# Construction Cost Code Template for Custom Home Builders

You know the last build made money. You don't know which part of it did.

**What's in the list**

- 45 cost codes across nine phases, permits through punch list
- The cost types to split each code by: labor, material, subcontractor, equipment, other
- A simple note on what belongs in every code
- A column mapping each code to the NAHB Chart of Accounts — 3802 for direct costs, 4002 for job overhead
- A QuickBooks Online setup guide: which job field to use on your plan, plus six setup steps
- A QuickBooks mapping tab with a suggested item, account, and class for every code, filled in from your edits
- Blank columns for your own numbers and your crew's names for things
- Opens in Excel or Google Sheets

**How to use it**

1. **Mark N on work you don't do.** Most custom builders land at 25 to 40 active codes.
2. **Renumber and rename.** Match what your bookkeeper and your crew already say.
3. **Set up QuickBooks once.** Follow the setup tab, then create one item per code from the mapping tab. At setup, not per invoice.
4. **Build your estimate on the same codes.** The estimate becomes the budget.
5. **Freeze the list.** Add codes at the start of a job, never mid-build.