For most small service businesses, $200 to $600 per month is a reasonable range for professional bookkeeping. Where you land in that range depends on how many transactions you run, how many bank accounts and credit cards need reconciliation, and whether your business requires any specialized tracking beyond standard categories.

A solo plumber running 40 transactions a month through one bank account and one credit card sits at the lower end. A general contractor with multiple active jobs, several subcontractors, equipment loans, and a few hundred monthly transactions will land higher. The work involved is simply different, and pricing reflects that.

Industry complexity plays a role too. Full-service bookkeeping for a trade or construction business often involves more than just categorizing expenses and reconciling accounts. You may need job costing, tracking subcontractor payments for 1099 reporting, or separating costs by project so you actually know which jobs made money. That kind of detail takes more time than basic bookkeeping for a business with one revenue stream and simple expenses.

Watch out for prices that seem too good to be true. A service charging $99 per month is cutting corners somewhere, whether that means skipping reconciliations, using unqualified staff, or delivering books that look fine on the surface but fall apart when your CPA opens them at tax time. Cleaning up bad bookkeeping almost always costs more than doing it right from the start.

Also consider what is included. Some providers charge a base fee for transaction entry and reconciliation, then add on for financial statements, accounts payable management, or payroll. Others bundle those into one monthly price. Ask exactly what you are getting so you can compare providers on equal terms.

The fee should also make sense relative to what you would spend doing it yourself. If you are a CPA for construction businesses charging $75 or more per hour for your trade work, spending 8 to 10 hours a month on your own books costs you more than hiring a professional. And your time is probably better spent on the jobsite or bidding new work.

A reasonable fee is one where you get accurate books delivered consistently, your tax preparer has clean records to work from, and you can look at your financials and actually understand how your business is doing. If you are paying for bookkeeping and still guessing at your numbers, the price is too high regardless of what it is.