quickbooks or lawnpro software

[joeyp614]

I need some advice on the lawnpro software. I really liked the demo, it seemed like it would be easy to learn. The price is right too. I have about 70 weekly lawn accounts (not counting landscaping). Do you guys think this would be a wise move or should i get quickbooks 2007. Thanks for the help:waving:

[HiTECH]

I bought quick books and i really regret it. Quick books isnt aimed toward the lawn care business like the other software is.

[dlenz32]

i bought the lawnpro software just a few weeks ago. Seems like it has everything you would need. I'm just starting out so it was much more appealing b/c of the price. But dropping AT LEAST a couple hundred on pretty much anything else seems a bit much.

Happy so far......hope it stays that way.




-dlenz

[Larson Lawn Care]

I have had quickbooks for the past two years, it isn't that good. It has good reports(income/expense...etc.) but I am not pleased with the billing. I will be switching to lawnpro very soon.

[NewHorizon's Land]

How did you get the demo for lawnpro? I was just about to buy the quickbooks software

[joeyp614]

How did you get the demo for lawnpro? I was just about to buy the quickbooks software

i think i got it at lawnpro software.com or lawn care business.com

[Prestige-Lawncare]

Though you can use either/or of these two programs for your LCO ... keep in mind that you can also use BOTH. If you are wanting the Lawn Pro software because it is "industry specific", that is great. Quick Books is great for the financial part of your business because you can save all the info you need to a CD, and then give that to your accountant. Most all accountants and bookkeepers recommend this program for small businesses to use for that specific reason.

I too am one that uses both.

[Clear-Cut]

i have lawnpro and it is awesome and they are always improving it. check out the blogs, it tells you all about the new features that were put on there with the newest versions (the upgrades are free after you purchase it) i just downloaded the 2.13 yesterday but i dont see a blog for it yet

here is a link to the blogs http://www.lawnprosoftware.com/blog/

for the financial part you could keep track of everything with excel possibly then just give it to your accountant and let him do the rest

[LushGreenLawn]

I use lawnpro for everything, including the financials. It will let you keep track of everything you spend as an expense, and let you categorize it with a custom category. Your income is based on your total invoices.

Worked pretty well for me.:dancing:

[lawnpro724]

Lawnpro like the name sais is tailored to our industry and has features that Quick Books doesn't. Quick Books can be set up to work with just about any business but it does take some time to figure out. I have been using it since 98 and it has worked fine for my business. I would like to see Quick Books ad some feature specific items for our industry but after talking with them they told me that they are going to leave things as they are for now. Depending on what is most important to you whether it be reports or the convenience you get with Lawn Pro with features like scheduling, routes and so on, buy what suites your business best. I have to track alot of income & expenses along with inventory and time so Quick Books works best for me.

[GreenN'Clean]

Lawn Pro has worked well for me

[scotty2]

I have had quickbooks for the past two years, it isn't that good. It has good reports(income/expense...etc.) but I am not pleased with the billing. I will be switching to lawnpro very soon.

Quick books does every thing I need. If you want to change the billing you can edit it to match your company logo in the customize section on the page(top right). You can customize all of your invoicing, Letters, Labels ext

[JB1]

your not comparing apples to apples here, lawnpro is not even in the same league as quickbooks.

[bigcountry01]

i just bought lawn pro....i had been using quick books and it was a little hard to figure it all out. lawn pro is easy and customized to our industry. im sure lawn pro doesnt have everything quickbooks does but i think it will work ok for my operation

[TURFLORD]

I've only ever used Q-bks. That pre-Windows Dac-Easy crud doesn't count. From what I'm told QB is definately more advanced software geared towards keeping the numbers straight. What other real reason to have software is there? Routing is best done in your head and on paper at the end of the day.

[BONESTEEL'S]

qxpress software. Does any one know much about it???
it says it works with qbooks & is geared toward landscapers

[WJW Lawn]

As long as lawn pro can do everything an LLC solo run operation needs...I may look into it. Is that the case for those that use Lawn Pro? I would think as long as it keeps the info you need for taxes..its golden.

[SILVERSTREAK INC]

ive only ever had quickbooks, i enter my invoices at the end of the week for my lawns, then at the end of the month create a statement for each customer which lists all the months invoices.

its keeps customer balances which i like and when recieving payments you can put in a check number etc, to keep track of your bank deposits and if a customer has probs it looks as though your organized on your end, i dont know if lawn pro does too or not....

i have each item in my service list set up so i type say, 45r for a 45 dollar residential cut, and when i hit enter its all done, then hit next and put in my next customer....granted it takes time but im only dealing with 75 customers and its not too bad, im still working on a way to somehow put in multiple invoices at once, that way i can select people from my customer list, select the date, and select them all to recieve say, a 30r 30 dollar residential lawn cut....

[Larson Lawn Care]

I can't find out how to send the invoices for the whole month with quick books, that is the only problem I have with that software. I need something that makes billing easier, I am most likely going to order the lawnpro, unless I can figure a way to send invoices out at the end of the month for the whole month with Quick books.

[BONESTEEL'S]

I can't find out how to send the invoices for the whole month with quick books, that is the only problem I have with that software. I need something that makes billing easier, I am most likely going to order the lawnpro, unless I can figure a way to send invoices out at the end of the month for the whole month with Quick books.

