mobile software

Status
Not open for further replies.

keith gigabyte

Senior Member
I am thinking of using my laptop and a mobile printer to generate invoices and proposals. I do mostly residential and some light commercial.

I have tried quick books..it seems too complicated for me. I want something I can keep track of customers, have multiple jobs for some customers (rental units), Bid jobs and service calls.

The main problem I have with quick books is the way you keep inventory. It only allows you to track as a po/purchase and resale to customer. Mostly I buy from supply house and usually isn't a problem but there are those few times I have to run to lowes or home depot. The price is obviously different than supplier.

Any ideas..also looking for input on a mobile printer.

thanks

oh yea I am a sole proprietor now but plan to expand to a few techs
 

LEO2854

Esteemed Member
Location
Ma
I am thinking of using my laptop and a mobile printer to generate invoices and proposals. I do mostly residential and some light commercial.

I have tried quick books..it seems too complicated for me. I want something I can keep track of customers, have multiple jobs for some customers (rental units), Bid jobs and service calls.

The main problem I have with quick books is the way you keep inventory. It only allows you to track as a po/purchase and resale to customer. Mostly I buy from supply house and usually isn't a problem but there are those few times I have to run to lowes or home depot. The price is obviously different than supplier.

Any ideas..also looking for input on a mobile printer.

thanks

oh yea I am a sole proprietor now but plan to expand to a few techs

I send all my proposals and invoices by email, I have an email set up just for that so it does not get loaded down with junk mail and such, I also use the ES2 software for my business and it keeps a list of all of your clients along with all of your clients contact information.
 

Ponchik

Senior Member
Location
CA
Occupation
Electronologist
I have ES2 as suggested by LEO and have online quickbooks as suggested by Joey.

They work great on my Ipad2. (the ES2 will soon release the new software that will work on Android)
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
I am thinking of using my laptop and a mobile printer to generate invoices and proposals. I do mostly residential and some light commercial.

I have tried quick books..it seems too complicated for me. I want something I can keep track of customers, have multiple jobs for some customers (rental units), Bid jobs and service calls.

The main problem I have with quick books is the way you keep inventory. It only allows you to track as a po/purchase and resale to customer. Mostly I buy from supply house and usually isn't a problem but there are those few times I have to run to lowes or home depot. The price is obviously different than supplier.

Any ideas..also looking for input on a mobile printer.

thanks

oh yea I am a sole proprietor now but plan to expand to a few techs

invoice2go on IOS is what i use.
sync data across all devices.

but i don't bid the normal way.

figure out what i want out of the job.
add the material in.
add 50%

send in bid.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
I am thinking of using my laptop and a mobile printer to generate invoices and proposals. I do mostly residential and some light commercial.

I have tried quick books..it seems too complicated for me. I want something I can keep track of customers, have multiple jobs for some customers (rental units), Bid jobs and service calls.

The main problem I have with quick books is the way you keep inventory. It only allows you to track as a po/purchase and resale to customer. Mostly I buy from supply house and usually isn't a problem but there are those few times I have to run to lowes or home depot. The price is obviously different than supplier.

Any ideas..also looking for input on a mobile printer.

thanks

oh yea I am a sole proprietor now but plan to expand to a few techs
I am running old version of QB (2007) and am not aware of what they currently offer, but in the older versions you can't track inventory in the basic QB versions, you needed a "Pro" or "Premier" version to track inventory - of course the cost goes up with those over the basic QB. The older versions like I have were not designed to run on more then one computer either, unless you had multiple user licenses, but even then you had to have an active "host machine" which made mobile use not work out so well. I'd guess they have better solution today for mobility and maybe even did then - but if it did it may have come with a higher price tag.
 

penneyeugene

New User
Location
Australia
I used Quickbooks online to and I'm quite satisfied with it. It works pretty well and makes work a lot easier to handle and keep track of. It might be complicated at first but I'm sure you'll get used to it.
 

Ravenvalor

Senior Member
I am running old version of QB (2007) and am not aware of what they currently offer, but in the older versions you can't track inventory in the basic QB versions, you needed a "Pro" or "Premier" version to track inventory - of course the cost goes up with those over the basic QB. The older versions like I have were not designed to run on more then one computer either, unless you had multiple user licenses, but even then you had to have an active "host machine" which made mobile use not work out so well. I'd guess they have better solution today for mobility and maybe even did then - but if it did it may have come with a higher price tag.

kwired do you use Quick Books for your payroll? If so do you enter your own payroll deduction numbers from the state and fed? I have heard that it can be done and is a lot cheaper than using Quick Books payroll subscription service.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
kwired do you use Quick Books for your payroll? If so do you enter your own payroll deduction numbers from the state and fed? I have heard that it can be done and is a lot cheaper than using Quick Books payroll subscription service.
I have never used payroll services subscription. I have never had to pay more then a couple employees at a time either and looking up their withholding numbers is not that difficult, SS, medicare are straight percentages and not a problem either. Getting correct hours to pay into the software is a bigger problem then dealing with witholdings sometimes IMO, but that is between me and the employee more so then a software issue.

