You don't want All Service Items: "I wanted to use all service items as that dictates in what order they show up on the job reports"
You want to utilize how they are Different Types. Examples: Service Items are the only item Type that is seen in Timesheet entries = great for labor or Services. Inventory items are only used for managing something on hand, counted, never sold unless on hand, and restocked generically. Noninventory Item Type is useful to segregate Materials from Services. Other Charge Type is great for Mileage, Shipping, Freight, Equipment Rentals, and for things that hit the Balance Sheet, such as Deposits as liability or Escrow as Other Current Assets, retainers and retention (vendors and customers). That way, the Job Reporting helps you see your Segregated activity. For instance, a Job Report would be helpful when it shows Retention assessed has been returned, not buried in Services, but in the Other Charge Type Item section of the reporting.
"if they were using the roller they would be paid operator - group 2."
What you determine is if you need more Payroll Items, if the Service item isn't giving the level of detail you need. The thing to avoid, is to not micro-manage accounts or using more payroll items, when the service item is available as the cross-reference for reporting. For instance, all my Subcontractor Service items link to one Expense account for contract labor and to one Income account for Sales. The Tax form the entity files has only one income account for sales, and that is your best reference for the chart of accounts.
"If they were on the excavator they would be paid operator - group 1."
So, it seems you would have:
Service item and Payroll Item on the Timesheet, to see the links. The service is Grader Operator or Excavator Operator or Roller Operator or Crane Operator. The Pay Item is the Grade or Group #.
I have had lots of clients where we set up for a Crane Business, and where we set up for a Road Contractor. It takes a bit to work out what you want to see. If you already use Excel, look at what you like there for the reporting. You would want similar details in your Setup and use of QB. But there will be limits, as well. Obviously, it depends on the size of your operations. Keep this Bookmark:
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/community/Getting-Started/Maximum-number-of-list-entries-list-limits-a...
"While I can't use the same service item (bobcat operator) under multiple subphases"
You can if you Name them more completely:
Phase 1, Bobcat Operator, might be Item Name = "1-Bobcat Operator" and Phase 2, Bobcat Operator, might be named "2-Bobcat Operator." That gives you Great reporting and makes it easier for staff.
"I also believe that I do want to include the equipment when creating the estimate as that is part of the estimation process and something I want to track (est vs actual)"
That's why I described using Other Names List for Equipment, set up one or more Service Item(s) and use Timesheets for tracking. The first time I did this, it was Horses at a boarding facility where the horses were also used for Riding Lessons. It works great. You can even use this to track and later, allocate overhead by equipment used to the Job Cost tracking. The method is called "$0 Bill."
"I don't want to show that to the customer of course and having been working with groups to accomplish this. I created a "Proposal" group and put the "General Conditions" items in it as those should apply to all jobs that are being bid."
Yes, that is a great use of Group Items. And remember that an estimate does not have to be provided to the customer, to be used by you as an internal tool. I can Bid the project for Fixed Fee, then estimate my breakdown of the scope and Job Track all details. Everything I enter is not billable, of course.
"The thing with the groups though is that the items are either displayed or they are summarized by checking the check box in the group setup. I want them to roll up"
They do not even show for purposes of Reporting. Think of Envelope.
"for the proposal sent to the customer but I would also like to print the detail out to give to my foreman at the start of the job so he has what was estimated and has the benchmarks he needs to hit as he performs the work."
I can make Two Estimates. One is using Group items, set to Not Print Item Details, for the Customer presentation. The other is Listing the scope as individual line items. You also have Sales Orders. While their power is in using them to manage demand on Goods, optionally including that in inventory management reporting, you can use them for Service and Noninventory and Other Charge items just fine, as well. For estimates and SO, you can mark them Closed at any time, to use their Planning Functions, and to manage Not Using them to invoice from, or "turn this off now that I don't need it."
You also have Purchase Orders, for services you would Swap the rate and quantity. If you contract for Soils Engineering $5,000, you make the PO for that service item as quantity = 5,000 and Rate = $1. Now you can manage partial payment requests and watch for over-billing. And you can list Scope here, such as Site Prep Engineering and Landscape Design and Drainage Plan, but that would be Description; the Service Item would be the same item on each line.
"So my current route is:
Start an estimate
1st line type the scope details
next line insert the proposal group and enter the appropriate info, deleting any lines that don't apply and inserting additional items I want to roll up into this fixed number.
Add additional scope lines or alternates that I want to show separately"
Perfect.
"Its fairly limited in formatting ability because it pulls the whole "estimate" block"
It is using Word Mail Merge, so if you know Word, you should be comfortable modifying, formatting, etc. You also can open the Estimate and use Ctl Y, or Journal View. Now you see this as a Report View. Customize it to get the columns you want, in the positions you want, then you can Export to Excel. Now you have all of the Office tools for integration and presentation of that Row Data.
And you can use different Templates or Designs. For example, my Estimate Template has not got the Boxy look; I removed all that stuff and use Text Blocks and mine, when viewed on the screen, looks like Estimate; when Print Preview or printed or emailed to you, looks like a Letter; a Contract with Scope, a signature line, etc. You can selectively Print on the fly selecting a different Template. That doesn't change the transaction; it changes the Output Design.
