I am starting an Electrical Contracting Company. I would like to know the best software for running my business. I need software that does bid proposals, invoices, payroll and stuff like that. All suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Quickbooks Premier for Contractors...
http://quickbooks.intuit.com/qbcom/...?priorityCode=0273400000&sellType=30

or

Master Builder!...
http://masterbuilder.intuit.com/


both are great, all-in-one, programs.

also check out ConEst Estimating software...
http://www.conest.com/

There is a lot of that type of software out there. Just look in the trade magazines. All of it has a cost -have had quotes up to 8K+ for all the modules parts bells and whistles etc.
Suggest starting with something simple. Take some accounting classes and some classes to use the various windows programs. Then you will have an idea of how and what you want for a program.
Personally I use Quick Books pro for the accounting and payroll. I use a spreadsheet for estimates. Because I have not yet got the two programs set uup to work together the way I want them to data gets entered more than once. I gave up on the Craftsman electrical estimator program. It's cost always came out 35-50% above the market here and changing cost in it never seemed to stay changed.
You will have to watch what ever you use to be sure your costs and bills are correct. Until you are comfortable with your programs and know you are using them correctly, you will need to double check everything.
Good programs are a great help but the learning curve is long and somewhat high.
Good luck

I also use Quickbooks Pro but I use it for estimating and generating quotes as well. I've been using it for 6 years and have been happy with it. Updating materials item prices takes a lot of time but saves me time in the long run. I wish my supplier offered my account prices on a compatible disk every 3 months or so. They do give me a print out quarterly of frequently purchased items and their prices.

We use Quick Books Pro right now, but after looking at the QB premier for cantractors, I may take a close look at it for an upgrade. Currently we do our estimates and billing manually with Word Perfect and old templates. I do not use the software we have to its capacity because I haven't had time to figure it out. Good luck on the business.