Acceptable time from walk-thru to quotation delivery

IMO a week is pushing it...but it depends, if client says "no hurry" then I'd say you'd have more time.

Couple of weeks ago I was given the bums-rush to get a bid in. I told them I needed to see the plans. Took them a week to get the plans to me, and then I got ONLY one sheet...just the electric plan. So I said well I better get out there and take a look because it's gonna be an upscale mex restuarant...and sometimes they do funky things - like no ceiling so you have to wire tie and paint your wires black (stupid designer shit). In the mean time they're calling me everyday for a bid. Dood!... So I run out there...45 miles one way on surface streets. Now I'm looking for the restaurant, I see something that looks like it on the corner so I stop and go in and theres a zillion people working..but the building doesn't match the plans I have. Sheesh. So I check the permit for the address and it's not it. I'm looking around and there's only finished stores and empty dirt...nothing else under construction. So I call the electrician who we are subbing for...where the hell is this building. OH...it's not in the ground yet. Its not f****ng in the ground yet and you're calling me everyday for a freekin bid? I KNOW I won't even get this one too...cause there's two middle men; the woman who gave me the lead and the electrician and my price was 4500.00 based on plans only...waste of freekin time. In the end they'll end up with a 2 door 1 motion system in a 9000 sqft restaurant for 300 smackers.

I hate the bidding game, half the time dunno why I bother when I have clients that just say...do it and send me the bill.

Depends on the clients "Sense" of urgency, If they call me, the next day I get them the quote/estimate, the following (3rd) day I call to see how the quote was received and obtain feedback. This approach caters to the impulse buyers as they called me and want what I sell. If it's a cold lead wherein I canvased the site, will probably wait 2~3 days to present the quote, again follow up on the next day. In all case ~1 week later, I call again . They should have a clear understanding at that time if it will be a go, if there undecided, back burner stuff.. call them when I have time..

One day faster than your competition :)

"Tommy" inspired greatness with:

That may work, do you add in a difficulty factor sometimes (or is that the fudge)?

Roland Moore inspired greatness with:

That is exactly the advice I got from some other respected source. I use Quickbooks Online edition and may put a difficulty level in price per. foot in the "products" section for estimates. Thanks, that is great advice.

QuickBooks on line edition is okay, but wait until you have to figure out sales tax. It SUCKS! Worse yet, QuickBooks knows it SUCKS! Best tie a rope around your computer before you start sales tax calculations because it will get tossed out the window several times before your sales tax report is complete. Then you can just reel it back in when you cool down.

QB Pro 99. Yea, it's old but it worx. js

Are you kidding me? They don't even support QB 2004 now. QB 99? I guess there is no need for payroll rate updates and such in your biz. Running Win

98 SE as well no doubt? And I proudly c>> >>> I solved sales tax problem with an excel spread sheet. It takes me

Real men don't NEED tech support. (Calm down, Mark)

Payroll? HA! We got Mexicans out the wazoo here. I don't need no stinkin' payroll. (Calm down, Graham)

What's Win 98 SE? That something new?

I think Doug has you beat on the vehicle. His oil filter has more miles than that. js

alarman inspired greatness with:

A Russian, a Mexican, and Texan are out riding horses.

The Russian pulls out an expensive bottle of Vodka, takes a long draught, then another and suddenly throws it into the air, pulls out his gun and shoots the bottle in midair.

The Mexican looks at him and says, "What are you doing? That was a perfectly good bottle of Vodka!"

The Russian says, "In Russia, there is plenty of Vodka and the bottles are cheap."

A while later, not wanting to be outdone, the Mexican pulls out a bottle of Tequila, takes a few sips, throws the Tequila into the air, pulls out his gun and shoots it in midair.

The Texan can't believe his eyes, "What the hell did you do that for? That was a perfectly good bottle of Tequila!"

The Mexican says, "In Mexico, we have plenty of Tequila and bottles are cheap."

So, awhile later, the Texan pulls out a bottle of Beer. He opens it, takes a sip, and then chugs the whole bottle. He then puts the bottle in his saddlebag, pulls out his gun, and shoots the Mexican.

The Russian, shocked, says, "Why the hell did you do that?!"

The Texan replies, "In Texas, we have plenty of Mexicans and the bottles are worth a nickel."

