Goldenseal Business Software: Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How does Goldenseal compare to Quickbooks?

Quickbooks is a good "entry-level" accounting program, but Goldenseal does much more, especially for businesses that need more than just basic accounting.

Goldenseal knows about allowances, change orders, competitive bids, progress payments, retainage, subcontractor insurance, workers comp rates, and all the other quirks of running a construction business or other small business.

Goldenseal is a "real" estimating program with unit costs, assemblies, project dimensions and automatic price updating. It also creates contracts, schedules and bills of materials from your estimates.

Goldenseal is much better at job costing, it's much faster, it gives you much more flexible access to your past records, and it is much more customizable.

For more about converting from Quickbooks to Goldenseal, click here .

Does Goldenseal come with estimating prices?

Goldenseal comes with about 2000 unit costs-- material prices and assemblies for common types of construction. It works for residential or light commercial work. It also includes a "starter file" for paint, drywall, plaster and stucco work, with over 1000 unit costs, plus starter files for drywall, framing, architects and property managers.

You can also use Goldenseal for other types of construction, though you'll probably need to add some unit costs on your own.

Goldenseal also includes "smart dimensions" that make it easier to make estimates for remodeling and new construction projects.

What hardware do I need to run Goldenseal?

Goldenseal runs on any Macintosh computer with System 7 or newer. That includes any Mac with a PowerPC chip, plus older 68040 machines. Goldenseal will not run on very old Macs that can't run System 7.

It also runs on any WIndows computer with Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8.x or 10.

The data entry forms and reports will just fit on a 17" monitor (800 pixels wide). Smaller than that, and you will need to customize the forms or do a lot of scrolling. If your monitor is larger, you can customize the forms to show more, or display multiple windows side-by-side on the screen.

Can you run Goldenseal on a network?

Yes, Goldenseal is a client-server program that lets multiple computers access the same info.

You can use a Mac or Windows machine as a server, and any combination of Macs and Windows machines as clients.

Is there a Goldenseal Demo?

Yes. The demo is the full Goldenseal program, with a limit to the number of records you can enter. You can download it for free - click here,

Can I use accounts numbers instead of text?

Goldenseal allows you to use anything for your accounts and cost categories. Most people prefer text names since they are easier to type and remember, but you can also use any kind of numbering system.