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1. Can I still use Construction Application for Payment Solution if I
create estimates using industry specific estimating software?
2. I need to submit Retainage Requisitions; can I do this in CAPS?
3. I want to maintain an accurate Accounts Receivable and Retainage
Receivable account in QuickBooks®; will CAPS do this for me?
4. How does CAPS handle Change Orders?
5. We have already issued several Applications for Payment for our jobs; can we pick up
where we left off?
6. We have already manually issued several Applications for Payment
for our jobs; can we backtrack and bring these into CAPS?
7. Several of our contracts require Variable Rates of Retainage, can CAPS
handle this?
8. I also have Time & Material Jobs (Cost Plus) that I'm
required to submit on AIA forms, can I use CAPS for these jobs as well?
9. Is CAPS suitable for a General Contractor?
10. I need to track more detail in QuickBooks than I want to have
appear on the Continuation Sheet - how can I accomplish this?
11. Is CAPS available as a stand-alone product?
12. Will CAPS interface with Peachtree or other accounting software?
13. How do I obtain a demo and what type of limitations are imposed on the demo?
14. How long will it take me to set up this program? What are the
setup requirements? How difficult is the program to use?
15. What are the main benefits of using this program?
16. Who provides technical support and how do I obtain support?
17. How exactly does this program work? Does it write information back
to QuickBooks®? Is my QuickBooks® data safe?
18. If the program doesn't perform to my expectations, can I return it for a full refund?
1. Can I still use Construction Application for Payment Solution if I
create estimates using industry specific estimating software?
As long as the Estimating program has a QuickBooks interface and you can bring the Estimate into QuickBooks
and remove any subtotal lines from that estimate once it has been brought into QuickBooks. As part
of our testing, we created a very detailed Estimate using Craftsman National Estimator and used the
job cost wizard to export it to QuickBooks. Once the Estimate had been brought into QuickBooks,
we simply deleted the subtotal lines, issued the Progress Invoices and pulled them into CAPS; everything
worked perfectly.
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2. I need to submit Retainage Requisitions; can I do this in CAPS?
Yes, CAPS has been designed to meet various Retainage Requisition needs. You can generate a separate
Retainage Requisitions at any point throughout the contract or after the contract has been completed.
You can even choose to include the full retainage on your final Application for Payment. To view samples
of the Retainage Requisitions please visit the Demonstration Page.
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3. I want to maintain an accurate Accounts Receivable and Retainage
Receivable account in QuickBooks®; will CAPS do this for me?
Because it is vital that you maintain complete control of your Accounts Receivable and your Job Costing
CAPS does not write any information to the QuickBooks® file. You will be doing all the data entry directly
in QuickBooks® and CAPS will then read and utilize that information. When you create a Progress
Invoice from your Estimate each time you are ready to do a draw, you will be updating the Accounts Receivable
and your Job Costing.
As for a Retainage Receivable account, we do teach you two different methods on
how to create and accurately maintain Retainage in QuickBooks®. We also teach you how to create
a memorized report in QuickBooks® so that you can see how much Retainage is outstanding on each invoice
for each job. These instructions are provided in the manual that comes with the software. The
same kind of instructions are provided for creating and maintaining Retainage Payable, if you are a
General Contractor.
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4. How does CAPS handle Change Orders?
All Change Order/Extra Work Order information must be entered at the bottom of your original QuickBooks® Estimate
in order for CAPS to accurately recognize them as being part of this job. In the manual, we explain step-by-step how to
create items in your Item List that are specifically for Change Orders and/or Extra Work Orders and how to utilize them
to their fullest (a general overview on Change Orders is shown in the
CAP Demonstration).
If you attempt to create your Change Orders/Extra Work Orders as a sub-job of your
original job, CAPS will be unable to identify them as being part of this job, because QuickBooks®
will also treat this as a separate job, and will issue a separate draw.
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5. We have already issued several Applications for Payment for our jobs; can we pick up
where we left off?
