Lawn Care Software

[Phillip Baker]

Has anybody tried the Grounds Keeper Pro Soft ware from Adkad Technologies? www.adkad.com if anyone is interested. I currently use Pro Invoice but i had to adapt it to the lawn care industry for my invoices. I got the free trial mailed to me and tried it today and i was just wondering if it is worth the $300.00. I currently bill out approx 80 customers and keep track of everything on Pro Invoice, but it is set up for a totally different type of business than lawn care, and everything has to be adapted to make sense of it for my customers. Let me know if anyone uses this or you have any other suggestions for invoicing I'm looking for a change...

[thillteamsource]

Phillip,

We have used GK Pro for a couple of years now and are very happy. The software is very flexible and powerful.

The invoicing capability is virtually limitless.
The scheduling section is pretty darn good.
The estimating section seems very capable although we have used it little.
We don't do chemical apps so have not looked at that very much.

The support has been very good and always prompt. They even helped us set up on an NT server.

Unfortuantely we have grown to the point that we need more accounting functions and are looking at other software that will interface with QB.

I feel very strongly that GK Pro is great for scheduling and invoicing.

BTW - what part of Texas? We are in the Austin Metroplex and have a small group forming that share ideas and help each other. We will even have a few weekend get togethers. The first one is this week end.

Good luck
Tom

[Kevin's Lawn & Plow]

I use Groundskeeper pro v5.1 and like it a lot. The only thing I wish it could do for me is figure out the tax withheld from my workers. I'm too lazy to get the book out to figure it out, so I call my mom (A bookkeeper for a few companies) and have her punch it in to quickbooks, then I input the tax figures into Groundskeeper Pro. I like Goundskeeper pro better than quickbooks because its job specific. I think it’s worth the money. It’s quick and after its all set up, billing each month goes fast. The last thing I want to do at the end of each month is sit at the computer for 3 hours entering information and printing invoices one by one. With goundskeeper pro the job is done in 15 mins. Now I just need an automatic envelope stuffer. In this business we spend thousands of dollars on equipment to speed up our job and come out with a better service. I think of the software as another tool I use to do just that.

kevin

[Phillip Baker]

Thanks guys, Im gonna give it a try. It looked as though it might help my business. Tom I'm in Burleson just south of Ft. Worth. My mowing area spans from , Burleson, Crowley, Ft. Worth, Southlake, North Richland Hills, Collyville, Arlington, and Mansfield. I have properties through out, used to mow the Fina gas stations from Ft. Worth to Dallas 32 in all but I lost that contract, myself and Billy Hardin mowed those as a joint venture. Do you know Billy? I think he has some properties down near Austin, Road side parks I think for DPS?

[Phillip Baker]

Get together?

Hey Tom were are yall getting together? Forgot to ask about that!!!

[toby]

Kevin - the newer versions of QB can be set up to be job specific. There is also time tracking so that employee time can be charged to each job. The invoices don't have to be printed one at a time. I have never used Groundspro so can't compare the two, but QB has been working well for me.

[Kevin's Lawn & Plow]

Toby,

I'm certified in Quickbooks though New Horizons Computer Learning Center, but would rather use Groundskeeper Pro. I think it is more simple, and sometimes simple is better. If you want, take a look at the website for GK pro and download the free trial. It is geared entirely for the lawn maintenance and landscape industry. I don’t think QB can be as customized as Groundskeeper pro. It may be just personal preference and If you already have QB and like it, why spent the money on something else.

Kevin

[glassjoe]

i use groundskeeper pro and i like it for billing, and chargers and keeping track of payments, it makes it pretty, i also oredered the pre-printed paper thats perforated and it saves me a ton of ink and looks very professionsal.
is it worth $300, i would say yes probably, compared to other software out there.
my friends company is bigger and he uses all QB and that seems to work well for him. he has more employees and the employee withholding section works great for him, he does everything with quick books.

[Kevin's Lawn & Plow]

You might have to buy it to get it to switch to the new year. Maybe just start out with the regular version and later upgrade to the pro. Thats what I did and its a snap to upgrade.

kevin

[fury tempest 90]

quickbooks

I'm about to start using quickbooks since I'm getting it free from a friend. Is the groundskeeper pro that much better? What I mean is do you guys think it would be worth purchasing if I already had quickbooks?

[Phillip Baker]

I got the free trial for GKPro i like it so far just looking at it I'm prob gonna buy it. Get the down load from thier web site and try it.

[BS]

I've used GKPro for about a year now.
I really like the scheduling, printing invoices on pre-printed invoices, estimating section, ability ot add customer notes.

What I really don't like is:
Print out "Customer balances" and it prints out customers with zero balances also..this includes one timers

Separate "Last bills printed seection", this should be included in customer sections or in "Current Balances"

At some aeras of th prog., the customer list is sorted by Name, while at others they are sorted by address...not consistent.

Very hard to reprint an invoice...If you're not careful it will assign a new inv. number....not good for those comm. accounts who pay 45 -90 days later!

You have to add a customer to do an estimate.

Lots of clicking and moving around from screen to screen , many features could be in one area.

Those rediculus graphics.

IMHO

[glassjoe]

i agree with BS that there are some flaws in GKP but overall it works good.
the estimate section would probably work good on very large jobs, but you do have to add a new cusotmer if that person isnt in your database, i wish it would print blank estimate,
what i end up doing is taking a pre printed invoice along with me where i know i am going to be doing an estimate, then i jot down my notes on blank sheet of paper and re-write it on the blank pre printed invoice to give to the customer.

[hunter]

Might want to look a gopher while your trying oout software. We looked at both and after trying them out found gopher to be easier to use and for the money you'll pay for GK you can get the Pro version of gopher. They just had a temporary price drop. Just wished I'd waited and got the new priciing.

Just click on the link bleow to download a copy.