I’m a small contractor, mostly bath remodels and repairs ranging from $3000 to $12000 price range. I have 3 employees.
I am planning to buy Quickbooks to save time for my Accountant.
Can’t decide between Quickbooks Pro, and Quickbooks Contractor Edition. Is the extra time spent learning all the contractor related extras really worth the time it takes to learn, and then pay someone to load all that extra info into the system. Do the reports generated relative to project profitability all that valuable for such a small project size.
A large contractor can justify the time and money, a Handyman cannot, I am somewhere in between these types and am not sure what works best for me.
Any other smaller contractors, or guys that used to be small have an opinion? At some point I think I would like to move up to larger projects like full kitchen remodels, whole house remodels, and small additions. Does QB Cont. help enable this?
Replies
I went with Pro. My CPA looked at the Contractor edition and said it wasn't worth it, it had very few actual added features and mostly just premade templates that you might or might not use anyway. She has at least 10 contractors in her practice so I take her advice.
We do the same type and price range of business. We use Quickbooks Pro. Wife likes it. If she were here I would ask her why. DanT
I'm a small time GC/Handyman/Cabinetmaker and I'm using Quickbooks Professional (I just upgraded to the 2006 version).
Talk to your accountant before you take the plunge. Mine preferred to stay with the Professional edition. When I bought the upgrade, I looked at the Contractor edition and I'm not sure if you could easily convert from Professional if you wanted to.
You may also want to use the Quicken Home and Small Business program.
My accountant uses QB for his formatting and filing, and recommended either pro or contractor to save me on his fees. I am hearing what I want to hear.
How long is the learning curve for a typical (somewhat computer literate) wife to feel comfortable using the system?
I've found using Pro to be incredibly simple. I do about five things, probably the five easiest things, and that's all I do. Disc goes to the accountant if there are any problems. I set up my own chart of accounts based on CPAs advice and Karen Mitchell's book.
Enter vendor invoices received
Enter customer invoices
Do payroll (I do not use QuickBooks payroll tables, I figure out the deductions etc. and enter them manually).
Write checks
Look P&L, balance sheet, etc.
I do not currently create job budgets in QB, use items, etc. etc. It can certainly do a lot more than I do with it, but I don't feel inclined yet. I estimate in Excel and am comfortable with that.
The setup is the most critical. After that, one day using it will leave her comfortable enough since it is mostly filling in the blanks. The hardest part for me is if I get real busy and let things slide more than a month to be entering info, I have to refresh my memory where was I and how do I do this or that. Part of that confusion comes because I use quicken for personal and for a non=profit I am treasurer of. The two programs have similariteies but there are also differences.For set-up, I'd suggest that you see if the accountant has a way to provide you a sample accounts list from another similar business they do. That would probably save them even more time in the long run.
In other words, for Auto expense - do you use more than oine auto, do you track expenses by mile or by actual, should you set up wtih different auto catagories for fuel, repairs, purchase cost, etc?In mine, I have a catagory called Fees, which I have added subcatagories for things like professional fees - lawyer, accountant, architects, interior designers. I also have s sub catagory for building permit fees and for membership fees for dues to professional organizations. The more detailed you can be like this when you set the program up, the more time you will save come end of year/tax time, where the accountant is asking you what is this item and what is that item or why are these grouped together.There is a sample list of accounts in QBpro for each typoe of company, that can be modified, but not all accountants like that one, so ask yours.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
One more thought - Intuit, the mother company, is infamous fopr selling add-on services to upgrade their own profit subscriptions and such that are IMO, un-necessary and expensive. They are also hard to get along with, but the product is great. I have been to a few conferences and seminars such as JLC Live and taken a couple courses about QBPRO and the overwhelming sentiment expressed by those inthe classes is that they love the software and hate the company. So save your money on the extras. There are online forums where most answers can be found to the problems you might have. For instance, I used QBpro 99 for several years after the company quit supporting the product. I had to reload it into my PC and I could not then open my files becauise at some point, I had downloaded an update. The files were in the newer format. I needed to download that same patch but Intuit refused to make it available to me. This is part of their overal MO. They change format extensions etc, and that forces you to buy new versions eventually. But I was able to find an online accountant that had the updates available free on their website.I have recently upgraded to 2005 version
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I use the Pro Edition the contractor version has some added bells but not enough to justify the cost. I use mine on a very simple level estimates, invoices, year end profits. My wife also uses the Pro edition for her business with 4 employees our sister-n-law a CPA comes over and does her books she votes for the QB pro. Though Quicken has some similar software. We have the 2003 and have to upgrade to 2006 I don't care for ther strongarm tactics but I guess that's how QB keeps revenue flowing.
Jeff
I'll agree that I hate Intuit. I recently wanted to update my payroll subscription and they will no longer sell a subscription for '03, they force you to update to a newer version. I'm trying to hold out a little longer, and will probably switch to another accounting package. I have used Master Builder quite a bit, and like it, but they are owned by the same company.
