The Complete Guide to (IES) Intuit Enterprise Suite for Construction Companies

Introduction: When Construction Companies Outgrow QuickBooks

If you're running a construction company with multiple projects, entities, or crews, you may be reaching the limits of what QuickBooks Desktop or QuickBooks Online can handle. What worked perfectly when you had three projects and five employees becomes challenging when you're juggling fifteen active jobs, multiple entities, and complex job costing requirements.

At RedHammer we get asked all the time what the best construction software is, and my answer is rarely straightforward. For years, QuickBooks has been the entry point for construction companies, but most outgrow it once they hit the $5-7 million revenue mark. At that point, many construction firms consider upgrading, only to discover an uncomfortable truth: the next tier of software often takes a step backward in areas like technology, integration, functionality, and user-friendliness.

Intuit Enterprise Suite, "IES" for short, represents a fundamental shift in how construction accounting software works. Built specifically for multi-entity businesses that have outgrown traditional QuickBooks, IES combines the familiarity of QuickBooks with enterprise-level capabilities previously reserved for complex ERP systems.

This comprehensive guide covers everything construction companies need to know about Intuit Enterprise Suite, from core features and AI automation to implementation strategies and real-world applications.

Table of Contents

1. What is Intuit Enterprise Suite?
2. Who Should Use IES?
3. Core Multi-Entity Capabilities
4. AI Agents: Automation That Actually Works
5. Construction-Specific Project Management
6. Advanced Dimensions & Job Costing
7. Financial Planning & Business Intelligence
8. Workflow Automation & Approvals
9. Payroll Integration for Construction
10. Customer & Vendor Management
11. IES vs QuickBooks Online Advanced
12. Implementation & Migration Guide
13. IES Pricing
14. Common Questions About IES
15. IES Update Release Summary
16. Is IES Right for Your Construction Company?

What is Intuit Enterprise Suite (IES)?

Intuit Enterprise Suite is Intuit's next-generation accounting platform designed for growing businesses that operate multiple entities, manage complex projects, or require sophisticated financial reporting beyond what QuickBooks Desktop or QuickBooks Online Advanced can provide.

Released in September 2024 with continuous quarterly updates through 2025, IES is built on a modern cloud architecture that enables true multi-entity management, AI-powered automation, and construction-industry-specific functionality.

The Four Strategies of IES - As We See It

1. Multi-Entity Architecture
Unlike QuickBooks, which treats each company file as a separate island, IES connects multiple legal entities into a unified system. You can navigate between companies, run consolidated reports, manage intercompany transactions, and oversee users across all entities from a single dashboard.

2. AI-Powered Intelligence
IES includes four distinct AI agents (introduced in the July 2025 release) that automate complex accounting tasks, provide financial insights, and help with decision-making. These aren't simple automation rules; they're intelligent systems that learn from your data and adapt to your business patterns.

3. Advanced Dimensions & Job Costing
IES provides up to 20 custom dimensions for tracking income and expenses, far exceeding QuickBooks' basic class and location capabilities. This dimensional depth enables sophisticated job costing by project, phase, crew, equipment type, location, and any other category critical to your business. You can assign multiple dimensions to single transactions and generate multi-dimensional reports that reveal profitability insights impossible with traditional accounting software.

4. Construction-Industry Focus
Job costing in IES combines project budgets, expanded reporting, and a superior project dashboard with a Project Agent powered by AI. Users track budgets vs. actuals, change orders, and progress in real time, while the agent analyzes data and flags issues. Integrated revenue recognition and job-based accounting address construction’s unique needs for accuracy, compliance, and streamlined management. IES’s job costing features include project budgets, detailed reporting, and an upgraded project dashboard alongside its AI-powered Project Agent. Track budgets versus actuals and change orders in real time while the agent analyzes project data, spotting issues early. Integrated revenue recognition and job-based accounting ensure construction businesses get the accuracy, compliance, and management efficiency they need.

‍The Future Vision of Intuit Enterprise Suite

Intuit is making significant investments in IES as the bridge solution for mid-market companies. According to their product roadmap, future enhancements will focus on deeper construction-specific features, expanded AI capabilities, and enhanced integration ecosystems.

“Mid-market companies are turning to Intuit Enterprise Suite to reduce the cost and complexity of growing their business. This release further streamlines multi-entity financial management and gives customers proactive business intelligence. Through the power of AI, we’re giving businesses access to more accurate data, faster, so they can make more informed decisions and focus on driving growth”.  - Ashley Still, Executive Vice President of Intuit Mid-Market⁴

Future development priorities include enhanced equipment tracking, more sophisticated WIP reporting, expanded certified payroll capabilities, and deeper integrations with leading construction management platforms like Procore and Autodesk Build.

Who Should Use Intuit Enterprise Suite?

IES is purpose-built for specific business profiles. Here's who benefits most:

Ideal IES Candidates

Multi-Entity Construction Companies
You operate multiple entities for different projects, regions, or business lines. You need consolidated reporting but maintain separate legal entities for liability protection or tax optimization. For construction companies operating multiple entities, IES eliminates the painful manual consolidation process that used to require hours of Excel work.

Growing General Contractors
You've outgrown QuickBooks' basic project tracking. You run 10+ concurrent projects, work with numerous subcontractors, and need sophisticated job costing to protect profit margins.

Specialty Contractors Scaling Up
You're moving from residential to commercial work, adding project managers, and need approval workflows to maintain financial control as you delegate responsibility.

Construction Companies with Complex Job Costing
You need to track costs by project, phase, crew, equipment type, and location. QuickBooks' basic class and location tracking no longer provides the granularity you need.

Why You Should Consider IES

• ✓ You're manually consolidating financial statements from multiple company files
• ✓ Your accountant spends hours eliminating intercompany transactions
• ✓ You can't accurately track profitability by project, crew, or equipment
• ✓ QuickBooks Desktop file size is approaching limits
• ✓ You need multiple people approving purchases but lack workflow tools
• ✓ Job costing reports require extensive spreadsheet manipulation

Why You Should Stay with QBO

• ✓ You operate a single legal entity with straightforward accounting
• ✓ You run fewer than 5 concurrent projects
• ✓ Basic class and location tracking meets your needs
• ✓ Your annual revenue is under $5 million
• ✓ You don't need sophisticated multi-entity consolidation
• ✓ Not job costing to the project and cost code level

Core Multi-Entity Capabilities

Multi-entity management is where IES fundamentally differs from QuickBooks. These features address the core challenge of operating multiple legal entities while maintaining unified financial visibility.

Multi-Entity Navigation & Hub (September 2024)

The Multi-Entity Hub provides centralized control over all connected entities. From a single interface, you can:

• Switch between entities without logging out and back in
• View entity status, health indicators, and key metrics
• Access user management across all entities
• Navigate to specific entity functions quickly

Enhanced in July 2025, the hub now displays intercompany debits and credits directly, providing a holistic view of intercompany activity without navigating to individual entities.

This eliminates the QuickBooks Desktop workflow of closing one company file and opening another, or the QuickBooks Online process of logging out and selecting a different company.

Consolidated Financial Reporting (December 2024)

IES generates true consolidated financial statements that automatically eliminate intercompany transactions, providing accurate pictures of overall business performance.

