Contents
Introduction
Property managers have a lot of moving parts on their plates. They have to keep up with the continuous demands of their properties, prepare for future tenants, check for maintenance on existing properties, keep track of the budget and so on.
Previously, property managers kept track of everything by delving into spreadsheets, emails, and regular paperwork. Although, with the introduction of technology, it is possible to automate mundane tasks and save time.
Many property businesses, irrespective of their size, are making the technological shift. Property management software helps small businesses with the operations of their residential and commercial properties. They send reminders to tenants for contract renewals and even collect rent. It can further help them to manage their internal team.
Good property maintenance management software can help you to run an efficient business and offer you the scope to grow. However, finding the right software can take time, as there are many options in the market.
It would help if you started by listing your goals, processes, and the tasks you want to automate. Based on that, you can look for different software and choose the one that aligns the best with your goals.
How to choose the best property management software?
Enlisting your business requirements can help you to make an informed choice when it comes to software. Start by asking questions like what you want your software to do. Do you want it to handle lease management, tenant communication and automation of maintenance tasks?
These are all crucial elements of a successful business. Although, as a small business, you might not require all of them immediately. So, choose a property management software that can be customized based on your needs. Check our blog if you are confused about which questions to ask before choosing the right software.
There are various kinds of software that help you to create property maintenance software for your business. However, any software has an array of features as they want to cater to every need of their clients. But you need to be clear on which features you currently wish to use as they might not even be relevant to your business, still you will have to pay for them.
The different types of software solutions that you can choose for your real estate business are:
1. Field Service Management software (FSM)
It is a popular kind of software solution. With this property management software, you can automate processes, send invoices, list properties and more.
They offer flexibility in pricing and subscription packages, but this pre-developed system has little to no room for customization. This software offers features that you might never use in your business but still have to pay for. If you want to learn more about FSM software, check out this blog.
2. No-Code Tools
For no-code tools, you don't need a technical coder. You can easily embed your business into these software platforms. The user can apply a seamless drag-and-drop method and get a clear understanding of the development phase.
The interface is simple, and you can customize features based on your industry-specific business. The most exciting factor is that no-code tools will help you to save money and let your business evolve in the most natural order. Try checking out platforms like Utilize and Glide.
3. Developer Agencies
If you want complete control of your business with any software, there is always an alternate pathway to create software for your real-estate business from scratch. Although, it is a cost-hungry method and will be rational only for a large and diverse team. You should have a dedicated tech team to handle the timely customizations and updates.
Once you have decided on which kind of property maintenance management software you want to opt for, you should verify other things like:
- Is the platform local or cloud?
- Is it mobile-friendly?
- Does it support third-party integrations, and if you have an existing system, will you be able to incorporate it into the app?
- Do you have a scope for customizations?
- How good is the software’s customer support?
- Does it sit well with your budget?
9 Best Property Management Software
1. Jobber
Jobber is a one-stop shop for anything related to field services. It works best with small and medium-sized businesses. As a property manager, you can consistently impress your customers by helping them to choose properties, sign contracts and send tariffs.
Features
- Client Manager
Keep track of important client details like property contracts, rental agreements and more from anywhere on any device.
Client Hub
It is a self-service feature that allows your clients to approve property quotes, pay invoices, set appointments and more.
Scheduling
This allows you to schedule jobs like creating a contract for a tenant or listing a property for your employees in real-time.
Job details and attachments
Track everything about a scheduled job, and ask for updates from your team member via notes, photos or files.
Quoting
Get paid faster with professional and customizable templates. Ask for signature approvals from clients and remind them about pending payments.
Pros
- Well-organized workflow from giving a quote to finishing the task
- Easily to use and makes time management more effective
- Outstanding customer support
- Simple interface that helps to keep track of ongoing tasks
Cons
Less scope for customizing reports using job fields or custom fields
Difficult to issue refunds to clients
Lack of compulsory custom fields, which makes you forget to fill out essential data on quotes and invoices
Difficult to export reports to excel
Integrations
It is beneficial for property managers as it is a cloud-based accounting software that helps you keep track of your finances.
