What Is a WIP Report? A Contractor's Guide
The WIP report tells you which jobs are making money, which are fading, and how much of your cash is really yours. Here's how to read one and build it every month.
A work-in-progress (WIP) report is a job-by-job schedule that compares what you've billed on each open contract with what you've actually earned. It's the report your surety asks for, the one your banker reads first, and the one that tells you whether this month's profit is real.
What is a WIP report?
A WIP report lists every open job alongside its contract value, costs to date, estimated cost to complete, percent complete, earned revenue, and billings. The difference between earned revenue and billings shows whether each job is overbilled or underbilled.
Because construction revenue is recognized over time with the percentage-of-completion method, the WIP is what turns a stack of invoices and cost reports into an honest income statement.
The columns that matter
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Contract value | Original contract plus approved change orders |
| Total estimated cost | Costs to date plus the PM's cost to complete |
| Percent complete | Costs to date ÷ total estimated cost |
| Earned revenue | Percent complete × contract value |
| Billings to date | Everything invoiced on the job so far |
| Over / (under) billing | Billings minus earned revenue |
| Projected gross profit | Contract value minus total estimated cost |
How to build one every month
- 1Close AP and payroll so job costs are complete through month end.
- 2Have each PM update cost to complete from the field, not from the budget.
- 3Update contract values for approved change orders; track pending ones separately.
- 4Pull billings to date from your pay applications.
- 5Calculate percent complete, earned revenue, and over/under billing.
- 6Book the over/under billing adjustment to the general ledger.
- 7Review fade job by job with the PMs before you close the month.
Warning signs to look for
- A job that stays underbilled for two or more months in a row
- Projected margin dropping from month to month (gross profit fade)
- Large overbillings with little work left to do
- Percent complete jumping without a matching jump in field progress
Where BuildFlash fits
BuildFlash builds your WIP every month as part of close, reviews fade with your PMs, and delivers a surety-ready package. You get the report without hiring a controller to build it.