Available Consolidated Reports:

• Consolidated Balance Sheet
• Consolidated Profit & Loss Statement
• Consolidated Cash Flow Statement
• Consolidated Trial Balance
• A/P Aging Summary and Detail (multi-entity) - added July 2025
• A/R Aging Summary and Detail (multi-entity) - added July 2025
• Expenses by Vendor (across entities) - added July 2025
• Transaction Detail Reports (with intercompany visibility) - added July 2025

Key Consolidation Features (July 2025 Enhancements):

• Choose which entities to include in each report
• Side-by-side scrolling with fixed columns for easy comparison
• Multiple export options (Excel, CSV, Spreadsheet Sync)
• Drill down to transaction level from high-level reports
• Intuit Assist helps clean up vendor lists and chart of accounts

Intercompany Transaction Management

Managing transactions between related entities is notoriously complex. IES automates this process:

‍Intercompany Chart of Accounts Setup (September 2024)
Standardize how intercompany transactions are recorded across entities. IES automatically creates offsetting entries, ensuring transactions balance across your corporate structure.

Manual Eliminations (December 2024)
When automatic eliminations don't fully capture complex intercompany relationships, you can make manual adjustments that affect consolidated reports without posting to individual entity books. This ensures GAAP-compliant consolidated statements.

Intercompany Sales Tracking (July 2025)
Streamline intercompany sales by invoicing other entities; those invoices automatically appear as bills in the receiving entity. Once accepted, bills become linked transactions that flow into consolidated reports. These linked transactions can be reviewed separately from external transactions in the multi-entity hub, making reconciliation significantly faster.

Multi-Entity Allocations (March 2025, Enhanced July 2025)

IES learns from your historical allocation patterns and automates the distribution of shared costs across entities.

Done-for-You Allocations:

• AI suggests allocation percentages based on prior transactions
• Applies to bills, expenses, checks, and bank feed transactions
• Saves draft transactions for review before posting
• Maintains consistent allocation methodologies
• Calculates allocations based on percentage of sales, expenses, or assets across entities

Common Construction Allocations:

• Equipment costs across multiple project entities
• Shared administrative overhead
• Insurance premiums covering multiple LLCs
• Central procurement distributed to project companies

Note: Automated allocations are not enabled until you have sufficient intercompany allocation history. The system learns from your manual patterns to improve suggestion accuracy.

Shared Resources Across Entities (July 2025)

Maintain consistency across your organization by standardizing key elements:

Shared Chart of Accounts
Create a master chart of accounts that automatically applies to all linked entities. When you add or modify an account, the change propagates to all relevant entities and transactions.

Shared Dimensions
Establish standard dimensions (classes, locations, departments, custom dimensions) across entities for consistent reporting and analysis. Dimensions are also available on intercompany journal entries.

Centralized User Management (September 2024, Enhanced December 2024)

Manage user access, roles, and permissions across all entities from a single dashboard.

User Management Features:

• View all users and their entity access in one place (December 2024 enhancement)
• See which entities each user can access, their roles, and current status
• Assign roles and permissions by entity
• Modify access without navigating between entities
• Role-based permissions with multi-entity considerations

Available Roles:

• Standard admin, standard employee, standard accountant
• Custom Invoice Approver (September 2024)
• Project Manager (September 2024)
• HR Manager (December 2024)
• Custom roles for forecasts and budgets (September 2024)

AI Agents: Automation That Actually Works

The July 2025 release introduced four AI agents that go beyond simple automation rules. These agents understand context, learn from your data, and make intelligent recommendations.

"As businesses grow, so does the complexity of running their business. Intuit Enterprise Suite fuels growth by helping customers run their business on one end-to-end business platform. This mid-market solution is powered by Intuit's data and AI platform, boosting productivity through powerful automation, and unlocking business intelligence with actionable insights."  - Sasan Goodarzi, Intuit CEO⁵

Accounting Agent

The Accounting Agent tackles one of the most tedious tasks in construction accounting: transaction categorization and bookkeeping accuracy.

What It Does:

• Automatically suggests categories and matches for incoming bank transactions
• Identifies frequent vendors (material suppliers, subcontractors)
• Detects accounting anomalies in financial statements
• Provides personalized category and matching suggestions with explanations
• Handles tedious bookkeeping tasks with best-in-class accuracy

Real-World Impact:
A construction company processing 200+ weekly transactions across multiple suppliers and subcontractors can save 15-20 hours weekly on transaction categorization. The agent learns that Home Depot purchases should be categorized to Materials with the appropriate project dimension, while transactions from ABC Concrete always go to Subcontractor Costs.

Why It Matters:
Boost time savings by increasing bookkeeping accuracy and consistency. Your Accounting Agent handles tedious bookkeeping tasks with best-in-class accuracy in a fraction of the time, allowing accounting staff to focus on analysis and strategic work.

Finance Agent

The Finance Agent provides financial analysis and risk assessment that would typically require a dedicated financial analyst.

Capabilities:

• Consolidates data from P&L and Balance Sheet to deliver monthly financial summaries
• Continuously monitors financial performance and proactively identifies anomalies
• Analyzes trends and deviations from goals and budgets
• Analyzes performance across key metrics and projects potential variances from forecasts
• Provides quick answers and detailed drill-downs through an assisted panel

Construction Application:
Ask the Finance Agent, "Which projects are at risk of missing profit targets?" and receive immediate analysis showing that Project A's labor costs are trending 15% over budget while Project B's material costs increased unexpectedly due to recent change orders. The agent identifies specific cost categories driving variances and suggests corrective actions.

Value for Construction:
Transform financial performance management from a reactive, time-consuming process into a proactive, insightful, and efficient driver of growth. Improve productivity, decision-making, profitability, and customer confidence.

Payments Agent

The Payments Agent streamlines accounts payable and receivable processes, ensuring timely payments and healthy cash flow.

Automation:

• Analyzes customer payment behaviors
• Implements personalized payment strategies to accelerate cash flow
• Automates recurring payments, invoice reminders, deposits, and late fees
• Drafts and sends personalized messages sharing new payment options
• Assesses business cash flow and uncovers effective payment levers

Value for Construction:
Maintains strong subcontractor relationships by optimizing payment timing while managing cash flow strategically. Discover more efficiency and better money outcomes with tailored payment strategies that increase invoices paid in full, strengthen customer relationships, and provide visibility into cash flow.

Real-World Scenario:
The agent learns that Customer A typically pays within 15 days of invoice, while Customer B requires two reminders and pays at 45 days. It automatically adjusts reminder schedules and payment term strategies for each customer, accelerating overall collections without damaging relationships.

Project Management Agent

The Project Management Agent brings intelligence to construction project oversight.

Functions:

• Automatically creates estimates and populates project details from uploaded documents
• Populates tasks, deadlines, and priorities from documents
• Suggests profitability targets based on historical project data
• Automatically allocates project costs for accurate costing and budget management
• Provides summaries and highlights of project performance when closing projects

Example Use:
Upload a project RFP and scope document. The Project Management Agent automatically creates an estimate with line items, suggests pricing based on similar historical projects, populates standard tasks and timelines, and recommends a profitability target based on comparable work.

Why It Matters:
Boost productivity, speed up project starts and billing cycles, improve project costing and cash flow management, and discover valuable insights. Rely on your Project Management Agent to handle the administrative burden of project setup and tracking.

How AI Agents Learn and Improve

Unlike rule-based automation, IES AI agents:

• Learn from your specific business patterns and decisions
• Improve recommendations as they process more data
• Adapt to changes in your business operations
• Provide increasingly accurate suggestions over time
• Maintain context across related transactions and entities

Important Note: The AI agents require 30-60 days of transaction history to learn your patterns effectively. Initial suggestions may require more review, but accuracy improves significantly over time.

