What payroll software integrates best with QuickBooks Online for restoration?

Gusto integrates directly with QuickBooks Online and is the most common payroll platform among $500K–$5M restoration companies. It handles W-2 employees, 1099 contractors, benefits administration, and direct deposit. The QBO integration syncs payroll journal entries to QBO automatically. ADP is a viable alternative for larger operations. QuickBooks Payroll (QBO's native payroll add-on) is the tightest integration but more expensive per employee. Justworks is best suited for companies prioritizing PEO-style benefits over customization.

Do I need BILL (Bill.com) for restoration AP management?

BILL is valuable for restoration companies above $2M that deal with high AP volume — multiple subcontractor invoices, vendor bills, and equipment payments per week. It automates AP approval workflows, integrates directly with QBO, and provides a centralized place to manage vendor payments. Below $2M, direct QBO AP management is often sufficient. The primary benefit of BILL is time savings on the AP approval workflow and the ability to manage AP without giving full QBO access to accounts payable staff.

What time tracking app works best with QuickBooks for restoration field crews?

QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) has the tightest QBO integration — time entries sync directly to QBO payroll and job costing. It's the most common choice for restoration companies already on QBO. Albi also includes native time tracking that can be used for job-level labor allocation, though this is a job costing function rather than payroll time tracking. For companies using Gusto for payroll, Gusto's time tracking feature handles the payroll side; field time can then be separately allocated to jobs.

Is there a full software stack recommendation for a $2M restoration company?

For a $2M restoration company: Albi for job management, Encircle for field documentation, QuickBooks Online Advanced for accounting, QuickBooks Time or Albi time tracking for labor, Gusto for payroll, and an outsourced restoration-specialized bookkeeper who manages the QBO configuration, month-end close, and supplement reconciliation. Total software cost: approximately $700–$1,200/month. This stack produces complete job-level P&L, supplement tracking, AR staging, and the financial reports needed for operations and banking.

What expense management software works with QuickBooks for restoration?

Hubdoc and Dext (formerly Receipt Bank) are the most common expense and receipt capture tools integrated with QBO. Both extract data from receipts and invoices and sync to QBO, reducing manual data entry for field purchases, fuel receipts, and vendor invoices. For restoration companies with field crews making daily supply purchases, a structured expense capture workflow (phone photo → Hubdoc/Dext → QBO) significantly reduces month-end data entry. Expensify is an alternative with more complex approval workflows.

Best Apps for Restoration Companies That Integrate with QuickBooks Online

Q: What job management platform integrates best with QuickBooks Online for restoration?

Albi has the cleanest out-of-the-box QuickBooks Online integration for restoration companies in the $1M–$5M range. The mapping of job revenue and costs to QBO accounts requires initial configuration but operates reliably once set up. Dash (Cotality) also integrates with QBO and is stronger for companies with significant TPA program volume. JobNimbus integrates with QBO but with more manual mapping requirements. For new setups, Albi is the default recommendation.

Q: Should a restoration company use ServiceTitan?

ServiceTitan is not built for insurance restoration. It's designed for residential HVAC, plumbing, and electrical service companies — the business model is service agreement + dispatch, not insurance claim management. The key missing pieces for restoration: Xactimate integration, ACV/RCV payment tracking, supplement workflow, TPA program management, and insurance AR staging. Companies that try to adapt ServiceTitan for restoration report significant ongoing customization costs and bookkeeping friction. Restoration-native platforms (Albi, Dash) are the right choice.

▸ Framework Answer

QuickBooks Online is the hub. Everything else connects to it. Job management feeds job costs and revenue. Documentation creates the billing evidence. Time tracking feeds payroll and labor allocation. Payroll feeds the P&L. AP management feeds vendor costs. Each layer serves a specific function — and each requires a clean handoff to QBO to produce complete financial data. This guide covers every app category a restoration company needs and what the QBO integration actually looks like for each.

The QBO-Centered Stack

QuickBooks Online is not the only tool a restoration company needs — but it's the accounting system of record that everything else should feed. Here's how the stack fits together:

Image coming: QBO-centered restoration software stack diagram showing QuickBooks Online in the center with five categories of apps connecting to it: job management (Albi, Dash) at top, field documentation (Encircle, CompanyCam) at right, time tracking (QuickBooks Time) at bottom-right, payroll (Gusto, ADP) at bottom, and AP/expense management (BILL, Hubdoc) at left

The QBO-centered restoration stack. Each app serves one function; all feed into QBO.

Job Management

The job management platform is where restoration jobs live operationally — dispatch, documentation, cost tracking, TPA workflows, supplement milestones. It feeds job revenue and job costs to QBO.

Albi

Best for: $1M–$5M restoration companies, especially water and mold focused.

