Quickbooks Feedback

shingler

I just got Quickbooks 2007 Premier Contractor, and am starting to feel that it may not work for me. In the past I have used Excel. I wanted the quickbooks for the job costing benefits. However, that is where the problem is. Quickbooks defines/handles Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) completely differently that what I (an all my learing from books and magazines) do. According to a QB employee, COGS is for inventory items. I define COGS as costs that are directly related to a job (i.e. materials, subcontractor, rentals).

So my problem is with the reporting. I am having problems assigning those COGS expenses to report properly. I don't want to get into too much detail.

If you are using QB, how are you using it. Are you able to get those reports accurate?

I appreciate any feedback you have, as I have 1 week to register this, or it will be for sale on Ebay. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to spend hours to days to get this set up for my business. If I just wanted it for my bank account and invoices I could have bought a much less expensive version. Please help! Thanks!

Danahy

I'm using QB and love it, it can do EVERYTHING. Since you are in such a time cruch, you should see an accountant (take the free hour that a new one will give), and ask him/her that same question.

It took me a while to get used to the program, and now everything I do takes minutes, sometimes even seconds to accomplish.

Not sure about what your doing, but seems to me like you may be experiencing "making things harder than they have to be"... Sometimes even over thinking this stuff is a waste of time.

... If you end up getting QB, and you have the time to post in more detail, I'm sure me, or the rest of the guys/gals here can help you find what it is you are looking for within the program.

Stone Mountain

My wife is a bookkeeper of 30 years experience. Her best friend has over 20 years experience and is educated almost to an accountant's level. the friend helps us out 1 day a week.
We have the Contractor's version, and both say it's one of the best accounting programs they've ever used. You do have to study it a bit, but it is worth it.
For me, I don't care. I just want to write cheques that don't bounce, and feed myself and my kids every night, so any program that makes the women happy is fine with me.

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Residential Deck Specialist: Vist our Website
www.fenceanddeck.ca

shingler

Thanks for the replies. I spent some time looking at the sample contractor company that comes with the program. I see how that handles the COGS and reporting. It is not quite what I am looking for, but I am starting to realize that I will have to adapt. I also have a book on the way, which will also help.

Any feedback on the following would be greatly appreciated. I am using the report Job Estimates vs. Actuals Detail. I prefer to do/see the estimate with a stage of the job (ie drywall, electrical, plumbing) with a breakdown for time, materials, and subs. This way I can see more detail. In the sample company they group it under the different residential divisions. Now, the sample does use the classes with the billing, but I did not see a report that would breakdown the job the way I wanted.

I agree that the program appears that it will be great. I guess I am a little frustrated because I am so busy, that I don't have the time to spend getting this where I need it.

Do you do your estimates in Quickbooks or another program? Do you import them into QB?

Danahy

I do all my estimates in QB. I have created several variations of estimates that I can easily switch back and forth to, including a blank one, which comes in handy alot. To create a blank, just make a new estimate (off an existing - this will be easy once you know how), and delete the number boxes.

If you are into working with alot of subs, like I was a while back...

I create first an estimate for my customer which basically is my income. Then before the job has started I create a working copy of my bills to my subs, linking them all back to the original estimate/invoice. This will create a sorta budget that you can view in different reports such as "job profitability", and such... Everytime someone says they need to make changes, you can immediately see where that leaves you.

Advanced... You can also select each estimate/invoice item, or sub bills to show as pending, inprogress, complete etc... This allows you to track job progress...

Extra Advanced... You can also start some people whom you pay hourly using the time sheets, just have them report thier hours to you once a week or so... don't forget to link their time to whichever job their associated with... This comes in handy when you get into cash flow projections and such...

...anyhow, I could go on and on with this for ever.

Oh don't let me forget the hidden columns you can create on your estimates/invoices like sub-names, and percentage notes... and things that only you will see...

...anyhow, I really have to stop myself.

ABLE1

Hello all,

I have been using QB Pro since the last Millimum and am now being forced to upgrade to v. 2007.

Anybody have a comments pro or con on buying QB Pro off ebay for $119 for a "Buy in now" or maybe less with an auction bid???

