Joist: Invoice for Contractors Reviews

by Jeeper_98_TJ

this app has no business being in business. They can’t do ANYTHING right. You can’t actually talk to customer service, you can only chat with them. They never do anything they say they will do unless you ask several times over and over. When I wanted to set up payment receipts from this app, it took them 6 weeks to fix a problem in their end. Not only that, but I had to contact them 3 times to get it done. Every time I contacted them it was as if the previous person I “spoke” to never put in a request to have it fixed. Recently, the last straw. They advertised this app Elite Pro as if it is available for all devices. It wasn’t until after I paid for it that I realized that it isn’t available for iOS or windows. They told me that AFTER I paid for it. I requested a refund and they said they would submit the request. More than one week later, still no refund. They have no idea what they are doing. When I requested the refund again today, I was told that the payment team only worked during business hours and that they would reach out to me on Monday. BS!! I’ll be disputing the charge with my credit card company and this app will never get another dime from me. Use the free version if you want, but DO NOT give them your money. They are dishonest and incapable of providing solutions to the problems they cause.

by Dustin F523

I’ve been using Joist for years. It’s a simple app to create invoice and estimates (not a lot of design options but I never wanted anything too fancy anyway) to send to customers as well as create a price book, customer log, etc. So it’s been extremely helpful.
Recently however they’ve “upgraded” and locked me out of features such as the ability to take pictures and save them to the invoice or estimate, something I use almost every time!!! Also it appears I will not get notifications like I used to when customers opened my emails. It’s one thing to add to Joist and charge for new features, it’s robbery frankly to lock me out of features I’ve always been able to use! On top of that they want to charge me $12/month for it!!! I could see paying $12 one time to unlock the features I’ve always had. But this is total BS. I’m not asking for something to be free. But $12/month is way too much to charge, I’m just a little fish and use Joist for my side work. Even if I did a lot more work $12/month is way too much. Hope Joist developers see this and get enough other poor reviews so they will change this. At least give me back my features that I already had and actually work to add new features to charge for.

by Bing Bong Mah Ding Dong

The developers pulled a bait and switch tactic on everyone that’s been using Joist for more than a few months. They created the free app, allowed people to get used to using it, and then decided to make you have to pay a monthly fee to continue using certain parts of Joist that have been free up until this recent change. It’s incredibly unprofessional and low class. If you want people to pay for Joist then add things to Joist that weren’t already a part of the free app. Don’t take things away that have been a part of Joist since it was first released and claim that it’s now part of the “Pro” package.

If you want us to pay for Joist then add features that make it worth paying for. Placing features that had previously been free behind a paywall is just laziness. Why bother being innovative and coming up w new ideas that people will want to pay for when you can just take things away that they’re used to using and make them pay $12/month to get them back. Unless it goes back to the way it was before, I’ll be finding another app to replace the this app app and will no longer recommend the this app app to all the contractors I know and work with. Such a shame when greed takes over.

by Diah47

Good if you need professionally looking estimates but DO NOT USE the payment processing feature. If you happen to have a good sales week and cross the weekly sales amount threshold HOLD ON YO YOUR HATS because if you were expecting your money on Monday and then check Tuesday to see where it’s at and then tell you it exceeded your weekly amount and you won’t have it till Friday then you hoping to be there in the bank account first thing for payroll but then Friday comes and no money so you email tech-support and they can’t give you a solid answer when your money will be there. Apparently it got into guilty until proven innocent fraud review and you may have it in one or two business days past the date they told you they would have it, but there’s no clear resolution to when. The sizable chunk of money you were paid over a week ago floating in cyberspace and customer support can’t even give you a solid date when you’ll have it. Cool app but completely dropped the ball on the most important contractor feature.

