Accounting & job costing software for contractors
4.2/5 (160 avis)Avantages
It is easy to get around the software. It is great to store all documents in one area. The drill down capabilities make it easy to get to documents without having to do dig for paper in a file.
The financial reports are amazing. There are so many options it is great. You can make your own, but the canned solutions make month end reporting a snap.
There is a job dashboard that will show you everything about a job at a glance. I am in this quite often for varying reason. There is a lot of information in a snapshot.
I like that Jonas listens to the users and implements options that make sense. I also have a main go to person for customer service. He is amazing and listens. While he may not always agree, he will point out the reasons my solution will not work. Most of the time, he takes it to the team to further action.
They have a great online search area. While there isn't a ton of people contributing, there are a good number that are consistent with good best practice advise (users like me).
Inconvénients
Check writing with lien waivers is a bit cumbersome. I can't wait for lien waiver tracking to be automated. There are so many fields we use, but Jonas doesn't use them in any way. For example: email addresses are just there, it would be nice if you could email people directly using these fields (invoices and pay apps?)
Adhoc reporting does need some help. I am used to being able to get to all the fields and I cannot always get to the field I need.
We had a lot of redundancy with our current system and Jonas will provide a clean and clear electronic process for us. We wanted to bring as much as possible under one roof, and we wanted a clearer picture of job costing and future projections. We were also tired of relying on excel documents for so much information. Jonas is helping us solve all of these problems, as well as helping to get important info out of people's inboxes and into a system that everyone can access! It will also help us to reduce data entry errors and small mistakes with billing. Thank you Jonas for coming at just the right time in the life of our business. We feel confident that you'll take us to the next level!
Avantages
1. Full service software
Jonas is a full service software that includes original estimates, subcontract creation, change orders, progress billing, T&M billing, RFIs, data management, and much more. Everything is included under one roof so instead of having to bounce back and forth between multiple programs we can access almost everything we need in one place.
2. 6 weeks of amazing training!
The training and implementation aspect of this software was excellent. The team is friendly, professional, helpful, and always willing to answer questions (and I asked a TON of questions) and help us figure out how to make Jonas work for our company. I really appreciated that they helped train us in best practices and showed us ways to improve upon our current processes. We loved having people to hold our hands and guide us through the process.
3. Organization
I really love the flow of the software and how well it organizes our jobs in an easy to use system. It's quite robust and takes time to learn, but once we're up and running I know we will be so grateful to be able to perform so many operations with the click of a button. No more hunting down important info in emails, printed documents, or computer files. We'll be able to access so much information in a short amount of time.
Inconvénients
Learning anything new takes time and effort. There was definitely a lot to learn but Jonas emails us all of the training videos so we can access them at any time and there's a ton of support once we Go Live. We're a small team, so it felt like a lot of work, but that's normal with any new software implementation. If you have a small amount of employees, you'll really need to manage your work hours well so you can continue running your business and handle all of the training and implementation. We did it, and you can too!
Avantages
To prioritize the pros of this software as compared to the traditional out of the box type softwares in its category, I have to say the overwhelming advantage of Jonas is the people who handle your transition into the implementation of this software tool to your company or companies.
I mean, who cares how extensive and exhaustive the features are if you don't have a personalized team to help you get up and running.
I personally don't quite understand how they are able to offer this type of personalized customer service for each client. They learn your business and how to best organize it and even tailor the software to meet your needs. I've never experienced this before. They listen to what you need and then come back with modifications or a different approach to continually streamline your day to day operation. You are assigned a team from the beginning, actual human beings that you interact with on a first name basis. They are on top of things, and that's really comforting for someone who is a habitual procrastinator.
They make your daily tasks a breeze with minimal effort.
I like that it is an online application. I can access it from any device. Really handy when looking up stuff on a phone while I'm on site - a suppllier invoice, contract, plan, sketch, etc...
The user interface is very simple, everything is right there on one screen and not buried under a hidden tree of drop-down menus.
You can create your on short list of favorites on the fly.
The document manager is like having your own unlimited DropBox portal but with the advantage that the search capabilities are infinitely more powerful and logical, as the software stores all of your documents that you upload, attach or link for you to find through multiple queries as opposed to DropBox where if you forget the name of the file, good luck finding it.
