How to Do Job Costing in QuickBooks

Updated 10/20/2026. Checked against Intuit's help articles.

Job costing compares what a job earns with what it costs. QuickBooks does it in both editions, but the two work differently: QuickBooks Desktop tracks each job as a Customer:Job, and QuickBooks Online tracks it as a Project.

Job costing in QuickBooks Desktop

Create a Customer:Job for every job, even when a customer has only one. That is what lets QuickBooks report income and expenses job by job.
Put the job on every cost. On bills, checks and credit card charges, fill in the Customer:Job column on each line: purchased items on the Items tab, other costs on the Expenses tab.
Assign time and mileage. Enter hours on a weekly timesheet or a single activity and assign them to the job; record mileage in Enter Vehicle Mileage. Time entries do not post on their own: they reach the job reports only once they are carried to a bill or an invoice.
Bill it back. Time assigned to a job is marked billable automatically, and billable expenses and mileage can be added to the customer’s invoice, where the amount can be adjusted.
Enter estimates if you want budget against actual. Some job reports work without them, but the full set of job cost reports needs an estimate for each job. When a cost appears on both an estimate and a bill or timesheet, pick one source for the invoice; QuickBooks does not match them for you.
Read the reports under Reports, Jobs, Time & Mileage. Contractor and Accountant editions add more under Reports, Industry Specific, Contractor Reports.

The detail in your Item List sets how precise the reports can be. Spreading overhead across jobs is optional; Intuit suggests talking to your accountant before you set that up.

Job costing in QuickBooks Online

Use Projects, available on QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced. Open Projects from Business overview and choose New project.
Name the project and choose the customer. Start and end dates are optional and can come later.
Assign income and costs. Choose the project in the Customer field on estimates and invoices, and in the Customer/Project field on bills, checks and expenses. Tick billable to put a cost on a later invoice.
Watch the totals. Each project shows its income, expenses and profit margin as transactions arrive. On Advanced you can also add project estimates and compare them with actuals.

Learn it properly

This topic is one module of our QuickBooks Inventory and Job Costing Training, one of seven self-paced QuickBooks courses for bookkeepers and accounting staff.

Frequently asked questions

Does QuickBooks do job costing?

Yes. QuickBooks Desktop tracks each job as a Customer:Job, and QuickBooks Online tracks it with Projects on the Plus and Advanced plans.

Which QuickBooks Desktop edition is best for job costing?

Every Desktop edition can track job costs. Intuit notes that the Premier Contractor and Accountant editions add a wider range of job cost reports, including the Contractor Reports menu.