Need Software

slicef96

I am a project manager for a residential developer, we were working with a builder but the quality is slipping so we have obtaine the necessary licensing and we will be starting to do our own general contracting. the projects we build are 1 million plus each and in the near future I would estimate that we would have up to 5 being built concurrently.

We are looking fo software to estimate, do accounts Payable/receivable, and tract progress both financially and practically. I might use Microsoft Project for the last but if I can get an all in one that would be great. Is there an industry standard for this and if so what should we be using?

Stone Mountain

Quick Books

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Debookkeeper

I agree - Quickbooks Pro - or Quickbooks contractors edition, however I don't see any added benefit with the contractors edition.

If you go onto Intuit.com or Quickbooks.com you can order a demo

Shanklesbuilder

Yea, both my parents are CPAs and they swear by Quick Books

Stone Mountain

We have the Contractor's Edition. My wife (who is a frfeelance bookkeeper for 30 years), and our outside bookkeeper(we are too busy for one person), who has a lot of customers, think it is terrific. They are currently studying a supplementary manual that has all sorts of neat tricks in it.

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slicef96

Quickbooks sounds like a good idea for the financial end but does it have any capabilities for estimating and creating the estimate sheet....?

Debookkeeper

It depends on how extensive you want the estimating to be. The Item List section in quickbooks is where you can enter many different things. For example, you can list "carpenter mechanic - 48.00" "Laborer - 30.00" "excavator per day - 200.00" etc, etc. Once those items and rates are in there - you can create an estimate using the item list and entering the quantity. Not sure exactly what your estimating needs are.

PipeGuy

Talk with your accountant. You might find great benefit in using something that he's already up to speed with.
For my line of work I've always found a spreadsheet application best for estimating. The flexibility allows one to tailor takeoff templates / estimate forms / bid sheets to reflect the way one 'thinks about' job costing.

Three accountants will give you four opinions of which is A/P application is "best". IMO, it largely depends on 1.) the extent to which you intend to dedicate resources towards inputing data and generating reports 2.) whether or not outsourced payroll processing needs to integrate with your software 3.) your accounant's familiarity with the software. I only input basic accounting and payroll data and require outsourcing of payroll to Intuit. QB Pro is currently my choice.

Accurate contract progress reporting demands considerable data input (i.e., staffing resources) in order to consistently reconcile financial and practical progress. If you have that kind of resource I'd say go with an A-P / A-R application that offers sophisticated reporting capabilities. If you don't you might best seperate the tasks. Personnally, I've found very large, magnetic, dry-erase boards make the best platforms for [small scale] construction scheduling/progress reporting. They are easily created, easily updated and easily reviewed by all the members of your production team.

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