Very handy in my business as a builder is the tracking of subcontractor compliances that can be set up to block payment or at least warn on payment of a sub if he's late on a particular compliance. This was a real problem before. Who has time to constantly check and harass these guys for compliances. Just don't pay them and see how quick they email you that compliance .
Inconvénients
Only complaint is that the software initially seems to be more set up for sub-contractors rather than general contractors and developers. I also buy land and build independantly so the accounting is quite a bit different as I have to capitalize expenses and revenue at completion of projects and jobs if I want to maintain a positive cash flow.
The consequence of this is that the customer service team has to re-adjust to first understand the very different accounting that I need to have in place and from that point make adjustments and tailor the software so it suits my needs.
Avantages
We love the automation of the software and its ability to streamline our overall process. After researching many construction softwares, Premier was the best fit based on its ability to drill down into details and its ability to make changes in an interactive platform. What set Jonas Premier apart from other softwares even more than the software itself, is their support staff. The on-boarding process was complete and step by step for our team to successfully roll out. The functionality of the software forced us to improve our processes as a company creating efficiencies that did not exist prior to Jonas. We are very pleased with our decision and very thankful for the support team at Jonas Premier.
Inconvénients
We have not currently experienced any cons. There are areas that we have had to create work-arounds based on accommodating project specific needs, but the software has handled it nicely.
Everyone at Jonas has been very professional, friendly, helpful and seem to genuinely want our conversion to be a success. They have been very accommodating with my schedule and the need to reschedule appointments or take things out of order, based on work load. Everyone is incredibly responsive and I couldn't be happier with our training to date.
Avantages
We are currently in the training phase and are about half way through. I love that during training we have live webinars with the trainers and are able to ask questions and follow along in our test environment. Trainers are very knowledgeable and patient and the webinars are designed to be easy to follow along! The provided recordings of the webinars are a big help in going back and working in the test environment on your own afterwards. The webinars are followed up by one on one calls to discuss your company's specific needs and to dig deeper into specific areas; these sessions have been incredibly helpful and I highly recommend taking advantage of them. Coming from an environment that has done all of its project management manually, this is a huge conversion for us and based on everything we are experiencing during training, we made the right decision to go with Jonas!
Inconvénients
So far in training, there isn't anything I don't like about the software, as we are still digging in and learning our way. Some modules are easier to follow along than others, although I think that has a lot to do with personal preference (I enjoy the PM training sessions much more than the accounting). I think for me my biggest frustration with the training is the scheduling of the webinars. As the person leading the conversion, but also having to accomplish my regular work on a daily basis, two back to back hours of webinars twice a week is sometimes difficult to manage and I find myself having to skip or leave early at times. If i could change anything it would be maybe to have a morning and afternoon session instead of back to back.
We are extremely happy with Jonas Premier! The customer service is outstanding and our rep always goes above and beyond when we have questions. Although we do not fit into the standard general contractor box, Jonas has shown us that it can be utilized to fit our business needs.
Avantages
We enjoy the scalability and functionality of Jonas. As a small business, it allows us to function at a much larger scale with less woman-power.
Previous to using Jonas, we were doing most business functions manually, such as AP, AR, and Subcontracts. In the last year, we have been able to integrate these processes into Jonas which has improved workflow tremendously! We love the reporting options we have and how we can get real-time information without having to search through a bunch of emails and hard files.
The release of the Sub Pay App has been heaven sent for us! It has eliminated all confusion on contract amounts, approved change orders, and our subcontractors submitting various different invoice formats at various different times in the month. Our subs find the process easy to use and our admins get all the information they need with one click.
Inconvénients
We have noticed in working in certain areas that even after saving and refreshing the tabs, we will have to completely log out and log back in to see changes.
It is also very difficult to correct/delete certain things after they have been processed. We understand this is to protect the integrity of our data, however, there have been times when we would have liked to override/remove items for our own ease of use.
McGuire has been a customer with Jonas for over 2 years and we have been extremely happy with the continued upgrades, support, and top notch software they provide at an affordable price. Looking forward to future enhancements and having the opportunity to meet not only your staff, but other customers at your upcoming convention!
Avantages
Speed, versatility, customer support, and friendly staff. When work/construction was scarce for our company, you took the time to help us come up with a payment plan. The reporting is amazing! You have made a lot of changes in regards to being “user friendly” AKA the ability to delete. Keep this going! Pending AP Invoice Report is also a great addition. I am grateful for your monthly webinars followed by the taped session to refer back to. Dashboard is fresh…love it!
