I've Outgrown QuickBooks, What Now?

PMI

Hi guys,
I have been reading your comments but also think you should be very clear on your suggestions of product depending on the lead times of the business model. Anything to do with New Construction has a much larger lead time than traditional quick-fix repairs and smaller remodeling jobs. Many of the packages out there come from the Construction mindset and not for the Service (repair and remodel) side of the business. I kind of like to think of it like an Emergency Room doctor who is at the hospital visiting patients but everything changes when the ambulance pulls up. That goes for so many components of our business (Plumber for example). Each of us has to think about how much and how fast things have to get done, and how much of the business simply is not scheduled out but more reactive to the customer's situation. Building a new home is totally different than having people on stand-by to fix things. Be careful with reviewing products and find out who they cater to. For example, MasterBuilder should not be used by anyone in repair and remodeling since that is a product completely designed for New Construction and a large office staff, not the mom-and-pop shops where the boss is also on the road. And what bothers me the most about most of the products out there is that there is no real innovation (except for a small handful of newer companies). Anyone who has been around for years will be dead in the water since they will have a big piece of their business holding them back. How will they support all the old people while trying things completely new? Will they somehow convince all their customers "to support the existing product while waiting for the next big thing"?. I really like the guys who have been looking at the business and only thinking about current technology through the year 2010. Think about, how many years ago would your father ever imagine that you would be on this forum? Does he even know what a forum is? Was the software company around before or after you thought of this and what is on their mind (1995, 2000 or 2010)? Just food for thought.

MikeMcC

I know Master Builder and Timberline quite well and would love to speak with you about either solution. Just let me know if you are interested.

Mike

Selkirk

I recommend talking to Mike. Used correctly, it will make you more profitable, it did for us and is the single most used program in our office. Sure it is an investment, but it is no different than any tool or equipment that you purchase. We run two companies off of it.....A Commercial Construction company as well as a Commercial Cabinet shop. The thousands (yes thousands) of reports are invaluable for accurate estimating and job cost tracking, but it also has scheduling, equipment management, subcontracts, AIA progress billing,lien release forms, just to name a few.

Cons: Needs to be more web based user friendly, and the optional yearly tech support is worthless and not worth the money. Our experience for the first two years (before Sage purchased) was that the techs or Customer Service folks knew less about the system than we did. It is far better to use a local MB certified advisor (Which I think Mike is) and use them to get you up an running as well as helping with the occasional issues that arise....

I am on the West Coast and we have a local lady who is a Certified Advisor and she is worth her weight in gold with her knowledge and overall help. Good Luck

Sarah9910

I have extensive experience with Master Buider from the time it was owned by Omware, thru the Intuit years. I am experienced with American Contractor which is owned by Maxwell who also now own Quest and Estimation and have integrated both with American Contractor. Both Master Builder and American Contractor support new construction as well as service dispatching or service without dispatching. Also both have their own estimating module if you want to use it, don't have to use it, you can do conceptual estimating without it, or can integrate with other software as well for estimating. The service module in BOTH programs works quite similar. I have clients who do service work extensivly in both American Contractor and I have clients doing the same with Master Builder. Both programs have a great Equipment Module that integrates with the estimating, service and payroll module so that equipment usage can be recorded as it is used. But, as someone on this thread mentioned, if you want accurate data, yes, you do need to enter ALL costs. Good data in, creates (as someone else on this thread said)thousands of reports. Some of the most intelligent people I know are certified consultants construction software. They are business consultants, have worked in the construction field for years and decided to go off on their own and have teamed up with software companies because it is a good source of "finding the companies" who appreciate consultants. Charlotte Whiteford in Washington State is probably one of the very best consultants in the nation and I hope, she is the Certified pro advisor praised in this tread, if she's not, she should be. I'm available for questions if you are interested.

__________________
Sarah Keiser, Business Consultant for Contractors
Success In-Formation LLC
Leading the Way in Software Education
www.successif.biz

Sarah9910

Mike, say hello to Henry for me.

