You finish a kitchen faucet replacement. Charged the customer $580. Spent $75 on copper pipes. Most contractors remember the first number — it's on the invoice. But the second number? That gets lost. By the end of the month, you're guessing what you spent on materials. Here's the simple system contractors use to track job expenses and see real profit on every job.
How CashWrench tracks Job Expenses
When you log a job expense in CashWrench, you're doing more than keeping a receipt for tax time. You're tracking what you actually spent on that specific customer's job — so you can see what you actually made.
Job Expense tracking in CashWrench — link expenses directly to customer jobs
Here's what happens when you create a job expense:
Choose Job Expense — CashWrench asks: is this tied to a specific job, or is it general business overhead? You pick Job Expense.
Add the details — Title (e.g., "Copper pipes for kitchen job"), Amount, Category (Materials, Tools, Subcontractor, or Other), and Date.
Link it to the job — This is the key step. You select which customer and which job this expense belongs to. The expense is now tied to that specific project.
CashWrench updates the job profit automatically — The moment you save the expense, CashWrench recalculates what you made on that job. Not what you charged. What you made after costs.
You don't have to do any math. You don't have to wait until the end of the month. The profit screen updates in real time.
87% margin — you know this right now, not at tax time
That's an 87% margin. You know this immediately — not at tax time, not when your accountant runs the numbers, but right now while the job is still fresh in your mind.
Why this matters more than you think
When you track job expenses, you start to see patterns you'd never notice otherwise.
You're underpricing certain types of work
Bathroom jobs consistently have higher material costs than you thought. You're charging $800 but spending $220 on parts — a 72.5% margin. Meanwhile, your water heater replacements are $1,200 with only $150 in parts — an 87.5% margin. You need to either raise bathroom rates or find cheaper suppliers.
Certain customers are less profitable than they seem
A repeat customer always requests last-minute changes. The initial quote looks good — $900 with $100 in materials. But after three extra trips to the supply store for additional parts, you're at $280 in materials and your margin dropped to 69%. That customer costs you more than you realized.
Your margins vary wildly by job type
Emergency repairs have 90%+ margins because you're charging for speed and expertise, not parts. Planned installations have 70–75% margins because materials are a bigger percentage of the total. Knowing this helps you understand which jobs are worth prioritizing when you're booked.
Small jobs are eating into your hourly rate
You charged $200 for a quick fix. Spent $45 on parts. Made $155. Sounds fine until you realize the job took 3 hours including drive time, and you made $51/hour after materials. That's below your target rate. You either need to raise prices on small jobs or stop taking them.
None of these insights are available if you're just tracking total revenue at the end of the month. Job-level expense tracking shows you exactly where your money is going — and which jobs are actually making you money.
What makes a good job expense system
Not all expense tracking is created equal. Here's what actually matters:
Expenses must link directly to jobs — If you're just logging "Materials - $75" without tying it to a specific customer and job, you're not tracking job expenses. You're just creating a list of costs that you'll sort out later. Later never works.
Profit should update automatically — You shouldn't have to pull out a calculator every time you log an expense. The system should show you the new profit number immediately.
Categories should be simple — Materials, Tools, Subcontractor, Other. That's it. You don't need 47 expense categories. You need to know what you spent and what job it was for.
It should take 30 seconds to log an expense — If tracking an expense requires filling out a form with 15 fields, you won't do it. The best system is the one you'll actually use — which means it needs to be fast.
CashWrench is built around these principles. Tap the expense. Pick the job. Enter the amount. Done. The profit screen updates. You know what you made.
CashWrench tracks Job Expenses and shows your real profit per job
Log a job expense — materials, parts, subcontractors — and CashWrench immediately calculates what you actually made on that job. Not what you charged. What you made after materials. Every expense is linked to a specific customer and job. Your profit updates in real time. No spreadsheets. No end-of-month math. Just clear numbers on every job you do.
$505
real profit
87%
margin
30s
to log it
Two months free. No card. No catch. Try it at cashwrench.com or email contact@cashwrench.com
You charged $580. You spent $75 on copper pipes. The difference is $505. That's your profit on the job. Not revenue. Not what you charged. What you actually made.
Track it. Know it. Price the next job accordingly.
— The CashWrench Team
Track job expenses. See real profit.
Know what you made on every job after materials and parts. Stop guessing. Start tracking. No credit card to start.