Albi was built for restoration and shows it. The QBO integration is the cleanest in the category. Job revenue, costs, and TPA fees flow to QBO with correct account mapping once configured. Equipment day tracking is native. Modern mobile app with high crew adoption rates.

QBO integration quality: ★★★★☆ (4.5/5) — best out-of-the-box of any restoration platform.

Pricing: Contact Albi directly. Industry estimates in the $300–$600/month range.

See: Albi vs. QuickBooks for Restoration

Dash (Cotality)

Best for: Companies with 5+ active TPA programs where TPA workflow management is a daily operational need.

Mature, stable platform with the most developed TPA workflow management in the category. QBO integration requires more upfront configuration than Albi but works reliably once set up. Development pace has slowed.

QBO integration quality: ★★★★☆ (3.8/5) — solid once configured, more setup required.

Pricing: Contact Cotality directly. Industry estimates in the $500–$750/month range.

See: Dash (Cotality) Review for Restoration Companies

Restoration Manager

Best for: Companies looking for a proven mid-tier option with solid QBO integration and lower price point.

Restoration Manager (by C2 Systems) is a solid, if less flashy, alternative to Albi and Dash. It integrates with QBO, handles job workflow, and is priced accessibly for smaller operations. Less investment in UI and new features than Albi, but stable and reliable.

QBO integration quality: ★★★☆☆ (3.5/5) — functional, requires configuration, less polished than Albi.

Pricing: Contact C2 Systems directly.

JobNimbus

Best for: Simple operations where the CRM/lead management function is as important as job tracking.

JobNimbus is a CRM + job management platform popular in roofing and general contracting. It integrates with QBO, and some restoration companies use it successfully. The limitation for restoration: it wasn't built for the insurance payment cycle, so supplement tracking, TPA workflows, and ACV/RCV staging require more workaround. Better suited to storm roofing or water damage companies that operate more like general contractors.

QBO integration quality: ★★★☆☆ (3.2/5) — works for simple setups, not restoration-native.

Field Documentation

Field documentation tools capture the photos, drying logs, and moisture data that support insurance billing. They don't integrate directly with QBO — their data flows through Xactimate.

Encircle

Best for: Any mitigation company that needs IICRC S500-compliant drying documentation.

Best-in-class for drying logs, moisture mapping, and equipment tracking. The documented drying record it produces is what carriers expect. Equipment-day logs in Encircle should reconcile to Xactimate equipment billing before each job closes — this is where Encircle data directly affects billing accuracy.

QBO integration: None direct. Data flows through Xactimate.

Pricing: Contact Encircle directly. Industry estimates in the $200–$400/month range.

See: Encircle Review

CompanyCam

Best for: Companies where organized, shareable job photos are the primary documentation need.

CompanyCam is a photo documentation platform with a strong mobile app, good organization by project, and easy sharing with adjusters and customers. It doesn't do drying logs or moisture mapping — it's photos only. Less specialized than Encircle for mitigation documentation; more user-friendly for general job photo management.

QBO integration: None.

Pricing: Contact CompanyCam directly. Publicly listed pricing starts around $49–$79/month (pricing varies by tier and team size as of 2026).

Time Tracking

Time tracking connects field labor hours to both payroll and job costing. The QBO integration quality matters because time entries need to feed both payroll calculations and job-level labor costs.

QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets)

Best for: Companies already on QBO who want the tightest payroll and job costing integration.

QuickBooks Time integrates directly with both QBO payroll and QBO job tracking (Projects or sub-customers). Field techs clock in/out by job on their phones. Time entries sync to QBO for payroll processing and can be allocated to job costs. The integration is seamless — no separate export step.

QBO integration quality: ★★★★★ (5/5) — native QBO product.

Pricing: ~$10–$20/user/month (as of 2026, pricing varies by tier). Check qbo.intuit.com for current pricing.

Albi Native Time Tracking

Best for: Companies already on Albi who want job-level time tracking without a separate app.

Albi has built-in time tracking for field crews. Time logged in Albi is allocated to jobs and can flow to QBO job costs in the integration. The limitation: it's designed for job costing, not payroll — you'll still need a separate payroll platform (Gusto, ADP). Albi time tracking reduces the labor allocation step but doesn't replace the payroll function.

Payroll

Payroll platforms connect to QBO differently — some sync journal entries automatically, others require manual export. For restoration companies, the key feature is job-level labor allocation (connecting payroll costs to specific jobs).

Gusto

Best for: $500K–$5M restoration companies with W-2 employees and a mix of 1099 contractors.

Gusto is the most common payroll platform among mid-size restoration companies. Clean QBO integration (journal entries sync automatically), handles W-2 and 1099, solid benefits management, and easy onboarding. The QBO integration creates payroll journal entries that post to your GL automatically.

QBO integration quality: ★★★★☆ (4.2/5) — automatic journal entries, reliable.