Construction-Specific Project Management

IES provides project management capabilities specifically designed for construction accounting, going far beyond QuickBooks' basic job tracking.

Project Setup & Structure (September 2024)

Project Overview Dashboard
Customizable dashboard displaying critical project KPIs in real-time:

• Estimated vs. actual income tracking
• Project progress monitoring
• Profitability metrics
• Cost variance analysis
• Timeline and milestone status

Project Task Templates (March 2025)
Create standardized task structures for consistent project management across similar jobs. Define standard phases, tasks, and workflows that can be applied to new projects, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

Cost Code Templates (March 2025)
Establish predefined cost code structures for consistent project tracking. Essential for construction companies that bid on similar types of work and need comparable cost data across projects.

Change Order Management (September 2024)

Change orders are a reality in construction, and managing them properly protects profit margins.

Comprehensive Change Order Tracking:

• Document changes to original project estimates
• Customer approval workflows for scope changes
• Track both estimated cost and income impacts
• Link change orders to original estimates
• Monitor cumulative change order impact on profitability
• Maintain complete audit trail of project modifications

Profit Protection:
IES automatically calculates how change orders affect project profitability. If a change order adds $10,000 in costs but only $8,000 in revenue, the system alerts you to the margin compression before you approve it.

Real-World Scenario:
Client requests upgraded fixtures in a commercial buildout. You create a change order showing $5,000 in additional material costs and $2,000 in labor. IES calculates required markup to maintain target margin and generates a customer-facing change order document for approval. The system tracks the approved change and automatically updates project budgets and profitability forecasts.

Revenue Recognition Methods (September 2024)

Construction accounting requires specialized revenue recognition to comply with industry standards. IES supports multiple methods:

Percentage-of-Completion Method
Recognize revenue proportionally as work progresses. IES tracks actual costs incurred vs. total estimated costs to calculate completion percentage and recognize appropriate revenue.

Project Milestone Method
Recognize revenue when specific milestones are achieved. Define milestones with associated revenue amounts, and IES recognizes income as each milestone is completed and approved.

Compliance Benefits:
Proper revenue recognition ensures financial statements accurately reflect project progress and supports compliance with ASC 606 (Revenue from Contracts with Customers) and construction industry accounting standards.

Project Profitability Management (September 2024, Enhanced March 2025)

AI-Powered Profitability Goals
Set project profitability targets and receive AI-powered recommendations based on similar historical projects (enhanced with Project Management Agent in July 2025). IES suggests realistic profit margin goals considering project type, size, and market conditions.

Proactive Monitoring
IES continuously monitors project financials against targets and provides alerts when projects deviate from expected profitability:

• Cost overrun warnings before they become critical
• Revenue recognition issues requiring attention
• Variance analysis identifying specific problem areas
• Forecasted profit margin updates as work progresses

Project Profitability Reports:

• Real-time estimated vs. actual profitability
• Profit margin by project phase
• Project ranking by profitability
• Trend analysis showing improving or declining margins

Project Budgeting (March 2025, Enriched July 2025)

Enhanced Project Budgets with AI
Create detailed project budgets with AI assistance that suggests budget allocations based on historical project data and industry benchmarks.

AI-Import for Project Budgets (March 2025)
Automatically generate project budgets using artificial intelligence. Upload basic project parameters and IES creates a detailed budget based on similar completed projects. The July 2025 Project Management Agent enhancement further automates this process.

Enriched Budgeting Features (July 2025):

• Draft, lock, and track budget updates as part of construction project management
• Budget versioning and auditing to see how estimated costs changed over project course
• Link estimates to budgets for complete planned vs. actual visibility
• Budget tracker widget for immediate notification when costs exceed allocated amounts
• Projects by budget widget to identify and address potential overruns
• Monitor impacts of budget changes on profitability

Forecasted Profit Margins
As projects progress, IES updates forecasted final profit margins based on actual costs incurred, remaining work, and historical performance patterns.

Employee Cost Rate Calculator (July 2025)
Accurately calculate employee costs for project budgeting, including:

• Base wages and overtime
• Burden costs (taxes, insurance, benefits)
• Equipment operator premiums
• Union rate differentials
• Crew productivity factors

For companies using QuickBooks Payroll, employees' pay types and pay rates automatically appear in the calculator. Cost rates automatically apply to time events added to projects. Update cost rates for multiple employees at once to address organization-wide changes in benefits and overhead.

Deposits on Estimates (July 2025)

Handle customer deposits on project estimates properly:

• Request deposits on estimates from customers
• Record deposit payments as liabilities until estimate converts to invoice
• Accept deposit payments online by ACH, card, or Apple Pay (with QuickBooks Online Payments)
• Approved and paid estimates marked as approved (will not auto-convert to invoice)
• Proper accounting for upfront material and labor costs

Value for Construction:
Start projects with secure customer commitment and clear go-ahead to plan and allocate resources. Improve cash flow for upfront costs, mitigate financial risk of starting projects, and maintain accurate, transparent accounting.

Industry-Specific Reports (September 2024, Enhanced December 2024)

IES includes construction-specific reports not available in standard QuickBooks. It included 4enhanced QBO Reports and 12 new reports.

Enhanced QBO Reports

• Estimates vs. Actuals
• Estimates & Progress Invoicing Summary by Project
• Estimates vs. Actuals by Project
• Work in Progress by Project

Project Financial Reports:

• Change Order Report
• Change Order Report
• Committed Costs by Project
• Cost to Complete by Project
• Open Balances by Customer and Project
• Profit and Loss by Project
• Project Costs by Vendor and Project
• Project Costs Detail
• Project Status
• Time by Employee and Project
• Unallocated Amounts to Projects
• Unbilled Time and Expenses
• Unbilled Time and Expenses by Project

Value for Bidding:
Historical project cost reports inform future bids. Know exactly what similar projects cost, including often-overlooked expenses, ensuring competitive but profitable bids.

Advanced Dimensions & Job Costing

Job costing separates profitable construction companies from those merely surviving. IES provides sophisticated dimensional tracking far exceeding QuickBooks' capabilities.

Understanding Dimensions in IES (September 2024)

Dimensions are categories by which you track income and expenses. QuickBooks Online Advanced offers classes and locations. IES provides up to 20 custom dimensions.

Standard Dimensions:

• Class (included by default)
• Location
• Department
• Portfolio

Customer-Defined Dimensions (19 Additional):
Create dimensions specific to your business needs:

Examples:

• Project Phase (Sitework, Foundation, Framing, MEP, Finishes)
• Crew/Team
• Equipment Type (Excavation, Concrete, Carpentry)
• Project Type (Residential, Commercial, Industrial)
• Revenue Stream (New Construction, Renovation, Service)
• Customer Type (Public, Private, Owner-Operator)
• Superintendent/Foreman
• Cost Category
• Building/Structure (for multi-building projects)
• Any other categorization your business requires

Use up to 20 customizable dimensions to analyze data by project, vendor, customer, or class. Allocate costs not just by job, but also by department, cost center, or any other dimension you define. The result is clear, segmented financial reporting that reveals profitability, project costs, and labor performance across the categories that matter to you.

Multi-Dimensional Job Costing

Traditional job costing tracks costs by project. Sophisticated job costing tracks costs by project AND phase AND equipment type AND crew.

