Find answers to common questions about efficiently managing your projects using Buildertrend. Dive in to discover tips, best practices, and expert insights that will help you navigate your financial management tasks with confidence and ease.
QuickBooks - General FAQs
How do I import my existing Buildertrend Cost Codes into QuickBooks?
In order to get your existing Buildertrend Cost Codes imported into QuickBooks Online as Products and Services, or QuickBooks Desktop as Items, you will want to navigate to your cost code list within Buildertrend export your cost code list.
Next, follow the steps outlined in the applicable QuickBooks Help Center article below, using the Cost Code column from your exported cost code list as the Product and Service (QBO) / Item (QBD) names.
Can I track my overhead expenses in Buildertrend?
Yes. It is preferable to only have one receipt management program. Therefore, you can manage overhead expenses such as gas expenses in Buildertrend. To do this:
Create a Buildertrend job and corresponding QuickBooks customer.
Create item/product & service codes and corresponding Buildertrend cost codes, mapping them to expense accounts.
Track overhead costs in Buildertrend and be assured that they will be recorded correctly in QuickBooks!
Does Buildertrend link to Classes or Locations?
Buildertrend does not link to classes or locations. You can, however, add these in manually after the bill, invoice, or time entry is pushed to QuickBooks.
Do partial payments on bills sync to Buildertrend?
No, the bill needs to be marked fully paid in QuickBooks before Buildertrend updates the bill status as Paid.
Will invoicing in Buildertrend close billable expenses in QuickBooks?
No, Buildertrend invoices are created from bills, estimates, and time entries in Buildertrend. Therefore, the tracking of what has been invoiced is in Buildertrend and not QuickBooks. It is recommended that you do not create billable expenses in QuickBooks if you create Buildertrend invoices.
Can there be more than one QuickBooks Administrator?
No, only the person that established the QuickBooks connection can be the QuickBooks administrator. This person is responsible for establishing and adjusting the integration preferences.
How do I change the QuickBooks Administrator?
The current QuickBooks administrator or company owner can contact Buildertrend Support with a written request. Email support@buildertrend.com or use the chat option.
Can invoice dates be changed in Buildertrend?
No, when the invoice date auto populates with the date it was created in Buildertrend, however, it can be changed in QuickBooks after it has been pushed.
What happens if an invoice deadline date is left blank in Buildertrend?
QuickBooks will assign the due date according to the preferred invoice terms set in Account and Settings > Sales or the Customer if different.
What happens if a bill date is left blank in Buildertrend?
QuickBooks will automatically assign the date in when the bill was pushed to QuickBooks.
What happens if a bill due date is left blank in Buildertrend?
QuickBooks will assign the due date according to the default bill payment terms in Account and Settings > Expenses or the Vendor if different.
Can Buildertrend time entries be pushed to QuickBooks as billable?
No, but they can be edited once in QuickBooks.
Will QuickBooks costs sync to the Buildertrend budget if they are processed through a bills management application such as Bills.com or Expensify?
Yes, these expenses will sync to the Buildertrend budget if they are itemized and assigned to the proper customer/job or project. Most bill management applications will allow you to enable use of items or products & services.
What does the Update Job in the QuickBooks section of Job Details do?
This option can be found within the Accounting tab under Job Details and will update the following:
Customer information: Address, Main Phone and Mobile
Job Information: Address
*Note: The customer name and job name will not change
Why does Buildertrend link to items/products & services instead of the chart of accounts?
Your Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks will have separate accounts for tracking your expenses and costs of goods sold than your revenue or income. These accounts are not linked in any way and different transactions in QuickBooks require different types of accounts depending on whether it’s a transaction accounting for your costs or revenue.
Expand for more detailed information on why Buildertrend links to items/products & services instead of the chart of accounts.
Expand for more detailed information on why Buildertrend links to items/products & services instead of the chart of accounts.
This setup is great for reviewing your overall company financials to ensure your business is profitable and to prepare your taxes and end-of-the-year financial statements.
It isn’t as helpful for job costing where you want to be able to tell if what you charged your client for framing covered your framing costs and brought in a profit.
QuickBooks doesn’t allow you to build your client’s estimate or invoice using expense accounts. So, if Buildertrend pushes your invoices using items and your expenses are recorded directly to expense accounts, your Job Profitability report may look like this:
On the other hand, when you set up your Item List (QuickBooks Desktop) or Products & Services (QuickBooks Online), each item can be linked to both an income account for tracking revenue AND an expense or COGS account for tracking costs.
This allows you to use the same item on all job-related transactions.