Just wondering if any one else has bought a version this way and if there were any unseen issues.

TIA

Les

__________________
ABLE1

shingler

Danahy, thanks. You touched on it but still not sure how to best handle it.

Does anybody know how to handle the question in my last post. I am looking to report Job Estimate vs. Actual with a breakdown for time, materials, subs. Should I set up items for each, use classes, or is there another way?

Danahy

Shingler,
The good news is yes you can.
Just tried on my system running a Job Estimate vs Actual Detail, selected the customer job, and boom there it all was.
Everyone I paid, everything I charged, profits, it was all there because I linked all my expenses back to that invoive or estimate or job (it's all the same).
The only thing that I can't confirm is to show time, but I'm sure it would should I have had to use the "time tracking" feature found on QB's, or my version atleast.

You need to creat a sample customer, then play with the time feature and call him/her sample subcontractor, then pay bills called sample bills, and see how it plays out... Calling it all sample makes it easy for you to find and delete afterwards..

shingler

Danahy,
Thanks. I've been doing just that with the sample company. Check back in a couple days because I am still hung up on it. I don't know how to do my estimate for the following sample drywall.

Drywall bid $1800 which I will do most myself. Sub to hang drywall $250, materials 400, my time to finish 660, profit and overhead 490. Currently if I create the estimate for the customer I don't breakdown the project so they see it. I am still trying to figure all that out. So my estimate would just say Interior walls, description, qty, price, total price. Then when I enter the expenses I don't have a way to break it down. I hope you understand what I am saying. Anyway, I will keep playing the next couple days to see what I can come up with. And since I will be registering the product, I will be calling for support. Thanks for your time and replies.

Danahy

Hey, quick thought.
If you select the option to format your estimates, you can create one that has no pricing, remove the quantity, rates, costs from the line items from your printed copies... (you will be able to see it on the screen).. It will just list your items & descriptions (on the printed version), and subtotals / tax and totals at the bottom will still be there.

This allows your customers to view things as lump sum, but you get to see it all broken down, and this will allow you to run reports as usual.

You may need to tinker with the layout alittle to align the columns so they don't look all thin and such...

If you want, in the future I can create a sample of what I'm talking about... Just keep me posted as to where you're at with your progress.

craker

this may seem dumb but if i get the 2007 ed. do i have to upgrade every year?

what about tax law changes can i download the new year ect??????

Danahy

No you don't have to upgrade every year.

You would if you had a subscription like for example for payroll, if you used that feature... I used to, think it was $14 or $17 bucks a month... then everytime the gov put's a change out, QB has a download for it that automatically sorts itself out.

If you don't do payroll, there's really no need to upgrade, except for the usual bug fixes they put out, but even that's rare.

I used to subscribe to the premier service with payroll... I think it was like $45ish / month... Every year they'd mail me the newest version of QB premier, and I'd take the 5 mins and load it in...

The program doesn't change enough to warrant this type of service... I'm just going to upgrade every 4or 5 years on my own if I need to. Saves alot of money.. Same as you probably just need QB Pro, which is about $200ish cheaper than mine.

KGB

I Am Using 07 Pro There Is A Site To Get More Help About This .

Quickbooks Users .com

You Can Get Good Info There

Iam Always Readying Information On This Site.

Thewoodman

I was playing around with my quick books 2007 premier contractors edtion and found a really cool feature.

If you go to the top menu's and click "company", then go all the way to the bottom to "prepare letter with envelopes", you can print a whole array of letter to the customer,employee,vender, ect, ect..

Lets say that you wanted to send a letter to everyone of your customers. When you get to the letter with envelope part then click customer. All your customers will be highlighted. Adjust your message as you see fit the when you hit print it prints letters and mailing envelopes.

How cool is that.

Mark

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www.wasatchvalley.com

shingler

I did figure out how to see the breakdown in the report using classes. That is how they handled it with the sample company file. When you run the report you can use the drop down for the colums and select class. If you assign classes to your expenses for the different categories it is all there. I an not fond of the layout, but atleast it is there.