Example Analysis Enabled by Multiple Dimensions:

Question: Why did Project Riverside cost more per square foot than similar projects?

Answer via Dimensional Analysis:

• Foundation phase costs were 18% higher than average
• Excavation equipment costs exceeded estimates by 22%
• Crew 3 showed lower productivity than Crews 1 and 2
• Costs concentrated in weeks 3-4 due to weather delays

This level of insight is impossible with QuickBooks' basic class tracking but automatic with IES dimensions.

Dimensions Throughout the System

Dimensions in Bank Feeds (December 2024)
Categorize transactions directly from your bank feed by specific dimensions, reducing later adjustments and improving accuracy from the start.

Enhanced Dimensions (July 2025)
Assign dimensions to products, services, and fixed assets. When you add these items to transactions, dimensions automatically populate:

• Materials assigned to specific project phases
• Services linked to project types
• Equipment depreciation allocated to projects using that equipment

Bulk Dimension Assignment:

• Apply dimensions to transactions using "Apply to all" or "Apply to empty lines"
• Assign or update dimensions for multiple transactions simultaneously
• Support for delayed credits and delayed charges

Dimensions in Budgets (September 2024)
Create budgets by any dimension combination:

• Project by phase budgets
• Department by location budgets
• Project type by quarter budgets
• Equipment type by project budgets

Payroll Cost Allocation (September 2024)

One of construction's biggest challenges is accurately allocating labor costs when employees work on multiple projects.

Multi-Project Time Tracking:

• Assign multiple project or class values to single employees within the same pay period
• Automatic transfer from QuickBooks Time for seamless labor tracking
• Detailed labor cost distribution across projects
• Support for different pay rates by project or task

Integration with QuickBooks Payroll:
Available with QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium and Elite. Time entries from QuickBooks Time automatically flow to payroll with proper project allocation, eliminating manual timesheet translation.

Real-World Application:
Carpenter works 30 hours on Project A (framing), 8 hours on Project B (finish work), and 2 hours on shop maintenance. IES automatically allocates 30 hours of labor cost to Project A framing, 8 hours to Project B finishes, and 2 hours to overhead, providing accurate project costs without manual calculations.

Dimensional Reporting

Every standard financial report in IES can be filtered, grouped, and analyzed by dimensions:

Profit & Loss by Dimension:

• P&L by project, showing profitability by job
• P&L by phase, identifying consistently profitable or problematic phases
• P&L by crew, comparing team productivity and profitability
• P&L by equipment type, understanding equipment-related costs

Dimensional P&L Forecasts (March 2025):

• Forecast profit and loss with dimensional breakdowns
• Project future profitability by project type
• Anticipate seasonal variations by dimension
• Model growth scenarios with dimensional detail

Balance Sheet by Dimension:
Understand how assets and liabilities relate to specific dimensions, crucial for project-based businesses with equipment allocated to specific jobs or regions.

Practical Job Costing Scenarios

Scenario 1: Equipment Utilization Analysis
Track excavation equipment costs by project. Discover that transporting equipment between projects costs more than estimated, informing decisions about equipment purchases or project scheduling to minimize moves.

Scenario 2: Crew Productivity Comparison
Compare labor costs by crew across similar projects. Identify that Crew A consistently completes framing 12% faster than other crews, informing crew assignments for time-sensitive projects.

Scenario 3: Project Phase Bidding
Analyze historical costs by project phase across all projects. Discover that MEP rough-in consistently runs 8% over initial estimates, allowing you to adjust future bids accordingly.

Scenario 4: Geographic Cost Variations
Track costs by location (city, county, or project site). Identify that projects in County X cost 15% more due to permitting delays and inspector availability, informing both bidding and project scheduling.

Financial Planning & Business Intelligence

IES transforms financial planning from spreadsheet exercises into integrated, real-time strategic tools.

3-Way Financial Planning (July 2025)

IES provides comprehensive financial forecasting across interconnected statements, a capability previously requiring specialized FP&A software.

Integrated Forecasting:

• Profit & Loss forecasting
• Balance Sheet projections
• Cash Flow statement forecasting
• Account linking between statements ensuring mathematical consistency

How It Works:
When you forecast increased revenue in the P&L, IES automatically updates the Balance Sheet (A/R increases) and Cash Flow (cash from operations increases based on your collection assumptions). This integration eliminates the spreadsheet errors that plague manual three-way forecasting.

Budget Conversion:
Convert existing budgets into forecasts with a single click, providing a starting point for more sophisticated planning without recreating everything manually.

AI-Powered Cash Flow Forecasting (July 2025)

Cash flow kills more construction companies than lack of work. IES provides sophisticated cash flow forecasting that adapts to your business patterns.

Forecasting Features:

• Create 13-week and 12-month cash flow forecasts
• AI learns from historical cash flow patterns
• Filter between monthly or weekly views for granular, short-term planning
• Accounts for seasonal variations in construction work
• Incorporates project-specific payment terms
• Models different growth scenarios
• Delve into transaction data that influences cash flow projections
• Fine-tune forecasts by adding or editing planned items

Construction-Specific Factors:

• Project payment schedules and milestone billing
• Retainage tracking and release timing
• Subcontractor payment terms
• Material supplier payment requirements
• Equipment financing obligations

Scenario Planning:
Model "what-if" scenarios: What happens to cash flow if you add three new projects next quarter? If material costs increase 10%? If a large client delays payment by 30 days?

KPI Scorecard (July 2025)

Track your construction company's financial performance with IES's customizable KPI scorecard featuring 44 pre-defined metrics.

Each KPI includes detailed descriptions, calculation formulas, relevant time periods, and trend visualizations. Gain real-time visibility into profitability, liquidity, and efficiency metrics that drive strategic decisions and keep your team aligned on unified objectives.

Each KPI includes detailed descriptions, calculation formulas, relevant time periods, and trend visualizations. Gain real-time visibility into profitability, liquidity, and efficiency metrics that drive strategic decisions and keep your team aligned on unified objectives. There are three major categories of KPIs

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‍Budget Collaboration and Approvals (September 2024)

Move beyond finance-team-only budgeting to collaborative planning with accountability.

Collaborative Budgeting:

• Involve department heads and project managers in budget creation
• Each stakeholder provides input for their areas of responsibility
• Finance team reviews and consolidates departmental budgets
• Approval workflows ensure proper review before finalization

Budget Versioning:
Maintain multiple budget versions for comparison:

• Initial draft budgets
• Revised budgets after feedback
• Board-approved budgets
• Revised budgets after market changes

Dimensions in Budgets:
Budget by any dimensional combination:

• Project-level budgets for estimated costs and revenues
• Department budgets by location
• Equipment budgets by project type
• Labor budgets by crew and phase

AI-Powered Financial Goal Setting (September 2024)

IES doesn't just track goals; it helps set realistic ones using AI analysis.

Goal Categories:

• Income goals by period, project type, or dimension
• Expense management goals by category
• Profit margin targets by project or overall
• Working capital goals
• Growth rate targets

AI Recommendations:
Based on historical performance, industry benchmarks, and current market conditions, IES suggests achievable but ambitious goals. The system explains its reasoning, helping you understand what drives the recommendations.

Goal Monitoring:
Track progress against goals in real-time with alerts when performance deviates from targets. IES identifies specific factors contributing to goal achievement or shortfalls.

AI-Powered Report Insights (July 2025)

Financial reports contain valuable information, but extracting insights requires time and expertise. IES surfaces key insights automatically.

