Jonas Construction Software Bookkeeping Services

Jonas Construction Software is a full construction ERP with its own general ledger — accounts payable, accounts receivable, certified US and Canadian payroll, job costing and real-time WIP, all in one system of record. Like every native-ledger ERP, it rewards discipline and punishes neglect: a miscoded phase, a stale union rate table or a skipped reconciliation is not a reporting quirk, it is your financial statements. We supply the discipline, month after month.

A True ERP for Mechanical, Electrical and Service Contractors

Jonas — part of the Jonas Software group under Constellation Software — positions its construction ERP for mechanical, electrical, plumbing, HVAC and other specialty and service contractors across the US and Canada, union and non-union, with a Jonas Cloud hosting option. The accounting suite is native: general ledger, AP, AR and payroll live inside Jonas, with job costing automatically associated to the correct phases and cost types and WIP reporting fully integrated.

One naming note worth getting right, because the internet has not: the cloud product once marketed as Jonas Premier has been an independently run, separately branded company — Premier Construction Software — for years. If you run Premier, that is a different vendor and a different product. This page is about Jonas Construction Software, the ERP formerly marketed as Jonas Enterprise.

Where Jonas Books Go Wrong

Retainage on both sides. Jonas automatically calculates retainage and holdback on subcontractor invoices and controls its release — which is excellent until the release settings no longer match the actual subcontract terms, and retainage payable quietly diverges from what your subs believe they are owed. The receivable side has the same exposure with your owners.
Certified and union payroll is a settings problem. Certified US and Canadian payroll for union and non-union shops means rate tables, fringes and burden allocations that somebody has to maintain. A stale union rate misstates job cost on every timecard until it is caught, and on public work it is a compliance problem, not just an accounting one.
Full-ERP migration debt. Contractors who moved onto Jonas from QuickBooks or another system carry opening-balance and job-history decisions made under deadline pressure. Job cost that never tied at go-live never ties later on its own.
Multi-entity sprawl. Jonas supports multi-entity accounting; contractors running several companies through it accumulate intercompany balances that need deliberate monthly reconciliation, not year-end archaeology.

Core Jonas Bookkeeping Functions We Manage

1. General Ledger and Month-End Close

Daily transaction discipline, bank and credit card reconciliation, recurring and adjusting entries, and a documented close calendar inside Jonas — the ledger of record treated like one.

2. Job Costing and WIP

Phases and cost types maintained so the automatic association lands right, committed costs tracked, and the integrated WIP reporting reviewed against contract values and cost-to-date before your surety sees it.

3. Retainage and Subcontractor AP

Retainage and holdback calculation and release settings verified against actual subcontract terms, two-way invoice matching worked, lien waivers tracked, and 1099s filed at year end.

4. Certified, Union and Non-Union Payroll Support

Rate tables and fringe settings kept current, burden allocation reviewed against actual cost, and certified payroll reporting supported on public work.

5. Multi-Entity and Intercompany

Intercompany balances reconciled monthly across your Jonas entities, with documented entries rather than a year-end plug.

The Jonas Rescue: When the ERP Outran the Back Office

The typical Jonas engagement starts with a contractor whose operations outgrew its accounting staff: WIP has not been reviewed in quarters, retainage releases no longer match subcontracts, union rates are a version behind, and the bank has not been reconciled since the office manager left.

We bring the reconciliations current, re-tie job cost to the general ledger, true up retainage payable and receivable against the underlying contracts, refresh the payroll settings against current agreements, and re-establish the monthly close. Where opening balances from the original migration never tied, we finally tie them.

Months or quarters behind? Start with catch-up bookkeeping.

Why Outsource Your Jonas Accounting to Maxim Liberty?

Specialty contractors on a full ERP need bookkeepers who respect that the ledger is the product. We have kept US construction books since 2005, we are BBB A+ accredited, and we work inside your Jonas system rather than exporting it into something we prefer.

Plans start at $75/month; dedicated bookkeepers are $15/hour for businesses and $10/hour for CPA firms who white-label our team. Your first deposit is covered by a 100% money-back guarantee, so you can test the work with little to no risk. See pricing.