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16K views 54 replies 14 participants last post by  Windycity  
W
#1 · (Edited)
I was really liking the joist app and apparently they finally figured out how good it really was so joist requires you to upgrade to the pro version apparently to get all the features now.

I was trying to send out an estimate and I learned that You can’t attach a photo anymore for free plus several other features are gone

$11.99 a month for the pro version or $119 a year

Damm

I was about ready to start using QuickBooks online and was wondering if it has similar features with estimates and invoices on it? I have never use QuickBooks before



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#12 ·
What's great about QB is I can download all my business bank transactions from my bank into QB and categorize all my expenses. Then I send a file to my bookkeeper she downloads the file into her QB fixes all my mistakes and sends me back the file to download back into QB.


I have QB Premier that has the contractor version in it. Allows for change orders and everything else to be specific to contracting.

Mike.
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[emoji631] [emoji631]
 
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#13 ·
I got the email about the upgrade. I figured it was coming. They still have several bugs they can't work out. I've spoken to them, about it, on 3 occasions. They still can't fix it. The photos were very handy. I also like the electronic signature feature. I also liked having my contract attached automatically.

I've done a few in Quickbooks. Suppose I'll have to work with it more. I can add my contract, but I have to add it as an attachment. I don't know about photos. I had gotten in the habit of adding photos. I also invoiced a customer, from my phone, this week. Worked out good.

There are some others out there. I looked at one from someone on here. Nathan maybe. It wasn't as easy to use, so I didn't spend much time on it.
 
H
#15 ·
Honestly, even if you never send a single estimate or invoice through quickbooks you should get it anyway. Having easy access to P&L statements and some other stats are worth it's weight in gold.

Especially for me being fairly new to all this, I'm able to check numbers from time to time to see if I'm charging enough or not. Of course you have to keep things updated. My wife stays at home with our daughter and is pretty good about entering information.
 
B
#21 ·
You can link Joist with your Quickbooks. I think it's about $8 per month.

I like being able to look at estimates and invoices on my phone. I just don't know if it's worth $10 a month, to me. I rarely type stuff in, on my phone. I'm much faster on a keyboard.

What I have been using my phone for, is the photo option. Since the pictures are already on my phone, I'm able to attach them easily.

I realize $10 per month is not alot. Especially if you use it alot, but everything does add up.
 
B
#27 ·
I agree. I saw a customer had opened an invoice. About a week later, he said he never got an invoice.
I didn’t tell him. It was just good to know.

It also causes a few issues. Depending on the customer’s computer security, the emails from hoist get sent to spam. I assume an email with a feature that will send out an email, gets a red flag.
I really only get it when I send them to a business.


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B
#28 ·
Yesterday, Joist emailed me a PDF of a signed estimate. It was from 02/28/19. Never had that happen before.

I've been thinking about it. $10 a month isn't so bad. If they can fix the bugs, I might do it.
Of course I've talked to them a few times over the last couple years. They still haven't done anything to fix it.
 
F
#31 ·
I don't mind paying for new features but the way Joist went premium was a dick move. All they did was remove existing features and put them behind a paywall.

This kind of business practice made me think twice about signing up. There are a few things that I did not like about Joist but I was so comfortable using it that I ignored the issues. Now that it's paid, It's a good time to start looking for other options that are also paid with possibly better features.
This fee also came at a terrible time. Gas has sky rocketed, business is slower than it should be this time of year as well and this is just another monthly fee we don't need.


Joist was recently acquired by a larger firm so this fee was inevitable but like I said, I just don't like how they initiated it. I am now looking into Quick-books, Wave, Freshbooks, Invoice to go, and Quicksale on ipad. I'm sure there are plenty more to choose from so any input would be great.
 
W
#42 ·
Will i emailed joist and received a response....

What i sent,

Mobile App User
May 10, 18:00 EDT

Hello

I have been using the joist app for a while and have come to enjoy it alot

I think that taking away the feature to add photos to invoices and requiring a upgrade to the pro version with a steep monthly fee is a pretty crappy thing to do

I cannot justify $10 a month to simply add photos to an invoice which was a really Handy feature before. I wouldnt mind a one time fee to pay because i know everything cant be free but to make the fee about the same as what i pay for quickbooks online is kind of excessive. I am on the contractor forum and the general consensus is that we all feel the same

Please reconsider
Thank you

AND here is the response i received back,

Image



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