Automated Analysis:

• Streamline financial report review with AI-powered insights on P&L and Balance Sheet
• Surface changes in trends you should be aware of
• Provide more detail in visualization of historical data
• List contributing factors with links for further exploration
• Identify unusual variances requiring attention
• Compare current performance to historical patterns

Example Insights:
"Material costs increased 23% compared to last quarter, primarily driven by lumber and concrete price increases affecting Projects A, D, and F. This represents a 5% margin compression that requires attention in upcoming bids."

Why It Matters:
Free up valuable time for strategic initiatives and help drive business growth by optimizing financial statement review. Quickly identify trends and anomalies using your latest data without relying on manual interpretation of financial statements—at the speed of AI.

Enhanced Reporting Capabilities

Spreadsheet Sync with Google Sheets (December 2024):Create custom reports in Google Sheets using live IES data:

• One-click updates to refresh data
• Real-time collaboration on financial analysis
• Combine IES data with external data sources
• Create custom dashboards and visualizations
• Maintain version control in Google Drive

Granular Report Permissions (December 2024):
Control who can view and edit reports with fine-grained permissions:

• Limit access by report group or individual report
• Protect sensitive financial information
• Enable delegation while maintaining data security
• Different permission levels for different roles

Workflow Automation & Approvals

As construction companies grow, maintaining financial control while enabling operational speed requires sophisticated workflows. IES provides enterprise-grade approval automation.

Estimate Approval Workflows (September 2024)

Prevent costly estimation errors by requiring internal review before customer-facing estimates go out.

Approval Process:

• Estimators create project estimates
• Workflow routes estimates to designated approvers (senior estimator, project manager, owner)
• Approvers review for completeness, accuracy, and profitability
• Feedback loop if revisions needed
• Final approval before customer presentation

Templates and History:

• Create approval workflow templates for different project types or sizes
• Maintain complete history of estimates, reviews, and approvals
• Track who approved what and when for audit purposes

Quality Control:
A second set of eyes catches common estimation errors like forgotten costs, unrealistic labor hours, or material quantity miscalculations before they become contractual obligations.

Custom Invoice Approver Role (September 2024)

Separate invoice creation from invoice approval, a critical control as you scale.

Duty Separation:

• Project managers or team members create invoices
• Finance or senior management approves before sending
• Non-admin users can be granted invoice approval permission
• Maintains visibility and control over customer billing

Prevents Common Issues:

• Billing for incomplete work
• Incorrect pricing or missing change orders
• Premature billing before milestones complete
• Invoice errors that damage customer relationships

Bill Multi-Condition Approvals (September 2024)

Complex approval routing for vendor bills based on multiple conditions ensures appropriate authorization.

Approval Routing Rules:

• Bills over $X require owner approval
• Bills from new vendors require additional review
• Bills for specific accounts require department head approval
• Multi-level approval for large purchases

Shareable Workflow Templates:

• Create approval templates in one entity
• Share across all linked companies for consistency
• Customize when needed for entity-specific requirements
• Update templates and changes propagate appropriately

Real-World Example:
Subcontractor bills under $5,000 go to project manager approval. Bills $5,000-$25,000 require project manager and senior PM approval. Bills over $25,000 require project manager, senior PM, and CFO approval. Emergency bills can follow expedited approval paths.

Automated Recurring Reminders (September 2024)

Stop chasing payments, estimates, and bills manually. IES automates follow-up communications.

Customizable Reminders:

• Set start times for reminder sequences
• Define repeat intervals (daily, weekly, custom)
• Establish end conditions (invoice paid, estimate accepted, bill paid, PO closed)
• Choose notification methods (tasks, email to team, email to customers)

Reminder Scenarios:

Invoice Reminders:‍

• Day 1 after due date: Friendly reminder email to customer
• Day 7: Second reminder with payment link
• Day 14: Escalation notice
• Day 21: Final notice before collections
• Stops automatically when payment received

Estimate Follow-Up:

• ‍‍Day 3 after sending: "Following up on our estimate" email
• Day 7: "Available to discuss any questions"
• Day 14: "Estimate expires in X days"
• Stops when estimate accepted or declined

Purchase Order Closure:
Remind internal team to close completed POs, ensuring accurate committed cost reporting and preventing forgotten open orders.

Recurring Payments from Customers (December 2024)

Automate payment collection for customers with regular, predictable billing.

Setup Options:

• Customizable payment frequency (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly)
• Flexible timing (1st of month, 15th of month, every Monday)
• End dates or ongoing until cancelled
• Automatic payment method charging

Construction Applications:

• Service contracts with monthly fees
• Retainer agreements for maintenance work
• Progress billing on long-term projects
• Rental income from owned properties

Improved Cash Flow:
Predictable, automated payments improve cash flow visibility and reduce collections effort. Available with QuickBooks Online Payments.

Payroll Integration for Construction

Construction payroll is complex, with multiple pay rates, certified payroll requirements, and project cost allocation needs. IES integrates deeply with QuickBooks Payroll for construction-specific functionality.

Multi-Project Time and Labor Allocation (September 2024)

Payroll Cost Allocation:
Assign multiple project or class values to employees within the same pay period. When an employee works on three different projects in one week, costs automatically allocate to the correct projects.

QuickBooks Time Integration:
Seamless integration with QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets):

• Employees clock in/out by project and task
• Time data automatically transfers to payroll
• Project allocation flows from time tracking to job costing
• Eliminates manual timesheet entry and allocation

Available with:
QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite subscription is required with IES.

BigTime Integration (December 2024)

For companies using BigTime project time tracking:

Bidirectional Sync:

• Pay types sync from BigTime to QuickBooks Payroll
• Hours assigned to projects flow to payroll processing
• Labor codes map to job cost categories
• Task-level time tracking supports detailed job costing
• PO numbers transfer for proper cost allocation

Benefits:
Maintain single source of time tracking data (BigTime) while leveraging QuickBooks Payroll for processing and IES for financial reporting and job costing.

Employee Cost Rate Calculator (July 2025)

Accurately calculate true employee costs for project budgeting and bidding.

Calculation Components:

• Base hourly wage or salary
• Employer payroll taxes (Social Security, Medicare, FUTA, SUTA)
• Workers' compensation insurance
• General liability insurance allocation
• Health benefits and other fringe benefits
• Union benefits if applicable
• Paid time off burden
• Equipment operator premiums

QuickBooks Payroll Integration:
For those using Payroll, employees' pay types and pay rates automatically appear in the calculator. Once calculated, cost rates automatically apply to time events added to Projects.

Output:
True hourly cost for each employee or employee class, ensuring project budgets include full labor burden rather than just wages.

Advanced Payroll Features

Effective Dating for Pay Types (July 2025):
Schedule changes to employee compensation (base pay and additional pay types) to take effect in future pay periods. For one-off pay type assignments, add start and end dates so pay types can be automatically assigned and unassigned from the employee.

Paycheck Corrections for Closed Quarters (July 2025):
For a closed quarter in the current year or year before, you can now void, edit, and record past paychecks. As you record a past paycheck, decide whether to sync the transaction to your books. With Payroll Elite, request an amendment in IES and Intuit will work with tax agencies directly to amend and process necessary tax payments.

Employee Compensation Enhancement (July 2025):

• Account mapping visibility for pay types
• Taxability settings for different compensation types
• Mixed salary/hourly compensation support (add hourly rate for salaried employee)
• Multiple pay rate handling within single employee

Retirement Partnerships (March 2025):
Expanded retirement plan options and partnerships, making it easier to offer competitive benefits packages that help attract and retain skilled construction workers.