Yes. We have built CAPS with this exact capability in place. In your manual you will find step-by-step instructions for
how to pick up exactly where you left off with a prior program or manual creation of AIA billings. We have also
included instructions on how to do this whether or not you have been using Estimates and Progress Invoices in QuickBooks®.
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6. We have already manually issued several Applications for Payment
for our jobs; can we backtrack and bring these into CAPS?
Yes. We provide complete instructions for exactly how to do this in your manual.
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7. Several of our contracts require Variable Rates of Retainage; can CAPS
handle this?
Yes. CAPS has the capability to calculate variable rates of retainage; whether the rate varies on individual
line items (phases) or if the rates periodically change throughout the contract. CAPS will accurately
report the total amount of retainage held on the Application for Payment Sheet in section 5. Additionally you can
choose to show in Column I of the Continuation Sheet either the percentage rate that retainage has been calculated
at or the dollar amount of retainage held for each line item.
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8. I also have Time & Material Jobs (Cost Plus) that I'm
required to submit on AIA forms; can I use CAPS for these jobs as well?
T&M Jobs are a little more time consuming. You will still need to create your Estimate
(or in this case you would call it your Budget for the job) in QuickBooks®. When you are ready
for billing, you would first create an Invoice selecting the job, and choosing NOT to use the
existing Estimate, and then click on the Time & Costs icon at the top of the invoice screen, selecting
the items you wish to bill from the Item, Expenses, and Time tabs. Print, save and then, delete the invoice.
Go to the Estimate, create the Progress Invoice, and using the invoice you just printed as a guideline,
bill appropriately. More detailed instructions are provided in the manual.
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9. Is CAPS suitable for a General Contractor?
Yes. We have a great number of General Contractors who are currently using CAPS.
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10. I need to track more detail in QuickBooks® than I want to have
appear on the Continuation Sheet - how can I accomplish this?
I would suggest that in your QuickBooks® Item List, that you create Group Items, and choose NOT to
print the items within the group - this way you see all the detail, but your customer only sees a
general description. Each QuickBooks® Group Item can contain 19 individual items. Complete
instructions are provided in the manual.
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11. Is CAPS available as a stand-alone product?
No. CAPS is not a stand-alone program. You must have QuickBooks® in order to use it.
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12. Will CAPS interface with Peachtree or other accounting software?
No. CAPS was designed specifically to integrate with QuickBooks® Pro, Premier and Enterprise Solutions.
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13. How do I obtain a demo and what type of limitations are imposed on the demo?
Flash® demonstrations are available on our Demonstration page.
You will find the Flash® demonstration to be an accurate depiction of how CAPS interfaces with QuickBooks® as
well as set up requirements in both programs; the demo combined with the whitepaper provide you with an efficient
training overview. We offer the demonstration in Flash® based on recommendations from the Intuit Developer Network
as it is felt that a self-running demo is an easy and efficient means of understanding how the program works without
having to make any changes to your existing file on your part. Free 30-day trial versions are available upon request at the
completion of the Flash demonstration, if you feel that the product is indeed something you are interested in.
The trial version will allow you to retrieve QuickBooks Progress Invoices dated 30 days prior to or 30 days after
you request the trial, you will only be able to print on plain paper, and a "demonstration" watermark will
show on the billings. The trial is easily converted to a fully licensed version in which the watermark will
no longer appear and the billings will be suitable for submission.
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14. How long will it take me to set up this program? What are the setup requirements?
How difficult is the program to use?
These are difficult questions to answer without knowing exactly how well you are currently utilizing
QuickBooks®. Most of our customers have CAPS up and running the first day. The
bulk of the setup must occur within QuickBooks® and are as follows; an accurate overview is
provided in the Flash® presentation on the Demonstration Page:
- In the Jobs & Estimates Preference; Company Preferences Tab, the option for "Do You Do Progress Invoicing"
must be set to Yes and the "Don't print items that have zero amount" must be unchecked
- Estimates must be entered in QuickBooks® in the order and detail
needed to appear on the continuation sheet
- Progress Invoices must be issued
- Job records for jobs that require AIA billing must be edited adding the following information:
1. Ship To Address block holds the Project Name and Location
2. A Customer Type of AIA Format must be created and chosen on the Additional Info Tab
3. Status must be set to In Progress on the Job Info Tab
4. Job Description box must contain the Contract For information, used on the G-702, in the Job Info Tab
If you read the manual that is provided with the program and watch the training demonstration that is
included on your installation CD, you should experience little to no trouble. Additionally, there is
little required setup on the CAPS side prior to its use.