Inconvénients
On reporting such as the financial statement report we see -#’s different then we are accustom to. When the number is negative it shows in positive and when positive it shows in negative (with bracket). Can that be reversed? Since the new update I have posted some items and they don’t show up on other tabs unless I logout and back in (even after refresh) this has happened 3 times. When a change order is rejected its unable to be modified. I would like more opportunity to drill down into reports.
We can now create percentage of completion reports instead of using excel spreadsheets. The reports are a great tool for project managers.
Avantages
1) The software is very user-friendly, the upgrades are very useful and the support is good.
2) Cloud Based - can be accessed from any where.
3) The development team does listen to recommendations for software use and tries
to develop and implement those suggestions.
Inconvénients
1) We had a very difficult startup and implementation period. Our recommendation would be to someone looking into the software - Once you go through the group training, there should be one on one training to custom the software to the individual organization's needs. We were rushed through the training and right into one-on-one. We did not have enough time to convert the information from our old system in order to know what questions to ask.
2 ) We have issues with the software rounding, so reports and invoices are out of balance by pennies.
3 ) Could not use the mobile app - The APP does not work for Daily Reports
Although we are not a huge company, we have found that this software can be run with just one person. It doesn't necessarily take a whole team of people to keep up with the day to day accounting or project management operations. On our previous software, I had little time to do anything but accounting work; but with Premier, I now have time to get out of the office and quote work, while still keeping up with my accounting role.
Avantages
Jonas Premier has surpassed our expectations. Premier has reduced the overall time we spend on accounting procedures every month, allowing us to focus more of our attention on our customers needs, estimating, and selling jobs. There are many reports to make sure we stay on top of our AP and AR. Although we haven't started to use the Subcontract portion of the software yet, we are hopeful that it will streamline our subcontract agreement process. The Accounts Payable section is extremely easy to use, and with the Jonas Premier add-in for Excel, entering new information is a breeze.
Inconvénients
There are still a few small things that need to be worked out, mostly ease of use features. Sometimes it can be a bit difficult to remember to post your work; for example, we pay bi-weekly, timecards must be posted each week, and then again at the end of the pay period. So, for a two week time period, I have entered and posted timecards on two occasions, but then after the second week is posted, you have to post the whole payroll period in a separate location.
We use Jonas Premier extensively to manage all of our Solar EPC and Solar Construction projects. We use it to manage all aspects of the project (people, schedule and cost). Features like the dashboard provide management with a quick tool to see the status of a project, and also provides the ability to dig down into the numbers to see what is impacting the project.
Avantages
The fact that it was capable of managing both project and financial data in one platform, but was still robust enough for even a large organization. Premier has the ability to cover about 90% of all project management needs, and they are already working on the other 20%, which would cover the proposal process. The financial management is as robust as any major system on the market.
Inconvénients
The only thing that I did not like was the inability to support the proposal life cycle. However, I believe they are already working on adding this feature.
I would recommend this software to other companies in the real estate sector. While the software has some weaknesses, their team is constantly working on adding new features to improve the user experience and efficiency. Also, customer support at Jonas is very strong and their team is usually very responsive and is there to make sure your transition goes successfully.
Avantages
The software has very robust workflow routing capabilities and can help companies transition to a paperless workflow approval process. Controls within Jonas are strong and there is a lot of ability to customize what each of the users can and cannot do in the system.
The implementation team is very helpful and responsive to questions/concerns. They work hard to address issues encountered and have helped to ensure that the transition process goes smoothly as possible.
Inconvénients
The software is mainly geared to sub-contractors and not real estate developers. As such, Jonas currently lacks some capabilities which cater to developers (e.g. currently the Change Order report only looks at changes from the revenue perspective as opposed to the cost perspective). However, Jonas is working on addressing these issues.
Navigation within the system can be improved to increase efficiencies (e.g. being able to select multiple invoices within a batch to approve as opposed to doing one by one if you don't want to approve the whole batch, or not being constantly asked whether you want to save changes while you're still scrolling within the same module). Also, sometimes there are bugs in the system (e.g. not reflecting the changes that were made) but most of these can be resolved quickly by logging in and out of the system.
The staff have been excellent in providing ongoing support.
Avantages
The integration of the project management and accounting modules.
