into the mix.
Construction payroll has layers that most businesses never deal with. We handle them all:
• Full payroll processing and compliance with wage and hour rules across job sites and locations
• Multi-state payroll and prevailing wage and union reporting for contractors
• Sales and use tax guidance on materials, subcontractors, and self-construction
• Support for lien and retainage processes and documentation that ties back to your financials
The right structure protects what you’ve built, now and down the road.
How you structure your contracting business or real estate portfolio matters a lot for taxes, liability, and long-term wealth. We help you get it right from the start and evolve it as you grow:
• Entity selection and restructuring for contractors and real estate portfolios, including operating versus holding company setups
• Succession and exit planning: valuations, buy-sell mechanics, and tax-efficient sale or generational transfer strategies
• Long-term wealth planning that ties together your business equity, property holdings, and personal tax strategy
FAQs
Do you work with both contractors and real estate investors, or just one?
Both, and often they go hand in hand. Many of our clients are contractors who also own investment properties, or developers who have a construction arm. We’re set up to handle the full picture, whatever that looks like for you.
What is job costing and why does it matter?
Job costing tracks the actual costs of each project—labor, materials, subcontractors, overhead—against what you budgeted or bid. Without it, you may be completing jobs without knowing whether you made or lost money on them. We build job costing into your bookkeeping so you always know where each project stands.
What is a WIP schedule, and do I need one?
A work-in-progress (WIP) schedule tracks how much revenue you’ve earned versus billed on each open job. It’s essential for understanding over- and under-billings, and it’s often required by bonding companies and lenders. We prepare and maintain WIP schedules as part of our contractor accounting services.
What real estate tax strategies are available to me?
There are several powerful options, including cost segregation studies that accelerate depreciation, 1031 exchanges that defer capital gains on property sales, and passive activity planning that can unlock loss deductions. The right combination depends on your portfolio and goals. We build a plan around your specific situation.
Can you help me get bonded or secure financing?
Yes. We prepare the financial statements, WIP schedules, and supporting documentation that bonding companies and lenders require, and we make sure your numbers tell the clearest, most accurate story possible.
I’m thinking about buying or selling a construction business or a property portfolio. Can you help?
Absolutely. These are high-stakes decisions, and we take them seriously. We provide valuation support, structure transactions to minimize tax impact, and walk you through every financial consideration before you commit.
Let’s build something solid together
Your business is built on hard work and expertise. Your accounting should be, too. Get in touch today and find out what Lange Accounting can do for you.