Bookkeeping for septic and pumping companies on QuickBooks Online.
Books and Trucks does monthly bookkeeping for septic and pumping companies in QuickBooks Online, from $599 a month, or $995 a month with ServiceTitan reconciliation and job costing, and cleans up all past books free when you start.
Pump-outs, inspections for home sales, repairs and new system installs all have to land in the books correctly. We close your books every month in QuickBooks Online, file your sales tax, and put the numbers in one dashboard.
Checked by the Books and Trucks team.
Booked calls: weekdays, 9am to 5pm Eastern. By phone, or 30 minutes on Teams.
Not ready for a call? Get a free look at your books
Three things septic owners tell us about their books
“Disposal fees and fuel eat the margin and I never see it in one place.”
“Inspections get paid at closing and I lose track of who still owes us.”
“An install takes weeks and I only find out at the end if it made money.”
How we set up the books for a septic company
Pump-outs, inspections and installs counted apart
Each line of work gets its own income account in QuickBooks, so your monthly reports show what pumping, inspections for home sales and new systems each bring in.
Disposal fees as a direct cost
What you pay the treatment plant or disposal site for each load goes to its own cost account, next to fuel. You can see what pumping really earns after disposal.
Permits and design fees on installs
Permit, soil test and design fees for new systems go to their own account, so each month you can check that they were billed back to the customer.
Sales tax on install work
Whether repairs and new systems are taxed depends on the state. For install work, our contractor sales tax guide shows how each state treats labor and materials.
Four plans for septic and pumping companies
Every plan side by side, with what each one includes, is on the bookkeeping pricing page. Run more than one trade? We also keep books for drain cleaning companies and plumbing shops.
Three steps, and the first two are free
- 1
A free look at your books
With read-only access, we show you where your books are behind or do not match, within three business days. No charge, no obligation.
- 2
A short call
You tell us how the shop runs today: which software, how many trucks, how far behind the books are. We tell you plainly whether we are a fit and agree the fee in writing.
- 3
Handover in 30 days
We take over from your current setup, clean up all your past books at no charge, and your dashboard is live by the end of the first month.
After that, the month runs the same way every time. We categorize every transaction, reconcile every bank and card account, and file sales tax for the states you work in. Then you get thirty minutes with your accountant on what the numbers say and what to do about them.
We work inside the software you already use
QuickBooks Online
We work inside your own QuickBooks Online file as an accountant user. You keep ownership and full access, and Intuit does not count an invited accountant toward your user limit.
Source: Intuit, Invite accountant users
ServiceTitan
ServiceTitan sends invoices, payments, expenses and sales tax to QuickBooks Online through its own integration. Every month we check that what arrived in QuickBooks matches ServiceTitan, including merchant fees and financing deposits.
Payroll
Drivers, installers and office staff, including overtime and spiffs, on Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll, ADP or Paychex.
Your dashboard
The X INFIN portal, which we build and run, puts revenue, cash and receivables on one screen. On the QuickBooks and Jobber plans it reads QuickBooks. On the ServiceTitan plan it reads both systems.
What you see every morning
These figures are from the live portal of our HVAC client, a company on ServiceTitan and QuickBooks Online. Septic and pumping companies get the same dashboard, built from their own books. Read their story
Not ready for a call? Get a free look at your books.
Leave your details and we email you within one business day. You give us read-only access, and within three business days you see what is behind and what it would take to fix.
Free guides
Reference pages for trade shop owners
- Contractor sales tax by stateIs labor on HVAC, plumbing and electrical work taxed, and who pays tax on materials? Every state, linked to the state's own guidance.Open the guide
- Chart of accounts for trade shops75 accounts for QuickBooks Online with the right types and detail types, ready to import, plus what ServiceTitan needs mapped.Open the guide
- ServiceTitan to QuickBooks export errorsWhat the common ServiceTitan to QuickBooks Online export errors mean and how to fix them, plus refunds, sales tax and moving from Desktop.Open the guide
- Why Jobber payouts don't match bank depositsHow Jobber Payments payouts, fees, tips and refunds land in QuickBooks Online, the five usual causes of a mismatch, and a monthly checklist.Open the guide
- Jobber to QuickBooks sync errorsWhat the common Jobber to QuickBooks Online sync errors mean and how to fix each one, in the order the sync runs, plus legacy errors.Open the guide
- Jobber Bookkeeping or an outside bookkeeper?What Jobber's own bookkeeping add-on covers, which shops it suits, and when an outside bookkeeper on QuickBooks Online fits better.Open the guide
- How much does a bookkeeper cost for a trade shop?Hourly, in-house, flat monthly firms, Jobber Bookkeeping, QuickBooks Live and six trade specialists, side by side, each price linked to its source.Open the guide
- Housecall Pro to QuickBooks Online: what syncs and how to clear the alertsWhat the one-way sync sends and leaves out, the settings to check first, and the nine sync alerts with the fix for each, from Housecall Pro's own help pages.Open the guide
- Job costing in QuickBooks Online for contractorsThe plan you need, how Projects, labor cost rates, billable expenses and progress invoicing work, and the six things QuickBooks cannot do, from Intuit's own pages.Open the guide
- QuickBooks for plumbers: how to set it upThe plan, a class and income account for each kind of plumbing work, parts and truck stock, deposits, backflow tests, subcontractor 1099s and the monthly close.Open the guide
Sales tax by state
Is your labor taxed? It depends on the state.
