Simplifying the Business Side of Construction for Contractors in Northern & Central California
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Quickbooks Compared to Sage Master Builder
A large percentage of new Master Builder owners moved from Quickbooks for several reasons. For instance, Quickbooks users can migrate data to Master Builder in minutes that includes:
Sage also provides a more comprehensive data migration that adds:
Press this link for more details on Comprehensive Data Migration.
There are several other reason why contractors in all trades and levels make the switch. We have segmented these into:
Click the link above that applies to you to see the
Top 10 reasons to make the switch
RESIDENTIAL GENERAL CONTRACTORS
Ability to estimate in detail, but job cost in general.
Accurate job costing of labor.
Job Cost Summary Report.
Change Order Management.
T&M Invoice that is fully voidable.
Committed Cost Report.
Over/Under Billing Report.
Job costs always balance to the General Ledger.
Professional looking statements.
Automatically warn if A/P bill is greater than subcontract balance.
THE DETAILS
1.Ability to estimate in detail, but job cost in general.
For example, creating an estimate for windows requires you to price all specific windows. You may even need to create a Purchase Order with full detail of each window. But when comparing actual job costs to budgeted job costs, you need to compare on a more general level. SMB allows you to estimate and purchase by "part" and job cost by "cost code" whereas QB creates budgets, job costs, and purchase orders by "item."
2.Accurate job costing of labor.
Labor carries the highest risk of variance and most contractors need to carefully job cost labor. SMB allows for simple calculation of time cards that specifically job costs both the gross wage as well as all burdens associated with that wage. All labor costs associated with jobs will be coded above the line, while non-job labor belongs below the line. QB does not easily allow this distinction. In fact, the default payroll setup in QB posts all labor, both job and non job, below the line.
3.Job Cost Summary Report.
The SMB job cost summary report compares estimated costs to actual costs. It also shows the remaining balance of the budget. The QB report shows the remaining balance, but the number is reversed.
4.Change Order Management.
SMB allows you to create Change Orders and track them from start to finish. There is a great advantage when you have the ability to track both additional costs (to update the budget) as well as additional charges (to update the progress billing.) And tracking Change Order by status allows you to track Change Orders throughout the process.
5.T&M Invoice that is fully voidable.
Both SMB and QB offer the feature to bill time and expenses. In SMB, if you need to void a T&M invoice, all costs can be marked so that you can invoice them again on the next invoice. In QB, once a cost is billed, and the invoice is voided, each cost needs to manually be opened to allow for invoicing.
6.Committed Cost Report.
SMB allows you to track your "available budget." After creating subcontracts and purchase orders, you can view a Committed Cost report. This shows the current budget (original plus approved change orders) less actual costs to date, less committed costs to date. Therefore, you can be more profitable by better managing those costs that are most in your control.
7.Over/Under Billing Report.
SMB has an Over/Under billing report to help you create your monthly WIP adjustment. To create the report in QB, you must export to Excel and recreate the formulas. And if you haven't created an estimate in QB, the job won't even appear on the report.
8.Job costs always balance to the General Ledger.
Many remodelers suffer from "Gross Margin Fade" where all jobs seem to come in at a high gross margin, but the Income Statement reflects a much lower gross margin. This is often due to the fact that in QB, your job costs do not need to balance to your general ledger. You can enter a cost and code it to Subcontractors, but not assign it to any job.
9.Professional looking statements.
SMB allows you to print professional looking statements that clearly show the invoices for a particular job, the payments received, the amount held in retention and the amount due. While QB has statements, they are poorly formatted and not professional looking.
10. Automatically warn if A/P bill is greater than subcontract balance.
If you turn on the option in SMB, it will automatically warn you when you enter an A/P invoice that is greater than the remaining balance of the subcontract. This avoids the common situation where you end up paying your subcontractor more than the total agreed price.
COMMERCIAL GENERAL CONTRACTORS
Ability to estimate in detail, but job cost in general.
Accurate job costing of labor.
Accurate purchase order audit.
Accurate Retention for Accounts Receivable (A/R) as well as Accounts Payable (A/P).
Change Order Management.
Committed Cost Report.
Bonding Report.
Union payroll.
Print Lien Waivers.
Automatically warn if A/P bill is greater than subcontract balance.
THE DETAILS
1.Ability to estimate in detail, but job cost in general.
For example, creating an estimate for tenant improvements requires you to price all specific components of each unit. You may even need to create Purchase Orders with full detail. But when comparing actual job costs to budgeted job costs, you need to compare on a more general level. SMB allows you to estimate and purchase by "part" and job cost by "cost code" whereas QB creates budgets, job costs, and purchase orders by "item."
2.Accurate job costing of labor.
Labor carries the highest risk of variance and most contractors need to carefully job cost labor. SMB allows for simple calculation of time cards that specifically job costs both the gross wage as well as all burdens associated with that wage. All labor costs associated with jobs will be coded above the line, while non-job labor belongs below the line. QB does not easily allow this distinction. In fact, the default payroll setup in QB posts all labor, both job and non job, below the line.
3.Accurate purchase order audit.
Purchase orders are an important aspect in commercial construction. SMB allows for full PO management. SMB follows the PO from creation to completion. A full PO audit is available, even when the PO is only partially fulfilled, whereas a PO audit in QB is only all or none. In QB, any PO that is partially completed will not show up as open on the PO report.
