Emails for Quotes Unanswered

[Industrial Toys]

I despise anything that insists on encroaching on my world. That I can't buy it, to own outright and use it without ever contacting the company again, if I so wish. It's why I keep my XP box running here along side of my newer computer, without any network/internet connection. All my software is on there.


i also despise QB because it is always making assumptions that I want to do things the same as last time. But it does beat doing invoices on a typewriter.

 

[grsthegreat]

What software are people using to run their businesses? I'm just using Gmail, Google Contacts, Google calendar & Google Keep for notes. Using Quickbooks for tax accounting.

I despise Intuit & Quickbooks due to their tax lobbying h the fact their software sucks. All the Google tools are ok, but have their limitations. It's only a side gig so I can't afford a lot, but I'm kind of looking for something better to keep track of quotes, customers & what not.

Look at the app Joist. theres a paid and a free version. i use the free one. it does billing and accepts credit cards thru wepay (chase), it keeps track of customers and also my items i sell as far as description and cost. easy to use. but you have to have internet connection (online) during use. Setting up the Items list took alot of time for me as i have 100's of items listed...maybe a thousand if i actually care to check.(Update... i just went and checked, i have 1,469 items on my sales list...yeiks) But its great to be able to make an invoice on the spot and not have to go look up a price for an item. I keep the prices of the bigger ticket items updated as i order them to keep database correct.

i make my phone a hotspot and run app off of my ipad.

but i use quickbooks for my business accounts and taxes. have for 19 years. have no issues with it.

 

[Kingsqueak]

I've spent the whole year juggling contractors for various things. I work in tech so I'm totally out of touch with rural living and discovered a few things.

1) A whole lot of people still have a flip phone, no wonder they don't like to text.
2) Guys who actually work for a living just don't live in a text/messaging world
3) Most of the contractors don't even use email, it's typically a wife that is doing that for them.
4) As much as I am out of touch, they are as well, meaning they don't see the potential for business in adapting a bit
5) Places like Home Depot are making ridiculous money on top of the subs simply because they are a business face to contractors that are just not great selling themselves or handling customers.

I've wondered if I couldn't create a regional brokerage to serve as the salesman for multiple contractors, handling bidding and booking.

Also...

6) You probably have no idea how hard it is to get paid from a homeowner. The things I've seen pulled when I used to work in trades over 30yrs ago were just crazy. Bunch of shifty people who will try anything to cheat other people.
7) A lot of contractors don't understand how damaging not replying to someone or calling them to say a job will be delayed vs just not showing up can be.

Bottom line, most contractors talk on the phone all day (I would lose my mind), call them.

 

[Industrial Toys]

There really are people out there who have work done and no intention of paying for it. Often the telling sign is that they want the best and price is no object. Why would it be?

 

[atsah]

I have a few people that work for themselves that actually answer the phone and then show up when they said they would BUT, most of them don't show up at all period.. They work for themselves, do a big enough job to get through the winter and then drink beer the rest of the year.

Most of them could never hold down a real job hence why they work for themselves.. Most of them have no health insurance so we pay if the family gets sick and you know they will, no retirement to speak of, most of them around here are lazy drunks..

 

[grsthegreat]

I have a few people that work for themselves that actually answer the phone and then show up when they said they would BUT, most of them don't show up at all period.. They work for themselves, do a big enough job to get through the winter and then drink beer the rest of the year.

Most of them could never hold down a real job hence why they work for themselves.. Most of them have no health insurance so we pay if the family gets sick and you know they will, no retirement to speak of, most of them around here are lazy drunks..

Must suck to work there :dance1:. I have worked for myself for the last 19 years. Had 3 employees but not anymore. Have health insurance for family. Have house, land and everything else paid off years ago. It seams I never have any time off. But now I’m semi retired, and this will be the first winter where I have not lined up any work except for the occasional generator service that may creep up.

Luckily I have enough saved up to live quite comfortably without counting on any soc sec money... cause who knows how long that will be around

 

[atsah]

Must suck to work there :dance1:. I have worked for myself for the last 19 years. Had 3 employees but not anymore. Have health insurance for family. Have house, land and everything else paid off years ago. It seams I never have any time off. But now I’m semi retired, and this will be the first winter where I have not lined up any work except for the occasional generator service that may creep up.

Luckily I have enough saved up to live quite comfortably without counting on any soc sec money... cause who knows how long that will be around

Of course there are people like yourself who do things right but for everyone that does there are three that don't.. It doesn't suck to work here but for some reason we have a lot of lazy people apparently..

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have had basically good contractors work for me. But very few, it seems give my job any thought when not on site. I have spent a huge amount of time, considering customers jobs and all the possibilities. I have talked with some of my contractors three times about say, the location of a door. And then on the day, they come to me, and ask, so where do you want that door? No ones gives a crap anymore.

I mean, you can't throw out the baby with the bathwater, but it's discouraging.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I've wondered if I couldn't create a regional brokerage to serve as the salesman for multiple contractors, handling bidding and booking.

You could call it "HomeAdvisor.com."

A lot of people have had that idea. Here's the problem: dishonest people exist. Some are customers, some are contractors. The challenge for everyone is to filter out the dishonest people. Online exchanges seem to attract more than their share of disreputable people. Contractors who have a good referral network aren't drawn to online services that charge a fee.

What you need to figure out a way to have a service that is strictly limited to contractors who do what they said they would do, at the price they said they would, in the time frame they said they would, and to customers who pay on time and don't try to renegotiate the deal they agreed to. Then you'd have something.

 

[Kingsqueak]

You could call it "HomeAdvisor.com."

What you need to figure out a way to have a service that is strictly limited to contractors who do what they said they would do, at the price they said they would, in the time frame they said they would, and to customers who pay on time and don't try to renegotiate the deal they agreed to. Then you'd have something.

Yeah true, definitely not simple to solve as the problem wouldn’t exist if not for those issues. I suppose it’s also called a general contractor too.