Replies

1. 
   bobl | Jan 30, 2003 06:04pm | #1

   I don't use QB but my wife does (not construction).  she also uses the QB forum. Try a search there for info.

   http://quickbooksusers.com

   bobl          Volo Non Voleo      Joe's BT Forum cheat sheet

   
   

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   Edited 1/30/2003 10:04:52 AM ET by bobl

2. 
   McDonnel3 | Jan 30, 2003 06:34pm | #2

   Yeah, I use it. My CPA insists on it.

   In fact, he make us upgrade to the 2002 version. Hurts to throw away a perfectly good program and pay over $200 for it's replacement.

   Anyway, it's a snap to use. I like it.

1. 
   elad22 | Jan 31, 2003 03:15am | #3

   Hey guys-

   Thanks for your responses. 

   Mark, did your accountant insist you use quickbooks pro for contractors or just quickbooks pro?

   Thanks for your input.

   Dale

1. 
   McDonnel3 | Jan 31, 2003 06:18pm | #4

   Just the Quik-books Pro 2002.

3. 
   sdr25 | Jan 31, 2003 10:54pm | #5

   Dale, over on the JLC (Journal of Light Construction) web site they have a dedicated message board for QB pro. You might find some info to your question over there.

   http://www.jlconline.com/cgi-bin/jlconline.storefront/3e3ad3b90026eb22271a401e1d290614/Catalog/1141

   Scott R.

   
   

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   Edited 1/31/2003 2:58:41 PM ET by Scott R.

1. 
   elad22 | Feb 01, 2003 02:54am | #6

   Hey Scott-

   Thanks for the tip.  I checked out JLC last night and didn't really find many comments about QB pro for contractors.  I'll go back and check to see if I missed anything.

   Have a good weekend.

   Dale

1. 
   Piffin | Feb 01, 2003 03:06am | #7

   I'm curious too, but it seems like it might be too early to get much experienced feedback on the new program. I may hear something at the seminars On Feb 13 in Worchester.

   Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   elad22 | Feb 01, 2003 03:18am | #8

   Hey, Piffin-

   Thanks for your input.  Could you let us know what you think after attending the seminar?

   Thanks a bunch.

   Dale

1. 
   Piffin | Feb 01, 2003 04:08am | #9

   You might have to remind me about 2-17-03.

   Excellence is its own reward!

2. 
   elad22 | Feb 01, 2003 04:31am | #10

   Gladly

   Thanks!

3. 
   elad22 | Feb 26, 2003 05:45am | #11

   Hey Piffin-

   How was the class on Quickbooks Pro for contractors?

   Thanks for yer comments.

   Dale

4. 
   elad22 | Feb 26, 2003 05:46am | #12

   Hey, Piffin-

   How was the class on Quickbooks Pro for Contractors?

   Thanks for your input.

   Dale

5. 
   Piffin | Feb 26, 2003 07:16am | #13

   Thanks for the reminder(s)

   Both of them.

   ;) ain't technology great!

   The morning class had my head spinning and I was about half lost. It had a lot to do with setting up the program when you first start out. The thing is, he was talking in terms of, "If you want this, then you have to set up thus..." but since I only have a vague idea of what I want it to do and how to take care of bookkeeping, it was moving a little fast for me. My thinking there is that to get really good use of the program, you need to get it set up with a book-keeper or accountant who knows QP pro and book keeping methodology, both.

   I used to have a tech help subscription with Intuit but the impression I got whenever I called for help was that they were dissing me. "What?!?! You don't know what a loss debit/acttuating ************* is? How stupid can you be?" (terms modified to protect reality)

   They seem to move forward from the point of someone who has had at least two years of business numbers training. I've picked up a lot here and at JLC in their business section about overall conceptsa and management ideas but basic accounting skills are "out there" for me.

   The reason I go through this is that to get max benefit from QBPRO, you have to set up for your business. There are a lot of powerful options in the software to use.

   The PM session was more on my level and I actually had a couple things to add to the discussion. It focussed more on day to day entries and reports. A lot of his answers were along the lines of, "try it and see - set up a sample company and try doing things in different ways." He had his particular way of wanting things done from his viewpoint as an accountant and the software was just a tool. He had basically one way of using it but was treying to keep the class overall open to all the ideas and possibilities. That was good as it allowed me some creative thinking for ways to apply it.

   It seemed to me that most members of the class were from larger outfits than mine and that they werre the office help who generally used the software.

   There was unanimous agreement that, considering the cost, QBPRO was an extremely powerfuyl and versatile program but that the vendor, Intuit, sucks! One of the best pieces of advice I heard (I think) was to go ahead and sunbscribe to the tech help sevice for the total flat rate and then go ahead and use the snot out of it.

   There was minimal comparison between pro and the contractor version but I got the impression that many of the things the contractor's version does is to have a setup template and reports available within the package, all things that can be created by you, if you want to go through it or customize it. The teacher used the Cont version but several in class kept reporting, "I can do that in pro" so I didn't get any concept that the higher price was necesarily justified, except for a busy guy who has less setup time and who doesn't have the luxury of being able to call upon a QBPro book keeper for advice.

   I have the pro '99 and will probably upgrade to '03 soon. Knowing I am weak in this area motivates me to want to spend more time in the financial management aspect of my business. As much as I hate Intuit, QB is the right tool to use for that. For me anyway..

   Excellence is its own reward!

6. 
   SunSoftSol | Mar 12, 2003 11:13pm | #14

   I use the Contractor Edition, and have used just about every version of QB since it first came out in DOS! It has come a long way.

   You are correct in stating that many of the new features in the Contractor Edition - reports, templates, etc. can be created and memorized in all other versions of QB if you want to take the time to play around with your reports and memorize them.

   The added bonuses in the Contractor Edition are:

   1. The Contractor Navigator - it's a navigator that finally makes sense! You can easily perfom multiple tasks directly from this navigator - create estimates, invoices, receive payments, make deposits, create purchase orders, enter bills, pay bills, enter employee time, pay employees and pay payroll liabilities.

   2. There is now Contractor Specific Help available that was written by Karen Mitchell (JLC On-Line & co-author of Contractor's Guide to QuickBooks Pro), much of the on-line help is the same that is in the Contractor's Guide)

   The negative - Intuit really raved about the new Change Order function that is available in the Contractor Edition - in my opinion it's worthless! and when I do a change order I opt not to use their feature.

   Other than that - all the 2003 Pro & Premier Editions now allow for 25 payroll items per employee record and 25 addition, deduction & company contribution items per employee record. I also find that the Contractor Edition is faster than the Premier Accountant Edition 2002 even with large (95 meg) qb files.

   Nancy Hoffman

   Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc.

   http://www.SunburstSoftwareSolutions.com

   Certified Payroll Reports & AIA type billing from QB Data