If you’re new to using QuickBooks for roofing contractors, let’s start with a little primer.
The main QuickBooks features for roofers are cost tracking and generating detailed reports. These tools help you monitor each project's finances without having to dig through piles of receipts or create spreadsheets.
You can set up QuickBooks to include key performance indicators such as job profitability and how quickly you’re turning quotes into paid jobs.
QuickBooks can also be integrated with roofing management software, like ServiceTitan, to automate tedious parts of the job, such as invoicing, payroll, and expense tracking. That means all your financial data syncs up between QuickBooks and ServiceTitan without you having to double-enter anything, which reduces errors and saves time.
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What is QuickBooks for Roofing Contractors?
QuickBooks is a popular accounting platform for roofing contractors that helps reduce time-consuming accounting tasks. For roofers, this means simplifying job costing reports, tracking expenses, managing payroll, and preparing financial statements.
QuickBooks, developed by Intuit, is used by more than 6.5 million small businesses across the U.S. and worldwide, particulary home services and construction companies. If you’re a roofing contractor trying to decide which QuickBooks version to use, it depends on a few different factors.
Which QuickBooks Features Are Important for Roofing Companies?
Some of QuickBooks' core features that roofers find helpful include the following:
Easy Expense Tracking: Link your bank accounts and credit cards to automatically import transactions, cutting down on manual data entry in Excel. You can also upload photos of receipts directly to your expenses for organized record-keeping and reducing errors.
Estimates and Proposals: Create detailed estimates for projects, including labor and materials costs, then easily convert those estimates into invoices.
Efficient Invoicing: Send customizable invoice templates with your business logo and details. You can also automate invoicing, such as setting up recurring invoices and sending payment reminders.
Accurate Job Costing: Assign costs to specific projects as they arise, tracking profitability and adjusting as needed.
Project Management Tools: Track multiple projects at once, monitoring timelines, budgets, progress, and performance reports.
Inventory Management: Manage materials and supplies for each project and avoid under- or overstocking.
Streamlined Payroll Management: Integrate with payroll services to ensure your crew gets paid correctly and on time. Also pay taxes and other deductions automatically.
Real-Time Financial Reporting: Generate reports like profit and loss, cash flow, and sales tax statements when you need them.
Integration with Other Tools: QuickBooks Online synchronizes data with popular project management tools.
Mobile Accessibility: Manage your finances on the go with the mobile app.
Cloud-Based Security: Secure your financial data with advanced encryption, security protocols, and regular data backups.
Which QuickBooks Pricing Plan Is Best for Roofers?
It depends on your roofing business's needs. QuickBooks offers four different pricing plans for the online version. Let’s examine each one individually.
The Simple Start plan costs $17.50 per month and is pretty basic, offering the main general bookkeeping features, such as tracking income and expenses. It's a good fit if you're just starting out or don’t need more advanced features.
The Essentials plan at $32.50 per month has some extras like enhanced reports and bill management.
The Plus plan at $49.50 per month adds complete project cost tracking and inventory management.
Lastly, the top-tier Advanced plan costs $117.50 per month and offers business analytics and more detailed reporting options for larger roofing businesses.
You can also access Enterprise versions of the software, which start at $1,922 per year and go up to $4,668 per year. These tend to be used by bigger companies in the construction industry.
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Which Version of QuickBooks is Best for Roofing Contractors?
QuickBooks offers five different versions to match your roofing business needs:
QuickBooks Online: Ideal for small to midsize roofing companies. It’s cloud-based, so you can manage your finances from anywhere. It also allows real-time collaboration with your team or accountant.
QuickBooks Enterprise: Suitable for larger roofing companies with more complex accounting needs. It’s an on-premises solution, hosted on your own IT system. It offers advanced job costing to track project profitability, as well as more customizable reporting and inventory management features.
QuickBooks Enterprise with Cloud Access: Ideal for roofing businesses that need the more advanced features of Enterprise but also need remote access to the data.
QuickBooks Enterprise Diamond: A top-tier option with extras like advanced payroll and enhanced integration options, this version is designed for large roofing companies that need advanced tools and manage many projects.
QuickBooks Contractor Edition: This version offers contractor tools including job costing, change order management, and specialized reports to track profitability.
Can QuickBooks Be Integrated with Roofing Contractor Software?
Yes, QuickBooks can be integrated with roofing contractor software.
Roofing contractors can integrate QuickBooks with a variety of software platforms, including Amazon Business Purchases, PayPal, Square, Method CRM, and ServiceTitan.
When you integrate QuickBooks with contractor software, all your data automatically syncs together, helping you manage your back-office tasks more effectively.
For instance, integrating QuickBooks with ServiceTitan allows your roofing customers to pay on the mobile app and instantly exports the transaction details to QuickBooks. This paperless method saves a lot of time as you don’t have to enter the data manually or duplicate the info.
ServiceTitan provides built-in roofing accounting software and a ledger that syncs with QuickBooks’ chart of accounts for easy downloads and summarized journal entries. You can also export financial reports in real time to better manage risk.
Touchless Accounting Integration reduces errors and simplifies workflows. The new features result in a 95% reduction in time taken to export data and a 90% reduction in unique export errors for QuickBooks Online users.
Gene Jaeger, ServiceTitan’s principal product manager, highlights the real-time benefits:
"Touchless Integration enables real-time syncing, so changes made in one system reflect immediately in the other. This reduces manual steps and ensures consistency across platforms."
Setting up the QuickBooks integration is easy. Go to Settings, find the QuickBooks section under Integrations, and connect it straight from there. You can find extra tutorials here if needed or ask a ServiceTitan success manager to help you set it up.
Streamline Your Business Processes with ServiceTitan
ServiceTitan is the ideal field service management platform for your roofing or construction business, providing tools for accounting, scheduling, dispatching, and so much more.
It has purpose-built scheduling and dispatch features that make it easy to manage appointments and send the right crew to the job, fully equipped. It has GPS tracking and sends real-time updates to you and the customer.
ServiceTitan also offers a handy suite of pro marketing tools, such as a full CRM to track interactions and a Marketing Pro email campaign feature that helps with customer retention. It tracks revenue from ads, which lets you focus your marketing budget on areas that really move the needle.
The mobile app lets your team or subcontractors access job details on the go. They can update the job status, generate invoices on site, and even take payments. There’s no need to call the office or handle paperwork that could easily get lost.
ServiceTitan handles all your workflows, from scheduling jobs and tracking your team to managing customer relationships, all in one platform. Syncing it with QuickBooks means no more double data entry. It's like a full admin team in your pocket, freeing up your time to focus on delivering quality roofing work.
ServiceTitan Software
ServiceTitan is a comprehensive software solution built specifically to help service companies streamline their operations, boost revenue, and substantially elevate the trajectory of their business. Our comprehensive, cloud-based platform is used by thousands of electrical, HVAC, plumbing, garage door, and chimney sweep shops across the country—and has increased their revenue by an average of 25% in just their first year with us.