It is a payment processing software that helps collect payments from landlords and tenants online or in the field.
Check which other integrations Joberr offers.
Customizability and Mobile Friendliness
Joberr has scope for customizability, but it is limited and available in higher plans only. The software is both web and mobile-friendly.
Good Review: Paul Hoslin, HOA Property Manager, says that they use it for the maintenance division of their property management company. It is very user-friendly and efficient as per their requirement.
Bad Review: Elizabeth H says she has found it challenging to sync invoices paid via Jobber. She also has concerns regarding integration with QuickBooks.
Pricing: After a 14-day free trial, you must pay $49/month for the core plan.
2. HouseCall Pro
HouseCall Pro is based on a cloud operating system that helps you to work more efficiently, save time and exceed client expectations. This property management software helps in scheduling tasks, collecting payments, dispatching a technician, and invoicing.
Features
- Easy Schedule and dispatch
The software has a drag-and-drop feature that helps schedule tasks for your employees, organize calendars, and send messages to property maintenance technicians for functions.
Customer Management
Asking for their quotes on properties, sending personalized payment invoice alerts, and giving confirmation emails to close the tasks.
Easy to book
Customers can check availability and book appointments for property visits from your social media and website.
Estimating
Send custom, one-click calculates that turn into invoices.
Pros
Easy scheduling option for payment invoice
Customer-friendly user interface
Mobile-friendly
Cons
Challenging to create legally binding contracts
No proper inventory management system
Poor customer service
Integrations
Google Sheets
Create, edit and share spreadsheets of your data to get automated insights.
It is a workflow automation tool that helps you connect various apps with your property management software to move information between them.
Check which other integrations Housecall Pro offers.
Customizability and Mobile Friendliness
It does not have any scope for customizability, but it is web and mobile-friendly.
Good Review: Rosemary P says that HCP has rapidly helped her grow her business.
Bad Review: Derek R has found it extremely difficult while using online scheduling, which got them losing data of customers. It takes multiple days to schedule a job.
Pricing: After a 14-day free trial, you must pay $49/month for the basic plan.
3. ServiceTitan
ServiceTitan offers the best integrations and services for your property management software. It allows you to schedule meetings for property visits and accepts payments from tenants.
Features
- Call Bookings
It automatically integrates customer information into CSR to make quick appointment bookings.
Timesheet
The software customizes real-time timesheets for staff and contractors and facilitates performance pay. It also logs employees’ start times and overtime.
Payments
There is flexibility in payment options, where photos can be clicked of cheques and credit cards from the field itself. You can also send a personalized payment link to the customers.
Pros
Reliable workflow
Continuous software updates
Nice mobile experience
Cons
Bad customer support
The material management module needs work
The interface is not that simple and user-friendly
Integrations
It connects easily with Zapier, which is a workflow automation tool. Zapier allows ServiceTitan to connect with thousands of other apps to make your work easy.
It helps you to send up follow-up requests on upcoming tasks to your team members.
Check other integrations of ServiceTitan.
Customizability and Mobile Friendliness
Their service forms and reports are completely customizable. The software has an excellent mobile interface, and it is web-friendly too.
Good Review: Stephanie P says it has streamlined her business regarding office work and sales tasks.
Bad Review: Dan L. considers ServiceTitan a ‘dismal failure’.
Pricing- They have 3 plans, and you can request pricing for each one on the website.
4. Workiz
Workiz is a flexible property maintenance software that allows you to manage your real estate business from one place. You can schedule jobs for your team members and even bill your clients.
Features
- Job Scheduling
You can quickly schedule or reschedule a job with the drag-and-drop feature on the calendar. Teams can be dispatched seamlessly, and you can customize workflows per your business needs.
Payments
Accept online payments anywhere at any time from your clients. You can send payment requests, estimates and invoices from anywhere.
Communication Suite for call and messaging
Never miss a client’s call, as it has a call queue feature. Also, book meetings with clients even if you are unavailable with the app’s 24x7 virtual receptionist.