-----------

An Oregonian, a Californian and a Texan were out camping. They were lazing around a campfire when the Texan pulled out a bottle of tequila and after taking a couple of swallows, threw the bottle up in the air, pulled out his six shooter and neatly shot the bottle.

The Californian noted that there was still some tequila left in the bottle, but the Texan replied, "That's okay, we have plenty of tequila where I come from." The Californian promptly brought out his bottle of White Zinfandel, took two swallows, threw it up in the air and shot it with a 9mm semiautomatic Glock pistol with a 15-shot clip, stating: "We have plenty of this where I come from."

The Oregonian took all this in and finally opened a bottle of McTarnahan's Amber Ale. He downed the entire bottle, threw it up in the air, shot the Californian with a 12-gauge shotgun he kept around for birds and deftly caught the bottle.

The Texan's jaw dropped nearly to his silver buckle and his eyes widened nearly as wide as the buckle. The Oregonian, momentarily puzzled at the reaction, finally piped up: "It's okay, we have plenty of Californians where I come from, but I can get a nickel for this bottle!"

A man walks onto an airplane and takes his seat. He looks up and notices the most beautiful woman has ever seen boarding the plane. He is so nervous and he soon realizes that she is walking down the aisle toward him. When she takes the seat right next to him, he is anxious to begin a conservation with her. He asks, "Where are you flying to today?" She responds, "To the annual Nymphomaniac Convention in Chicago." He is CRAZED with excitement! Here is this gorgeous woman sitting next to him, and she's going to a meeting of nymphomaniacs!!!! "And what do you do at this meeting?" he asks. "Well," she replies, " we try to dissolve some of the popular myths about sexuality." "And what myths are those?" he goes on desparately. She goes on to explain, "Well, one popular myth is that African American men are the most endowed, when in fact, it is the Native America men who own this trait. Also, it is widely believed that the Frenchman is the best lover, when actually it is men of Jewish descent who make the best lovers." "Very interesting...." the man responds. Suddenly the woman becomes very embarrassed and blushes. "I'm sorry," she says, "I just feel so awkward discussing this with you when I don't even know you! At least tell me what your name is?" The man extends his hand and replies, "Tonto. Tonto Goldstein."

In a long line of people waiting for a bank teller, one guy suddenly started massaging the back of the person in front of him. Surprised, the man in front turned and snarled, "Just what the hell you are doing?"

"Well," said the guy, "you see, I'm a chiropractor and I could see that you were tense, so I had to massage your back. Sometimes I just can't help practicing my art!"

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" the guy replied. "Look, I'm a lawyer. Am I screwing the guy in front of me?"

Two friends, an Italian boy and a Jewish boy, come of age at the same time. The Italian boy's father presents him with a brand-new pistol. On the other side of town, at his Bar Mitzvah, the Jewish boy receives a beautiful gold watch. The next day in school, the two boys are showing each other what they got. It turns out that each boy likes the other's present better, and so they trade. That night, when the Italian boy is at home, his father sees him looking at the watch. "Where did you getta thatta watch?" asks the man. The boy explains that he and Sammy had traded. The father blows his top.

"Whatta you? Stupidda boy? Whatsa matta you? "Somma day, you maybe gonna getta married. Then maybe somma day you gonna comma home and finda you wife inna bed with another man. Whatta you gonna do then? Looka atta you watch and say, "How longa you gonna be?"

Q: What do you get when you cross a donkey with an onion?

A: Most of the time you simply get an onion with long ears, but every once in a while, you luck out and get a piece of ass that brings tears to your eyes.

I am using QB pro 2006.

The memorized trx works but i do wish i could find some software to do the CRM side of things for all the accounts and spit the invoices into QB. Everything i have looked at so far is priced like bill gates himself wrote it by the hour.

To change the subject slightly, who is using Quickbooks for billing recurring monitoring?

What version of QB are you using and if you're not using QB ..... what billing application ARE you using?

Thanks

Yes.

Although after being on vacation this week i may change it to the actual cost of fudge may work out better. have you ever priced that stuff at some of those "gift shops" also known as "Daddy, daddy please can i have (insert any toy that was made in china and costs more than the fudge)" store

QB has a simple customer manager now. It links into QB.

brands of CRM work with QB. Like OASIS CRM.

I have QB's CRM software. it does most of the things i am looking for but it is not very customizable.