Billed a lot, collected little
The P&L shows a good quarter, but half of it is sitting in general contractor invoices. Your crew gets paid before the money comes in.
Boston · Framingham · MetroWest
Portuguese speaking bookkeeper in Boston and Framingham
The Boston job wrapped up two months ago and the general contractor still has not paid the final invoice.
If you are looking for a Portuguese speaking bookkeeper in Boston or a bookkeeper in Framingham MA, GS Brasil serves the area remotely, with video meetings and a direct line to Gustavo, in Portuguese, English or Spanish. The focus is what weighs on local companies: cost tracked by job or client, receivables tracked by age when Boston clients pay slowly, subcontractor W-9s on file and a monthly close in QuickBooks Online. Taxes stay with your accountant or CPA.
This page is about the local market. State rules such as sales tax, PFML and the annual report are covered on the bookkeeping in Massachusetts page.
What happens around here
Three common situations between Framingham and Boston
Paperwork requests you cannot answer fast
The contractor asks for proof of insurance, a subcontractor list or a payment history, and you spend days searching email and text messages.
Old prices, new costs
Labor, rent and fuel went up, but your quotes still use numbers from two years ago. Margin shrinks and nobody sees where.
A closer look at the area
Framingham, MetroWest, Everett, Somerville and Boston do not run the same way
Framingham and MetroWest: where the companies are based
Framingham, Marlborough and Milford are home to many Brazilian owned companies in construction, painting, cleaning and restaurants. That is where the LLC is registered, where the materials and the crew are. It is not always where the clients are.
For painting and cleaning, the challenge is usually volume: many small clients, payments by check, Zelle and card, and invoices nobody checks off as paid. Monthly reconciliation matches each payment to the right invoice. For restaurants, it is the daily Toast close matching the bank deposit.
Everett and Somerville: close to the city
Everett and Somerville sit right next to Boston. Companies here serve more city clients, do more apartment renovation work and lose more time and money to travel, parking and tolls. Those small costs need their own category. Spread across general expenses, they vanish from your pricing.
Boston: where the bigger projects are
Boston is more a client market than a place where owners live. That is where the bigger contracts show up, often as a subcontractor to a general contractor. Those clients ask for more paperwork: a certificate of insurance (COI) before you start, your company's W-9, a list of who is on site and invoices in their format.
They also pay more slowly. Between progress billing, approval and payment, invoices age. That is why the accounts receivable aging report (A/R aging, which splits what is current from what is 30, 60 and 90 days out) is part of the monthly close. You see who is paying late before you take the next job from the same contractor.
High costs squeezing margin
In the Boston area, labor and cost of living are high, and that flows into what you pay subcontractors, rent and insurance. With thin margins, a job that looked good can end up at zero. Job costing shows revenue and cost for each job every month, and your next quote uses real costs.
In practice, prices get reviewed against the last few monthly closes, not against memory. If three jobs in a row for the same kind of client closed below plan, the problem is the quote, not bad luck.
How it works remotely
Remote service for the Boston area
GS Brasil is based in Florida. Nothing in the work requires a visit to your office.
01
20 to 30 minutes
A call on WhatsApp or video
You explain where your clients are, how many jobs or contracts run at once and how you get paid today.
02
Read only access
Accounts connected to QuickBooks
Bank and card feeds come into QuickBooks Online read only, and you can revoke access any time. If the books are behind, the first step is catch-up bookkeeping.
03
Structure
Jobs, clients and contractors set up
Each job or contract becomes a project. Each subcontractor gets a vendor record with a W-9. Each invoice is tied to the client who owes it.
04
Monthly
A close with receivables on the table
In the video meeting, besides the P&L, you see margin per job and who has owed you the longest.
What you receive
Deliverables built for local companies
Receivables aging
An A/R aging report every month, showing each general contractor or client and how many days each invoice has been open.
Margin per job or contract
Revenue, materials, labor and subcontractors split by project, tied to Buildertrend if you use it.
Organized payment history
Payments by job and by contractor, easy to pull when a client asks for them.
Subcontractor W-9s and totals
W-9 on file and year to date totals, ready for the 1099 package in January.
Payments matched to invoices
Checks, Zelle, card payments or Toast deposits reconciled to the right sale, with no paid invoices showing as open.
Visible travel costs
Fuel, parking and tolls in their own categories, so they make it into the price of your next Boston job.
What stays with your accountant.
GS Brasil organizes the books and the payment history clients ask for, but does not issue insurance certificates, sign tax documents or file taxes. Taxes, 1099 filing and state obligations belong to your accountant or CPA, who receives everything reconciled.
Frequently asked
Questions from owners in the Boston and Framingham area
Can you come to my office in Framingham?
No. Service is remote, based in Florida. Documents are shared digitally, and meetings are by video. For bookkeeping, that does not change the outcome.
My general contractor pays late. Will you collect for me?
We do not do collections. What GS Brasil provides is a clear picture: how much each contractor owes, since when and which invoices are open. You negotiate with the numbers in hand.
I run painting and cleaning under one LLC. Can you separate them?
Yes. In QuickBooks Online each service line can have its own class, and the P&L shows results for each one. You find out which side is carrying the other.
Do you work with restaurants in the area?
Restaurants are one of our industries with hands on experience, using Toast. The routine covers the daily close matched to the bank, food cost and prime cost. See bookkeeping for restaurants.
My books have not been touched since last year. Where do we start?
With the missing months. First we reconcile the gap, then the monthly routine begins. The process is on the catch-up bookkeeping page.
Keep reading
More on the area and your industry
Bookkeeping in Massachusetts
Monthly books in Portuguese, English or Spanish for MA companies.
Article: Brazilians in Massachusetts
Where the companies are and what changes in the state.
Construction
Job costing and margin per job in QuickBooks.
1099 bookkeeping
W-9s, contractor totals and a 1099 package for your CPA.
Catch-up bookkeeping
When the books are months behind, with or without QuickBooks.
Restaurants
Food cost, prime cost and daily cash close.
First step
Start with the first conversation
Twenty minutes, no commitment, to understand where your company is and point the way.