Pros
Easy to operate and access
Can add pictures for each job
Offers seamless phone number and lead tracking system
Great customer support
Cons
Inefficient document customization
QuickBooks transfer is not smooth, and the user has to enter most of the transactions manually
Cannot switch off the job notifications
Have to import contacts manually
Integrations
Integrate this feature in your property management software to give your tenants an interest-free payment plan of four installments to pay your brokerage.
Integrate with the property maintenance app to keep track of all client meetings and stay on top of your schedule.
Check more integrations here.
Customizability and Mobile Friendliness
Workiz has a lot of flexibility, allowing you to customize fields for employee tasks and client forms. You can customize the online booking portal and create custom client documents from scratch. The mobile app is also available on the Google and Apple stores.
Good Review: Jason B. says that customer support is top-notch.
Bad Review: A verified user says the system has many bugs.
Pricing: The software is free for 2 members for life. Premium plans start from $225/month for 5 members.
5. Skedulo
Skedulo helps schedule, manage, and access mobile field jobs for the real estate industry. For your property maintenance app, you can schedule, collect, engage and analyze the workflow from your mobile. It is an excellent option for small businesses as it offers deskless productivity cloud technology.
Features
Centralize communication
Discuss specific jobs like creating tenant contracts with the mobile app. Also, stay in touch with the property maintenance field staff and ask them to upload photos and videos when the job is done.
- Self-service bookings
- Let your clients book appointments for property visits, inspections and more on their own with self-service calendars instead of back-and-forth emails.
Integrate digital safety forms
Equip your brokers, agents, inspectors and field staff with the help of digital safety forms for a secure site in and out.
Pros
Accessible communication features for teams
Practical and concise user interface
Good customer support
Customizable and seamless integration into external systems
Cons
No privacy as the entire staff can see each other’s timesheet
It does not refresh automatically after completing a job, and the page needs to be refreshed manually.
Software becomes leggy when there are 8 to 10 employees with diverse schedules.
It does not let the user make changes to the forms.
Integrations
It is a tremendous cloud-based software that allows you to manage property sales, customer service, marketing automation and application development.
Integrating this app into your property management software allows you to move beyond the regular ERP. Instead, add all the details of your properties and owners faster with Workday, and make your data more visual and easy to find.
Customizability and Mobile Friendliness
You can easily customize Skedulo based on your business requirements. It is one of the best mobile software and is not available on the web.
Good Review: Annie Z says that Skedulo does what it is intended to do, and the tracking feature is excellent.
Bad Review: Clint E. says there are too many steps and minimal information for call dispatch.
Pricing- They have 3 plans, and you must contact them via their website to know the pricing.
6. Zuper
Zuper is a unified property management software built for property managers. You can manage properties efficiently by scheduling and dispatching work ordered with recurring jobs.
Features
Schedule and dispatch quickly
Turn a service request into a work order for your field services technicians like property inspectors and agents.
Route Optimizations
Help your field service professionals with the help of Zuper's route optimization to the best possible route for the next property.
Well-integrated
Zuper is integrated with more than 30 apps to manage your business workflow efficiently.
Pros
Send professional invoices in minutes
Get instant insights into processes and contractor efficiency
Give quick property estimates to clients and convert them into clients
Excellent team collaboration with configurable alerts and notifications
Cons
Dependency on the Zuper team to create custom reports
Lack of an accounting module
Does not support fleet management features
The app interface is confusing
Integrations
As a small business owner, this app will be helpful to you as it will allow you to send job updates and receive time sheets from your team.
Manage the expenses of your field staff with the help of this expense management tool.
Customizability and Mobile Friendliness
Zuper is entirely customizable, and the company even tailors the pricing based on your requirements. It has a mobile app for iOS and Android.
Good Review: Ankur J. says Zuper has quick integration and a seamless experience.
Bad Review: A verified user said Zuper still needs a lot of improvement in field navigation.
Pricing- They have 2 plans, and a free demo is also available. You will have to contact them for more details.
7. Appfolio
It is an intuitively designed property management software that helps you to delight your staff and tenants. Appfolio is smartly automated so that you can focus on your business. Also, it is built for any business size.
Features
Communication Service
Simplify your tenant's life and maintain operations with online portals that are accessible through a mobile app.
