I am curious to learn what many of you are using to generate your proposals and invoices and also if you use an accounting program such as Quick Books or any other programs.
Up to now, I have used company specific forms that serve either as a proposal or an invoice. It's a 2 page carbon copy form.
I want to shift to having all computer generated forms as well as a better / faster book keeping method and would like to know what system works well for you....
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Pat Konen Curb Appeal of the Southeast, LLC Charleston, South Carolina 29464, 29466 843-324-4003
No Pressure Roof Cleaning Charleston - Mt. Pleasant SC Pressure Washing Charleston - Mt. Pleasant SC
I had Quickbooks on my PC. I lost the CD and ended up getting a Mac. I liked QB for the most part, took about a week to get set up right and used to the inputting of info.
I might end up getting it again but for my Mac. I would be great if you could get it for the Ipad, I think it(Ipad) would be a great add on to any roof washing business(quotes, invoices, pics, videos, etc...)
-- Edited by HydraMax on Thursday 1st of July 2010 01:27:20 AM
-- Edited by HydraMax on Thursday 1st of July 2010 01:27:56 AM
I am curious to learn what many of you are using to generate your proposals and invoices and also if you use an accounting program such as Quick Books or any other programs.
Up to now, I have used company specific forms that serve either as a proposal or an invoice. It's a 2 page carbon copy form.
I want to shift to having all computer generated forms as well as a better / faster book keeping method and would like to know what system works well for you....
OB is truly very simple, they even have a manual for Dummies.
Going paperless is the way to go, of course you still need contracts to ink but often invoices do not need to be generated if you use QB and email.
OB automatically tranfers them when you mail them, contractors too. PDF is the way to go because some do not have the same versions of software.
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Ron Musgraves
National Cleaning Expos 480-522-5227 Mobile Cleaning Contractor Education Seminars Roundtables
We use QB as well - in terms of keeping track of all vendors and clients, it is a great tool. You can link your business email to the program as well as Paypal for easier payment methods. For our more internet savvy clients/vendors, we are able to email them estimates/invoices, which puts money in our pocket faster. QB does have some data collection pitfalls, like we cannot track clients by marketing source, etc. (Or maybe I don't know the software well enough) Either way, for a small to mid-sized roof cleaning company, I think it works well. The end goal, however, is to grow and find a more industry specific software that can import the info from QB. At the end of the day - what matters is getting paid, so if QB is too complicated/expensive - find a cheap, solid system and hold off on software. That's how we started - it's all about the right system!
Looks like Quick Books is the program of choice so far. Does anyone know of a program that combines the accounting aspects like QB but also performs some marketing and customer follow-up related tasks?
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Pat Konen Curb Appeal of the Southeast, LLC Charleston, South Carolina 29464, 29466 843-324-4003
No Pressure Roof Cleaning Charleston - Mt. Pleasant SC Pressure Washing Charleston - Mt. Pleasant SC
I use a very easy program called invoices and estimates on a laptop in my truck with a printer and internet connections. Very cool because once I pull into my driveway everything I did for the day is sync with my computer in the house.
I use Quickbooks also for the last 16 years. I wish that Quickbooks on my laptop would synchronize with my desktop...
I also have QB as well. I only use that my commercial work. You need to set one computer as a master and the other as a slave. My laptop in my truck has to be one of my best tools.
I have been looking for an invoice app for the ipad that is signable. I thought thats what ipads were for. Invoice 2 go is nice but it appears its not signable (is that not important?)
We use Quickbooks here, also use a program called Q-express which is a scheduling program which is a companion product for scheduling routes. It eliminates the need for re-entering info and is a big time saver. It can be used for any service business.
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Jim Williams Williams Pest Control Services,Inc 34 E Harmar St Warren PA 16365 wpcswarren.com jwilliam@wpcswarren.com 814-723-0547
Quick books here too. Use Open Office to make brochures and estimate sheets and other info type stuff. Open Office is free to use. It is just like MS Office.