Using Excel

[Danny]

Going to try and start using excel for pricing jobs, something ive never really used before.

Any tips / tricks for a complete novice?

 

[Lancs Lad]

There's plenty of templates online.
You should be able to setup a basic system that generates quotes etc from a template.
The online help and videos etc are Ok .
The office 365 package is worth getting so you can save everything to one drive.
No1 tip from me..setup auto save saves tears. In fact if you work purely online as opposed to installing the software it autosaves automatically.

Failing that Google sheets is ok tbf for nowt.

 

[Danny]

Its more for schedule of rates than quotes

Quant | unit | rate | sub total

Have watched a few youtube videos and its just all new to me

 

[V8Druid]

Pam's pretty bloody good with excel ... what do you want to do exactly and i'll ask her how

 

[fred]

i wouldnt bother with excel its not the right tool for the job.

Have a look at www.clearbooks.co.uk its peanuts and does the lot from a web browser and is dead easy to use.

It will do the vat and cis online at click of a button if you need it. Can also take card payments if you do work for joe public.

I switched from Sage couple years ago as they wanted mega bucks for CIS, if I can use it anyone can! The accountant can also log in and do the tax stuff. I scan and attach everything so keep no paperwork at all.

 

[doobin]

i wouldnt bother with excel its not the right tool for the job.

Have a look at www.clearbooks.co.uk its peanuts and does the lot from a web browser and is dead easy to use.

It will do the vat and cis online at click of a button if you need it. Can also take card payments if you do work for joe public.

I switched from Sage couple years ago as they wanted mega bucks for CIS, if I can use it anyone can! The accountant can also log in and do the tax stuff. I scan and attach everything so keep no paperwork at all.

Is that for accounts or for pricing jobs? Cause a spreadsheet is fine for either in my book.

Danny, think of Excel to start with as a tool to lay our your costs and do the adding up automatically. Critically, any changes you make to a figure change a total that uses that figure in real time. Here's a screenshot of my costings sheet. Nothing fancy, just materials costs, labour costs and then a percentage multiplier for profit usually. I just look at the car on the drive and then play around with the percentage multiplier till the job is worth 20% of the car

Have a play with it on a couple of basic jobs, and check through them thoroughly. The biggest risk is that you miss something in a formula and underprice. Or overprice, but that's not so bad. You can input lots of different material costs and then just link to them each time, but I find I know what things cost and also it's easier to keep up to date with material prices if you call to check every now and then when you cost a job.

Oh, and ditch Excel. Libre Office is free and less buggy (especially if you use a Mac)

As you can see, it doesn't have to be fancy (but can be when you get the hang of it and need to). But it just lays your thoughts out clearly in front of you, and lets you change things around and see what happens.

 

[fred]

yes can do quotes, then one click and quote is now an invoice and emailed. Saves having to type everything multiple times.

 

[Danny]

Is that for accounts or for pricing jobs? Cause a spreadsheet is fine for either in my book.

Danny, think of Excel to start with as a tool to lay our your costs and do the adding up automatically. Critically, any changes you make to a figure change a total that uses that figure in real time. Here's a screenshot of my costings sheet. Nothing fancy, just materials costs, labour costs and then a percentage multiplier for profit usually. I just look at the car on the drive and then play around with the percentage multiplier till the job is worth 20% of the car

Have a play with it on a couple of basic jobs, and check through them thoroughly. The biggest risk is that you miss something in a formula and underprice. Or overprice, but that's not so bad. You can input lots of different material costs and then just link to them each time, but I find I know what things cost and also it's easier to keep up to date with material prices if you call to check every now and then when you cost a job.

Oh, and ditch Excel. Libre Office is free and less buggy (especially if you use a Mac)View attachment 18783
As you can see, it doesn't have to be fancy (but can be when you get the hang of it and need to). But it just lays your thoughts out clearly in front of you, and lets you change things around and see what happens.

This is what i'm aiming for, for years ive done everything paper form then typed it up afterwards

 

[V8Druid]

This is what i'm aiming for, for years ive done everything paper form then typed it up afterwards

sounds familiar .... can't drive excel to save my life

 

[Storrsy]

I can’t cope with Excel. I don’t know what I’m doing, where to start, usually ends in me slamming the lap top down in a strop. There’s a reason the school told me to drop IT as a GCSE.
Anyway I use a very simple app called invoice simple, it’s perfect for me, I keep the database of my clients on it and I just fill in all aspects of a given job, it sends it to client, and then come invoice time it automatically turns the estimate into an invoice so minimal amount of time spent faffing. There are more complicated and sophisticated apps but this does me nicely and is only £50 a year I think

 

[Jimoz]

Late to the party but I'm with @doobin for libre office. I'm on Mac too. Don't use it for quotes but keep all incomings and outgoings on it. I've got one spreadsheet since I started in 2013 with everything on. I think the accountant hates my guts! It does the job and I split it up into vat quarters to give it some sense of organisation.

 

[Routy56]

You really need to know yer way around Excel to make it work for you.
It's a great piece of software but has limitations
When I started out as self employed in 2009, I used Excel for everything including invoices and book keeping.
Then in 2016 with MTD looming I went over to the dark side with cloud book keeping and invoicing etc
Currently using: KashFlow
This works well and make Year End Accounts and Tax Returns a doodle
However, I still use Excel for book keeping on BTL Property.
Have configured it to give me a simple year end figure to go on the tax return
Once you know your way around Excel you can use it for anything where calculations are required.
But would no longer recommend it for business book keeping