QuickBooks vs LiveCosts

QuickBooks is one of the world's most popular accounting platforms, helping businesses manage bookkeeping, invoicing, VAT, payroll and financial reporting. LiveCosts is purpose-built for construction companies that need real-time control of project costs, procurement and profitability. Rather than replacing QuickBooks, LiveCosts works alongside it, giving contractors complete visibility of every project from budget to final account. Whether you're a general contractor, subcontractor or specialist trade, LiveCosts helps you stay on top of labour, materials, plant, subcontractors and committed costs before they impact your bottom line. Construction teams typically use LiveCosts for:

Dedicated construction workflows for purchase requisitions, RFQs, purchase orders, deliveries, variations, progress claims, subcontractor commitments, retentions and cost-to-complete forecasting.

Live budget vs actual tracking with committed cost visibility, real-time project profitability and early warning of budget overruns.

AI-powered document processing that automatically extracts line items from supplier quotes, purchase orders and invoices, reducing manual data entry.

Built for construction teams with mobile site deliveries, labour and time tracking, purchase order approvals and project cost management in one platform.

Fast, personal onboarding and support, including one-to-one implementation, assisted trial periods and expert support with typical response times of under three minutes.

Side-by-side comparison

Aspect	LiveCosts	Quickbooks
Time to implement	1 to 5 days	1 to 4 weeks
AI invoice extraction	AI line-item extraction with automatic coding	Basic OCR
Quote to PO workflows	RFQs, quote comparison, approvals & purchase orders	No
Construction forecasting	Live cost-to-complete & profitability forecasting	Basic project reports
Variations	Built-in variation management	No
Retentions & progress claims	Built specifically for construction	No
Construction purchase orders	Construction designed purchase orders with approvals	Basic purchase orders
Mobile site deliveries	Mobile delivery capture linked to POs	No
Time & equipment tracking	Labour, plant & equipment tracking by project	Basic time tracking
Human support	Human support in under 3 minutes with one-to-one onboarding	Standard support

Trusted by construction companies globally

Why teams pick LiveCosts

LiveCosts and Quickbooks features compared

Compare features and real customer-tested differences on forecasting, POs, variations, CIS and retention.

Job Costing

Track project costs against budgets to understand profitability as work progresses.

QuickBooks

QuickBooks provides basic project tracking by allocating income and expenses to projects. It offers visibility into historical project costs but is primarily designed for accounting rather than live construction cost control.

LiveCosts

LiveCosts delivers real-time job costing for labour, materials, plant and subcontractors. Every cost is tracked against the project budget as work happens, giving instant visibility into project profitability.

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Procurement

Manage the purchasing process from requisitions and supplier quotes through to purchase orders, deliveries and invoices.

QuickBooks

QuickBooks includes basic purchase orders but does not provide a complete procurement workflow from requisition through supplier quotations, approvals and deliveries.

LiveCosts

LiveCosts manages the entire procurement process, including purchase requisitions, AI-powered RFQs, supplier quote comparisons, purchase orders, delivery tracking and invoice approvals.

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Implementation timelines

Here is what implementation typically looks like before going live.

Product	Typical duration	Typical steps
LiveCosts	A few days	1. Connect QuickBooks 2. Import projects, budgets and contacts 3. Configure cost codes and approval workflows 4. Train office and site teams 5. Go live on your first project 6. Roll out across all projects
QuickBooks	Several weeks	1. Set up company accounts 2. Configure VAT, chart of accounts and bank feeds 3. Import customers and suppliers 4. Set up users and permissions 5. Configure invoicing and reporting 6. Begin day-to-day accounting

Implementation timelines vary depending on the size of your business and the complexity of your projects.

Most LiveCosts customers are up and running within a few days. Our onboarding team helps you connect your accounting software, import budgets and project data, configure workflows and launch your first live project. Once your team is comfortable, it’s easy to roll LiveCosts out across the rest of the business with dedicated support every step of the way.

Where LiveCosts fits — and common drawbacks

QuickBooks is an excellent accounting solution, but it wasn’t designed to manage the day-to-day operational side of construction projects. As projects grow in size and complexity, many contractors find they need greater visibility and control over costs before they reach the accounts department.

LiveCosts fills that gap by providing dedicated construction workflows that sit alongside QuickBooks, helping project teams manage budgets, procurement, labour, subcontractors and profitability in real time.

Where LiveCosts Fits

Contractors looking for real-time job costing rather than month-end reporting.
Businesses that want to manage procurement from requisition through to supplier payment.
Project teams that need live budget vs actual reporting with committed cost visibility.
Companies looking to reduce manual administration using AI-powered invoice processing.
Construction businesses that want to improve project profitability while continuing to use QuickBooks for accounting.

Common Drawbacks of Using QuickBooks Alone

Limited visibility of committed costs before invoices are received.
Basic job costing designed for accounting rather than live project management.
No built-in workflows for RFQs, purchase requisitions or construction procurement.
Limited support for variations, retentions and progress claims.
No cost-to-complete forecasting based on live project data.
Manual processes can lead to duplicate data entry between site teams and finance.
Project managers often rely on spreadsheets to track budgets and procurement outside the accounting system.

This positions LiveCosts as a complementary solution rather than a replacement, highlighting where it adds value for construction businesses already using QuickBooks.

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Frequently asked questions

No. LiveCosts complements QuickBooks by providing construction-specific project cost management while QuickBooks continues to manage accounting and financial reporting.

Yes. LiveCosts integrates with QuickBooks Online, allowing approved invoices, contacts and financial information to synchronise, reducing duplicate data entry.

QuickBooks is an excellent accounting platform. Many contractors pair it with LiveCosts to gain real-time visibility of project budgets, procurement and profitability.

Because it gives complete control over construction projects before costs reach the accounts department, helping teams identify issues earlier, improve cash flow and protect project margins.

Trusted by Contractors Worldwide

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Discover how easy it can be to track and control costs in real time.