Billing Programs

[landman]

I was wondering if anybody here uses Blizzard buster for thier snow billing? Also I had a demo CD that was for clip but I didn't see much info for snow there. I know some of you guys use quick books but I was wondering how you went about setting it up to accomadate all the diffrent charges associated with the business. I need to have a simple snow billing process which is easy to understand and use.

[gvlawncare]

I use Groundskeeper Pro, which is made by the same company as Blizzard Buster. It is actually the same program as as GK, with less modules. It doesnt have pesticide reporting and a couple others that aren't needed for snow. I've had it for 3 years and love it. I would highly reccomend it. for the price, it is an excellent program. I have had to call customer support twice, and the guys there are very helpful. THe invoices are very professional looking, and very detailed.
I also use it for all of my snow billing too. I would suggest getting it. I know alot of guys here use quickBooks, which is a god program, but this is made specifically for lawn,snow service, and IMO is much bettter for this application.

[Mark Oomkes]

IF you use Clip, be very careful. Visual Clip has had a lot of problems. I would not recommend Clip. There is a new version which I don't kno wanything about, maybe they finally got all the programming bugs out, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

We switched to QX, from Alocet. All the routing and scheduling is done in QX, but the accounting is all done in QB. There are a couple things I would like to see different, but so far it has been a very, very stable program, unlike my experience with Clip.

[gvlawncare]

On that same note, I will be BETA testing this year a program that I had a friend build for me.
Some background: For liability purposes, and billiing purposes, I need to have something that will track what time I started plowing/salting a property, what services were done, and what time services where completed. Here is the basic operation... On my laptop, I have my route pre-planned in the program. when i get to a job, i will click on "start" for that particular site. when i get done, I will click "stop", click the icons for what services where performed ie: salting, sidewalks etc. I will also be able to enter how much material I used. (magic salt). When I get back to the office, I will be able to print a report in excel format that includes all of the above info.

I have toyed with the idea of using barcodes on a pre-printed route sheet, but will not go that route quite yet due to the cost of barcoding hardware/software.

If you have any insight, or ideas, post them here, this is an ongoing experiment. I will keep you updated on how it works out...

Matt

[JustUsDe]

Landman,
I am glad a few responded on this topic. I tried Blizzard Buster out last winter on 4 accounts. I liked it as far as professional looking bills, tracking accounts, and being able to run some reports. It doesnt help me with exspenses and tax info. I still do my books the old fashion way Excel spread sheets. Mostly because I don't know much about other accounting programs and haven't had the time or a good source to learn them.
I think Blizzard Buster is great just for the billing and tracking part but I think $200.00 is a little steep just for those functions.


Ray