__________________
Sarah Keiser, Business Consultant for Contractors
Success In-Formation LLC
Leading the Way in Software Education
www.successif.biz

Selkirk

She is the one

Sarah9910

Tell her Sarah said hello and to send me an email. You won't get a better consultant than Charlotte. Maybe close to it...lol, but she's the best.

__________________
Sarah Keiser, Business Consultant for Contractors
Success In-Formation LLC
Leading the Way in Software Education
www.successif.biz

Sarah9910

Those who are reading this thread I hope you have picked up on something, you have some of the best experience of construction software consulting in the nation reading or somehow related to this thread. Henry Lupus who Mike works with and reps Master Builder and Mike who has experience with Timberline, Charlotte Whiteford who is one of the contractors on this thread's consultant and is one of the best consultants for contractors in the nation and trains on Master Builder and myself, I have been with Master Builder as a regional manager and now am with American Contractor by Maxwell as a consultant and represent QuickBooks as well. If you are reading this thread, now is the time to ask questions to honestly compare products. I can tell you from experience that all of us are honest, truthful people and don't slam each other but rather, work together well and respect each other's product whatever strengths it has.

__________________
Sarah Keiser, Business Consultant for Contractors
Success In-Formation LLC
Leading the Way in Software Education
www.successif.biz

CFO

I run a plumbing company that does Commercial, Residential, and Service plumbing.. 80/20 New construction / Service.. We're around 12mil a year.. We're currently using Quickbooks for our Accounting and Q&A (if you dont know what this is, its from the early 90s and is a DOS based program) for our job building information.. Alot of double entering.. The market has slowed down considerably in our area, so I want to take this "negative" and use the down time to change to a better software.. One that integrates our "accounting" software and our "job database" software and our "estimating" software (which name escapes me).. I'm of the younger, tech savy generation that was being discussed..

We've looked into Master Builder when we were about half the size, and felt it was more of a General Contracting program, than a sub-contracting program.. I'll probably look at it again, since it was over 2 and a half years ago..

I'm not familiar with American Contractor or Timberline, but I'll definantly look into them..

Sarah9910

When ever you are demo-ed a product, be sure the sales person is showing you a database that relates to your industry. If they are not an experienced sales person, they may just use the standard canned database set up which is most often for a GC. But...there are several demo databases, plumbing, electrical, hvac, homebuilder, etc. for all the software mentioned in this thread. If your sales person is worth the money you will pay for the software, they will find a database to fit your needs (at least most of your needs) and you have to be open to the work involved to change the setup a bit to conform to your specific parts and codes. But they can all be edited after you pick the most closely matched database. Some of the companies require you to pay for the database that fits your industry but many allow you to use the demo database and edit it or (I believe all of these) allow you to import your own database from excel or another source. And they allow updates from Tracer Pro or other sources. If it's been two years since you saw a software, see it again. They all try to keep up with each other, some have better features than others, but all are close.

__________________
Sarah Keiser, Business Consultant for Contractors
Success In-Formation LLC
Leading the Way in Software Education
www.successif.biz

CFO

That's the biggest problem I've seen with these companies.. They show you what they want to show you.. It's next to impossible to get a working demo that you can actually use for yourself to see if it fits different problems.. I understand that it's thousands of dollars and they don't want to risk attrition.. Having to sit and listen to a salesman try to sell you a program is a waste of time in my opinion.. The best way for me to know if a program is right is to test it, not watch it being tested..

moriahcom

Are you looking for a mobile solution as well for the service side?

Sarah9910

CFO, if you are going to spend $10,000, it's worth finding a sales person who can show you how to make the software whistle as it should for your fast paced service industry. Demand a demo from someone who knows your industry, it will be worth sitting thru it. Remember, you are the customer, they should show what YOU need to see, not what THEY want to show. Then if they will also give you a demo disk, that is great. I find that the three major players we have referenced here don't normally give out demo disks because many user will get overwhelmed if the don't understand it or aren't technically experienced. Unfortunately, there are more of those out there than not.

