Hello Guys,
I was wondering if any of you GCs have found a good software package for esimates. I find myself spending a lot of time in the evening doing quotes using my own created package and would love to upgrade to something better and faster. I looked on line but anything I seen is either huge package and lots of $$ or not really applicable in Canada.
If you know of some software available that is fair in price and a good result please let me know
Many thanks to all of you.
Frank...
Hi Frank- I have been using Quickbooks for Contractors for a couple of years now & am quite impressed by it. It not only does your estimating, but looks after your books, banking, payroll, sub-contractors, tax returns, inventory- you name it, this program does it. And it is specifically designed for contractors. I paid about $350, and it is well worth it. I am still in the learning stages as far as the taxation/book keeping is concerned, but the estimate and invoice, vendor/customer areas are easy enough to navigate. Hope this helps.
Hi Bill
Many thanks for your suggestion, I will look into the quickbooks for sure. I heard about the ability of this software but had not thought about using it for anything else but accounting. Good to know
Many thanks.
PS. do you get into doing any custom homes? and If so are you running into people that think they can have one built for $120 to $140/sqft??
Hi Frank- I was into custom homes years ago, but as an employee/foreman, so I had no knowledge of pricing. I did have someone ask recently about building custom at $110. sq. ft. and told them that not only did that seem low, they would not get much bang for their buck at that price. I stay out of the custom home market because there are too many contractors doing that already in this area- actually this whole area is oversaturated with contractors now due to a lot of big lay-offs, company closures.
1 more word on the Quickbooks Frank is the simple use of it. Once you set your company up in Quickbooks- takes about an hour- you can start using it right away. You add items- tasks your company performs- as you want, as well as vendors, customers, sub-trades. It is what this program does that you can't see that makes it such a great tool to utilise.
Take care Frank.
Hi Bill, i really appreciate your help and direction on QB. I will pick up a package this week and let you know how I like it.
Once again, many thanks
Frank..
Hi frank I use quick books to and it helps a lot with all my business needs. and you can customize it to the way you do business. It is not as much as the things you been looking at.
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