I will check with my tax lady(she is a wiz on qbooks) she is a PCA also works for a bank.

It will take me a few days to get back with you, as I will be undergoing back surgery in Burlington VT. in the morning.

[Clear-Cut]

i just found this to make you even more confused!
http://www.availsuite.com/industries/landscaping-software.php?gclid=CPei-fqV-IkCFSoIFQodhVJzWQ

looks like quickbooks with scheduling added into it..its $295 though

[BONESTEEL'S]

i just found this to make you even more confused!
http://www.availsuite.com/industries/landscaping-software.php?gclid=CPei-fqV-IkCFSoIFQodhVJzWQ

looks like quickbooks with scheduling added into it..its $295 though
Thanks I will check it out...

[TURFLORD]

I can't find out how to send the invoices for the whole month with quick books, that is the only problem I have with that software. I need something that makes billing easier, I am most likely going to order the lawnpro, unless I can figure a way to send invoices out at the end of the month for the whole month with Quick books.I'm not sure what your problem is with invoicing. I only enter all my info at the end of the month and then send'em out. If you're entering all the info weekly or something and need to amend a particular customer invoice each week, then use the next/previous field to return to that invoice and just add more info. At the end of the month select "Print Forms" from the file menu, select Invoices and print.

[Markf]

We looked at several. I found Gopher to be to my liking. Easy to use, on-line help. They even went through my dbase and straightened something out. Keep in mind that we are only two people handling 40 accounts (lawn maintenance and landscaping/hardscaping) and 55 plowing accounts. I found that switching an estimate to a contract/invoice can be done with a push of a button.

The other nice thing about Gopher is that you can by only what you need. For example, this year we will have our pest/fert license and can up grade to their chemical software module if we need to.

Think of your expansion. Where do you want to be in 2 years? The software should still be able to handle your growth. 5 years, perhaps not, and you might have to switch programs.

Good luck.

Mark

[PROCUT1]

I use quickbooks and qxpress.

[Team-Green L&L]

Quark took care of integrating a scheduling software with QB. QXpress is a perfect compliment to QB Pro and you'll never need to change softwares as you grow. I couldn't be happier.

http://www.qxpress.com

[grassguru32]

I use Gopher it's easy to use and they have great on line help.

[fastpitcher]

We use qxpress and quickbooks. They work very well together.
Rick

[tamo]

I'm still trying to figure out what to get.

can someone tell me what lawnpro can do that quickbooks cannot? is it basically just job scheduling?

how is quickbooks for estimates, invoices, and job costing?

thanks

[BONESTEEL'S]

I'm still trying to figure out what to get.

can someone tell me what lawnpro can do that quickbooks cannot? is it basically just job scheduling?

how is quickbooks for estimates, invoices, and job costing?

thanks
Qbooks does not do scheduling. good for invoices
But for estimates & job costings I use Excel.
I can send it to ya Free!!! how would be:clapping:

[BONESTEEL'S]

We use qxpress and quickbooks. They work very well together.
Rick

I am thinking about getting qxpress but 1200.00 is making me wait till March:cry:

[BRYAN'S LAWN MAINTENANCE]

Lawn pro is a cost effective product, it allows you to look like a pro. And at the same time it does not cost thousands. If you contact them they will be glad to give you free updates on their program. You cant go wrong for under $100.

[Runner]

You cannot compare Quickbooks and Lawnpro to each other. They are two completely different types of software for two completely different purposes. Quickbooks is designed to run the financial and acounting operations side of the business while Lawnpro is designed to help run the operations side of the business. The only thing in common, is that they both do invoicing. there are more intricate designed software that do this, including routing that are designed to integrate, run with and coincide with Quickbooks. Q Xpress is one of them, as well as softwares like Real Green Systems. You start getting into a much higher cost and cost of operation with these type of programs, though.
One thing is for sure...For what it is, this Lawnpro package gives you ALOT of bang for the buck. For the smaller to mid size LCO, this would be an excellent way t start out. you can't get hurt for under 80 bucks. The first software program I started with was the "My Deluxe Invoices" package which was an excellent basic package. It was around 40 bucks and didn''t do anything that particular that this Lawnpro does. It DOES do some cool things, though. Things like remembering job titles and putting them into a scrolldown list. As soon as you punch in the first few letters, it automatically puts it into he blank. For instance, by the time you push the Mo keys, it automatically puts in Mowing & Trim, which was what I had typed in the very first time. This is just one example. There is also just an arrow that brings up a dropdown box for this...very easy to use. It also tracks overdue customers and reminds you f yu want to send out overdue letters or not.It does interes if you want, and allows you to do other letters, as well.

[tamo]

I actually just downloaded the 30 day free trial of quickbooks pro. I have a Mac and its the only program I can run without also buying parallels and windows.

So far I love it. I can customize estimates/invoices with my logo, and I'm able to give specific jobs default prices. Same goes for mulch or any other material. There are also tons of finacial features that I haven't gotten into much yet.

For all of you Mac users that don't want to bog down your computer with windows I'd recomend Quickbooks for Mac. It's only $170.00 and even though its not lawncare industry specific, you can tailor it to fit most needs. The only things missing are routing and scheduling. I'm a solo op. so I'm able to handle scheduling on ical and don't need routing yet.