by Lalallsnsnsbsbs

When I first installed Joist and began using this app, I thought wow what a great app. It is super handy for Estimates and invoices. However, I am fairly new to this app and sent a invoice to a customer on a Sunday evening not paying attention to the fact that I had left the option to “pay” turned on. Long story short the customer paid my required deposit via this app, even though at the time I had not linked my bank account to this app!! As soon as I realized what had happened I reached by “live chat” to this app customer service. I immediately linked my bank account and patiently waited for my money to be deposited. 9 days later I still do not have my money. I since learned that anything OVER 10,000 is held for a 7 day period. I have submitted bank statements and Square payments, described in detail my business, what we do, how far we travel, submitted the fact that I have commercial insurance, you name it, I’ve submitted it in hopes of having the 7 day hold lifted. Now on day 9 I have not received any of the deposit and cannot get a straight answer as to why or when I will have the money! There is no “live” person available to speak to me! I am highly disappointed with this app. Not at all what I would expect.

by Silence Dogoody

I had used this app for years as a convenient way to get invoices and estimates to my customers. I accidentally left the pay by echeck option open on a couple invoices and two customers paid 23k in payments through this app payment processing. I can’t get my money from them. There is no phone support, all they have is live chat with support staff in India. They want all sorts of documentation to release my funds that is absolutely unreasonable and not in line with any other payment processing company we’ve ever used before. Going on three weeks now waiting for my money I’m about to ask my customers to cancel the payment and ask this app to issue a refund, which will probably take another 2 weeks. Beware - Joist will leave the pay through pay through this app option checked and if you don’t uncheck and customers use it they will have your money for an unspecified amount of time, provide vague answers about when it will be released and ask you to keep supplying them with different documentation seemingly to lead you on a wild goose chase. An app that is purportedly here to help the small contractor actually causes enormous strain on a small business and just doesn’t seem to care.

by Sun And Holy

Joist works and I purchased it more than a year ago with the ability to take pictures and to use the option of signature. Now the new app do not allow me to use the picture option and other functions that was before fully part of Joist and in order to get back those functions the require that I pay more than $100 dollars anual or $12 dollars monthly when before I paid for all the functions. The new idea now that all the apps want to have you to pay not just once for any apps but to make you pay an monthly charge !!! I like to make money but this apps is not very important for me since I do not use the payments options also because Joist make money from your clients payments in % to what you charge. Crazy is you make the work and they want a % of the income you recibe apart of the cost for use Joist . I am now looking for other app and also to my custom estimate and invoice in my pc. Is not the charge is the way this apps developers want money$$$$ from you !! Your time, labors, and clients are yours Procter them. There is always a solution for each thing that does not feel right. We are Free to Chose now and Always we Are Humans !!!!

by Kimby_Web

I have been using this app since 2016 for my small business. Before selecting them I looked at many other options, all of which were free. I finally settled on this app because I was more comfortable with the layout of their app. Several others invoice apps offered all of the same features, logo, photos, contract inclusion, client notifications, payment processing (fee for transaction of course) etc. Now years later I discover that with the roll out of their new “PRO” service, ALL of the features I listed above and possibly a few I am not noticing yet, have been removed from the free service and are now only provided for a $12 monthly fee. The free features offered now are no more than what you can create yourself using a simple Word document, but even on word you can include your logo. I am very dissatisfied with this update being a long time loyal user. I have also referred many small business owners to use this app as well. I will be making a selection from the plethora of other invoice app options available and making the switch today. this app messed up on this one, at least with their long time users.

by PrecisionTrim

I have had this app for about two years. At first it was pretty awesome. I could make up professional estimates and invoices and get paid online. Convenient right? Well, sometimes. If you have time to wait on YOUR money it’s not bad. But when you collect material deposits and you need access to the money to get your project started on time....not so hot. This is about the umpteenth time that they have held my funds longer than necessary and delayed start my project start dates. Now I’m calling everyone I had scheduled this week to reschedule. No fun. They charge 2.9% of what’s transferred. Doesn’t seem like much. Now figure a 15k dollar project they have now charged $435 to be a middle man. I don’t have time to pay 2.9% and have my funds held up for days upon days. If you choose to use Joist I recommend utilizing the estimate/invoicing features. However, leave all payment options off and collect a check in person or use PayPal or Zelle. You will have a flawless experience in this way.

