Know exactly which jobs make money — and which don't. QBO Projects combined with QBO Payroll and QB Time gives you real-time visibility into labor costs, project profitability, and budget performance.
Without job costing, you're guessing which projects make money. QBO Projects tracks every dollar of labor, materials, and expenses against each job so you always know your real margin.
When QBO Payroll and QB Time are connected, labor costs including wages and payroll taxes are automatically allocated to the correct project based on timesheet entries — no manual entry needed.
Historical job cost data from completed projects gives you real numbers to base future estimates on — so you stop underbidding jobs that erode your margins.
Real-time project dashboards let you see when labor or materials are running over budget while the job is still active — not weeks later when reviewing the P&L.
Go to Settings → Account and Settings → Advanced → Projects and toggle it on. Each job or engagement becomes its own project with its own dashboard.
Using QB Time or QBO timesheets, employees tag their hours to the correct project. This time flows directly into payroll runs and the project's labor cost summary.
When payroll is processed, wages and employer taxes are automatically split across projects based on timesheet entries — no spreadsheets or manual allocation needed.
Bills, expenses, and purchase orders can all be tagged to a specific project at the time of entry — giving you a complete picture of every cost associated with a job.
The Projects dashboard shows real-time income, costs, and profit margin for each job. Run a Project Profitability report to compare actual costs vs. estimates at any time.
Unbilled time and expenses are surfaced directly in the project view, so nothing gets missed when it's time to bill the client. Progress invoicing is also supported.
* Video links open Hector Garcia CPA's YouTube channel filtered by topic. His channel at youtube.com/@HectorGarciaCPA is the most comprehensive free source for QBO Projects and job costing tutorials.