Workforce Management (March 2025)

Employee History:
Comprehensive tracking of employee information including:

• Position history and changes
• Pay rate history
• Project assignments over time
• Performance documentation
• Training and certifications

Organizational Charts:
Visual organizational structure management showing reporting relationships, making it easier to understand company structure as you grow.

Direct Deposit Payment Reversals (March 2025):
Ability to reverse direct deposit payments when necessary (employee termination before payment clears, payment errors, etc.).

Compliance Support

1099 Automation (December 2024):
AI-powered 1099 service for subcontractor reporting:

• Automatically identifies contractors requiring 1099s
• Collects missing W-9 information
• Prepares 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC forms
• Review and approval workflow
• Electronic filing support

Customer & Vendor Management

Strong relationships with customers and vendors drive construction business success. IES provides enhanced management capabilities.

Customer Hub (July 2025)

Centralized customer relationship management designed for service and construction businesses.

Customer Information Management:

• Comprehensive customer notes and history
• Customizable to-do lists and task tracking
• Custom fields for industry-specific information
• Communication history and preferences

Relationship Tracking:

• Referral source capture (how did this customer find you?)
• Feedback collection and management
• Project history with this customer
• Lifetime value calculations

Document Management:

• E-signature contract support
• Store customer agreements and documents
• Warranty information and terms
• Insurance certificates and bonds

Value for Construction:
Track long-term customer relationships, repeat business rates, and referral sources. Understand which marketing channels produce the most valuable customers. Efficiently manage sales opportunities and accelerate revenue growth from one place rather than relying on disparate platforms.

Vendor Management

While IES doesn't have a specific "Vendor Hub" like the Customer Hub, multi-entity vendor management provides significant benefits.

Vendor Performance Tracking:

• Historical cost and delivery data by vendor
• Quality metrics and issue tracking
• Payment history and terms compliance
• Insurance and bonding verification

Reports:

• Expenses by Vendor (multi-entity) - July 2025
• Project Costs by Vendor and Project - September 2024
• Unpaid Bills by Project & Vendor - December 2024
• Vendor comparison and analysis

Payment Processing

QuickBooks Online Payments Integration:
Accept customer payments with integrated payment processing:

• Credit card and ACH acceptance
• Automated payment application to invoices
• Recurring payment setup for regular customers
• Payment status tracking and reconciliation

Vendor Payment Automation:
Streamline vendor payments with the Payments Agent assistance (July 2025):

• Payment scheduling and batching
• ACH payment support
• Check printing integration
• Payment approval workflows

IES vs QuickBooks Online Advanced vs QuickBooks Desktop

Understanding how IES compares to traditional QuickBooks helps determine whether migration makes sense for your business.

Architectural Differences

The architectural comparison reveals fundamental differences in how each platform operates and scales. QuickBooks Desktop requires local installation and network setup, while both QBO Advanced and IES offer cloud-based accessibility from anywhere. IES distinguishes itself with native multi-entity architecture and centralized user management, whereas QuickBooks platforms treat each company as a separate instance requiring manual consolidation.

‍

Feature Comparison: Multi-Entity Capabilities

Multi-entity management separates IES from traditional QuickBooks products, which were designed for single-company operations. While QuickBooks Desktop and Online Advanced require separate files or subscriptions for each legal entity with manual consolidation in Excel or third-party apps, IES provides a unified system with automated intercompany eliminations and shared chart of accounts.

This architectural advantage eliminates hours of manual consolidation work and reduces errors for construction companies operating multiple entities.

‍

Feature Comparison: Job Costing

IES delivers construction-specific Job Costing features that go beyond basic job tracking available in QuickBooks. While all three platforms offer fundamental job costing, IES provides AI-powered profitability forecasting, advanced revenue recognition methods, and automated committed cost tracking essential for construction accounting.

The platform's customizable project dashboards and employee cost calculator enable more accurate bidding and real-time project financial monitoring than QuickBooks Desktop or Online Advanced can provide.

‍

Feature Comparison: Dimensions & Job Costing

Dimensional tracking capabilities represent one of IES's most significant advantages over QuickBooks platforms. QuickBooks Desktop and Online Advanced limit users to single class and location assignments per transaction, forcing construction companies into workarounds for complex job costing needs.

IES supports up to 20 custom dimensions with multiple assignments per transaction, enabling sophisticated analysis by project phase, crew, equipment type, and any other business-critical category, providing the granular insights necessary for protecting profit margins.

‍

Feature Comparison: AI & Automation

IES's AI capabilities fundamentally transform how construction companies handle routine accounting tasks and financial analysis. While QuickBooks platforms rely on manual processes and basic rule-based automation,

IES employs six specialized AI agents that learn from your data patterns to automate bookkeeping, optimize payment collection, analyze financial performance, and manage projects. These intelligent systems provide predictive cash flow forecasting and automated intercompany allocations that would otherwise require significant manual effort and financial expertise.

‍

Feature Comparison: Financial Planning

Financial planning and analysis capabilities distinguish IES as an enterprise-level solution compared to QuickBooks' basic budgeting tools. Neither QuickBooks Desktop nor Online Advanced offers integrated forecasting or scenario modeling, limiting strategic planning capabilities.

IES provides comprehensive 3-way financial planning that links P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow forecasts with AI-powered insights, KPI scorecards, and variance analysis, giving construction companies the forward-looking visibility needed for growth and bonding requirements.

‍

Feature Comparison: Workflow & Approvals

Workflow automation becomes critical as construction companies scale beyond owner-managed operations. QuickBooks Desktop and Online Advanced offer limited approval capabilities that don't support the duty separation needed for larger organizations.

IES provides comprehensive, customizable approval workflows for invoices, estimates, bills, and purchase orders with multi-condition routing, shareable templates across entities, and automated reminder systems, ensuring financial controls keep pace with business growth.

‍

Feature Comparison: Reporting

Reporting capabilities reveal how each platform handles the complex financial visibility needs of growing construction companies. While all three offer standard financial reports and custom report creation, IES adds AI-powered insights that automatically identify trends and anomalies in your financial data.

The platform's automated multi-entity consolidation, comprehensive dimension-based reporting, and Google Sheets sync provide the analytical depth construction companies need without the manual spreadsheet work required by QuickBooks platforms.

‍

‍When to Choose Each Platform

Choose QuickBooks Desktop if:

• Single entity with no growth plans for additional entities
• Specific industry requirements only available in Desktop
• You require offline access and have unreliable internet
• You're comfortable with file size limitations
• Migration to IES is planned within 12 months (don't move to QBO first)

Choose QuickBooks Online Advanced if:

• Single entity with no growth plans for additional entities
• Under 5 concurrent construction projects
• Annual revenue under $5 million
• Basic class and location tracking meets your needs
• Team size under 15 people
• Don't need sophisticated multi-entity consolidation
• Budget-conscious and can supplement with third-party apps

Choose Intuit Enterprise Suite if:

• Multiple legal entities requiring consolidated reporting
• 10+ concurrent construction projects
• Need sophisticated job costing beyond basic class/location
• Outgrown QuickBooks limitations
• Require approval workflows and duty separation
• Annual revenue over $5 million
• Growing team requiring centralized user management
• Need AI-powered insights and automation
• Construction-specific project management critical

Implementation & Migration

What the “Technical Migration” Does

‍Intuit’s technical conversion is an automated utility that takes your legacy QuickBooks file and attempts to convert lists, transactions, and settings into Intuit Enterprise Suite (IES). It maps chart of accounts, customers/vendors, items/cost codes, open transactions, and some preferences into a new IES environment. It’s designed for speed and minimal decision-making, point the tool at your file, run it, and review the output. In practice, we’ve seen some technical conversions run over 10 hours end-to-end on larger files.

