As a builder of four to six custom homes a year, Daniel DeVol Custom Builder Inc. is used to focusing on even the smallest details and needed to make sure its software program would do the same. When the company needed something to organize and manage its complex schedule of deliveries, subcontractors, customer orders and meetings, the Dayton, Ohio-based custom builder researched both Microsoft Project and Intuit QuickBooks for use with its existing Sage Software ACT! and Microsoft Visual Basic solutions.

"I looked at Microsoft Project and it was way too complicated," said Dan DeVol, president. With QuickBooks, on the other hand, "I could open up Visual Basic right away."

After paying about $300 to download the program from Intuit's website, DeVol began using Intuit QuickBooks and quickly organized his company due to the program's ease of use. "I feel like there is a plan in place," he said regarding his software solution. Capabilities like being "able to create a list of service-type items and email them to subcontractors is invaluable."

Overall, DeVol would rated QuickBooks a 9 out of 10, "only because I don't think anything deserves a 10," he said.