Please see my attachment.
"and I had hoped not to have to manually format it (numbers need right justified, Tax column removed, rates removed)"
That's why you use different Templates in QB.
"However, if I do this when I print the Time by Job Summary it will show a negative one for the phase headers since there isn't an estimate on this line."
There would be No Digit Value at all. Not Negative. I guess I don't understand this part. Time by XX reporting is based on Timesheet entries, called "Time Activity" data. There is no Value for something not entered or used at all. Time by Job Summary only shows Estimate, if you include those columns: and Estimate data comes from the Estimate. The Time data from the timesheet won't pull every service item on the Estimate. It pulls what is there that matches what you asked it to include from the Timeshseet. For example, if I quote Subcontractor Labor, but timesheets have Staff/Crew time, then the Subcontractor items don't show in timesheets. I can use them for Vendor Names, of course. That is provided for.
"and then I would need to do a zero check to convert the equipment timesheet hours to costs to job, correct?"
The Cost isn't Direct or Actuals, though. Let's review "$0 Bill Method" but in your case, "$0 Check Job Allocation." I set up a Bank type of account and name it Job Clearing. I set up the Service Item as Two-sided, as usual. In the case of Internal Equipment, the left Expense side links to one Other Expense account for Job Cost Allocation. The Right side is Income, for when I sell this charge item. I use the Timesheet for entries. I then enter the tasks with Name of the equipment using Single View or Weekly view. I use Ctl W = Write Check for that name, top left from the Clearing Bank. I am asked if I want to Pay this "Name" for timesheet data and I select the date range. This creates the Service Item Cost as if I am paying. Everything is Job Tracked on the items tab. By the way, mark these Not Billable, if you intend to bill from the timesheet and want the individual Dates of service. Or, mark the timesheet Not Billable, and Bill from the "purchase transaction." Not Both, in other words.
Okay, now click on the Expenses tab and select your Other Expense account for Job Allocation that you know the item(s) are flowing data into. Put the Total from the Items tab here, as negative, without any Name = no job tracking. Hit Recalc. This is a $0 Check. The Other Expenses account has its own offset = did not create any Real Financial data. But you were able to add the Cost Value that you set for that item, that equipment, that use, that Cost Rate, from the Items tab, is now seen in Job Reporting. This is Allocation, not actuals.
"Can you elaborate on how I would progress bill mutlitple estimates (if the phases were setup as sub jobs) on one invoice?"
It's not One Invoice. Example: I first used QB for an architectural firm doing high-end handcrafted log homes (like you see on TV shows). We might be 75% through Schematic Design and 30% into Design Development and working on your Main House, your Guest House, your Equestrian Center, and 5 Guest Cabins. All of this is Job Tracking; everything is done for that specific "name level." I invoice everything uniquely. I run a Statement for the Customer Name, which acts as a nice cover sheet for all the attached Invoices. The Job Names are listed indented on the statement, sort of like paragraphs.
If you put them on One invoice, you have ruined the separation or Revenue comparison By Job Name and for Cost related to Revenue and for Estimates.
"We discussed separating the phase in this manner but I don't know how to do one progress bill for multiple estimates in sub jobs."
It's not One. It's Each. You already know this, because you are managing as Each. If you were not managing as Each, then you would not be this far into the thought process.
"I didn't format the letter, I left it like it prints to illustrate the additional work that would need to be done before I could give it to my foreman (disclaimer - none of the information in it is real numbers, just numbers I was throwing in to test how this would work)."
You can use Different Letter Templates in Word, too. The Templates in the program for Transactions and the Word Mail Merge all allow you to select, "I want it to be printed this time, using this specific format and design and styling." You Name them and Save them in the "folder" for the Letter Template Type, that is created for matching to that QB Company File name.
"I don't like how there is an "other" for all of the phase headers and don't know how to suppress that."
That is what happens with the Outline Structure. They Parent Levels are themselves actually real functional aspects of the lists: Customer, Account, Class, Item, etc. So, the provision for Reporting is to show if there is a Value at the Parent Level, as a subtotal, with the link "- Other." You want to never see any value there, of course. Here's how I teach this part of the QB lesson:
If I am outlining, I might have:
1.
2.
3.
I would never make a 2.a. unless there also will be a 2.b. and if I make a 2.a. and 2.b. I will never post to the Parent level. If I want something generically as 2, I put it like this:
1.
2.
2.a. specific
2.b. specific
2.c. the rest that is neither
In QB, you control alot of the reporting; top left, use the Customize Button. Now, on the Display tab, bottom right. If you see a button for Advanced (not all reports have it), click it. Here is where you control, for instance, "Only rows Non-zero" or All Rows. That's up to you.
I see you are using CIS codes. It is really fast data input to set your first few characters Unique, in the item name. In other words, having lots of "74" sublevels makes it harder to do fast, specific, data entry. QB allows you, for instance, to enter "01" and then hit the COLON, to jump to the second level and hit 74. But, try thinking through something like this:
01-74 for the Cleaning level under General.
02-74 for the Cleaning level under Site.
Now you only need to start the service item entry using"01-74" or "02-74" and Tab Out.