QB Pro is usually preferred by the accountants, in my experience.
Learning the software is one thing, and there are usually several ways to accomplish te same task. But, you should have a basic sense of accounting, know the difference between a current and fixed asset and cash vs. accrual accounting. If you don't know what a section 179 deduction is, you should probably hire an accountant and save the money you are planning to spend on software.
Piffin's comment on initial setup should be taken very seriously. You might even pay your accountant to set up the initial accounts for you. It will be money well spent. If you mess one up, trying to fix it later will be a real mess.
I use QB Pro for our homeowners association books, and Quicken Home and Business for my own business. The HOA has employees, and the QB payroll service (the basic one, costs about $200/year for the subscription) is well worth it when running payroll, and I only have payroll in the summer months (lifeguards). I do all the quarterly and annual payroll taxes, W2's, W3's, 1099's, 1096's for the HOA, and it is very easy in QB Pro. This saves us lots of money in accountant fees.
Also, just because you CAN do something in the software doesn't mean you SHOULD. Frinstance, you can enter bills in QB, then go pay bills, and print checks. Or, you could just write the checks, and enter the correct category. Depending on how you work should dictate how you use the software. I've seen past treasurers of our HOA go through a lot of extra, unnecessary steps trying to use the software, because it could do something, I guess thereby justifying it.
Always remember. Software (and a computer) is a tool for you to use. If it doesn't't make your life easier, more productive or entertaining, why have it? The software should work for you, not you work for it.
Be sure to go to Intuit's web site and check out some of the FAQ's and tech forums. Just like in Breaktime, you might learn something useful.
I'd say go Pro if you can. Good luck.Pete Duffy, Handyman
I hate intuit too.
blue
Put me in the list of hating intuit and QuickBooks but WTF else is there?
I want to upgrade or purchase a new accounting sytem before the end of hte year but I need more choices.
CHS, Peachtree, MYOB, Goldenseal, to name a few.What kind of work do you do?The Accounting & Finance folder at JLC has some good info on the more diverse programs out there.
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
I do all sorts of stuff. From building houses, to installiing the carpentry and fixtures in mobile medical units.
Right now we are building a house and fitting up several mobile toilet units for the mobile medical company.
Thanks for the advice on visiting JLC.
What accounting program do you use?
Qbooks Premier Contractor.I have just about no experience with other programs to compare it to. One of my long term goals is to employ a more integrated system that could combine estimating, accounting, and scheduling.It will certainly be a big decision that will take a lot of work. Between the relatively steep startup costs and the even bigger time committment to learn the program I want to make sure that I know what I'm getting into.Let us know if you make a decision before years end.
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
I'm using Quickbooks Premeir Contractor version as well.
I'm about 99% positve that I'll be purchasing the 2006 version today.
I'm using v.2004. What year are you currently?Why the reason for the upgrade?
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Year end finances are looking pretty ok.
I'm hoping for improvement in the interface.
I'm using v2003 and I believe they are about to stop supporting it.
It appears that the customer info pages look better and are easy to use.
I will post here and see what I get.
I have the 2003 QB Pro Edition, and I guess it is no longer going to be supported. The tax tables are changing once again and the older versions won't allow you to download the new laws. True? So if that it so only option is to upgrade? I 'm guessing I know the answer to this. My CPA says I better get the newer version for payroll next week. Dam.
Jeff
I do my payroll through Paychex costs 60-80 bucks a month.
So far so good though I'm not really using hard yet.
More info comes up on the customer pages which is pretty cool.
I'm still using Quickbooks Pro 2001. I don't think I could run 2006 on my 386 with Windows 3.1! (I am almost finished paying off the $2500 I had to borrow for this state of the art piece of equipment.
If it wasn’t for the Bank Payments,
Interest, Taxes, Wages, and Fuel Costs,
I wouldn’t have to charge you!!
I have a 486DX available for short money.....all out of the TI-99-4A
MYOB was bought out by Quickbooks a number of years ago. They then discontinued it, and tried to foist "Contractor" on me. At the time they did this, they wanted C$500 for "Contractor", whereas my MYOB only cost me C$80 and does the job quite well.
I refuse to allow them to blackmail me!!
locolobo
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
When I first got the 'puter I thought 'great, now I can do al my books', until I realised that there was not just a steep learning curve to Quickbooks, but that, at the end of the day when I'd rather read a book, I had to si t down and enter everything up. No, I decided on a bookkeeper - gave her all the invoices for the month, and she charged $100 p.m. And when, as a Ltd Co, all the BS got too much, I went back to being a sole proprietor, had my guys work as subs instead, and kept invoices in the shoebox for year-end.
Perhaps that didn't answer your Q, but at least I get time to play on the forum...
All the best...
To those who know - this may be obvious. To those who don't - I hope I've helped.