Mid-Season Financial Check-In: What Maine Contractors Should Review Before Summer Gets Away From Them
It's mid-June. If you're a Maine contractor, you're probably in the thick of it right now — multiple jobs running, materials being ordered, crew on the schedule, phone still ringing
This is exactly the time when most contractors are too busy to think about their books. And it's exactly the time when a few minutes of financial attention can make the difference between a strong season and a frustrating one.
Here's what to review before July arrives.
Are your books current?
This sounds basic, but it's the most common issue I see with contractors mid-season: the books are two or three months behind because there hasn't been time to keep up.
When your books are behind, you're flying blind. You don't know whether June is tracking ahead of last year or behind. You don't know whether a specific job is running over budget. You don't know what your cash position actually is versus what you think it is.
If you're more than 30 days behind, now is the time to catch up — either yourself or with help. The alternative is dealing with three to four months of backlog in October when things slow down.
Are your job costs being tracked?
If you set up job costing in QuickBooks at the start of the season, pull a Project Profitability report right now. Look at the jobs you've completed in April, May, and June.
Are they coming in at the margins you estimated? Are any job types consistently running over on materials or labor? Are there patterns in the data that should influence how you bid the rest of the summer?
This is the power of mid-season job costing: you can actually adjust while there's still season left. A contractor who reviews job profitability in June has time to correct course. The one who looks in November is just learning from history.
If you're not doing job costing yet, June is not too late to start. Even three months of data going forward is better than none.
Are your receivables current?
Summer is when cash flow gets complicated for contractors. Materials need to be purchased upfront. Payroll happens weekly. But customer invoices sometimes sit unpaid for 30, 60, or 90 days.
Run an Accounts Receivable Aging report in QuickBooks. Sort by how long each invoice has been outstanding. Any invoice over 30 days deserves a follow-up. Any invoice over 60 days is a cash flow problem in the making.
A quick email or text to a customer — "just checking in on invoice #XX, please let me know if you have any questions" — is often all it takes. Most late payments aren't intentional; they just need a nudge.
Are you tracking mileage?
Mileage is one of the most commonly missed deductions for Maine contractors — and one of the easiest to capture if you build the habit.
At the 2026 IRS standard mileage rate of 72.5 cents per mile, a contractor who drives 15,000 business miles in a season has over $10,000 in deductions available. Most contractors leave a significant portion of that on the table because they don't have a mileage log.
If you're not logging mileage yet this season, start today. A note in your phone with the starting and ending odometer reading for each work day takes 30 seconds. There are also free apps — MileIQ, Everlance — that log automatically in the background.
Are subcontractor records in order?
If you've brought on subcontractors this season, make sure you have a W-9 on file for each one you'll pay $2000 or more. Getting this information now — while the working relationship is active — is much easier than chasing it down in January when 1099s are due.
In QuickBooks, mark each subcontractor as eligible for a 1099 in their vendor record. QuickBooks will track their payments automatically and make year-end filing straightforward.
The bottom line
Mid-season is not the time for a full financial review — you're too busy for that. But 30 minutes right now looking at these five things will tell you whether the summer is going the way you think it is.
Most of the time, contractors who do this mid-season check-in find at least one thing worth knowing. Sometimes it's good news. Sometimes it's a problem that's still fixable. Either way, knowing in June is better than finding out in November.
If your books are behind or your numbers aren't telling you what you need to know, now is a good time to get current. Schedule a free consultation here.
McAfee's Bookkeeping works with Maine contractors to keep books current through the busy season. If you'd like help getting current before summer gets further along, a free consultation is a good place to start.
