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| Ek's Home | Forum | Chat | Electrical Links | |
| Subject - Software | |
| kiwisholland |
What types of software do you guys use for your business? Which Flat Rate package do you use? Which estimating software do you use? Which accounting software do you use? And of course WHY? Thanks guys! |
| aline | Flat Rate Plus. http://www.flatratesystems.com Looked at a few but had a hard time deciding which one to use. I still don't know if I made a good choice. I've heard that successware21 is good. http://successware21.com/ Vision Infosoft estimating software. http://www.visioninfosoft.com/ Price and ease of use. I use the basic version. The key disk drives me nuts though. I don't know if they still require one. I've heard good things about Accubid. If you're going to do service and repair work you might not need this type of estimating software. Quickbooks Pro Price and the fact that I was already using Quicken for my personal finances. I would like to upgrade my accounting software but I like the expensive stuff and can't afford it. |
| nfsus | john showed me his software he has and it looked ok. id think that it needs a GUI for me to use, but it looked nice. good job john |
| John A. Peters | When it is used over the internet it is in a window of a GUI. Today and tomorrow I am working with a contractor who lost his estimator. He needs an estimate for a general for whom he had done some T&M projects. The general liked his work very much and now he wants an estimate on a four bedroom new home, which is a new custom "stick" house in the middle of the US. We are half done with the estimate He sent me a spread sheet that he took off from the plans. I adjusted the rates in my "Contract Generator" (tm) for his part of the country and it is starting to look good. I have it setup on a server, so I can let anyone can try it out. You don't have to down load any thing. You just point your browser at the URL for my machine. So far in the sessions we tried, I have been on the phone with the electrical contractor to guide him. During the session our machines are working together, so our mice, screens and keyboard operate together as one. This way I can guide the session the first few times. It is good for residential jobs but not very good for commercial projects. It works best if you make a room by room list first with columns, one each for LIGHTS, SWITCHES, PLUGS and OTHER. |
| Mike Delaney | kiwisholland, send me your e-mail address, I'll send you a copy of my spread sheet program. It's for residential, like Johns, it too is baised off a whole count, it has a decora switch adder, and some other cool stuff, and is also expandable...works in MicroSoft Works. |
| John A. Peters | I would like a copy too |
| Mike Delaney | John, I sent you a copy, let me know what you think. It would be great if I could upload it to this site. Is that possible? |
| JimmyDee | quote:E-mail it to Scott V. and he can make it happen. Jim |
| Speedwire1 | I would love to check this out. I also want to say that it is this kind of interaction that will ultimately help our industry get back on track. Thank you for offering your help Mike. Chris speedwire@msn.com quote: |
| Todd Irvin | I'm looking for some software that would function like a daily log book. Something that looks like a calender that I can keep up with our daily activities, job notes, possibly some employee information....general stuff. I've used Outlook in the past, but it didn't really fit what I was wanting it to do....or I just didn't use it correctly. Anyway, just wondered if anyone had any suggestions. Thanks |
| Scott Vickrey | Todd Are you familiar with FranklinCovey? He has some great organization and planning software. FranklinCovey Software |
| John A. Peters | By all means get a copy of the Palm Desktop. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. It is free with each PDA. You do NOT need a palm to use it! It is minimal but just right. Better yet the dateA survives when you change computers but you do need a palm for that process to work. they are cheep now for an older model. |
| IndCom | Here's a link to download a free copy of my estimating exel spreadsheet program. It's free, but, pricing will have to be updated. http://www.myelectrical.com/pages/calculations.aspx |
| Todd Irvin | Thanks for the information. I'm going to look into these options. I've thought about the PDA, but I'm very hard on pagers, cell phones, and the likes. I work in chemical plants, in particular a chlorate plant...so I am constantly around high magnetic fields, salt, chlorate, etc.. not to mention the occasional "drop" from a cable tray or manlift. I guess I could leave it in the truck. I have a laptop that I leave in my job trailer, and carry with me wherever, so I'd like to utilize that...but, what ever works the best, that's what I'll do. Like I said, I'll check into these...and look forward to any more suggestions you may have. I'm new here, but I feel I'll be back quite often....looks like alot of useful info can be gained here. Thanks |
| JimmyDee | quote: Keep in mind that an Excell spread sheet will load into a Palm with Docs to Go and you can use it in addition to your lap top or desk top. I carried my grades with me for several years on an Excell spread sheet and when I would up date it, all I had to do is sync it with the desk top and both were updated. Jim |
| MONOLITH | quote: John Harvey, Just wanted to say thanks for that putting that up. I can see you put a lot of time into that. I'm trying to master Excel myself for accounting purposes. How did you pull together the prices for such a large database of material? (where the info come from?) Thanks twice. |
| tkb | Accubid's Bidwinner Plus for estimating. Tra-Ser Pro for pricing. Quickbooks Pro for accounting. Constructor 6.0 for oneline drawings. AutoCad for drawings. Word for proposals and corespondence. Excel for everything else. Tim |