Reality check

‍While the tool can work, it’s not an implementation. Not everything maps 1:1, and most construction files need cleanup before go-live. Pushing a messy legacy file through the utility can drag list bloat, duplicate names, mis-mapped cost codes, broken job-cost detail, and equity roll-forward quirks into your new system.

Note on Intuit’s conversion utility: The out-of-the-box tool has predictable issues, duplicate/legacy lists, cost code mismatches, incomplete job-cost history, retained earnings oddities, and inactive list carryover. We’re aware of these patterns and have proven workarounds and pre/post-conversion cleanup steps to keep your IES environment clean and your reports tied out.

When to Avoid the “Full Technical Migration”

• Your legacy file has years of list bloat, duplicate names, or inconsistent cost codes.
• Job-cost detail in the ledger doesn’t tie out cleanly to estimates or WIP.
• You plan to change your chart of accounts, cost code structure, or dimensions in IES.
• You’re consolidating multiple entities and want standardized lists and reporting.
• You rely on billable expenses that need careful mapping to preserve job billing integrity.
• You have unique Advanced Pricing or line-level tax rules that don’t translate cleanly.
• You carry 10+ years of historical data and a very large database (better to scope and archive than force it through the tool).

Migration Path Best Practices

1. Assess & Clean: Fix naming, merge duplicates, standardize the COA and cost codes, close stale jobs, and reconcile AR/AP/WIP.
2. Decide Scope: Bring forward active customers, vendors, jobs, opening balances, and only the historical detail you truly use.
3. Design in IES: Set dimensions, approvals, and intercompany rules the right way—before any data lands.
4. Migrate & Validate: Load scoped data, run tie-outs (trial balance, AR/AP, WIP), and prove reports match.
5. Cutover & Train: Freeze legacy entry, go live, and train your team on the new processes and reports.

Why Engage a Partner Like RedHammer

• We are construction accounting experts with deep insight into the right way to configure IES for job costing, WIP, and retainage.
• We align your COA, cost codes, and dimensions to IES reporting from day one.
• We are a ProAdvisor Elite firm with 75+ ProAdvisor resources.
• We host design sessions and solution your IES architecture end-to-end, including third-party integrations and reporting
• We prevent noisy historical data from polluting your new environment.
• We manage reconciliations and tie-outs so executive reports are trusted on day one.
• We set up approvals, allocations, and intercompany flows the way you actually operate.

If you’re deciding between a push-button conversion and a scoped migrate-and-clean approach, start with a short readiness assessment. We’ll review your file health, list structure, job-cost integrity, and reporting needs, then recommend the lowest-risk path to IES.

Common Questions About IES

General Questions

Q: Is IES replacing QuickBooks?
A: No. IES is a premium tier designed for businesses that have outgrown QuickBooks Online Advanced. QuickBooks Desktop, Online, and IES will all continue to be available. IES is for companies needing multi-entity management and advanced features.

Q: Can I use IES for a single entity?
A: Technically yes, but it's over-engineered and over-priced for single-entity needs. Stick with QuickBooks Online Advanced unless you're planning to add entities soon.

Q: Does IES work on mobile devices?
A: IES is cloud-based and accessible via web browsers on any device. Mobile optimization continues to improve with each release.

Q: Is my data secure?
A: Yes. IES uses the same security infrastructure as QuickBooks Online, including encryption, secure data centers, and SOC 2 compliance.

Q: Can I try IES before committing?
A: Contact Intuit or an authorized partner about trial or demo options. RedHammer is one of Intuit's select implementation partners with certified expertise in IES deployment for construction companies and can provide demonstrations.

Multi-Entity Questions

Q: How many entities can I link in IES?
A: There's no published hard limit, but IES is designed to handle 5-20+ entities efficiently. Consult with Intuit for very large multi-entity structures.

Q: Do linked entities need to be legally related?
A: No, though most users link related entities. You could link any companies where you need consolidated reporting and unified management.

Q: Can I remove an entity from IES?
A: Yes. Entities can be unlinked, though you'll lose multi-entity benefits for that entity. Historical data remains intact.

Q: Does each entity need its own EIN?
A: Typically yes, as these are separate legal entities. Consult your accountant about your specific structure.

Q: Can different entities use different fiscal years?
A: IES supports different fiscal years across entities, though consolidated reporting may require adjustments.

Feature Questions

Q: Can I use IES without AI features?
A: Yes. AI features provide recommendations you can accept or ignore. The platform works fine if you prefer manual control.

Q: What construction-specific apps integrate with IES?
A: Native integrations include Knowify (project management) and BigTime (time tracking). Many apps that integrate with QuickBooks Online work with IES.

Q: Does IES support percentage-of-completion accounting?
A: Yes. IES includes revenue recognition methods specifically for construction including percentage-of-completion and milestone billing.

Q: Can I track retainage?
A: Yes. IES supports retainage tracking on invoices and bills.

Q: Does IES handle certified payroll?
A: IES provides detailed labor tracking by project that supports certified payroll requirements. Specific certified payroll report generation depends on your QuickBooks Payroll subscription level.

Q: How long does it take for AI agents to learn my business?
A: AI agents require 30-60 days of transaction history to learn your patterns effectively. Initial suggestions may need more review, but accuracy improves significantly over time.

Support Questions

Q: What support is available for IES?
A: Each IES client get sassigned Customer Success Mnaager

Q: Is training included?
A: Basic training resources are included. Implementation partners often provide comprehensive training as part of migration services.

Q: Are there IES experts I can hire?
A: Yes. QuickBooks ProAdvisors are being trained on IES. Look for ProAdvisors with construction industry experience like RedHammer.

Q: Where can I learn more about new features?
A: Intuit releases quarterly product updates. Check the What's New section in IES, Intuit's website, or follow construction accounting experts like RedHammer.

Pricing Questions

Q: How much does IES cost?
A: Pricing is customized based on number of entities, users, and features needed. For a $25M contractor with 10-15 users, costs typically range from $700-$1,500 monthly. Contact Intuit or an authorized partner for quotes.

Q: Is pricing per entity or per company?
A: Pricing includes base subscription plus additional costs for additional entities and users. Exact structure varies.

Q: Are there discounts for migrating from QuickBooks?
A: Migration incentives are sometimes available. Ask about current promotions when requesting pricing.

Q: Can I add entities later?
A: Yes. You can start with core entities and add more as needed.

IES Release History: A Chronological Journey

Intuit has continuously enhanced Enterprise Suite since its September 2024 launch. Here's a summary of each major release with links to detailed coverage:

September 2024 - Initial Release

Launch Highlights:
The inaugural release established IES as a multi-entity platform purpose-built for growing construction companies.