Each guide covers labor, materials, filing and the common mistakes for contractors in that state, with every rule linked to the state's own source.
Straight answers before you book
What does bookkeeping cost for a septic company?
Our fee is fixed each month and agreed in writing before we start. On QuickBooks Online only, it starts at $599 a month. With ServiceTitan it starts at $995 a month, which covers the books, the monthly ServiceTitan to QuickBooks reconciliation, the dashboard and the monthly call for a company of about five trucks. More trucks, more transactions, or adding payroll and bill pay move the fee up. Month to month, cancel any time.
Do you work with septic companies today?
Our trades client today is an HVAC company in the US, on ServiceTitan and QuickBooks Online. A septic company's books are set up the same way in QuickBooks: service calls, installs, truck costs, sales tax and payroll. You start with a free look at your books, so you can judge our work before you pay anything.
Do we need ServiceTitan to work with you?
No. If you run on QuickBooks Online alone, the QuickBooks plan from $599 a month covers monthly books, bank and card reconciliation, reports, sales tax filings, a dashboard and a monthly call. If you already use ServiceTitan, the ServiceTitan plan from $995 a month adds the monthly ServiceTitan to QuickBooks reconciliation and job costing on every job.
How do you handle disposal fees and truck costs?
Disposal fees, fuel and truck repairs each get their own expense account and are entered every month, so you can see what running the trucks really costs. On the ServiceTitan plan, costs are also tied to each job, so job costing shows what a pump-out or an install really made.
Inspections for home sales get paid weeks later.
We record each inspection invoice when it goes out, and your dashboard shows what is still unpaid and for how long. On the monthly call we go through the overdue list with you, so a payment waiting on a closing does not get forgotten.
Do you file sales tax?
Yes. We file sales tax for the states you work in. Whether pumping, repairs and new system installs are taxed differs from state to state, and we set up QuickBooks to follow the rules where you work.
Can you separate pumping, inspections, installs and repairs?
Yes. Each kind of work gets its own income line, so you see what pumping, inspections for home sales, new system installs and repairs each bring in and cost.
Can you show the cost of running each pump truck?
Yes. Fuel cards, repairs, insurance and payments are tagged to each truck as a class, so the monthly report shows the cost per truck next to the work it did.
How do you handle maintenance contracts that customers pay up front?
Money paid in advance for a maintenance plan is held as unearned revenue and moved to income as each visit is done, so a big month of renewals does not overstate profit.
Do you track county permits and pass-through fees we bill to customers?
Yes. Permit and county fees you pay are coded to the job, and the amount you bill back is matched against them, so pass-through fees net to zero instead of inflating income.
We bought a new truck. How is it recorded?
The truck goes on the balance sheet as an asset with its loan as a liability, the payments are split between interest and principal, and your CPA takes the depreciation at year end. We do not give tax advice on Section 179; your CPA decides it.
Our books are months behind.
Most septic companies who call us are behind, often because pumping tickets, disposal receipts and inspection payments arrive at different times. The free look shows how far behind things are. When you start with us, we clean up all your past books in QuickBooks at no charge, however far back they go.
Who actually does the work?
A named bookkeeper on our team handles your account every month, from disposal and fuel receipts to the bank and card reconciliations, and a senior accountant reviews the numbers before your monthly call.
How do you get access?
You invite us as an accountant user in QuickBooks Online, under Settings and Manage users. Intuit does not count accountant users toward your plan's user limit. If you run ServiceTitan, you also add us as a user with reporting access there. You can remove either at any time.
Can you run payroll too?
On the ServiceTitan plan, yes: drivers, installers and office staff, including overtime and spiffs, on Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll, ADP or Paychex. The QuickBooks plan covers the books, reports, sales tax filings and the dashboard, without payroll or bill pay.
I already have a CPA.
Good. We do the monthly books, your CPA does the tax return, and we send them clean, reconciled books at year-end.
What if it does not work out?
Month to month, cancel any time. You keep your QuickBooks file, every truck and job record in it, and your data.
Talk to us about your septic books
No obligation.
Booked calls: weekdays, 9am to 5pm Eastern. By phone, or 30 minutes on Teams.