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15. What are the main benefits of using this program?
One of the greatest benefits of using Construction Application for Payment Solution is the time savings
through integration with your QuickBooks® company file and, therefore, the utilization of information that you
have already created. Customer have told us that what used to take them a half day or more using spreadsheets
and creating a summary invoice in QuickBooks® now takes them minutes. Actual user comments can be
found in the References section.
Other benefits include accuracy - if your QuickBooks® Progress Invoices are accurate, your
Application for Payment and Continuation Sheet will be accurate; you will no longer need to worry about
transposition errors that are caused by double data entry, you will no longer have to worry about submitting
your billings in a timely fashion because it now takes minutes instead of hours to create; and finally
because the reports are computer generated they are legible.
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16. Who provides technical support and how to I obtain support?
Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. provides all technical support. You will be dealing
with the people who designed and wrote the program, to find out more read About Us. You may obtain support Monday through Friday;
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time by phone, fax, or email. Additionally we provide an
on-line user Forum
where you may post questions.
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17. How exactly does this program work? Does it write information back
to QuickBooks®? Is my QuickBooks® data safe?
Construction Application for Payment Solution has to work in a logical manner due to some limitations within
the QuickBooks® Software Development Kit (SDK). The entire process
starts with your original bid or Estimate for the job; you enter those line items with their original values
once in the QuickBooks® Estimate Form and those items remain unchanged during the duration of the job;
meaning that 3 months into the contract you do not go back and change an amount or a description.
Such an action will only confuse CAPS and cause you problems.
In the natural course of a construction project there are times when Change Orders or Extra Work orders that
can both increase or decrease the original contract; and in a logical fashion those changes should be
added to the bottom of the Estimate after the line items for the original portions of the Estimate; you
should not go back to the Estimate and just increase the dollar value for line item X as it throws off
the entire logical history of your job.
Again, following logic, you return to the Estimate Form each month when you are ready to do a draw request and
create a Progress Invoice indicating the amounts that you are currently billing for; once the Progress Invoice
is created you do not add additional line items that do no exist on the Estimate Form; because then that line
item has nothing to link back to nor does it automatically add that line item to the Estimate for you. An
action such as this will only confuse QuickBooks®, CAPS, and also yourself.
CAPS, through the use of the SDK, is only able to utilize the line item descriptions and dollar amounts from both the Estimate and the Progress Invoice and
completes all other mathematical calculations that are required on the Continuation Sheet; CAPS cannot
work off the similar columns on the Progress Invoice because the SDK does not allow access to those columns, and even
QuickBooks® itself does not keep track of the amounts in those other columns anywhere other than on the
Progress Invoice - meaning you cannot generate a report showing all of the information on that Progress Invoice.
CAPS utilizes a "read-only" access of your data file and does not write any information back to your QuickBooks® data file, thus ensuring the safety of
it's contents.
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18. If the program doesn't perform to my expectations, can I return it for a full refund?
Actually we have alleviated that issue by offering a FREE 30-day trial version (available upon request
from the last slide of the Flash demonstration). This is
a FULL VERSION of the program with only three limitations. All billings have a "Demonstration"
watermark; making them not suitable for filing, you will only be able to print plain paper versions,
and you can only run billings issued 30 days before or 30 days after the date that we send you the trial.
If you like the program, contact us to purchase a license, and within 15 minutes you can turn that "trial"
into a fully licensed program, the watermark will disappear, and you can re-run the billings and submit them.
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