4.Accurate Retention for Accounts Receivable (A/R) as well as Accounts Payable (A/P).
SMB allows you to create a job so that all A/R invoices will automatically reflect the correct retention. Standard invoices as well as statements show retention. Retention can be easily modified or released as necessary for both A/R and A/P
5.Change Order Management.
SMB allows you to create Change Orders and track them from start to finish. There is a great advantage when you have the ability to track both additional costs (to update the budget) as well as additional charges (to update the progress billing.) And tracking Change Order by status allows you to track Change Orders throughout the process.
6.Committed Cost Report.
SMB allows you to track your "available budget." After creating subcontracts and purchase orders, you can view a Committed Cost report. This shows the current budget (original plus approved change orders) less actual costs to date, less committed costs to date. Therefore, you can be more profitable by better managing those costs that are most in your control.
7.Bonding Report.
SMB has a bonding report that can be submitted directly to your bonding agent. It also helps you recognize what is overbilled and underbilled. This report does not exist in QB.
8.Union payroll.
SMB is still, hands down, the best payroll system for union payroll. With the flexibility to work with multiple unions, multiple pay types and multiple pay rates, Union payroll is a snap with SMB. QB does not have the flexibility or capability to easily handle the complexities of union payroll.
9.Print Lien Waivers.
SMB allows you to easily print lien waivers prior to running your A/P checks. As a commercial contractor, lien waivers may be required for every material and subcontract check that goes out the door. SMB allows you to customize the lien waiver by job, by client and/or by state.
10 Automatically warn if A/P bill is greater than subcontract balance.
If you turn on the option in SMB, it will automatically warn you when you enter an A/P invoice that is greater than the remaining balance of the subcontract. This avoids the common situation where you end up paying your subcontractor more than the total agreed price.
SPECIALTY CONTRACTORS
Ability to estimate in detail, but job cost in general.
Accurate job costing of labor.
Flexible T&M Invoicing.
Work Order Tracking.
Templates.
T&M Invoice that is fully voidable.
Change Order Management.
Professional looking statements.
Union payroll.
Equipment Management.
THE DETAILS
1.Ability to estimate in detail, but job cost in general.
For example, creating an estimate for HVAC replacement requires you to price all components of each unit. You may even need to create a Purchase Orders with full detail. But when comparing actual job costs to budgeted job costs, you need to compare on a more general level. SMB allows you to estimate and purchase by "part" and job cost by "cost code" whereas QB creates budgets, job costs, and purchase orders by "item."
2.Accurate job costing of labor.
Labor carries the highest risk of variance and most contractors need to carefully job cost labor. SMB allows for simple calculation of time cards that specifically job costs both the gross wage as well as all burdens associated with that wage. All labor costs associated with jobs will be coded above the line, while non-job labor belongs below the line. QB does not easily allow this distinction. In fact, the default payroll setup in QB posts all labor, both job and non job, below the line.
3.Flexible T&M Invoicing.
SMB allows you to easily create different labor rates for each employee or each type of work. While QB Premier has added Billing Rates and Price Levels, SMB still has the advantage of creating different markups (shown or hidden) as well as any combination of overhead, profit and markup. Besides flexible wage and equipment rate tables, SMB also allow you to have different markups for different types of costs, such as subcontracts, labor, and materials.
4.Work Order Tracking.
For the specialty contractor who has many small jobs or performs service work, SMB offers work order tracking through the Service Receivable module. By creating a record at the time of the phone call, SMB allows you to track the work from start to final payment. Many service contractors leave money on the table when they do not carefully track small jobs, from the phone call to final payment. SMB Service Receivables offers increased profitability.
5.Templates.
SMB allows you to utilize templates for estimating, proposals, budgets and invoicing. Doing repetitive type work is much easier if you can create estimates for new jobs from existing estimates from past jobs. The same can be said for budget and invoicing. SMB allows you to re-use information instead of creating new forms each job.
6.T&M Invoice that is fully voidable.
Both SMB and QB offer the feature to bill time and expenses. In SMB, if you need to void a T&M invoice, all costs can be marked so that you can invoice them again on the next invoice. In QB, once a cost is billed, and the invoice is voided, each cost needs to manually be re-opened to allow for invoicing.
7.Change Order Management.
SMB allows you to create Change Orders and track them from start to finish. There is a great advantage when you have the ability to track both additional costs (to update the budget) as well as additional charges (to update the progress billing.) And tracking Change Order by status allows you to track Change Orders throughout the process.
8..Professional looking statements.
SMB allows you to print professional looking statements that clearly show the invoices for a particular job, the payments received, the amount held in retention and the amount due. While QB has statements, they are poorly formatted and not professional looking.
9.Union payroll.
SMB is still, hands down, the best payroll system for union payroll. With the flexibility to work with multiple unions, multiple pay types and multiple pay rates, Union payroll is a snap with SMB. QB does not have the flexibility or capability to easily handle the complexities of union payroll.
10 Equipment Management.
Depending on the type of specialty, some specialty contractors have a significant investment in equipment owned by the company. SMB allows you to job cost all equipment owned by your company. The equipment management module allows you to specifically track the ownership and operating costs of equipment to determine if you are recovering the costs of your equipment.
Ability to estimate in detail, but job cost in general. 
