Many contractors with expensive high-end construction software are re-examining if QuickBooks for Contractors is all they really need and if switching over to it makes sense.
The first thing we ask is which of The Four Types of Contractors best describes your company?
Having used several high-end construction software programs costing over $60,000 and a few low cost programs under $500 like QuickBooks and Peachtree, and some of the free online bookkeeping programs I have arrived at the conclusion that for contractors with annual sales volume under $5,000,000 the only answer is QuickBooks For Contractors. For an in-depth comparison of QuickBooks versions click here.
We started using QuickBooks when it was first released in DOS version in the early 1990's and have been raving fans of it ever since. It's had problems and growing pains; however, Intuit the parent company of QuickBooks is good about finding and fixing the issues as evidenced by the number of contractors using it compared to their competitors.
#01 Setup is the most important and least understood part of the selection process. Before you setup QuickBooks for Contractors you click here. A properly setup QuickBooks contractor file will do everything a contractor with less than $5,000,000 in sales will need including generating reports for:
Monthly And Quarterly Tax Returns
Sales Tax Returns
Payroll Processing
Payroll Tax Returns, 941 and 940
Contractor Invoicing
Work In Progress (WIP) Reporting
Preparing Pay Application Invoicing For Remodel
Preparing Pay Applications For Tenant Improvement (TI)
Job Deposit Tracking
Retention Tracking
Insurance Audit Support Service
QuickBooks Financial Reports
Job Costing Reports
Five Key Performance Indicator Reports for monitoring your business
And more
This is the most expensive hidden cost of all. Anyone who suggests the average contractor can buy construction software and have it up and running in less than (200) hours stretched over several months is stretching the truth. There is a big difference between selling construction software and setting it up to use it.
QuickBooks Setup Has Three Main Phases, Chart of Accounts, Item List, Customers, Vendors, Employees, Payroll, cleanup the existing data and input the transactions that are behind.
You can do it yourself = 200 hours x $10 an hour you could earn flipping burgers (opportunity cost) adds $2,000 to the cost of the software.
Give it to your bookkeeper = 200 hours x $25.29 (Paid $15.00 per hour plus taxes and overhead) adds 5,058 to the cost of the software.
In most cases you can outsource the complex and costly QuickBooks Setup and Job Costing Reports to us, get it done right in a fraction of the time and cost of any other option and we can cleanup QuickBooks existing data and input your back-work or as we call it QuickBooks Catch-Up.
From our extensive knowledge base of Construction Accountants and studying highly profitable contractor's QuickBooks setup files we have developed a library of QuickBooks for contractor modules that we use to build your custom QuickBooks Contractor files in a fraction of the time and at lower cost. It has made us the leader in setup QuickBooks for Contractors.
#02 Bloat the more the software costs the more whistles and bells it has or as I like to say "bloat". Software bloat is construction deceiving because it looks like something you've got to have or you are missing out, the good news is you're not. It simply adds fluff and filler to jack up the price just like college and university textbooks which are sold by the pound.
#03 Construction Bookkeepers Talent Pool the more expensive the construction software the more dependent you will be on the developer for tech support and training.
When you pay $1,000 for two days of training for your bookkeeper and their time 16 hours x $25.29 = $404.64 plus lunch $10 x 2 = $20 and parking $10 x 2 = $20 for a total of $1,444.64, they have increased skillsets and they will ask for a raise or seek employment elsewhere!
Worse yet what if you don't pay for training and they learn by trial and error on your payroll? Do you know What Ten Minutes A Day Costs Your Company?
#04 Contractors Bookkeeping Services System Everything in your construction company that makes money follows process is called "CONTROL" for example the steps for building a new house are: Foundation | Framing | Mechanical | Roofing | Finish | Cleanup. Everything in your construction company that does costs money does not follow a logical process and is called "CHAOS".
Construction bookkeeping services is a system with logical process and when it is followed you make money when it is not it costs you money.
#05 Cloud Based Construction Software Is no longer a luxury reserved for enterprise level contractors. Any contractor using QuickBooks Contractors desktop version can have it too.
We offer a way for you to access the full desktop version of QuickBooks Contractor with all of the built in reports and the ability to print on your local desktop printer, email, have documents linked to individual transactions.
You can do just about anything you are doing now with QuickBooks Contractor on your desktop except lose your data due to computer failure, weather, earthquake, flood, fire or other disaster because it is on a secured cloud server with multiple redundant backups and power supplies.
You can even access your QuickBooks Contractor financial reports in the cloud without having to open QuickBooks.
About The Author: