Kansas City-based Firebaugh Construction Inc. knows first-hand the additional complications of working in multiple states as it operates on the border between Kansas and Missouri.
But office manager Meralee Sweeney says Sage Timberline Office accounting software makes it easy to track the different state taxes the drywall contractor has to pay depending on where a job is located.
"Sage Timberline Office really simplifies what could be a very complicated task," Sweeney says. "Without Sage Timberline Office, we would have to track those taxes manually."
Speedy payroll
Firebaugh has more than 250 employees, which makes for a large payroll every week. But Sage Timberline Office can handle the large number without getting bogged down.
"I just love when you're entering 250 guys and it's just so quick," Sweeney says.
She also appreciates how easy it is to make changes to the payroll when project managers catch errors.
"Invariably, when you have this many employees, you'll have errors. I'll run the reports for all the guys and the project managers will check the Job Cost and go, 'Oh, this guy wasn't on my job.' Sage Timberline Office makes it really easy to go back in and change that," Sweeney says.
Instant Job Cost
Project managers at Firebaugh really like the instant access to Job Cost they have through Sage Timberline Office that lets them know where they stand on profit margin and their estimates.
"When things are entered, the project managers can run the report right then and know where they stand on their cost," Sweeney says. "All of the project managers here keep a really close look at their Job Cost — checking it hourly sometimes — and Sage Timberline Office makes it all possible."
Firebaugh also uses Job Cost in some unique ways, using it to enter Kansas' remodel tax and to track Dumpster usage.
Sweeney says one of the advantages of using Sage Timberline Office is that it's possible to customize it for her company's preferences, even when it means doing things differently than typical companies.
"We tweak a lot of things because of the way we do things and the way we want things shown on the reports," Sweeney says.
Upgrades keep software updated
In the more than a decade since she started using Sage Timberline Office, Sweeney has seen a lot of changes to the software. She says she appreciates the way Sage Timberline Office keeps the software updated through regular upgrades that have often made her work more efficient.
"Running W-2s used to take me forever. It would take hours to get everything to tie out, from knowing how many W-2s I needed to the actual running of them. It's just amazing how much quicker I get them done through all the upgrades they've made over the years. Now they take me less than an hour to do over 400," Sweeney says.
"In all the years I've had Sage Timberline Office and all the upgrades they've done, every single thing has basically made life easier," Sweeney says.
Download Printable Version (PDF)