Also, ask to be introduced to several referrals who you can sign on with and see it in action at their company. It may be hard to get the names, but if they want the sale, they'll find you the companies, or just ask on this website. A company that is far enough away from you that isn't a competitor may be willing to let you see how it works for them. When I sold software, I had a handful of companies that allowed prospective clients to come into their office and see the software in action.

__________________
Sarah Keiser, Business Consultant for Contractors
Success In-Formation LLC
Leading the Way in Software Education
www.successif.biz

Sarah9910

Your comment is well taken. To be honest, many times when I get a new client the arrangement ends up being business consulting and accounting education because many times, the previous software wasn't set up properly. Things like estimating equipment costs, but never getting the cost of the equipment to the job. Or calculating WIP adjustments monthly. Or learning how to read the statement of cash flows and use it to help the business. Or how to properly close out a job at the end of the job so that the job shows 100% complete even though it may have come in over/under budget.

Maybe the whole idea should be: since no software at this time is as tech savvy as it should be (based on your previous comment), learn to use what you have and get it set up right.

__________________
Sarah Keiser, Business Consultant for Contractors
Success In-Formation LLC
Leading the Way in Software Education
www.successif.biz

fez-head

I canceled QuickBooks Online today (went back to QB Pro 2006) and signed up for myonlinetoolbox.com. I am fed up with QB and really hope myonlinetoolbox.com is as good as they say.

Although after submitting payment to myonlinetoolbox.com today I found out it takes one business day to confirm the order. That meens I have to wait until Tuesday to get started I really wanted to learn it before the start of the work week.

I will let you know what I think in a couple of weeks.

Sarah9910

OK Jesse...how is it? It's been two weeks....or more....

__________________
Sarah Keiser, Business Consultant for Contractors
Success In-Formation LLC
Leading the Way in Software Education
www.successif.biz

fez-head

I love it and they are not even done adding things yet since it is a progressive system. I like the fact that I don't have to buy new software to get the updates and improvements....they just show up.

It won't be long and I will wonder how I ever made it without the ToolBox. I already feel that way about my computer/internet. They have the new videos hosted on the web site now at MyOnlineToolBox.com that are much better than the old ones on YouTube

By the way I purchased the 2008 Premier Accountants Edition at your recommendation. We have not installed it yet and I am thinking about signing secretary up for one of your classes. We are starting over from scratch and I want EVERYTHING to be exactly right this time including payroll. My old QB 2006 is a lost cause I think.....all because I had no earthly idea what I was doing and from what I have read you have to get it right from the very start.

Thank you for your informative posts. They really help.

Jesse

Sarah9910

Well..you'll have to tell me then what myonlinetoolbox.com is...I thought it handled your accounting too. Brian Javeline emailed me and asked if I'd be interested in talking, but I wanted to hear from contractors what it's about and what they thought.

My classes are not happening right now. I haven't had people sign up. Send her to the free once a month session though, it would be wonderful because she'd be the only one there if it goes as it has been. NO One signs up. I don't get it, but oh well. If you need any time from me one-on-one, just give me a call, phone number is on the website. I do on line training and consulting all the time, it's a great way to learn, we are on line together, i can see your screen, you can see mine, we can share mouse control and I call you on the phone for voice communication. A headset would be nice for her, but not necessary.

__________________
Sarah Keiser, Business Consultant for Contractors
Success In-Formation LLC
Leading the Way in Software Education
www.successif.biz

fez-head

After re-reading these posts I would like to add that I have no other previous knowledge of construction software and should have kept my original comments to myself since I am so far out of my league with this topic.

fez-head

Thank you Sarah. I will have her go ahead and sign up for the free class and have her call with any specific questions. The Premier Accountant Edition came with that 564 page "How to use Premier 2008" E-Book but it will not allow printing. I ordered a dual monitor cable and will use 2 monitors- one for the E-Book and one for QB

As far as the ToolBox the best thing I can say is to watch the introduction on their web site. Not because I don't want to explain it to you but because there is just to much to explain and I would not do it justice.

Thanks,

Jesse