In turn, you can track job profitability by item to better identify which areas of the job cut into your profit or where you were able to perform under budget.
This allows Buildertrend to utilize a single list of cost codes that can be used for estimates, time tracking, invoices, AND bills that are pushed to QuickBooks and produce similarly effective estimate vs. actuals reports for your jobs.
QuickBooks - Online Specific
What are the advantages of using projects in QuickBooks Online?
Projects allow you to track job profitability and puts all transactions related to the job in one place. This will not only make it easier to find transactions in QuickBooks, but it will allow you to quickly compare the totals in QuickBooks with the totals on the Buildertrend job costing budget.
To learn more about setting up and using projects review this Intuit article.
To learn more about tracking hourly labor costs in Projects, review this Intuit article.
Can I convert a sub-customer to a project?
Yes, follow the instructions in this Intuit article.
How do I match Buildertrend transactions to returns on the credit card bank feed?
Contact Buildertrend Support or your Account Manager for more information.
Buildertrend negative bills create vendor credits which cannot be matched to a credit card refund. Therefore, you will need to create a credit card credit from the bank feed instead of using the vendor credit.
QuickBooks - Desktop Specific
I have the auto-run set on my web connector to run every 30 minutes, but nothing is syncing?
There are two sides to the sync:
Buildertrend has to request a sync and then
The web connector needs to be run
The automatic Buildertrend sync happens every 2 hours so setting the auto-run on the web connector for less than that will not result in any information syncing. However, an ad-hoc sync can be requested in Buildertrend at any time, then the web connector can be run manually to force an update.
I have the auto-run set on my web connector, but it is no longer updating. What happened?
For additional troubleshooting tips, contact Buildertrend Support.
The most common reason is that the web connector is no longer open and running in the background.
In QuickBooks, navigate to File > App Management > Update Web Services or search for the Web Connector on your computer to open the application.
After verifying that the web connector has run successfully, minimize or hide the web connector instead of closing it.
QuickBooks Online vs. QuickBooks Desktop
Which version of QuickBooks is recommended to link to Buildertrend?
Both versions of QuickBooks integrate with Buildertrend and the version you choose must fit your business needs.
Key Benefits of each version are:
QuickBooks Online
More robust integration with Buildertrend.
Easier to share data with your accountant.
You will be able to access your files from anywhere, making it easier to work remotely or on the go.
Bank and Credit Card transactions feed into QuickBooks Online, reducing data entry time and making reconciliations more efficient.
QuickBooks Online syncs to many partner apps such as Buildertrend without a web connector.
Since QuickBooks Online is Intuit’s primary focus, you can expect regular enhancements and improvements to this product over time.
QuickBooks Online now also offers a desktop app that has a similar look and feel to QuickBooks Desktop Pro. This can help alleviate apprehension around the change.
QuickBooks Desktop
QuickBooks Desktop offers industry-specific editions in its Enterprise version.
QuickBooks Online doesn’t have as many robust features as the more established Desktop Enterprise product, like advanced inventory and job costing features and discounts by customer name.
Reports are more extensive in QuickBooks Desktop.
QuickBooks Desktop offers more customization, particularly with Enterprise.
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is designed for a maximum of 40 users vs 25 users for QuickBooks Online.
I want to switch from from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online. What is the best practice for this migration?
There are a lot of resources available to assist you with this migration:
Learn how Features and Data migrate in this intuit help article.
Learn how Intuit can help you move your data in this intuit help article.
To learn more about using Projects to track profitability, in QuickBooks Online, read this intuit help article.
To learn more about the Buildertrend/QuickBooks Online integration:
Review this Help Center collection.
Take this course in the Buildertrend Learning Academy.
What happens when you switch the integration from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online?
QuickBooks Desktop will be fully disconnected, and all links will be broken.
Then an integration with QuickBooks Online will be established and all jobs, cost codes, employees, and subs/vendors will need to be linked.
All bills and invoices marked paid prior to the disconnect will retain their paid status.
Things to be aware of:
All bills and invoices will lose their connection to QuickBooks so if they were not marked paid prior to the disconnect, then they will have to be marked paid manually in Buildertrend after they are marked paid in QuickBooks.
If you are doing a combination of pushing some bills from Buildertrend and pulling some expenses from QuickBooks, then the disconnection will break the link that tells Buildertrend which bills were pushed. Therefore, it will pull all expenses from QuickBooks and duplicate the budget for the bills that exist in Buildertrend. Contact Buildertrend Support or your Account Manager to discuss best practices to avoid duplicating your budget.
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