HI y’all, gd here, as in gdcarpenter. Around this site most days, some posts, some answers. Time for a question. Ran my own business in Arkansas (stop laughing) using quick books. Moved to Raleigh,went to work for someone else, now he’s on the rocks and I’m going back out as gdcarpenter.
Question is – is quickbooks pro – contractor edition – worth the step up. Anbody with experience with the new “contractor edition” – pros – cons? Have to fudge your away around in it to get what you want or does it really work. Good news is the wife’s an accountant so you can get as technical as you want.
How’s a wife like a hardwood floor? Lay it right the first time and you can walk over it for years. Don’t worry, wife’s heard it a lot – has a sense of humour – married a carpenter – a Canadian at that. Thanx in advance
Replies
Quickbooks Pro is ok if you're a fairly good sized contractor who deals with a lot of payroll or is incorporated. As a sole proprietor who does most of the work when Im not subbing out trade skills Quicken Home & Business is good enough. The Pro verson requires considerable accounting experience to use effectively.
I don't track costs with Quicken. It is easier for me to run Microsoft Works 7.0 in database mode. I like to customize my own forms and filter for different types of information. A fairly steep learning curve though.
I had QB pro 99, and this year went to do my taxes and it wouldn't let me export without uprading. Went with the contractor edition for I think a net of 270. Alot of features will go unused for me. But quicken is missing alot of features that I use.
As a one man show, I'd say, Quickbooks has alot of advantages. For example write and estimate, convert to invoice, track receivables, etc.
I know I couldn't do without it. And I have an accounting background and use an accoutant and a payroll service. But then I like to know exactly where I'm at on every job and track ytd's almost daily.
Not sure you can do that with a pencil and paper being a one man show.
Tom
Thanks for the reply. Question, in the current quick books I have, as soon as I use it to create it as an estimate it books the cost as a balance due, and we all know how many of the estimates we do result in actual jobs. Is the contractor edition the same? My wife is a genius with accounting, but works long hours as a CFO for a hedge fund, and I don't want to bother her too much with my small change operation (compared to the millions of others monies she counts). I'm an inc. (Scorp) and a one man show for now as I've just gone out on my own lately. Let's not confuse the issue with facts!
GD,
I'm using QB Pro 2000. Thought about updating to the new Contractors Edition, but I don't see the benefit. I run a small, 2 man operation. The payroll funtions are great. My accountant uses QB for all his customers, which makes communication between us really easy. I bring him a disk, he makes adjustments, and I reload in my system. The learning curve is fairly long, but worth the effort. I like the fact that all my systems are tied together, in one program, ie.accounting, estimating, payroll, accounts recievable & accounts payable. It seems to lessen the amount of shear data input required to do the job. Estimates shouldn't appear as a balance due. You might want to check that your job status is accurate, in customer details. Possibly that is a glitch that was fixed by the 2000 version, as I don't have that problem. Best of luck in your new venture!
Brudoggie