Before a client buys a commercial building, Tim Jackson's team of maintenance technicians has to walk the property to check for any potential issues.
Whether it's the condition of the HVAC system or the locations of the utility meters, his team would jot down details on paper and take photos before the findings were cut and pasted together to form a report, a process that could take several weeks.
But with the help of new Twin Cities property management software One Spot, Jackson's team can complete their assessments in a fraction of the time and save a large chunk of money.
"It takes an enormous amount of time to put these together. … Now, we can turn and burn these things," said Jackson, vice president of Engineering and Property Services at the Twin Cities office of real estate company Colliers International.
One Spot had its full commercial launch last month as a tool for property inspectors, tenants and primarily property managers who oversee the day-to-day maintenance of commercial properties like office buildings, industrial warehouses and retail strip malls.
The Plymouth startup allows users to report on property repairs and assets in real-time. The mobile app lets property managers and tenants take photos of areas around their property that need repair and upload their geolocation points (the software is integrated with Google Maps). The points can be tagged with different categories and comments before they are e-mailed out for bids for contractors or pushed to internal team members. Tenants can also report issues and can see when a problem is fixed as well.
"The commercial property manager, they are operating with things that are 10 years old. … Everything is so disorganized," said Keith Pelatowski, chief executive of One Spot.
Technology is better used in residential management of large apartment complexes than in commercial property management, Pelatowski said.