by Kd7188

Love Joist and I don’t mind to pay for a good system. I had a customer use the payment services they offer WHAT A BIG MISTAKE! My money has been in limbo over 7 days and still nothing! The customer service contacted me and told me how to write my own invoice(you believe that!). My business is between me and my customers, how I invoice is also between me and my customers! They needed more detail, I called them out on it didn’t change one thing then they said it was ok. 6,300$ that’s cash flow for my business that there investors are buying time to try and make money off my money and they charge you for it.👍 pretty good scam if you ask me also don’t forget to shut it off manually because they automatically turn the option on, on every invoice. Totally dissatisfied and if it happened 2 months ago it very well of could of put me out of business! Don’t tie up small business’s money we are not your personal bank get a better partnership for online payment offer there are better ones team up with Venmo or square, screw we pay.

by Paramedic Man

The bad:

Every time you write an item it saves it so you end up with thousands of items in time, I have thousands and I can’t delete them nor can I choose not to save new ones I use one time, I’ve asked for improvement but they won’t change this feature.

The best app for sending estimates and invoices to my Home improvement customers, I complete a job, I list everything I did I then attach pictures (if you pay monthly) of what I did and finally I sign the invoice and submit. I've customized my invoices to show all my info as well as my company logo. The invoices are indeed professional, I feel that this one app has made my company appearance at a new level, I'm looking forward to Joist being tied to a way to accept credit cards so I don't have to ask for Paypal or checks. I love it but my customers are now impressed! This this app team was taking my input for improvement seriously and they were quite responsive, Joist is all I need for invoicing and tracking payments.

by SaltySOB

this app is helpful in organization but there are some bugs on Mac computer where you can’t move line items up and I have to go into the iPhone app to modify it. I also would like to be able to modify estimates and revert them to a previous version as clients are often changing scope of work frequently. It is a bit inconvenient to create a new estimate for them, or have the worry of changing the current one only to have to revert it to a previous state once they realize they can’t afford the additional work. I have the pro version and attach a contact but I wish that you could move client notes to the end in order to have the contract printed on the estimate when double sided printing is used. It also would be nice to be able to have the date displayed on the contract by the signature section. It is amazing to see when clients view the estimate. Very valuable information to the contractor.

by Egresswindowguy

It has a couple quirks, limited offline capabilities and paying extra for the pro features is what it is but no contractor should be without this app or a similar setup for basic invoicing and estimating needs. If you’re not ready to dive into full on accounting software and want something quick and basic for giving bids and sending bills to clients this works great on a phone, tablet or desktop computer.

Set up your company info and your documents self format and you just add items (material or services) and rates/quantities and viola instant bid. Click a button and it turns your bid into an invoice. It’ll handle payments as well. Even the free version will accept E checks and credit cards. I’d give it a 4 1/2 stars total. I often push my less organized subs to use Joist to get away from chicken scratch bids and bills and it benefits them in the end more than it does me.

by VT DJC

I run a home construction / remodeling business and have used the this app program for the past 2-3 years. It is a very easy way to create and send invoices to customers or potential customers. Now that the times have changed and the hand delivered / hand written quotes and invoices are a thing of the past, the majority of my documents are sent to customers via e mail. this app has made this very easy for me to do. And it must be easy if I could figure it out! It keeps track of when estimates/ invoices were created, sent, or even if viewed by the recipient. Easily attach photos of progress or completion of projects. Save customer information for future billing. And even allow them to pay through the program (something that I have not tried) but I suppose could be convenient for some. It’s a very worthwhile billing app if you want professional looking documents in an easy to create / easy to send program. I would definitely recommend.

