Software/Billing Question

[Grassroots]

My brother and I have recently started our lawn care business (3 months old) and have 22 accounts and need to build to 100. So far I have been doing to the monthly billing manually. I am looking for a software program that I can print all my bills with one (or a few) clicks. Same with envelopes. I have tried Lawn Monkey, Quickbooks, & GroundsKeeper and was not impressed. Any suggestions or comments will be greatly appreciated.<p><p>----------<br>Mike Reynolds,<br>Grass Roots Lawn Care (Fla)

 

[Eric ELM]

I use MS Excel for billing and I use Office Accelerator for envelopes. Highlight all the bills to print, click print and their printed. Click on Lawn envelopes and it prints them all out with return address included. Off. Ac. works with MS Word to print the envelopes.<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://pages.prodigy.net/eric.erickson/&quot;&gt;Eric@ELM&lt;/a&gt;<br>

 

[Finecut]

Mike,<p>I know it's not for everybody, but the general concensus in the past has been the majority of the people are using Quickbooks. I tried a quick search and didn't find it in the archives, but I know it is there. With a little diligence I feel sure you can find it.<br><p><font size="1">Edited by: Finecut

 

[JML]

Try gopher98. www.gopher98.com thats what i use and i have tried them all. i wasn't impressed with lawn monkey, quickbooks, or any other software. check it out

 

[grasscapeinc]

We use Quickbooks Pro 5.0.<br>Once you get it set up for YOUR business, it is great.

 

[AGG Lawn Maintenance]

Check out Clip. You can get a free demo able to do 10 accounts. The program its not cheap but is very very detailed. They have been around since around 1988. I think the web site is Clip.com<br>Good Luck and let me know if you like it.<br>Clip might be an investment for you when you reach 100 accounts. Just a thought. <br>Travis <br>AG&G Lawn Maintenance

 

[Greenkeepers]

What didn't you like about Quickbooks? It is a little hard to get the hang of at first but once you get it altered to your needs it is very easy. I have demo'd both clip and lawn monkey and I think they are geared more towards the tracking and scheduling aspects of the business. I've been using Quickbooks for 2 years now and I love it. It prints professional forms and makes the accounting / billing side of the business much easier. You can print batch envelopes and everything. <p>Mike <br>Greenkeepers

 

[lawn and stump]

Check out CLIP I have used it for 9 yrs and<br>it get you so organized you can work on getting more cust.It has a great job costing feature that shows you which jobs are winners<br>and losers then just by getting rid of your<br>loses by raising them or dropping you will make more money. I have 250 customers and I would not be in business if I didn't get organized. I used to hate writing bills and chasing money. I can't remember what I paid for clip but it's like going from a sears tractor mower to a 48&quot; bobcat it makes you look professional. I do not work for clip.<br>good luck phil<p>----------<br>phil j<br>

 

[gusbuster]

Let me throw in another vote for QuickBooks Pro.<br>What I Like About:<br>1. Memorizes all my invoices, have it to set up make the invoices as I do my route order<br>2. I use it for multiple companies; mine my dad, and uncles.<br>3. Most bookkeepers use this program; so just have to take to my bookkeeper for year-end taxes.<br>4.cost of other landscape specific software is more expensive.<br>5.Intuit is very good about improving their product<br>6. Can customize whatever forms I need to use, invoices, and estimates, credit memos<br>7. Version 99 or later is easy to import into word or excel.<br>Just takes a little time to set up to the way you want to. I’ve been using this software programs for many years (since the dos version). They make it easier and easier to use. I don't think you can go wrong for the price. Plus there are other forums that are specific to QuickBooks if you have any questions on how to do something.<br>Jean<br><p>----------<br>J-LC Landscaping & Maintenance Gardening<br>C-27 Ca Contr# 770044

 

[AGG Lawn Maintenance]

Lawn & Stump hit the nail on the head!! This program is geared toward the Lawn and Landscape industry. Everybody will tell you that the program they use is the best since sliced bread, demo and research as many programs as you can than you make the call.<br>I think Clip runs around $1000 or so. But as was said before its the differance between Sears mowers and commercial mowers. By no means do I want to advertise for them but in this business its best to have as many details as possible.<br>Travis <br>AG&G Lawn Maintenance