We are using QuickBooks Pro 2005, 5 user. We would like to be able to calculate hours for jobs on our estimates and invoices. This would involve using a standard hourly labor rate, and then setting a number of hours for a task to be completed.
QuickBooks does not seem to have this functionality, so I'm trying to find a work-around. I have experimented with the "subitem" feature, but the way it works is a little backwards. I was going to make our hourly labor rate an item and then simply add a quantity of labor hours to another item as a subitem. I.e. a "Brake Job" would have a subitem of "Labor Hour" with a quantity of 2 (hours). Because QuickBooks will let an item be a "subitem" of ONLY one other item, I would have to create a SEPARATE "Labor Hour" for each service item. This is a major problem if we want to change our labor rate.
QuickBooks really should store the subitem in the opposite way, letting you define one item that contains multiple subitems. That way the same subitems could be re-used on multiple items. This also makes sense if you have an assembly that contains nuts and bolts. A different assembly might contain the same nuts and bolts, but in a different quantity.
Has anyone found a work-around to this problem?
Thanks,
Mike snipped-for-privacy@trailer.net