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small remodeler software

| Posted in Business on February 2, 2002 04:49am

*
i own and operate a small (1-employee and myself) bathroom remodeling company in northern virginia. I started this company 2 years ago and I am in trouble ie: losing money. I have just learned about profit & costs and now I’m looking to see what my fellow remodelers reccomend for business software ie: for accounting. My gross installed sales last year was only 120k. Any help would be great. I have a computer that is 3 years old. Thanks in advance.

p.s. I have been a lurker here for about 1 month and I am learning from you guys a great deal.

RJ

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  1. calvin_ | Jan 29, 2002 06:08am | #1

    *
    I'm smaller than you. One employee, me. I use Quickbooks and as a step beyond the 3 part carbon, has kept me organized. The billing is professional looking, the recall reports are useful. To produce a proposal, I use the invoice function, call it a proposal and zero out all the numbers after I print it so it doesn't think its a deadbeat who owes me money. Remember, this is from a guy who used 3 part carbons for over 20 years. I'm sure you'll get some better help here if your patient. Best of luck.

    Keep it simple. Income/outgo.....taxes on the difference.

    1. piffin_ | Jan 29, 2002 06:17am | #2

      *Quickbooks is good for your size. You might want to compare the options in Quickbooks pro to see if they'll benefit you too. Be careful about investing too heavily in software and remember that every upgrade has its price in learnig curve too.For a one man outfit you could get by on paper without the computer but you limit your self then. The reports from QBare marvelous but learning the right attitude from reading in this folder are priceless.Do quality work, make sure they know it and don't forget to pay yourself first.

      1. Ralph_Wicklund | Jan 29, 2002 06:29am | #3

        *At 120K installed sales you should be able to do the math in your head. A good place to start would be with your schedule C, a pad of paper and a cheap calculator.You can't lose money if, first, you know what your product costs, second, you know what all your other expenses are, third, you know what it costs you to live (comfortably), and finally, what income you must have to cover all that.If you think you are losing money then I suspect you are trying to run a business strictly on wage rates.Look back through all the info in the Business Folder. Pick any topic and use the search function. You'll probably find a jillion recommendations to RAISE YOUR RATES.

        1. Mike_Smith | Jan 29, 2002 06:33am | #4

          *ralph has a great point.. schedule "C" business plan is about as simple as it gets... it lists all of your expenses.. you can determine what you have to cover to meet your nut..your basic overhead.. your direct costs.. even what you REALLY paid yourself... NOTHING , right ?.. i remember those years...yecch..like piffen says .. figure out how to pay yourself first.. nobody is as valuable to your company as YOU

          1. piffin_ | Feb 02, 2002 04:13pm | #5

            *Ralph, it's true that we can do the math in our heads for 120K but Ray has already admitted that he's having a problem. He wants to identify what the problem is. I can't think of a better analytical tool than QB for doing this. I do about a third of a million plus manage another quarter million per year for someone else. Up until about 200K I could tell from the back of my head what was in the checkbook within a dollar or two. That's not the point. In order to do cost compsrisons and chart catagories you would have to do a lot of work on paper. With QB that is as easy as blowing my nose. For instance, I have a customer who does a lot of regular work with me. He is very domineering and since I make a lot of money from him, I thought this was a fine arrangement. While analysing my business to see where money came from and where it went, I discovered that he was really only forty percent of my work and twenty percent of my profit. I was able to adjust that situation. Without that knowledge,I would have continued to let him dominate a greater portion of my time and limited my growth potential. If Ray wants to stay at the same size, he might be able to manage on a checkbook basis 'till the cows come home and the butter turns bad but if he wants to grow the business and grow a profit, then he needs the tools to do it and learning to put the computer to work can free up time for profitable productive work in the field. Now is the time to learn those skills, while he is small. Otherwise, if he is losing $100 now, he'll be losing $300 later when he is riding a tiger with no way to get off.

          2. The_Tennis_Court_Builder_...on_t | Feb 02, 2002 04:49pm | #6

            *To add Piffin... one needs to have categories and paper systems down before going to computer. I use Quicken for Business which is way less complicated than QB which I have too for free because I was a beta tester. I set up my books different than the way the software sets it up. Them theres add on companies that go even farther.Of late, I stopped tracking so much... I have gone back to paper for many things as it is just way faster.Computers are great... but so is paper.near the stream,ajPaper system... keep all receipts in one folder for one job. Tally them on a piece of paper same way you estimated your costs and compare the end result. Keep tally of customer payments there and bingo, you know if you made money. Get a bank account at a bank with online access. Watch the account for balance. Use checks that have the copy check so as you always know what you wrote the check for. I use business debit cards for almost all purchases now. So all I have left to do is assign category and only if the category has changed.Lots of luck... Quicken was a blast for the first few years... now its closer to a chore. I have had quicken since version 1.

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