Fergus

Avantages

We went from a single person operation to 4 people on the road and one office based team member. The old program we were using didn't have enough quite do every thing we wanted and was quite clunky on site. The way in which Fergus flows and easily displays information regarding jobs means there is no confusion on site and when used correctly office staff can collate the data to create invoices easily, meaning we can get invoices out faster and hopefully paid faster. Now with the additional benefit of Fergus offering our customers credit card payment, we have found even less reason for customer not to pay. The schedulling calander on Fergus gives us the best forsite we have ever had to see potential lead times and alsogives us a better look at keeping things ahead of jobs wth regards to ordering materials and organising other important parts to any given job. Our guys on site love it as it is super simple to use for them and realistically cuts down there paperwork too. Time sheets created off all there job data is done automatically meaning the office is not trying to get times off them each week to do payroll.
In general Fergus has made our business run smoother and less things get forgotten about, missed or overlooked.

Inconvénients

The biggest thing that we find as a downfall would only be it is not that simple to see what price you have sold a product for previously. (Well not that we are aware of).
In saying that Fergus seem to be very dedicated to listening to what their customers want and make updates regularly, I''m sure that it will only be a matter of time until they create a tool to help with this.

Avantages

- Easy
- Very visual
- custom emails responses & templates
- supplier invoice downloads (JA Russell)
- field staff find easy to complete COC's and job cards
- forms is easy to use for internal audits and tailgates

Inconvénients

- WIP doesn't download very well would be great if PDF Option
- unable to custom status's
- unable to create credits for invoices have to void then recharge
- quoting reporting would be great if we could filter to groups
- hazards need to be mitigated by all staff however not all staff are scheduled on works?

Avantages

intuitive nature of this system ease of use

Inconvénients

nothing seems to fit our model and work in well

Avantages

Desktop and mobile sites are easy to use. Integration with suppliers and accounting software is key. Scheduling is simple and easy. Just starting out with forms but that seems like a really good option. Invoicing is easy. Customer support are always knowledgeable and get the answers needed

Inconvénients

Sorry guys 2 things

I know you have integrated with google calanders but I think just a calander similar to google calanders would have been suffice. I would really like to be able to look at a month display (like a widget on android) and see the upcoming work. When customers ask me when we can come back or when are we available, often I am in the field when I get asked this and being able to draw up a quick calander display would really help me.

2nd thing No inventory list of stock. Ideally I would like to have an accurate list of what is in staff members vehicles and what our holding stock is, just makes it easier when ordering or servicing breakdowns.

Alternatives envisagées 

Pourquoi passer à Fergus

Avantages

- User interface is very easy for the staff to use, mobile app is very usable to for the field staff. It's really basic but does exactly what we need.

Inconvénients

We are a facilities maintenance plumbing - so an asset management portion of the software would be good as well as the Re occuring function would be very practical for us.

Avantages

I love the Dashboard view. Once you've done some training, it's really simple to use and you can't really make an unfix-able error in Fergus.

Inconvénients

The response time from the support team is much slower than a few years ago. I guess that's progress as they're a much bigger company now. However, the personal support and reaction time was fantastic a few years ago.

Alternatives envisagées 

Pourquoi passer à Fergus

Avantages

Great technical back up in layman's terms and we feel that we are being listened to.
Your people who answer questions do a great job.
I also like the information in "Notifications" about any problems that Fergus may be experiencing.

Inconvénients

There is a lot of information and procedures that are a bit daunting at the start

Avantages

The chat bot is very effective and informative.

Inconvénients

There are alit of features. Know how to use Fergus to its full capacity I think there could be a more simpler version for tradesman who may not be tech wise or prefer simpler tech.

Avantages

Fergus software is easy to use and integrates exceptionally well with Xero accounting software. It doesn't matter where I am in the world I can have immediate access, and with one look can see from start to finish how my business is progressing to ensure great cash flow.

Its simple to use and easily helps all of my staff to achieve their daily goals. Fergus has helped to systematise our work flow to ensure the best benefits for our staff and our clients. An exceptionally good tool.

Inconvénients

whats not to like? how many companies can you call up and if its practical, and helpful to all users, will alter their software to suit

Avantages

Easy to use, dashboard easy to navigate, able to manage job status at a glance, easy assigning of jobs to plumbers, able to export to payroll system, import Creditor invoices directly to job, easy importing of price book catalogues, able to access from anywhere as cloud based, quoting in seconds, and so much more.

Inconvénients

Nothing to report - This software does not have any "Cons" to report back on, everything about Fergus is user friendly and yet Fergus are continually updating the system in an effort to make even more user friendly.

Avantages

Amazing Scheduling, Map functions and Job tracking for field staff and Finance Division

Inconvénients

The reporting functins for quoteing especially is lacking. We want to know how succesful our sales team is and this software needs to elevate to make it function in the CRM department.

Avantages

Entering time sheets, phone tracking, integration with our suppliers csv files, linking to xero, favourites lists with materials, photo attachments. Staff reply relatively quickly to any queries and seem happy to help. System seems to constantly grow, many new features since we first signed up.

