I posted this about a month ago and some people suggested i just use Quickbooks. I gave Quickbooks Premier a shot and it didn't do half the things i wanted it to! I'm currently waiting for my trial disk with Quickbooks Contractor, but they shipped it two weeks ago, and it still hasn't arrived. So in all likelyhood, i'll need someone here to code this for me. I was told that this can be done in either php/mysql or vb/access. I don't particularly need remote access, but if the price is reasonable, i'll definitely consider php/mysql. So what i need you guys to do is give me a ballpark price of how much this would cost and how long you would need to do it.
This database will be used to manage contracts, estimates and business relationships at a sub-contracting company. Here's a brief summary of how things work around here. A company, say Citibank decides to build a new branch. They hire an architect to draw up the plans. The architect sets up a tender process, which allows a handful of general contractors to bid on the job. Say the tender opens on March 1 and closes on May 1st. On March 1, the general contractors get the plans and specs and start calling sub-contractors for different trades to get quotes from bits and pieces of the job.
Then they put the whole thing together, throw in the profit, and send their bid in to the architect on May 1st. May 1st is called 'closing day' and it's the last day i can submit a bit to them, and they can submit a bid to the architect. Several weeks or months later, the architect announces which general contractor got the job, and at this point i follow up with them and start negotiating. Now, imagine having to do a few of these projects weekly and you'll have some idea of what a colossal headache it is to keep track!
So what i need is a database to document everything. I need detailed files and full history on architects and general contractors. When i load up an architect profile, i want to know which tenders are currently open, which closed, which were awarded and so on. I want to be able to see who's bidding on each, click a general contractor name and see what other projects they're bidding on. And which ones they've bid on in the past. Which ones they've won. And how my bids did. So i need it to connect everything and everyone so that it all makes sense!
This database will be used to manage contracts, estimates and business relationships at a sub-contracting company. Here's a brief summary of how things work around here. A company, say Citibank decides to build a new branch. They hire an architect to draw up the plans. The architect sets up a tender process, which allows a handful of general contractors to bid on the job. Say the tender opens on March 1 and closes on May 1st. On March 1, the general contractors get the plans and specs and start calling sub-contractors for different trades to get quotes from bits and pieces of the job.
Then they put the whole thing together, throw in the profit, and send their bid in to the architect on May 1st. May 1st is called 'closing day' and it's the last day i can submit a bit to them, and they can submit a bid to the architect. Several weeks or months later, the architect announces which general contractor got the job, and at this point i follow up with them and start negotiating. Now, imagine having to do a few of these projects weekly and you'll have some idea of what a colossal headache it is to keep track!
So what i need is a database to document everything. I need detailed files and full history on architects and general contractors. When i load up an architect profile, i want to know which tenders are currently open, which closed, which were awarded and so on. I want to be able to see who's bidding on each, click a general contractor name and see what other projects they're bidding on. And which ones they've bid on in the past. Which ones they've won. And how my bids did. So i need it to connect everything and everyone so that it all makes sense!