Pricing: Starting at ~$46/month + $6–$12/employee/month (as of 2026). Check gusto.com for current pricing.

ADP

Best for: Larger operations ($5M+) where payroll complexity (multiple states, complex benefits, large headcount) justifies the additional cost and support.

ADP's QBO integration is solid but more complex to configure than Gusto. Better suited for operations with higher headcount, multi-state payroll, or complex benefits that require ADP's deeper HR and compliance infrastructure. Higher cost per employee than Gusto.

Justworks

Best for: Companies prioritizing PEO-style benefits administration over payroll customization.

Justworks is a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) that co-employs your staff and handles all HR compliance. The benefit: access to enterprise-level benefits for small teams. The trade-off: less customization and generally higher cost. QBO integration is available. Better fit for office-heavy organizations than field-heavy restoration crews.

Accounts Payable

AP management tools organize vendor invoices, manage approval workflows, and sync payments to QBO. For restoration companies with high AP volume (multiple subcontractors per job), an AP management tool reduces month-end data entry significantly.

BILL (formerly Bill.com)

Best for: $2M+ restoration companies with high AP volume — multiple subcontractor invoices per week.

BILL is the most widely used AP automation platform that integrates with QBO. Vendor invoices are entered (or auto-captured), routed through an approval workflow, and paid via ACH or check. Approved bills sync to QBO automatically. The benefit for restoration: subcontractor bills can be routed to job-specific accounts without giving QBO access to all AP staff.

QBO integration quality: ★★★★☆ (4.3/5) — reliable sync, strong approval workflow.

Pricing: ~$45–$55/user/month for the accounts payable module (as of 2026). Check bill.com for current pricing.

Expense and Receipt Management

Expense tools capture receipts from field crews and match them to QBO transactions, reducing manual data entry for fuel, supply purchases, and incidental expenses.

Hubdoc

Best for: Companies that want automated receipt capture → QBO posting with minimal setup.

Hubdoc captures bills, receipts, and bank statements and extracts the data automatically. The QBO integration publishes transactions directly to QBO. Simple interface, good for companies where field crews need to submit receipts from their phones without logging into QBO.

QBO integration quality: ★★★★☆ (4.0/5) — direct integration, owned by Xero (also integrates with QBO).

Dext (formerly Receipt Bank)

Best for: Companies with higher receipt volumes who want more sophisticated categorization and approval workflows.

Dext extracts data from receipts, applies GL coding rules, and publishes to QBO. More configuration options than Hubdoc. Better for companies with consistent receipt patterns (fuel, supply purchases) where automated categorization rules can reduce manual review.

Full Stack Recommendations by Revenue Stage

Recommended QBO Stack by Revenue Stage

| Revenue Stage | Job Management | Documentation | Time Tracking | Payroll | AP | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Under $500K | Restoration Manager or JobNimbus | CompanyCam | QBO Time | Gusto | QBO AP direct | | $500K–$2M | Albi | Encircle | QBO Time | Gusto | QBO AP or BILL | | $2M–$5M | Albi | Encircle + CompanyCam | QBO Time | Gusto or ADP | BILL | | $5M–$7M | Albi or Dash | Encircle + CompanyCam | QBO Time | ADP | BILL | | Above $7M | Evaluate PSA | Encircle | Integrated | ADP | BILL |

Note: All stacks assume QBO Online Advanced as the accounting layer and an outsourced specialized restoration bookkeeper for month-end close.

One Tool That Doesn't Belong in the Restoration Stack

ServiceTitan. We see it come up regularly, usually from restoration owners who've heard about it from HVAC or plumbing contacts. ServiceTitan is a great platform for residential service — HVAC, plumbing, electrical. It's not built for insurance restoration: it lacks Xactimate integration, ACV/RCV payment tracking, supplement workflow, TPA program management, and insurance AR staging. Companies that try to adapt it for restoration spend significant ongoing customization cost and still end up with bookkeeping friction. Stick with restoration-native or restoration-friendly platforms.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What job management platform integrates best with QuickBooks Online?

Albi, for most $1M–$5M restoration companies. Cleanest out-of-the-box integration, restoration-native design, active development. Dash is better for high-TPA-volume operations.

Do I need BILL for AP management?

Above $2M with multiple subcontractor invoices per week: yes, BILL's approval workflow and QBO sync saves meaningful time and reduces errors. Below $2M: direct QBO AP management is often sufficient.

What payroll software works best with QBO for restoration?

Gusto for most $500K–$5M operations. Tight QBO integration, handles W-2 and 1099, solid benefits management.

Is there a single app that does everything?

PSA (Canam) comes closest — it combines job management and accounting in one. But it's sized for $7M+ operations. For most restoration companies, the multi-app QBO-centered stack above is both cheaper and more capable at their scale.