Inconvénients
The Mobile app needs improvement specially for the site staff.
excellent.
Avantages
Ease of use, drill down capabilities, reports and Dashboard.
Inconvénients
sluggish when dealing with large amounts of data.
Avantages
So far, the product has been easy to maneuver and understand. When I purchased Jonas a competitor asked why Jonas? Here is my response: "I liked the fact that I don’t buy modules. I buy a complete package that is updated regularly and I get those updates. All apps are part of the package. This enlarges our use of licenses. Since Jonas is Microsoft based, we use our existing estimating system and it will populate the Jonas system. One less group to train. I am locked into unlimited training at a defined cost. The system is cloud based not cloud stored. Access is anytime as a result. I was able to define my cost exposure 100%. That was a tremendous comfort zone. I know what my yearly cost exposure potential is limited to.
I hope that helps as I wanted a solid comfort with the system I chose. In all cases Jonas seemed to best fit our needs."
Response from competitor:
"Thank you for your candor. All good reasons, especially pertaining to the “good fit” statement. I wish you and Max Construction all the best in the coming years and hope I get to hear how everything goes at some point in the future. It has been a pleasure working with you."
Inconvénients
I do not have any dislikes at this time. Jonas has shared new products coming on line and I am truly excited about the whole thing.
I've used several Job Cost Accounting software packages, from SAGE 100, SAGE 300, and ProContractor. Jonas Premier is by far my preferred package. I'm telling you, their support team and development team is amazing!
Avantages
This product is easy to use and there is not a steep learning curve. The development team is AMAZING! They are generally interested in what features could be improved or introduced to make your workflow easier. The fact that the program is 100% Cloud Based makes things so much easier for us. Also, it is very easy to modify reports and forms as much as you want.. You don't have to use some awkward reporting engine, you can use Word and Excel to modify reports and get data in/out of the system with ease.
Inconvénients
I can't think of much - maybe that their office is in Canada and not across the hall or next door???
More time you take to set this product up correctly, the more it will benefit you in the end... Take your time and get it set up right!
Avantages
Jonas Premier has a very user friendly interface, and allows for more customization than a product like QuickBooks or Sage 100 for a small contractor. Most software packages in the cloud don't allow for easy integration with Microsoft products, however, Jonas Premier does an excellent job of allowing for quick data entry via uploads (something QuickBooks specifically doesn't allow out of the box). Getting up and running with the software was easy and enjoyable through the webinars hosted by customer support.
Inconvénients
Seems like this product needs some work in reporting. The whole software interface is nice and crisp and looks up to date using current technology, but the reporting mechanism seems like it's a little archaic. That said, you can get a lot of data easily (and quicker) through Excel, and if you are handy with Excel, reports are easily made.
Our invoice approval process as well as our payment approvals have become effectively paperless, which I would say greatly improves productivity. The support team is very responsive and transparent, for which I am very grateful.
Avantages
Sorting features and column order customization. Document uploads for invoices and journal entries are also a huge plus. I think the internal approval process is a massive improvement to physical alternatives.
Inconvénients
Frequent errors and calculation inconsistencies (specifically with rounding amounts)
We've been with Jonas Premier for four years now. During that time my experience has been very positive. When there are bugs, issues, or questions that arise, the support team is very responsive and helpful. The leadership team is very connected with the needs of their customers; they care about what their clients want and need and their development team delivers. The software has grown and matured nicely. The most recent version is a significant enhancement that has been in the works for a while now, but it was well worth the wait. I like the software....I love the company. Premier has been a valuable partner to us.
Avantages
The newly released Premier is very responsive; crisp and quick, with drill down capability throughout. We have yet to fully use the capabilities of the software.
Inconvénients
Although all of the data is accessible via Odata and can be formatted and reported in unlimited ways, I'd like a few additional canned reports.
Avantages
The different models are excellent to meet the accounting requirements for contractor, construction and development companies. I especially like the excel uploading/downloading function which saved us a lot time! And compared with other softwares I implemented, the function to transfer beginning balance is an easy work now. The job costing model, the PO model and the Subcontract model are excellent and enable us to provide any reports that the projects team would request.
Inconvénients
I strongly suggest JONAS improve the customized report function. This function on the in-house version is perfect and hope the cloud version can do the same.
Through its use of customizable forms and general architecture, Premier eliminated a lot of duplicate or manual work for us.
