A garage door company runs three businesses under one roof. Service calls fix broken springs, cables, and openers at a flat price. Installs put in new doors at a bigger ticket and a thinner margin. A parts counter sells openers, remotes, and hardware to homeowners and handymen.
Each one earns money differently, and each is taxed differently in Florida. The books also have to answer a question most owners never ask: what is sitting on the trucks right now?
Greg Neilsen, JD, LLM (Master of Laws in Taxation), reviews our guides. Last reviewed: October 5, 2026.
Each answer is below.
Example: Six trucks each carry about $8,000 of parts, or $48,000 between them. Expensed on purchase, that $48,000 never shows on the balance sheet. A quarterly count finds $3,100 missing from one van, and the owner learns about it in March, not at year end.
Example: A $385 spring replacement uses $45 of parts and 1.5 tech hours at $35, or $52.50. Gross profit is $287.50, about 75 percent. A $3,600 door install uses a $1,900 door and two techs for four hours each, or $280 of labor. Gross profit is $1,420, about 39 percent.
Example: A handyman buys a $420 opener at the counter. The state’s 6 percent is $25.20, and the county surtax is added on top. That tax belongs to Florida, so it sits in a liability account until the return is filed.
Larger garage door companies often run ServiceTitan for dispatch, pricebooks, truck inventory, and memberships. Smaller shops run Housecall Pro or Jobber. QuickBooks Online holds the books.
ServiceTitan sends transactions to QuickBooks in exports, and business units can map to classes, which splits service from installs. Housecall Pro sends sales and payments. We book truck stock from your counts. We set the mapping once, then match card payouts and deposits to the bank every week.
Example: ServiceTitan exports one day with $6,200 of service invoices and $11,400 of installs. In QuickBooks, each lands in its own class, so the month-end report shows service at $6,200 and installs at $11,400, not $17,600 in one pile.
Read our guides to ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro with QuickBooks Online.
Florida lists door installation and on-site door repair as work on real property. On a lump-sum install or repair, the company is the final buyer of the door, springs, and hardware. You pay tax when you buy them and charge the homeowner none on the job.
The counter is different. An opener, remote, or set of rollers sold for the customer to install is a retail sale, so tax goes on the receipt. A company doing both should register as a dealer, buy stock for resale, and pay use tax on parts its techs install.
Garage door work falls under Florida’s construction class code for door and window installation. That puts the company under the construction rule for workers’ compensation. Coverage starts with the first employee, service techs and counter staff alike.
Openers and parts held for counter sale are inventory, and Florida does not tax inventory on the county tangible property return. Parts a tech will install on a customer’s door may not qualify, because Florida defines inventory as goods held for sale. Spring winding tools, welders, shelving, lifts, and the forklift go on the return by April 1, and the first $25,000 is exempt once the first return is filed.
Box trucks and service vans rated over 6,000 pounds sit outside the passenger-car depreciation caps. A van or forklift acquired after January 19, 2025 qualifies for 100 percent bonus depreciation. Since Florida has no personal income tax, the S corporation question turns only on federal tax.
We close the books monthly with service, installs, and counter sales on their own lines, truck stock counted, and sales tax checked against the return. Payroll runs through Gusto. Greg Neilsen, JD, LLM, reviews every return before it is filed.
Plans start at $750 per month. One flat fee covers bookkeeping, tax preparation, and tax planning on most plans. You get the fee in writing after we see the books, before work starts. No onboarding fee.
We work from our Tampa office by phone, email, and video, and reply within 24 hours. See every trade we serve, including HVAC companies and electrical contractors.
Not on an on-site repair priced as a lump sum. You pay tax on the spring when you buy it. Parts sold at the counter for the customer to install carry tax on the receipt.
Yes. Truck stock is real money, and parts held for sale stay off the county property tax return. A quarterly count also shows shrink before it grows.
Florida classes garage door installation as construction. Coverage starts with the first employee. An owner with at least 10 percent of the company can file an officer exemption.
Often, yes. A van rated over 6,000 pounds and acquired after January 19, 2025 qualifies for 100 percent bonus depreciation once it is on the road for the business. Whether to take it all at once is a planning call.
Yes, if you want to price either one with confidence. The margins sit far apart. One income line hides that.
This page is educational and is not tax or legal advice for your situation. Rules change, and the right move depends on your numbers. Talk to a tax professional before you act.
Greg Neilsen, JD, LLM (Master of Laws in Taxation), reviews our guides. Last reviewed: October 5, 2026.
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