Marketing and leasing
The software offers frictionless prospect and resident experiences that help you fill empty properties within minutes from lead to lease.
AI leasing assistant
Remove distractions for your leasing team with a 24/7 assistant that responds to inquiries.
Pros
Owners and tenants can have their own portal
Great features and functionality to keep track of all the property listings
Easily send maintenance request forms to clients
Accept payments easily
Cons
Difficult to transmit data from an existing system
Challenging to select email audiences
Can only setup automatic dues for monthly cycles
No feature to delete a tenant
Integrations
It is an excellent addition to your property maintenance app as it can help you to speed up leasing with interactive sitemaps that allow prospects to explore pricing, availability, virtual tours and more.
Reduce your legal costs and double data entry by enabling electronic leasing forms.
Check more integrations here.
Customizability and Mobile Friendliness
It is a custom-made solution that allows you to change the fields per your requirements. It is mobile-friendly and compatible with PCs, Macs and tablets.
Good Review: One of the users says that this software helps her to manage all her client's properties efficiently.
Bad Review: The user found an issue with the feature that doesn't allow you to delete a tenant. She leases properties to college students, which makes her change the leases frequently, and this feature is quite irritating.
Pricing- They offer a free demo and have 2 premium plans that start from $1.40/unit for a month.
8. Praxedo
It is a property management software useful for small and medium-sized businesses. With this software, you can create repair, maintenance, inspection and cleaning tasks for your team. It helps you to manage external contractors and keep your operating costs to a bare minimum.
Features
Schedule service calls efficiently
Manage influx of calls smartly with the help of an intelligent tool which automatically assigns a technician based on the job.
Customer Portal
Keep the customers in the loop by sending automatic reminders on payments and work progress.
Schedule
Assign a work calendar to technicians and keep track of their tasks from anywhere.
Pros
Adaptable with options for customizations
Great customer support
Easy to use and simple interface
Quick field data reporting
Cons
No mobile app for the manager
Difficult to gather large amounts of data
The server becomes slow when you add more team members
Need to improve the map module
Integrations
It helps manage your property maintenance app's accounting, reporting, bookkeeping and finances.
It is a project management tool that helps you monitor, develop and report activities with a single user interface.
Customizability and Mobile Friendliness
It has a lot of features that can be customized. The mobile app is compatible with Android and iOS.
Good Review: Mritunjay R. finds it user-friendly, economical and efficient.
Bad Review: A user felt that feedback from customer support could be faster.
Pricing- Basic plan starts from $33/month for a user.
9. Matidor
It is a simple-to-use, unified property maintenance management platform. It lets you visualize all your properties on a map and communicate with your team members to get all the required information.
Features
Draw property lines
Manage all your properties by drawing lines on a map to view on a live map.
Custom Reports
Choose a property and get an overview with custom reports to keep track of your important metrics.
Instant notifications
Get instant information about property issues from your team.
Pros
Document any property issues and archive the fixes
Easy team communication within the app
Share and visualize data of properties
Cons
No canned reporting feature is available
It has a phone logo, but clients cannot call
Offers lesser integrations
Integrations
It is a workflow automation tool which allows your property management software to connect with various apps.
It is a cloud-based accounting solution that helps you with bookkeeping, accounting and managing finances.
Check more integrations here.
Customizability and Mobile Friendliness
This property maintenance app is not completely customizable, but you can tweak a few fields based on your requirements. It is compatible with Android and Apple phones and tablets.
Good Review: A user said the app is quick and helpful.
Bad Review: A verified customer said it was challenging to revise canned reporting.
Pricing- Their pricing is designed to fit your needs. You have to get in touch with them to know more.
Bottom Line
These were some of the best property maintenance management software. You can quickly compare the important features of the tools here:
Property maintenance software is unique in its way and has lots of features. But sometimes, as a small business owner, you might only need some of the features.
This is when no-code tools like UTILIZE come in handy, as they are completely customizable and allow you to add necessary features based on your requirements. It is easy to use and build property management software with it. If you are still confused about how it works, head to UTILIZE to learn more.
