5 Best Features of QuickBooks Enterprise for Contractors

When used right, QuickBooks Enterprise Contractor is a powerful toolbox for managing and tracking jobs and improving job profitability. It is great for contractors and subcontractors who are struggling with tracking work in progress (WIP) and planning their project timelines and budget.

Below we discuss the best features of QuickBooks Enterprise for construction businesses. 

Advanced Reporting

Contractors have found great success with QuickBooks Advanced Reporting (QBAR), especially in terms of customized reports, like job profitability summaries, estimated vs actual job expenses, and billed vs proposal by project. Reports can be customized based on various metrics, such as sales items by forecasting, invoices by sales representatives, and sales by city.

While you can create highly customizable reports, you can also start with many basic reports to help you save time. 

Check out the top 5 industry-specific reports in QuickBooks Enterprise for contractors.

Advanced Inventory

The Advanced Inventory management module in QuickBooks Enterprise helps construction companies and suppliers better track their equipment, workforce, materials, and plant. Depending on your subscription, you’ll get many enhanced features, such as order fulfillment, barcode scanning, multi-location inventory, cycle counts, and serial and lot number tracking. We recommend that you upgrade to QuickBooks Enterprise Platinum or Diamond if you want the ability to switch from the default inventory valuation method (average cost) to last-in, first-out (LIFO).

Discover why QuickBooks Enterprise is the best inventory management software.

Change Orders

QuickBooks Enterprise streamlines the approval and tracking of change orders for construction projects so the management team can gain better insights into their impact on budgets and project timelines. In case of a change order request, all you need to do is to edit the initial estimate and the program will automatically detect the change and ask you if you wish to proceed with adding a change order. You can then print the updated estimate and have your customer sign it.

Powerful Electronic Invoicing

One of the reasons QuickBooks Enterprise stands out is its state-of-the-art invoicing system. Enterprise has many useful invoicing features, such as the ability to send out multiple invoices in one go, email invoices with a payment link, use invoice templates that are unique to each client, and send automatic reminders to alert your customers of due invoices. You can even customize the invoices to reflect your brand.

Budgeting and Forecasting

QuickBooks Enterprise enables you to generate financial forecasts to predict your future cash flow, helping you make better decisions for your business. You can create a forecast out of scratch by using your profit and loss reports from the previous year. Additionally, QuickBooks Desktop 2023 now has a new Cash Flow Hub, which provides a single place for businesses to project their future revenue based on their bank and activity.