Key Features Introduced:

• Multi-entity navigation and user management
• Automated recurring reminders for invoices, estimates, bills, and POs
• Custom invoice approver role and estimate approval workflows
• Fixed asset auto-detection and creation
• Intercompany chart of accounts setup
• Up to 20 customer-defined dimensions for granular job costing
• Budget collaboration and approvals with dimensional tracking
• Change order management with customer approval workflows
• Project overview dashboard and project manager role
• Revenue recognition methods (percentage-to-completion, milestone)
• Project profitability goal setting and monitoring
• Six construction-specific reports
• Payroll cost allocation across multiple projects
• Integration with Knowify for project data sync

Impact: Established IES as the bridge solution between QuickBooks and traditional construction ERPs.

Read the full September 2024 release notes

December 2024 - Multi-Entity & Compliance Focus

Release Highlights:
Enhanced multi-entity capabilities and introduced critical compliance automation.

Key Features Added:

• Manual eliminations for accurate consolidated financials
• Multi-entity consolidated reports (Balance Sheet, P&L, Cash Flow, Trial Balance)
• User visibility across entities for centralized management
• Recurring payments from customers for predictable cash flow
• AI-powered 1099 service automating contractor reporting
• Dimensions in bank feed for immediate transaction categorization
• Enhanced reporting for projects including "Unpaid bills by project & vendor"
• Tailored tools for professional services with industry-specific KPIs
• Spreadsheet Sync with Google Sheets for custom reporting
• Granular permissions for reports
• Enhanced project planning with task priorities
• Knowify data integration for invoice payment processing
• BigTime data integration for payroll and job costing
• HR Manager role for dedicated payroll management

Impact: Transformed IES into a compliance powerhouse while strengthening multi-entity financial management.

Read the full December 2024 release notes

March 2025 - Advanced Planning & Forecasting

Release Highlights:
Introduced sophisticated financial planning tools and enhanced project budgeting.

Key Features Added:

• Multi-entity allocations with percentage-based distributions
• Multi-entity hub for centralized operations
• Enhanced consolidated reporting with entity selection and export options
• Project budgets with AI-powered features
• AI-import for project budgets
• Project task templates and cost code templates
• Third-party integration enhancement via new API
• Project profitability tracking and analysis
• Forecast reports and dimensional P&L forecasts
• Employee history tracking
• Expanded retirement partnerships
• Paycheck corrections for closed quarters
• Organizational charts
• Direct deposit payment reversals

Impact: Positioned IES as a comprehensive FP&A solution for construction companies.

Read the full March 2025 release notes

July 2025 - AI Revolution

Release Highlights:
Introduced four AI agents representing the most significant leap in construction accounting automation.

Key Features Added:

AI Agents:

• Accounting Agent for automated bookkeeping and anomaly detection
• Payments Agent for personalized collection strategies
• Finance Agent for financial performance management
• Project Management Agent for automated project lifecycle

Multi-Entity Financial Management:

• Four new consolidated reports (A/P aging, A/R aging, expenses by vendor, transaction detail)
• Intercompany debit/credit visibility in multi-entity hub
• Drill-down to transaction level from reports
• Intuit Assist for vendor/account cleanup
• Done-for-you multi-entity allocations with AI learning
• Intercompany sales with linked transactions
• Shared dimensions and chart of accounts across entities

Business Intelligence:

• AI-powered report insights on P&L and Balance Sheet
• KPI scorecard with 30+ pre-defined metrics
• AI-powered cash flow forecasting (13-week and 12-month)
• 3-way financial planning linking P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow
• Enhanced dimensions with automatic form population

Payroll:

• Effective dating for pay types
• Paycheck corrections for closed quarters
• Employee compensation enhancement with account mapping visibility

Projects:

• Deposits on estimates with proper liability accounting
• Employee cost rate calculator
• Enriched project budgeting with versioning and Budget Tracker widget

Platform:

• Global search with natural language processing
• Platform performance enhancements (2x faster loading)

Impact: Established IES as the most AI-advanced construction accounting platform available.

Read our comprehensive coverage: Summer 2025 Updates

Read the official July 2025 release notes

Conclusion: Is IES Right for Your Construction Company?

Intuit Enterprise Suite represents a significant evolution in construction accounting software, filling the gap between basic QuickBooks functionality and complex enterprise ERP systems.

For construction companies grappling with the limitations of QuickBooks Online but hesitant to leap into costly, complex alternatives, Intuit Enterprise Suite offers a refreshing solution. This powerful platform is designed specifically for the construction industry, addressing the unique challenges that come with managing projects, job costing, and financial reporting.

IES Excels For:

• Multi-entity construction companies requiring consolidated reporting
• Growing contractors outgrowing QuickBooks limitations
• Companies needing sophisticated job costing with multiple dimensions
• Businesses requiring approval workflows and financial controls
• Construction companies wanting AI-powered insights and automation
• Organizations spending significant time on manual consolidation
• Companies with 10+ concurrent projects requiring detailed tracking
• Contractors in the $5M-$250M revenue range

IES May Be Overkill For:

• Single-entity contractors with straightforward accounting
• Companies running fewer than 5 projects annually
• Businesses where basic class and location tracking suffices
• Companies under $5M annual revenue
• Contractors comfortable with current QuickBooks Online Advanced setup
• Organizations that can achieve goals with QBO Advanced plus specialized apps

Making the Decision

Evaluate IES if you're experiencing:

• Pain consolidating multiple entity financials
• Difficulty tracking project profitability accurately
• Manual workflows causing errors or delays
• Outgrowing QuickBooks capabilities
• Challenges with approval and control as you scale
• Limited insight into cost drivers and margins

The IES Advantage:
Purpose-built for multi-entity construction operations, with AI automation, sophisticated project management, and enterprise-level reporting previously unavailable in construction accounting software.

Next Steps:

1. Assess your current pain points against IES capabilities
2. Calculate potential ROI using the framework in this guide
3. Request a demo focusing on your specific needs
4. Speak with other construction companies using IES
5. Consult with your accountant about multi-entity strategy
6. Request pricing and compare to total current costs
7. Plan migration timeline if moving forward

Final Thoughts

The construction industry operates on thin margins where better visibility, control, and efficiency directly impact profitability. IES provides the tools growing construction companies need to scale while maintaining financial control and operational efficiency.

At RedHammer, we specialize in construction accounting and software implementation. Our team understands the unique challenges of the industry and works closely with clients to ensure smooth transitions to new systems like Intuit Enterprise Suite. We've guided dozens of construction companies through this evaluation process and can help you determine whether IES is the right fit for your business.

For construction companies ready to move beyond basic accounting to strategic financial management, Intuit Enterprise Suite offers a clear path forward without the complexity and cost of traditional enterprise ERP systems.

Stay Current with IES Updates

Intuit continuously enhances IES with quarterly product releases. To stay informed about the latest features and construction-industry developments:

• Check our blog for detailed release analysis and implementation guides
• Subscribe to our newsletter for construction financial management insights
• Follow RedHammer on LinkedIn for industry updates and best practices
• Contact RedHammer for personalized consultation on IES implementation

Related Articles:

1. IES Summer 2025 Updates: What Construction Companies Need to Know
2. Before You Ditch QBO: A Clear Look at the Construction Software Gap
3. Intuit Enterprise Suite: The Ultimate Project Accounting Solution
4. Intuit Launches New Agentic AI Experiences and Financial Management Capabilities for Intuit Enterprise Suite to Drive Mid-Market Business Growth
5. Intuit Introduces Intuit Enterprise Suite to Help Businesses Grow, Streamline Operations, and Scale

This guide is updated quarterly as Intuit releases new IES features. Last updated: October 2025. For the most current information about Intuit Enterprise Suite, visit Intuit's official website or contact an authorized partner.