The world of contracted labor requires a great deal of bookkeeping and accounting in order to ensure clients’ payments and paychecks are in order. Without the right tools, it can be difficult, time-consuming and costly to manage all your documents and keep them organized for the taxman.
Thankfully, there’s been a recent surge in apps designed to help contractors. These apps are equipped with tools to streamline work processes such as keeping tabs on invoices, managing multiple projects at once, setting appointments, accelerating revenue and facilitating clearer communication between contractors and clients.
In order to understand the qualities of a solid contracting app, let’s take a look at four apps that are excelling in the industry. You can build on these ideas as you go about hiring a developer to create a custom contracting app that can reduce the time and money you spend managing workflows.
#1: Ready Set Pour
7T developed Ready Set Pour to streamline outdated sales processes, accelerate a budding startup’s growth and reduce inefficiencies. The app is specifically designed for the mixed concrete industry, which is growing at a rapid rate but largely still relies on inefficient processes that can stunt a business’ growth.
Ready Set Pour paves the way for contractors and suppliers to manage multiple projects at once, including the process of placing bids and scheduling deliveries. The app’s user interface is intuitive, logical and convenient, allowing contractors and suppliers to create, view, edit and archive projects at the click of a button. Like online auction services, once a bid is placed, contractors can either accept or deny it, then they can start scheduling deliveries if they accepted it.
Suppliers can use the app to view projects from contractors, submit and edit quotes and monitor the status of any given job. Finding reliable and experienced clients is also essential, so Ready Set Pour only lists local, highly-rated suppliers and allows contractors to view a supplier’s rating before employing them. The app allows contractors to upload photos of their job sites in order to find the right deal for both sides. Plus, contractors and suppliers can message each other in real-time with the messaging function.
The value of Ready Set Pour comes from the fact that it has all the essentials of any contracting app in terms of workflow management, client organization and invoicing capabilities. In addition, the app is customized to meet the needs of a specific industry in high demand for contracting work, which is a step up from generic contracting apps that don’t consider the particulars of a single industry.
#2: Hidrent
Another mobile app developed by 7T is Hidrent, which offers an alternative revenue stream for off-duty firefighters. Users can book appointments to have firefighters come to their homes and perform maintenance tasks, including house painting, plumbing work and more.
The app makes it convenient to book services by selecting a date or requesting assistance from a firefighter right away. If a user has multiple homes or wants to request service in their workplace, Hidrent can store multiple addresses in the app. Users also won’t have to deal with email and phone bookings from multiple vendors, as the app keeps everything organized.
The app stores your information and allows users to pay at the click of the button, thus eliminating the need to type in payment details for every appointment. Plus, users don’t have to pay until the services have been completed. Hidrent is convenient for contractors because they can set their availability, accept or request jobs and confirm their schedule through the app.
Hidrent has become successful because it considers a growing market of professionals with a set of tools that often go unused. By connecting workers with these skills to consumers looking for home improvement help, the app offers an alternative revenue stream to firefighters while providing convenient assistance to users.
#3: Intuit QuickBooks Online
Intuit’s QuickBooks Online is a mobile contracting app for small businesses, clients and freelancers. It has many features necessary for independent contractors, including the ability to track income, expenses and payments. The app simplifies client account management and lets users sync payments across a variety of platforms such as eBay, Amazon, Etsy and PayPal.
QuickBooks Online has an Hours Tracker that allows you to monitor how much time you spend on each project while dealing with multiple commitments at once. Plus, you can create a list of the clients you are currently working for and log hours for each one. Similarly, the app automatically makes payments to workers based on their hours, making it easy for contractors to ensure everyone gets paid properly.
The app is capable of tracking inventory, managing contractors, tracking sales and sales tax and allowing multiple users to use a single account. Hours Tracker’s value lies in its ability to help contracting professionals multi-task in an organized, logical and intuitive manner.
#4: InvoiceASAP
Similar to QuickBooks Online, InvoiceASAP is an accounting app for independent contractors and freelancers. The app is designed to create and sort invoices in minutes, even with a large number of workers and clients. InvoiceASAP helps create estimates you can send electronically to clients, eliminating a lot of paperwork.
With the mobile app, users can accept payments and sync their cloud data to other services such as QuickBooks Online. You can attach an unlimited number of photos to invoices and estimates, which comes in handy for before/after photos or proof of delivery. InvoiceASAP also has advanced online signature services that allow clients to sign their invoices online.
The app makes it easy to accept credit card payments and get paid faster. Users can also look at a complete customer summary on one screen, including balance due and any notes. QuickBooks Online is one example of how financial and tax documents can be organized in the cloud, reducing the amount of paperwork necessary to run a business.
If you’re looking to create your own contracting app similar to these stellar examples, you will need an experienced developer to turn your vision into a reality. The team at 7T, for instance, has the tools to develop custom apps to help with all your contracting and accounting needs. We have experience in a number of emerging technologies, including virtual reality, augmented reality, blockchain, predictive analytics, artificial intelligence and natural language processing.
7T hails out of Dallas, but we also serve clients in Austin, Houston, and across the United States. If you’re ready to discuss your development project, contact us today.
