Products (Associations & Vendors can become re-sellers of JR Huston Books and Software. Contact our Office for details.)

How to Price Landscape & Irrigation Projects - $150

• 56 Chapters with over 600 pages. (View Table of Contents)
• Detail reviewed by 2 of the top University Professors in Landscape Contracting from Penn State & Colorado State.
• Contains everything from his 1994 book, Estimating for Landscape & Irrigation Contractors, the most used college textbook in the industry, plus an additional 300 pages.
• 27 new chapters covering:

o Exit Strategies o Buying, selling and evaluating a business o Green Industry benchmarks o The Six Sigma Quality Management Revolution o Bonuses & incentive plans o Company structure & growth patterns o Maximizing the value of your business o Numerous Green Industry specific scenarios for outdoor lighting, outdoor ponds, T&M pricing, tree work, fertilization, maintenance packages………. o And much, much more…….

• Appendices include practical exercises and equipment costs for dozens of differnt trucks and pieces of field equipment.
• Excellent for active contractors, startups and students.
• A complete learning system backed up with an Audio Book, MS Excel worksheet CD, seminars, workshops and on-site consulting.
• With updated costs for recently introduced field equipment and technology.

Audio Book on 6 CDs - $150 (6 CD set)

The entire new book on 6 Audio CDs that you can listen to as you drive from job to job.

Jim Huston and Dick Bruso provide an upbeat and entertaining presentation of the information from the book in a Q & A format that keeps the listener involved.

Excel Worksheets on CD - $150

Includes all of the diagrams and illustrations in the new book that you can apply directly to your business. Use them to bid your work and prepare your company budget!

You'll find...

Worksheets for you to produce and calculate:

o Your company budget, overhead recovery and labor burden o A bonus/incentive system for your employees o Equipment costs per hour rates o You bids in lump sum & unit price formats o And much more…….

Plus:

o A cash flow calculator to help project your cash flow needs o The Bid Board to monitor the status of all your jobs o Appendices from the book including Practical Exercises and o Equipment costs for dozens of different trucks and pieces of field equipment

Master Builder Construction Business Solutions Software

PLEASE CALL OR E-MAIL OUR OFFICE FOR MORE INFORMATION

You may have heard that Intuit, developers of Quick Books Pro and Turbo Tax, purchased Master Builder Construction Business Solutions Software. If you are a Quick Books Pro user, you may have also received information in the mail from Intuit about upgrading your Quick Books Pro software to Master Builder.

Master Builder has the ability to take many of you to the next level in your business. It has the ability to perform the following: Assembly Estimating, Change Order Management, Equipment Management, Purchase Orders, Work Orders, Construction Payroll, Service Dispatch, Inventory, Job Costing, Construction Billing Reports, Custom Reports, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, General Ledger, AIA Billing, Audit Trail, Loan Draws, CSI Cost Codes, Profit & Loss Statements, Balance Sheets, and much more.

Intuit reviewed over fifty construction management accounting programs before deciding upon Master Builder as its upgrade solution for Quick Books Pro and its 400,000+ construction users. It is a very thorough business solution.

Jim Huston is a Certified Intuit Solutions Advisor for Master Builder. This means that he can sell and install Master Builder Business Solution Software and thoroughly train his clients on all aspects of its use.

Bid Suite Version 2.4 Specialty Software (updated in 2003)
For Windows 98, NT 4.0, 2000 and XP

From Jim Huston, author of How to Price Landscape and Irrigation Projects -- the hottest selling book in the Green Industry, comes the most thorough software program available for bidding on your jobs. Prepare your bids and calculate all of the costs needed for estimating your jobs using the most comprehensive management system and software available.

