Intuit Master Builder

Grumpy

So it's for a large orginization not a small orginization... is what your trying to say?

fliptb

i am a recently hired employee for a custom home builder whose purpose is exactly as "over-the-hill" suggests. bite the bullet and hire someone to learn it. since coming on board the discussion to keep mb-7 or go with quickbooks pro contractor has become a daily battle. i will continue to post on how things are going for general info for everyone, even if we do go to quickbooks.

Nathan

We would love to hear how things go.

Welcome to the board fliptb

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Grumpy

If your gonna go with quickbooks, the contractor edition isn't worth an extra $10. Just get the pro version. I used the contractor version for a few months but bought the pro version instead.

My opinion of mb is that it's for builders that have multi stages to their projects (Demolition, excavation, concrete, framing, etc...) A painter or roofer will probably find the software to be overkill. Too bad there isnt a trail copy somewhere.

Nathan

Does anyone use Quicken for Small Businesses?
Also, does Intuit allow you to upgrade from Quicken to QuickBooks as your business grows?

I know this software is not powerful enough for most contractors but it may be a good starting point for some Sole Proprietors

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Grumpy

Our mason uses quicken.

Debit-Credit

It would be interesting to learn the ten most inportant features that Master Builder provides that convinced their customers to purchase the product.


Up until 2002, Quickbooks was essentially a "closed program" and was difficult for software developers to use as a "core accounting engine". Beginning with the 2002 pro and premier editions, they added an API (application programmers interface) which opened the door for software developers to create and attach vertical market applications seamlessly. The API allows a developer to activate externally, nearly every function within Quickbooks and to import and export data to the Quickbooks files or database.

If you look on Intuit's or Quickbooks website (http://marketplace.intuit.com), you will find a section that lists many of the 3rd party add-ons that are available. Most have a demo or trial version.

Also, if you know a software developer, he/she may be able to provide the custom features you need by using the free resources at the Intuit developer website: (http://developer.intuit.com/) . Intuit has recently released SDK ver 3.0 which allows developers to add items to the internal Quickbook menus that activate external functions in custom add-on programs. It also allows developers to add and and modify custom fields in the Quickbooks database.

Quicken is more of a checkbook management program for personal use rather than business. While it will help organize and classify income and expenses, it is not a true "double entry" bookkeeping system like Quickbooks and doesn't have the financial reporting capability of Quickbooks. I have used both Quicken and Quickbooks since the days of DOS.

Unregistered

I have been working with master builder for approximately 2 years now. I will agree that the software has some limitations, but after getting it up and running I have to say that I like the accounting funtions of the program. Writing reports is hard at first but once you get the general understanding down of how the program pulls the data it is not so hard, except when it comes to creating a calculated field. If you would like my take in full on the program you can contact me at kimg@landmarkservices.net

Unregistered

I have not seen it yet but Intuit rewrote the software and put the new version out as 2003 Release

fliptb

ive been using mb for almost 2 weeks now doing very basic things. i can say that it is frustrating and only hope that it gets easier as i build my habits. creating, and posting PO's is easy enough, however you would think there would be short cut keys to create and pay an invoice to it. reports!!!! could be more difficult only if they were not available! record numbers- there are two that mb generates for itself, this can get a little confusing when trying to research. the battle between mb and quickbooks continues and there is one very disturbing piece. if we do not go with quickbooks, we MUST upgrade to mb 2004. i say, must, because PAID technical support WILL NOT support any older versions any longer. something just rubs me wrong about that. more come. anyone with any links or info on current users of mb please post as i am compiling info to help the owner decide, me as well.
Thanks

Unregistered

Have you taken any of the on line classes? they are awesome. If you want a list of references, happy contractors on MB. email me at sarahkeiser@comcast.. There are people who make it work and there are people who have all kinds of software on their shelves, it's a committment and a choice. If QB works fine...then that should be your choice, if you want more integration, IE: change orders, subcontracts that tie to co's, estimating that exports to automatically create your po's and co's and subcontracts and more....then MB is the one. It's not inexpensive, wasn't meant to me. Neither is a backhoe, but if it works and does the job and is being utilizied by the company it's a good fit.

Mark Kennedy

My staff and I tried to use Master Builder for two years and could not get data in or out without completely changing our business processes. The software is extremely difficult to use and poorly designed in my opinion. Last summer at a local HVAC trade show a large construction company IT manager mentioned to me about a company that converts all the data from Master Builder to QuickBooks Pro 2004 and then builds custom data entry screens and reports to provide for specific functions needed by the construction trade. We contacted these guys (Silicon Digital Systems, Inc. in Bellevue, WA). They not only converted all our data to QuickBooks Pro but they have a software utility called QBLink Pro that allows us to use Microsoft Access to run all kinds of ad hoc custom reports against live data in QuickBooks. They created a custom QuickBooks Add-on Service Module with Dispatching and full Job Costing for a fraction of the cost of Master Builder. They have about 45 full time programmers and tech staff that do amazing things for our company. There web site is "http://www.SiliconDigitalSystems.com" and they know technology.

We run standard QuickBooks Pro 2004 and have all the features we needed from Master Builder custom made from this company. With all the problems we had with Master Builder I feel it my duty to pass this information along. Hope it helps.

Mark Kennedy

Grumpy

Something tells me that was spam from Silicon Digital Systems, Inc. in Bellevue, WA

LOL

Unregistered

Don't think so I've also heard of the company they do good work.

Pk

Glasshousebltr

There goes grump again, our friendly local spam patrol.

Bob

Grumpy

Just cause ya herd of the company doesn't mean it's not spam. It's too convenient, and came from a poster I've never read from before.

How would a plumber from la know so much about the company, or even care how many developers they have? More importantly why would a plumber from la care?

It's possible it's not spam but it does smell very fishy.

Unregistered

I've been monitoring this site for a couple months and was a bit curious too on this company. Today I called and spoke to a salesperson and she has never heard of this site. After talking with her I'm pretty convinced it wasn't anyone from this company. They're sending me a quote to convert my Master Builder data into QuickBooks. Don't know about spam or not but I'm gonna use them.

Grumpy

LOL

Oh man too funny. I'm going to stop now but your not foolin anyone.

hatchet

Nathan can probably tell us by looking at the IP's that were logged for each "guest". Most likely it'll be in the same IP block if not the same IP.

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Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Grumpy

Rich can we both agree that it's not likley all these "different" unregistered users would be sticking up for this company?

I just use the old fashioned method of sniffing out spam... common sence.