3 companies turning rental property maintenance on its head—and how to start benefiting from them

Property maintenance might just be one aspect of property management—but when it’s mismanaged, the consequences can snowball fast. Delays and unresolved issues can frustrate tenants, drive up turnover, and chip away at your bottom line. Using property maintenance software is a surefire way to stay ahead of these issues—and there are a few companies out there that make doing so easier than ever.

This post will take a closer look at three companies in particular that are making it easier to up the quality and consistency of rental property maintenance with less staff time. We’ll break down the core capabilities they bring to the table and how to quickly integrate their software into your own maintenance workflows.

Why Invest in New Property Maintenance Software?

Most property managers are already using some kind of digital tools to manage maintenance tasks, but few are really getting the most value they can be for their tech investment. To do so, you’ll need to look at tools that are built specifically for property management and that can directly address the biggest maintenance pain points that property managers have.

Effective software should make it easier for both managers and tenants to submit and coordinate work orders, fill any gaps in communication, and give your company a record of every project, vendor interaction and work order history for each property.

The best software even goes beyond that, giving you the ability to speed up and automate different phases of maintenance projects, stay compliant with less work, and analyze past jobs to know which properties or vendor relationships are doing well and which are becoming problems.

The companies we’ve highlighted here all have these time and cost saving capabilities, plus a level of customization that makes their products adaptable to different portfolio sizes, property types, and management styles.

3 Property Maintenance Software Companies to Watch

Now that you have a better idea of what sets the best software apart, let’s get into more detail about who you should be watching in particular. Here are three property maintenance software companies worth your time:

Property Meld

Property Meld® is a dedicated maintenance platform with the main goal of connecting managers, tenants, and vendors in one system, making projects easier to coordinate and faster to complete. The platform consolidates communication, progress updates, and other work order details into dashboards for more control and visibility.

Here are some standout features to be aware of:

• Automated triaging: When a resident first submits a maintenance request, Property Meld will begin the process by offering them action steps to determine if the issue can be self-resolved.
• Work order forwarding: Any maintenance issues that can’t be resolved by the tenant are automatically forwarded to your team members for review. They will be prompted to assign a vendor to the job.
• Availability-based scheduling: Property Meld asks tenants and vendors to input their availability into the platform’s scheduling system, making it easy to find a time to complete the work order that works for everyone involved.
• Job detail sharing: The tenant will be prompted to share details about their work order, including photos and videos. Once in the system, those details will automatically be shared with the vendor.
• Multi-channel communication: All parties involved with the work order will be added to the system’s communication channels, ensuring that everyone has the ability to ask questions and get on the same page.
• Data-driven insights: While Property Meld’s one-of-a-kind workflow can help resolve the vast majority of work orders, the system also offers data-driven insights to help guide larger troubleshooting efforts and decision-making processes.

The bottom line: Property Meld’s platform can help boost tenant satisfaction while also speeding up repair timelines, leading to lower maintenance costs overall.

LeadSimple

While LeadSimple is best known for its customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities, this software also has numerous features that can directly support running more efficient maintenance operations—especially when combined with broader property management software. Here are some of the most notable features that can be used in tandem with your existing property management software to save you time and effort.

• Workflow and process creation: Rather than settling for a simple work order checklist, LeadSimple gives you the option to choose from an existing work order process template or customize the template to create your own workflow. In either case, once a process has been created, it can easily be updated to scale with you as you grow,
• Automated communication: You can keep your owners and tenants in the loop with automated email and text communications. Pair automation with other features, including done-for-you templates and relative due dates, to make sure your messages get delivered at exactly the right time. Plus, meticulous records are kept for you in the platform’s process record.
• Data integration: LeadSimple syncs with many of the top property management software platforms and can draw data stored in those platforms to power the software’s conditional logic—which lets you to start processes automatically while keeping your outbound email and text records up to date.

The bottom line: Using LeadSimple’s tools can help you reduce churn rates and increase tenant satisfaction, ultimately boosts renewal rates and setting your business up for stable growth.

Buildium

Managing maintenance at scale requires more than just a work order form. It takes a system built for speed, accuracy, and coordination. That’s where Buildium comes in. As a comprehensive property management platform, it includes a dedicated set of tools for handling maintenance from intake to resolution—alongside a complete roster of other features for property accounting, rent collection, leasing, and more. Here’s what you can expect on the maintenance side:

• Work order submission: Tenants can submit work orders quickly through Buildium, attaching videos, images, and documents to share as much information as possible. They can even use the dedicated tenant mobile app to make submitting requests as effortless as possible.
• Real-time status updates: As work orders move through Buildium’s workflow, all parties involved will have the option to receive real-time status update notifications to their phone, tablet, or computer. Property managers can automate responses and updates and use both the Resident Center (accessible by tenants through their mobile app) and Owner Portal to keep everyone in the loop.
• Project level management: For more control over your workflows, Buildium lets you organize tasks (and their resulting work orders) under a single project, such as a unit turnover, renovation, or repair, and gain a high-level overview of progress on your key maintenance initiatives. With the right setup you can even track project budgets against actual expenses.
• On-call contact center: By answering calls for you 24/7, the Maintenance Contact Center makes missed maintenance calls a thing of the past. Operators can also log tasks for you in Buildium and dispatch your preferred vendors during emergencies so you never miss a beat.
• Data tracking: In the backend of Buildium, you can use its data-tracking capabilities to keep an eye on how efficiently different vendors perform and track past projects for a specific property. The platform’s data analytics capabilities draw from this data plus accounting and payment histories to help you decide where to channel your resources and how to plan for growth.

The bottom line: Using Buildium’s software platform can help you streamline your day-to-day business processes for both maintenance and all your other responsibilities, allowing you to refocus your time and energy where it’s needed most.

Steps to Implement Maintenance Software Into Your Workflows

Implementing one or a combination of these platforms is a smart move—and with the right approach, it’s easy to get a better maintenance management system up and running. All it takes is a little planning and organization. Consider following these three steps to start the process:

• Document your existing workflow processes: If you don’t have one in place already, start by creating a written checklist of all the steps you follow during your existing property maintenance workflows, including the processes for work orders and unit turnovers, as well as larger projects. Taking the time to complete this step will help you have a better idea of the functionality you’ll need from a maintenance software program.
• Research your software options: While the list above should be more than enough to help you get started, spend some time researching different property maintenance software options to get a sense of what will best suit your needs. Take the time to ask questions and see if the companies on your shortlist offer the opportunity to try out their software, like a free trial or live demonstration.
• Build your tech-enabled workflows: Once you’ve made your selection, it’s time to transfer your workflows into your property maintenance software platform. Typically, you might face a learning curve on how to use the system. However, our latest guide on tech-enabled maintenance workflows will walk you through the step-by-step process of how to create maintenance workflows in Buildium.

Choosing the Property Maintenance Software that’s Right for You

To take the next step, we recommend doing a bit more research into the companies covered above to choose which is right for you. However, you don’t have to stick to just one platform. Buildium lets you integrate both Property Meld and LeadSimple with its own software seamlessly. Both platforms—along with many others—are available on the Buildium Marketplace, a collection of purpose-built partner solutions that work in tandem with Buildium’s own features.

If you’re ready to see what Buildium can do for you, check out our risk-free, 14-day trial (no credit card needed) or book a live demo today.