If I had several employees to run payroll on - maybe is worth it.
 

Ravenvalor

Senior Member
I have never used payroll services subscription. I have never had to pay more then a couple employees at a time either and looking up their withholding numbers is not that difficult, SS, medicare are straight percentages and not a problem either. Getting correct hours to pay into the software is a bigger problem then dealing with witholdings sometimes IMO, but that is between me and the employee more so then a software issue.

If I had several employees to run payroll on - maybe is worth it.

I will have to try this great idea. Thanks.
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
I have never used payroll services subscription. I have never had to pay more then a couple employees at a time either and looking up their withholding numbers is not that difficult, SS, medicare are straight percentages and not a problem either. Getting correct hours to pay into the software is a bigger problem then dealing with witholdings sometimes IMO, but that is between me and the employee more so then a software issue.

If I had several employees to run payroll on - maybe is worth it.

That is the biggest headache.

I keep telling my office help "No time sheet, no job tickets, NO PAYCHECK" but she chases them down anyway.

We use QB payroll but do all the work ourselves. We do get their regular payroll updates.

FWIW, LogMeIn works well for remote access. I access my desktop from either tablet or laptop from about anywhere, if I really need to.
 

Ponchik

Senior Member
Location
CA
Occupation
Electronologist
IMO, it is best to have a payroll company do the work for you. We are specialized in doing electrical work not doing payroll with holdings and on top of that reporting the proper reports with the quarterly payments to the IRS.
At least I am not cut out to do paper work and pay roll stuff. I just plug numbers in and whether they are employees or IRS, each get their check with proper paper work on time.
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
IMO, it is best to have a payroll company do the work for you. We are specialized in doing electrical work not doing payroll with holdings and on top of that reporting the proper reports with the quarterly payments to the IRS.
At least I am not cut out to do paper work and pay roll stuff. I just plug numbers in and whether they are employees or IRS, each get their check with proper paper work on time.

Payroll with QB is so simple I can do it. Enter the hours, hit print checks. That is about it.
 

Ponchik

Senior Member
Location
CA
Occupation
Electronologist
Payroll with QB is so simple I can do it. Enter the hours, hit print checks. That is about it.

I agree. That is all I can. But as far as quarterly reports and tax with holding I can not calculate those. All I was trying to communicate in my previous post, it is much easier if the payroll company to "tell me to whom and when I need to send a check and for how much" Doing the reports and the withholding is not my gig.
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
I agree. That is all I can. But as far as quarterly reports and tax with holding I can not calculate those. All I was trying to communicate in my previous post, it is much easier if the payroll company to "tell me to whom and when I need to send a check and for how much" Doing the reports and the withholding is not my gig.
Reports and withholding is little harder, you have to decide which report to print, then sign the checks.
 

Ravenvalor

Senior Member
I am thinking of using my laptop and a mobile printer to generate invoices and proposals. I do mostly residential and some light commercial.

I have tried quick books..it seems too complicated for me. I want something I can keep track of customers, have multiple jobs for some customers (rental units), Bid jobs and service calls.

The main problem I have with quick books is the way you keep inventory. It only allows you to track as a po/purchase and resale to customer. Mostly I buy from supply house and usually isn't a problem but there are those few times I have to run to lowes or home depot. The price is obviously different than supplier.

Any ideas..also looking for input on a mobile printer.

thanks

oh yea I am a sole proprietor now but plan to expand to a few techs

I used Quickbooks Pro for billing from the early nineties til 2007. I have been using Accubid T&M Billing since then. Last night I made an invoice with Quickbooks Pro to determine if I like it more than Accubid. I will continue to try Quickbooks Pro for a while til I make a definite decision. While I like using Accubid I do not see why I really need it and transferring the accounting data from Accubid to Quickbooks Pro's banking features has many faults.
 

Hacks

Member
Location
NJ
I use an app called QuickSale on my iPad to do estimates and invoices. It's a $30 1 time fee for the Pro version and it is definitely worth it.

I was going to get a printer for my van, but there is no reason to, everyone uses e-mail and I have only had 2 customers who wanted a paper copy, so I wrote it out on some blank receipts I keep in the van.

I use QuickBooks for accounting only. I did not like QuickBooks online so I use the normal computer version. I do not use it for invoicing or billing, so I don't need to enter all the customer information into it, all of that is in the iPad's QuickSale app.

I used QuickBooks just for bookkeeping so I enter the invoice number and amount of the sale, that's all you need. I enter my expenses too, it's a very easy process.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top