georgialawncare
03-14-2011, 03:20 PM
I need some input on how to get our book keeping organized, simple, and well processed. My husband has owned and operated our business for 13 years and he doesn't work a computer very well, but before I invest time, effort and money into trying to get him on the right track, I need to learn and have the best tools avaliable for a lawn care company. What we are doing right now that is EXTREMELY time consuming and aggravating, but it is the way we have been doing it for 13 years and it has actually worked. We have constantly grown over the past 5 or so years (we are extremely blessed- with the conditions of the economy), and now we are to a point where the time spent doing excess bookwork needs to be spent elsewhere.
Everything my husband does is by hand and on paper: schedules, work orders, daily work logs, notes, job costs, customer lists, all customer info, employee time, etc. I honestly do not know how he does it, but it is working for him. And plus on top of this- he is basically the only person that can read his handwritting, which leads to billing mistakes, confusion, and other mistakes ALL THE TIME!
Advertising: we are currently doing a very very small amount of advertising and we need to do more. What is the best way to advertise?? Newspaper, radio, flyers, yellow pages, etc??
Book keeping software: we have been using quickbooks since 2002, it wasn't set up properly in the beginning so I have had troubles trying to get it on the right track. We only use QB for sending out statements and invoices. We do not use it bills, time, employees, etc. I would like to change to a more simplified software specified for lawn care, but I want a really good program- I don't want to purchase it and then need to purchase more add ons after. I would like it to be able to auto-generate schedules, contracts, etc., batch invoicing,and keep track of time, employees, bills, etc. I downloaded the free lawnpro program to test it out, but most features are disabled until upgrading- Does anyone use lawnpro and how well do you like it? Any more suggestions for software??
Tablet PC's: I'm looking into tablets that would be able to sync with new software and main computer. Should I wait a couple of more years until better ones come out? I would like for my husband to be able to use it on the road, instead of lugging around his huge paper-filled notebook, but I don't want to buy one this year and then next year get aggravated because the newer ones are wayyy better than the one I have. Has anyone started using these with their lawn business yet?
Thanks in advance for any advice, and any other suggestions are welcome!!
Everything my husband does is by hand and on paper: schedules, work orders, daily work logs, notes, job costs, customer lists, all customer info, employee time, etc. I honestly do not know how he does it, but it is working for him. And plus on top of this- he is basically the only person that can read his handwritting, which leads to billing mistakes, confusion, and other mistakes ALL THE TIME!
Advertising: we are currently doing a very very small amount of advertising and we need to do more. What is the best way to advertise?? Newspaper, radio, flyers, yellow pages, etc??
Book keeping software: we have been using quickbooks since 2002, it wasn't set up properly in the beginning so I have had troubles trying to get it on the right track. We only use QB for sending out statements and invoices. We do not use it bills, time, employees, etc. I would like to change to a more simplified software specified for lawn care, but I want a really good program- I don't want to purchase it and then need to purchase more add ons after. I would like it to be able to auto-generate schedules, contracts, etc., batch invoicing,and keep track of time, employees, bills, etc. I downloaded the free lawnpro program to test it out, but most features are disabled until upgrading- Does anyone use lawnpro and how well do you like it? Any more suggestions for software??
Tablet PC's: I'm looking into tablets that would be able to sync with new software and main computer. Should I wait a couple of more years until better ones come out? I would like for my husband to be able to use it on the road, instead of lugging around his huge paper-filled notebook, but I don't want to buy one this year and then next year get aggravated because the newer ones are wayyy better than the one I have. Has anyone started using these with their lawn business yet?
Thanks in advance for any advice, and any other suggestions are welcome!!