by TJ_Journeyman_Electrician

Excellent app, though I’ve never had anyone use the financing options, it’s still something that customers like to have the option of. The best part of Joist is it’s organizational properties and it’s ability to pull previously used items and pricing. Adding taxes is easily done, with the ability to have multiple or different taxes for different counties or states. Adding a markup that isn’t shown but is instead applied to each line item equally is also a great and convenient option. Estimates are a breeze to make and just as easy to convert over to an invoice. Keep track of payments per each invoice is also done for you, you just have to input what is paid and for what invoice. It’ll even remind you if an invoice hasn’t been paid in full and a brief period of time has passed. And this is all just the free version. The paid has even more helpful options. Very pleased with it and I can for see using it for all my future needs.

by RobbyBaby!

I wish I had found Joist years ago! So incredibly easy to figure out, you’ll be up and running within a day. Good UI, “help” pages that actually help....

I can’t begin to say how much this has improved my being able to keep track of ALL invoices/estimates at a glance instead of each being a separate file. Very customizable as far as what info you want to include on each sheet. Having the ability to accept payments right from each invoice is just immensely helpful... basically Joist changed EVERYTHING for me.. I’m now a one man show who looks like I work for a much larger company.

Note to the developers: Thanks for making a great app that easily and quickly does everything I need (and things I didn’t know I needed) without being bloated and overly complicated.... greatly appreciated. Thank you!

by CAnt Think Of One111

I can’t say enough good things about the this app app! I started out using it occasionally for estimates and invoices. Because of the amazing support team and the incredibly user-friendly interface, I have moved to using it exclusively for all of my estimates and billing. Joist has been updated regularly, and each time they have added valuable services that only make it better for my business. I recently signed up for their credit card processing service, and I’ve been thrilled with the speed of payments. Customers can pay online with a credit card or electronic check as soon as they receive my invoice, and the money is quickly deposited directly to my account. **Please don’t tell the developers this, but I would have gladly paid for Joist once I saw how insanely helpful it is.** It’s a must for any business, small or large. Thanks this app!!! Keep up the great work!

by Apolomaz

Hello there I been using Joist for a very long time I think almost since the launch.

I start using Joist for my business when was very little to interface only items, company info and a minimum interaction they I was keep using it when I was contacted by them to discuss some details and ideas of how to improve Joist integration I was more than happy to do so because we are looking forward to grow up as business so why not help by sharing my own ideas some of them are live right now in Joist some didn’t make it, couple of employees from San Francisco base came to my house to discuss that option one of the options was taking credit cards as a payment back there was discuss to have a reader for cards because at the time everything works that way, I don’t recall getting the reader they jump in to web integration card processing another tiny bit was work order and change order the now are available so depending on what you do as business they got you covered.

I don’t mind getting charged by upgrading Joist hopefully they don’t raise the price a lot any time soon y remember Joist was free then they request to purchase I’m not sure that’s what I recall but as a business owner I totally understand the charge we all need to adjust for the overhead so keep the good work.

Please don’t raise the monthly fee to soon.

by J&M Elite Contractors

Great CRM program. Could maybe have a few more features available to Elite pros. However we love the simplicity of their app and it’s user friendly. It saves us so much time with estimates and billing. We’re 100% satisfied with the product and even signed up for a year given the discount offered to us at the end of our payment process.

Their customer service was tremendous and extremely helpful when we began looking into their product as we had tons of questions or concerns.

Great product Great price. It’s the perfect CRM for our company. Does everything we needed and even more than what we expected. Signed up and then found out we now were able to offer our customers financing options for their projects which was HUGE to us. I would love it if this app could add a spot so their pro elite contractors can request reviews from our customers. Maybe someday. 100% satisfied would 100% recommend.