Avantages
It's tailored to construction accounting and in that way is quite intuitive to use. At a performance level, it's fast on the Web and the various ways it shares and references data internally makes workflows quite speedy. It's also regularly updated with new features and they share their roadmap and vision going forward.
Inconvénients
While technically OS agnostic, it's not platform agnostic or mobile friendly as it requires the Chrome browser and it's not formatted for small screens. I'm not trying to do my full AP workflow on an iPhone, but I can't look up an invoice for reference or get a vendor contact out of the system in an easy way on mobile.
Great!
Avantages
I like that it's an all-in-one accounting and project management software, making information collected via data management, AR/AP, and PM integrated and centralized. They also provide excellent onboarding and ongoing customer support. I'm new to construction as well as to bookkeeping and their team has had endless amount of patience and for my equally endless number of questions. No problem is too big, small, or ridiculous for them to tackle.
Inconvénients
I made the somewhat unfortunate decision to request a Macbook instead of a PC for work. While the add-ons are mainly used only in the setup portion, the only thing that isn't ideal is that some of the MS Office Applications Add-Ons do not work with the applications for MS Office for Mac. The team, however, is super great about making the necessary adjustments on their computers so that it's not remotely the end of the world.
Avantages
Jonas Premier really does a good job integrating all facets of the accounting and project management sides of managing your construction projects and presents it in a clean, intuitive cloud-based software. The training process, though extensive, truly is great and individualized so that you can tailor the software to your needs. The one-on-one experiences with the support staff is great and they really do listen and actively address any questions or concerns that arise. In terms of how it streamlines our management and accounting process, I couldn't be happier. We get more done by doing less, with less opportunities for errors and greater opportunities for managing costs appropriately. I'm excited for how this software makes us a more marketable and efficient company overall.
Inconvénients
Training is a bit time-intensive; but on the flip side of that I really do believe their training is great in that they really do want to make sure you know what you are doing before you "go live" in their software. One perk of Premier is that most of their costs are paid all upfront; however we were a bit blindsided with some recurring costs that we thought were included (i.e., mobile app use, sub pay app, etc).
Jonas Premier is great to supply notifications or warning to prevent a job from going over budget. It has stream lined our purchase order and subcontract process and well as linking all documentations if something would need to be audited.
Avantages
The like the Job Dashboard very much. It gives you a quick view of your job to see the progress and status of each stage. Also I really like the Estimate upload feature because it makes creating subcontracts, purchase orders and change orders with a simple click of few buttons. Also the AIA Progress Billing process and T&M Billing process is very easy. Again with a click of a few buttons the AIAs and AR invoices are created with all supporting documentation attached and tied back to subcontracts or purchase orders. Also if AP or AR invoices need to be reverse the process is very simple again with the click of a few buttons.
Inconvénients
I found the company logo upload was not as easy and it should have been. There is no way to really edit the existing company logo. Also the check formatting has been a challenge getting it to line up correctly. So over all the forms creation is very time consuming and not an easy as it should be. Also setting up role security for users is not as simple.
Avantages
It is a seamlessly integrated, fully-mobile product that can be adapted to the varying situations that present themselves for modern construction company. Being that it is cloud based we are ready to job on a project location as soon as we have internet access; no long winded set-up process or expensive IT costs for VPN or remote server set-up. Your controller will love the product as much as your PMs if they are used to any of the traditional or non-integrated systems.
Inconvénients
You have to create and format all/many of the forms/reports, which is both time consuming and can cause potential continuity errors. I believe that they are working towards solutions for this though.
Jonas Premier people hold your hands during the transition period, patiently answer all your questions and concerns and ensure a successful transition. Periodic introduction of new features strive to keep the software responsive to customer needs and wish lists
Avantages
1. Logical sequencing of menu items
2. End to End consistent user interface
3. Excel training program
4. Committed and customer focused client support
5. A robust document management system
Inconvénients
I would love to see:
1. Complete glossary of all field headings used in all forms and reports
2. A user driven Report Builder that allows the user to pick and choose various fields, make choices for filtering, grouping, sorting and totalling data, enabling them to design their own reports
My goal with Jonas was to implement a software that would take us into the future and allow some automation. The time savings I have seen has been incredible. It has allowed us to stay steady with the accounting staff we have with little to no overtime! The staff has been great and at times extremely patient with us.