Newly updated Estimating Platform Software (version 2.4) - $300

(Demo the software for 45 days for just $25 - See TEST DRIVE below)

• A complete, stand-alone program. No other software needed.
• Tables save material, labor, equipment and subcontractor information for future bids.
• Comes with over 100 pre-built database unit assemblies to help you get started.
• No on-site training necessary, which saves you hundreds of dollars
• Extremely user-friendly and easy to use.
• Numerous pull-down help screens.
• Produces for each bid:
  
  1. Lump sum & unit prices.
  2. Detail material, labor, equipment and subcontractor lists for each job.
  3. Material lists to FAX to suppliers.
  4. General & administrative overhead costs allocated to the job on a per field-labor hour basis. It also provides overhead recovery percentages on materials, labor & labor burden, equipment, and subcontractors according to the Vander Kooi estimating method.
  5. Numerous reports for field, accounting and estimating personnel.
  6. Field labor estimates both in dollars and in man-hours.
  7. Break-even points for jobs.
  8. General conditions costs, ratios and per hour analysis.
  9. Gross and net profit margins.
  10. A proposal to give to your client.
  11. Budget target amounts for both direct and indirect costs.
  12. Extensive ratio and per hour analysis.

• Market analysis compares your bid to the five most common methods of estimating used in the market today.
• Includes labor burden, overtime factors and risk factors in each bid.
• Pull-down screens define bidding categories for you right in the software. Prompts show you how to set up company or division information. Wizards thoroughly explain the bidding process to you as you bid your jobs.

This is not just software, it is part of a comprehensive management system to help you run your business.

Developed using all the principles outlined in Jim Huston's book How to Price Landscape and Irrigation Projects the most thorough text on estimating in the industry and Jim's previous book, which is being used as a textbook in numerous colleges and universities around the country.

• Present EP users version 1.0 upgrade for only $199.00.
• 30 day money-back guarantee.

System requirements: Pentium personal computer with 32 MB RAM

TEST DRIVE: Fully functional and complete version of EP v2.4.1, 45-day trial period for $25.00. Purchase software EP v2.4.1 less $25.00 demo version cost or return demo version for a refund less shipping & handling cost.

Software Support: All software comes with a 30 day money-back guarantee, minus shipping and handling. One hour of free telephone support is provided (within 90 days of purchase) to help you get up and running. Support thereafter is available at $25 per call (billed to your Visa, Master Card or American Express card) for up to the first ten minutes. Time after the first ten minutes is $4 per minute.

Other Products

Estimating Budget Software version 1.0 - $299.00

Prepare your estimating budget using our Windows Estimating Budget Software Program. The most thorough budget software program available. Prepare your annual estimating budget and calculate all of the standards needed for bidding your jobs using software written specifically for the Green Industry.

For Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0 & XP
A complete, stand-alone program. No other software needed.
Manual included.
Handles up to four divisions.
Extremely user-friendly and easy to use.
Numerous pull-down help screens.

Produces for each division:

• Sales projections for each division.
• Labor burden for field crews and office staff.
• General & administrative overhead on a per field-labor hour and a gross profit margin basis. It also provides overhead recovery percentages on materials, labor and labor burden, equipment, and subcontractors according to the Charles Vander Kooi method of estimating.
• Average wage calculations.
• Field labor projections both in dollars and in man-hours.
• Material to labor ratios.
• Equipment to labor ratios
• Overtime factor.
• Gross and net profit margins projected for the year.
• Numerous overhead allocation methods.
• Twelve month budget target amounts for both direct and indirect costs.
• Ratio and per hour analysis.

Pull-down screens define budget categories for you right in the software. Prompts show you how to handle workers compensation & general liability insurances, calculate field vacation, holiday, and sick pay. Wizards thoroughly explain the budget process to you. And much more...

Developed using all the principles outlined in Jim Huston's book, Estimating for Landscape & Irrigation Contractors, the most thorough text on estimating in the industry which is being used as a textbook in numerous colleges and universities around the country.

System requirements: Pentium personal computer with 32 MB RAM.

See Software Support

Book - Preparing for & Responding to a Down Economy - $49.00

Full of techniques and strategies used by some of the country's leading landscape and irrigation contractors, this book provides practical insight which can help you weather the storms of reduced cash flow due to the national economy or increased local competition. The author uses a unique corporate overview approach as he covers all aspects of a landscape and/or irrigation company.

Associations & Vendors can become re-sellers of JR Huston Books and Software. Contact our Office for details.