Inconvénients

Compliance's could do with some more auto-fill features like drop downs on frequently submitted parts. Off-line ability when it comes to filling in times on a job when you're out of service and searching jobs. Apprentice on entry level subscription cant search for jobs unless he is assigned to it which is a pain (has no search bar option at all). Quotes and estimates could do with being a bit more separate as we have a different blurb at the bottom for quotes than estimates and I have to alter it if its an estimate because we use the quote template blurb. Be nice if on the desktop version you could add multiple people to a time entry like you can on the mobile version

Avantages

A complete all round package you only need this and your accounting package. I use Fergus and Xero which integrate seamlessly together and the system can be accessed any time anywhere. Now that everything has moved from paper to cloud - nothing gets missed! Everything is loaded directly against the job and you can track your profitability throughout the project. NO more backcosting! Plus, all the timesheets are loaded for payroll - everything in the one place. But best thing is being able to call and talk to someone on the other end of the phone. Its great to be able to talk through a process and solve a problem quickly so I can return to business and get the job done.

Inconvénients

That you are unable to change the colour of the text to make a point. For example it would be great if we could use red printing for the customers that are bad debtors and therefore when they phone a job in - it would be noticeable and easy to see.

Avantages

simple to use and ease of use. makes my business much smoother. typing this message is now annoying me.

Inconvénients

would be nice if customers had access to post notes on a job , so as we can monitor all correspondence.
would be good if one person could insert hours for multiple persons on the online version and not app version (one click does all workers)
being able to insert your own test certificates and compliance certificates (Australia) is a massive miss.

when creating an invoice and importing workers hours it would be good if the description of what each worker did next to their hours so the client can understand what each worker has done, at the moment the hours and the job description are in different areas.

Ipad pro does not let you type in lower font when entering materials to a job

Avantages

The fact that every job is easily managed and can be traced back when required by clients. If all information is loaded on to each job, it makes life so easy to manage, service, and invoice all at the click of a mouse.

Inconvénients

Not a lot really, just minor things when allocating jobs to staff. When changing a job to another staff member, you then need to physically need to go back inot the job and physically delete them from that job, as it will show up on the system that they have not entered time, or need to attend site.

Avantages

the ease for my employees to use with time sheets and seeing what jobs they are allocated too. invoicing structure to jobs makes life easy.

Inconvénients

I have a lot of builders using fergus to run there businesses, and all really enjoy it. the one thing we would all really like to have on fergus is Gantt chart system for us to run our jobs in. doesnt have to be to technical to start with but it would really benefit us in programming our jobs and passing onto clients. Id love you guys to have one as i currently have to pay for it through another company and it gets rather annoying and confusing.

Avantages

Can do the basics that helps my business function.

Inconvénients

Couldn’t work out how to set up favourites.

Avantages

We really like the software as it keeps all job files, materials, labour and communication in one easy to reach system.
Its great for all staff to be able to have access to the same job information and progress.

Inconvénients

The favourites and custom price book features seem to need a lot more work to make them easier to use, for example it would be much easier if we could add a line item or multiple line items from a quote into either favourites or the custom price list by selecting the line items in the quote. Also if you could save a favourite/ custom price book item, then edit it slightly and save the new favourite under a sub heading.

Avantages

There is so much I like about Fergus, but probably my favorite is that I know EVERY expense incurred by a job will be accounted for in the Job's invoice. Nothing is missed.

Inconvénients

It would be good to be able to enter "Due By" dates when entering Supplier Invoices. Or have a default "Due at end of next Month" setting.

Avantages

The software keeps getting better and better and my team find it easy to use. The photos on the job are invaluable for sorting out all kind of questions.

Inconvénients

The inability to output multiple revenue streams. ie see profitability for small, medium and large projects. Would like to have three profit centres in Zero. However I am restricted to just labour & materials.

Avantages

I use this on every aspect of my day to day month to month job plan. It syncs with my accounting package and I never have to go to any other software package.

Inconvénients

To be honest I have yet to find anything I would call cons. You dream of great software to help you, well here it is. people who understand and have created exactly what we need

Avantages

Its functionality - it does a lot.
If we don't know how to use it, Fergus support is always only a call away with the solution.
Fergus is continually developing the software and is very user-centric in that it takes on development suggestions from its users.

Inconvénients

I've always found GPS location is quite patchy - unreliable

Avantages

Fergus is a great system we are using to help with job scheduling and management of our workers and also great with invoicing jobs once completed, as it links with our xero account as well. Its also provides us with good analytical data on jobs, so we can see our margins and net profit we are making. Very happy with the service provided.

Inconvénients

Set up was interesting and we got some advice from a local virtual assistant company to help with it. It would be great if Fergus had a local contractor to help with this in our area.

Avantages

keeps all the jobs in order and helps give me an overall picture of how the job is going with a click of the button

Inconvénients

The time sheet user can't search for created jobs if not assigned or add photos (not sure if that is a setting issue) . Feels like they are very limited but yet a full user is too much for their position level.

Avantages

Fergus is great and easy to use. it allows a range of services that make running a business much more manageable. it also has clear instructions and helpful customer service who are always a lot of help.

Inconvénients

There aren't particularly any issues that i have found