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RAWill
Level 1

Estimates & Invoices for customers

We have a remodeling business and we use Estimates, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, and Invoices to track costs and inventory for customer jobs. The problem is, any item we want tracked and costed for a job, must be on the estimate, SO, and Invoice that the customer gets. This leads to a lot of wasted time haggling with customers because they think they can get items cheaper. What we need is a way to provide an estimate, SO, and invoice that has simpler product descriptions (e.g. "new sink, countertop, cabinets...") for the customer, but still provide us the functionality (costing, inventory, etc.) that PO's tied to line items on real detailed invoices provides.
I'd appreciate any ideas.

4 Comments 4
QBsguru
Level 7

Estimates & Invoices for customers

I have a lot of contractor customers with similar issues.  While not the best solutions, most estimates start with the contractor's spreadsheet that is entered into QuickBooks as an estimate by item including mark-up.  The customer is then given a Word document as their contract with a draw schedule.  The draw schedules are then entered into QuickBooks as progress billings.  The customer never gets the invoice from QuickBooks.  This is just used for tracking receivables as well as job cost vs. estimate.

 

 

Rustler
Level 15

Estimates & Invoices for customers

@RAWill 

 

One way is to use group items
group item, New Sink, and the group is set to do not print all items
then list the items you would buy for the new sink inside the group. The group always shows all items (and you can right click to insert or delete a line in the group) on screen, but when printed only the group name and price show for the customer

QBsguru
Level 7

Estimates & Invoices for customers

The problem with group items is that many estimates will be made of multiple components.  Setting up a group for each estimate would be cumbersome and create a very large item list.

Rustler
Level 15

Estimates & Invoices for customers

maybe, it depends on how generic the group item is.

group items are flexible, you can add or delete lines in them while on the estimate, they are not fixed the way an assembly item is.

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