GOOD GOD! After plowing this morning, I came home to get all the bills in order and get 'em mailed out. WHAT A MESS! I'm using Quickbooks right now, which is working great so far, but I need to learn more of the features. Just out of curiosity, what are you guys using? Is there a program out there better for our line of work? Thanks again! -Tim
I am a low tech guy when it comes to this. A sales pad with your name and address is quick and easy. Use the 3 part carbon type and you can keep it in your cab with you. Easy to make notes as to start & finish time and any other details you want the customer to know, like how many times you plowed the lot and the time you did it. I use a numbered book and never have to worry about loosing a page.
There is a previous thread that outlines this in great detail. If you do a search, you should be able to get to it. Not sure what the thread was called though....
CLIP. My eyes are more blurry from looking at the computer the last three days than from getting 2-3 hours sleep and the rest of the day plowing.
Quickbooks user here and I'm looking at "Blizzard Buster" as well. Only problem is that the two can;t communicate so I will end up using one for billing and then getting the money into the system with the other.
I just downloaded CLIP... now I just need to figure out how to use it. If it's good, maybe I'll get it. That's pretty cool that it will link to quickbooks. -Tim
http://www.adkad.com/ for blizzard buster http://www.lawnmonkey.com/ Both have demo fo free. with clip all these seems great. I gonna decide in january wich one I'll Buy. going to bed, 4 more inches until tomorow. Got 8" today.
I am using quick books, and just did my billing. Took me an hr at the most. And I generated about 50 invoices. Its all in the set up for services. Once that is done, eack invoice shouldnt take more than 30sec to a minute. Dino
Dino, I agree, it shouldn't take that long, but like I said, I still have to figure everything out. It's a really good program. It just seems like when I enter in a transaction, some things aren't showing up where they should be. -Tim
SlimJimZ71, If i were you i would look at Lawn Monkey 2001 its cheaper then clip and has a lot more features then clip.
Is it good for snow plowing? I don't do landscaping right now, although, I have thought of getting into it. -Tim
I looked at Blizzard Buster, was interesting. However, I have a few jobs that demand hourly pricing, and Blizzard Buster doesn't do that. I talked to ADkad Technologies, and they suggested that I buy their landscaper program and $200 or $300 more than Blizzard Buster. I asked them if they had anythought of updating Blizzard Buster to include hourly proicing capabilities. They Don't ! so I wouldn't buy either one.
I use clip, it prints out great route sheets with instructions great if you use subs and the posting for my 70 driveways takes under 10 min.
Blizzard Buster & Hourly Rates Blizzard Buster version 4.0 has the ability to charge hourly rates for any service...snowplowing, salting, snowblowing, bobcat, etc. The new and improved version has been available since August 2001. A free demo is available at: http://www.adkad.com/blizzardbuster.htm
Thats why it is so much easier to have seasonal customers, we send out one invoice at the end of each month that is the same for five monthly payments, the only time I need to add is if we do stacking or hauling, then I need to keep track of the hours and bill that out seperatly. I do almost all of our winter bills in under four hours, because we do have a few per plows and per inch. But try to get all seasonal customers and it will be so much easier. Just my two cents
I agree with SLC1 !! Not only do I try to convince them to go seasonal, but I offer incentives of 5-10 percent to pay me the whole thing by December 1, and almost ALL of them did it last year! I only have enough per plow stuff to make up for an unusually long winter (so I dont go bankrupt) !
