Construction and engineering businesses have some of the most complicated financial arrangements of any sector. You are managing costs across multiple live projects at once, paying a mix of employed staff and subcontractors, dealing with the Construction Industry Scheme, handling VAT on a reverse charge basis for certain jobs, and trying to make sure each project makes the margin you priced it at. Most general accountants are not set up to handle this properly. We are, and we work with contractors, builders, engineers and specialist trades across the North West who need an accountant that understands how construction businesses work.
We cover all the financial and compliance tasks that are specific to construction and engineering businesses.
We handle all your CIS obligations each month, verifying subcontractors, calculating the correct deduction rates, filing your monthly return to HMRC, and issuing payment and deduction statements to your subbies. Nothing gets missed.
We track all costs against each project separately, materials, labour, plant hire, subcontractor payments, so you can see at any point how each job is performing against the price you quoted and whether your margin is holding up.
We run your weekly or monthly payroll for employed staff, manage all HMRC submissions, and make sure CIS deductions for subbies are processed correctly alongside your payroll each period.
We help you keep on top of your billing, making sure invoices go out promptly at each stage of a project, that applications for payment are tracked, and that you always know which clients owe you money and how long it has been outstanding.
Construction VAT is more complicated than most sectors because of the domestic reverse charge that applies to certain supplies between VAT registered businesses in the construction chain. We make sure your VAT returns handle this correctly every quarter.
We give you regular reports showing the profitability of your business overall and by project type, helping you understand which jobs are worth taking, which customers are most profitable, and how to price future work to protect your margins.
Reverse charge VAT handled correctly so your returns are accurate and compliant every quarter
A live view of costs and profit on each project so margins do not disappear without you noticing
Someone to call when a project throws up a financial question or a decision needs to be made quickly
CIS managed correctly every month, so subcontractors are paid right and HMRC never comes knocking
We work with you throughout the year, not just when a deadline is due.
The Construction Industry Scheme requires contractors to deduct tax from payments made to subcontractors and pass it to HMRC each month. It sounds straightforward but in practice there are several ways it can go wrong. Paying a subcontractor at the wrong deduction rate because their verification has not been done correctly. Missing the monthly CIS return deadline. Failing to give subcontractors a payment and deduction statement. Each of these can result in a penalty from HMRC, and they are all avoidable with the right processes in place.
If you are a subcontractor rather than a contractor, CIS affects you differently. Tax is being deducted from your payments by the people who pay you, and you need to make sure it is being accounted for correctly in your own tax return so that you reclaim what you are owed and do not end up paying tax twice on the same income.
Something we see regularly: construction business owners who have been running CIS themselves without realising they have been verifying subcontractors incorrectly, applying the wrong deduction rate, or missing the requirement to file a nil return in months where no payments were made. By the time it comes to light, there can be a string of late filing penalties sitting on their account.
Getting CIS sorted properly from the start is considerably cheaper than fixing historic errors later.
Beyond CIS and VAT, this is where a specialist accountant earns their fee.
Real project cost tracking against your quoted price, materials, labour, plant and subcontractor costs, so a shrinking margin shows up while there is still time to act, not six months later.
Domestic reverse charge VAT applied correctly across your supply chain, so returns stay accurate whether you are the contractor or the subcontractor.
CIS subcontractor verification and monthly returns handled in full, including nil returns in quiet months, so penalties never creep up on you.
Retention and applications-for-payment tracking, so money held back by main contractors is chased and collected, not forgotten.
Cash flow forecasting that accounts for staged payments, retentions and the lag between materials going out and invoices being settled.
Our construction packages start at £195/month for a business doing up to £250k turnover, including CIS returns for a handful of subcontractors, quarterly VAT (including reverse charge), monthly bookkeeping and year-end accounts. Contractors running multiple live projects, larger subcontractor numbers or payroll typically sit in the £350–£950/month range. Fixed fee, no hourly surprises.
HMRC can charge penalties for incorrect deductions, late monthly returns and missing payment and deduction statements, and errors can compound if they aren’t caught quickly. We verify every subcontractor properly, apply the correct rate from the outset, and file your monthly return on time, including nil returns when no payments have been made.
Yes. We make sure reverse charge is applied correctly across your supply chain, whether you’re the contractor or the subcontractor on a job, so your VAT returns stay accurate every quarter.
Xero as the core ledger, with project or job-costing add-ons where you need cost tracking at that level of detail. If you’re managing everything on spreadsheets, we handle the migration end-to-end.
We contact your current accountant for handover and time the switch so your monthly CIS return and VAT filings are never at risk of being late. Most construction businesses are fully switched over within two to three weeks.
Yes. We track costs against each project separately, so you get a clear picture of true profit per job, not just an overall number at year end, which is usually too late to act on.
Yes. R&R is regulated by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). All work is signed off by an ACCA-qualified accountant.
Our head office is in Blackburn, and we work with contractors, builders, engineers and specialist trades in Preston, Burnley, Accrington, Chorley, Leyland, Bolton, Wigan, Bury and Manchester. Being cloud-based means your CIS returns, VAT and project reporting work the same wherever your sites are, but face-to-face meetings are available at our Blackburn office when you want them.
Related specialities: Owner managed businesses · Transport & logistics · Recruitment agencies · Payroll · VAT returns & MTD
Book a free consultation. We’ll review your last CIS return, your VAT treatment and your project cost tracking, and give you three concrete things to change — whether or not you switch to us. Call 01254 839543 or book online.
Expert Chartered Certified Accountants helping North West businesses protect and grow their income.
Friendly support from a local team that understands your business. Book your free consultation today and take the first step towards financial clarity and peace of mind.
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74 St James Road, Blackburn, BB1 8ET
We work with clients in Blackburn and across the North West, so you can get support wherever you are.