by CAZARES ELECTRIC LLC

When I first started out it was just me. Didn’t know too much about anything although I always strived for professionalism. I use to do bids through text messages until somebody asked me for a “formal bid”....I freaked since I hadn’t a clue. To the day the least, I lost that job. Shortly after a buddy introduced me to this app.....since I’m not tech savvy, I was skeptical but thought “why not?” Now looking back, I am truly grateful for my friend. Joist single handedly taught me the entire process on how to do estimates, invoices, paid invoices,...it showed me the difference between those three, it also taught me in so many ways basic formats on how to bid projects for my business all the while looking extremely professional. Now days I get 90-95% of all bids that I submit all thanks to the this app app that literally takes me 5 min to complete from inside of my truck and from my phone.
Thank you this app! MOST IMPORTANTLY, THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS ALL FREE OF NO COST!!!!!

by Arctu

First let me say this is a fabulous app, there are just a couple things that would make it even better.

Please make it standard to keep a draft of an email when sending an invoice, right now if you close the email it is deleted.

Please make an option for adding multiple email addresses to a client’s account.

Please connect the address line, the BCC and CC lines in email to the contact list. The way it stands I have to remember a second email address as it won’t let me copy/paste email address into the address bar of an email. I frequently send two sometimes three different people a copy of an invoice: property managers, owners, husbands and wives.

Edit: after updating an invoice and re-sending it, there is no option to write another email to explain the edits or additions, the email is just sent Directly from the invoice page.

It would be heavenly if there were a Calendar drop down in the description of a line item to show the date of each line item in the invoice. And so I can search my invoices by line item/date. This would help me match up materials with receipts as well.

And this is just pie in the sky but it would be so cool to have a Calendar where I write down the work I’ve done for the day, for a particular client, and then hit “send to this app invoice” but that’s just me dreamin’.

Keep up the good work!

by Branch777

Joist of awesome, I've been looking for something like this for a while. As a new business owner just starting out and with not a lot of capital, I was searching for a free software that does what this app does.

Well most of the other software out there and there is a lot of options are very expensive and I couldn't afford to get them just yet but this app is absolutely free, very user friendly and extremely professional looking. You only pay if the customer uses the pay with CC or electronic check feature and even then it's a nominal fee.

Obviously it's missing some of the awesome bells and whistles of the other guys but I'm confident they are working to implement those features for future release. Either way this app is an great find and they now have a customer for life.

by Lucius Lucky

Justin nailed it right on the head. Well said my friend. How can we trust a company who out of nowhere decides to charge me for something I've been using to run my small business for years? If I was never offered these amenedies from the beginning, I would not have a problem... In my eyes it's no different than this scenario.

If I saw someone walking to work every day in the snow and I offered them a free car to use for 5 years, then at the start of the 6th year I said you can still use the car but you have to start paying me a monthly fee. If you don't like it, you can still use the car but I'm taking two of the tires, the steering wheel, and the headlights. This is what I feel is happening with the this app app right now. I asked numerous times when I first signed up " there will never be a fee in the future right"?
Again and again I was told nope, this is totally free. I feel my business would look unprofessional if I uprooted my estimate and invoicing software out of the blue.
I hope the this app team reconsiders this move as I've loved Joist since day 1.

by GarrensBane

So im a small town handyman. I’ve had this app since nearly their beginning and now. . . Long after their “update” that started billing. It was dirty to me at first but you could still use 90% of Joist for free, so I kept using it. It still had all my clients on it. It still had my entire billing history on it. It had all my tasks and all my billing info. And dates, locations.. yup, all there. I started thinking that an accountant would charge me a fortune to keep all that, or search it easily when needed, or how valuable it was to have every task and the caveats that would arise at my fingertips as long as I’d billed at least once for the, and I paid for the year. The extra long hold on the first few transactions is them checking and double checking and triple checking all data before they involve your money. I say thank you. At around the fourth or third, I started getting my payments in two days at midnight of the second. And that was many many payments ago. And it shows at the bank that it is pending on the first of the two.
So pay the paltry fee and use the easiest app around for billing. They deserve something. I’d give them one hell of a deal if they needed my services. And it’s the only app Ive ever rated 5 stars.