How the housing service platform works in practice
“In everyday life, alongside happy moments, residents often face problems and situations where they need help: a leaking tap, a burnt-out stairwell light, or a neighbor making noise day and night. For a property manager, these quickly create stress and urgency, with messages arriving from different channels and constant phone calls interrupting their work,” describes Tomi Hanka.
Tomi has years of experience as a property manager, so he knows the challenges of the job – but also the ways to solve them.
“When communication is handled centrally in one channel, no one has to guess how or where to get in touch or where to find the right information. That way, the property manager has more time for other tasks than just clearing a flood of messages.”
Tomi shares 8 ways the housing service platform helps both residents and property managers in everyday life.
1. Quick remote communication with residents
A sudden water outage in the whole block due to a pipe failure at 8 a.m.! Instead of having maintenance company copy and deliver printed notices to dozens of apartments 10 km away, you can send the notice to all residents remotely with just a few clicks.
The announcement reaches residents on time, and the property manager doesn’t need to handle dozens of calls and complaints individually. This saves countless working hours.
Of course, it’s not just crises that need communication – reminders of important responsibilities, like monthly smoke alarm testing, can also be scheduled and sent automatically.
2. Residents can contact the housing company and maintenance through a single channel
The toilet is leaking! The fridge broke! The drain is clogged, and the neighbor’s smoke alarm has been beeping for two nights.
Residents regularly need to contact the property manager or maintenance company. That’s why it’s important that they can send a message to the right party through one familiar channel. This makes it far more likely that important messages are sent, compared to residents having to search online for the correct service channel.
3. Booking calendars and payments made easy
Going on holiday and forgot to cancel the clubroom booking? Luckily, it can be cancelled remotely, even from the airport or abroad. Want to relax in the sauna after a run? A single sauna slot can be booked in just a few clicks.
Sauna, clubroom, and laundry bookings are the most common uses for the digital booking calendar, but it can just as well be used to manage a shared car or the building’s tire-changing station.
Bonus: no more paper invoices or key pickups. Bookings can be paid instantly through the payment service, and access to the booked space can be managed via a code, access tag, or an updatable key.
4. Surveys make organizing meetings and events easier
Last year’s community workday was arranged last-minute, and only few neighbours managed to join. How to gather a larger team this year? Or did you promise to collect residents’ opinions on “Topic X” for the next general meeting?
Digital surveys are a great way to involve residents in decision-making, whether it’s about scheduling a meeting or making project-related decisions. The answers generate a handy report to support the decision-making process.
5. Digital home folder
What were the new recycling instructions again – the last version was from the 1990s? Or the classic: Help, my dog ate my folder!
These situations can be avoided when all instructions and information are collected in the resident app – safe from both dogs and misplacement. Instead of printing and delivering updated instructions door to door, the property manager can update them remotely, ensuring information stays up to date.
6. Communication between neighbors made easy
Looking for a bigger apartment in your own building? Or maybe some company for a card game in the evening? Found keys in the playground, whose could they be? Suddenly inspired to clean – what’s the easiest way to get rid of extra stuff?
Residents can post on a virtual noticeboard and marketplace, visible only to their building, or, if the service platform is more widely in use, to the whole block or neighborhood. Community spirit and the sharing economy at their best! The app makes it easier to connect with neighbors without having to give out phone numbers or email addresses.
7. Saving energy together
The summer heat made water consumption skyrocket! How to bring it back down and achieve savings?
Residents should be engaged in saving by sharing concrete consumption data and saving goals. Joint saving campaigns can lead to surprising results and also create a sense of unity among residents.
8. Assigning communication rights to the board and resident committee
A new board member, great! They can quickly catch up since all previous meeting minutes can be shared with them through the app.
Time for another residents’ evening! An active resident committee can publish the invitation directly on the digital notice board and on the resident app.
The housing service platform meets many needs
“As the examples above show, the possibilities of the housing service platform are exceptionally versatile. Best of all, each housing association can choose to use only those features that best serve their residents and everyday life,” Tomi concludes.
This article is an ai-generated translation of the original article in Finnish.