Item: Buildium
Rating: 10
Author: Paul Joslin

Overall Satisfaction with Buildium

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am a property manager in our HOA division. Buildium is a valuable tool we use to efficiently and effectively manage all of our properties, from financial reports and management to maintenance issues as well as tracking violations. Buildium enables us to keep all documents we need for each community in one place for easy reference or for sharing with owners and board members.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Financial Reports.
Communication with residents and homeowners.
Tracking income and expenses.
tracking maintenance items and projects.

Cons

I cannot think of areas for improvement at this time. Buildium customer service is very responsive to suggestions and has made improvements accordingly.

Most Important Features

Financial management.
Organizing owners and residents.
Communications
Tracking and managing violations.

Return on Investment

Ease of use for our owners through their portals has increased 100%.

Alternatives Considered

AppFolio Property Manager

Buildium is far better than Appfolio, especially when comparing user features and friendliness. I have also used Propertyware which was a total mess and had frequent outages. I have found that Buildium's online and phone support has been extremely helpful and knowledgeable.

Key Insights

Do you think Buildium delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Buildium's feature set?

Yes

Did Buildium live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Buildium go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Buildium again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Adobe Acrobat, Navisite Productivity and Collaboration (Microsoft Office 365 and MDM), Microsoft Powerpoint

Likelihood to Recommend

Communication with owners is improving, especially by using the announcement feature or email feature. The reports feature is also very user friendly to create reports for management, the boards and also for individual homeowners as needed. I also use the violations feature and can create violation notices complete with photos while onsite. The mobile app (at least for IOS) is limited, but it allows you to select "full site" which opens up in a browser so that you can have access to all info and features.

Using Buildium

Users and Roles

30 - Front desk/reception, company owner, managers, rental division property mangers, HOA property managers, accounting, inspectors, maintenance, sales division. In other words, everyone in the company uses Buildium

Support Headcount Required

20 - Basic skills in navigating computers and software are needed. Buildium has great tutorials and with very little time, everyone in the company is able to be fluid in the software.

Business Processes Supported

Accounting
Tracking maintenance
Organizing all properties and communities

Innovative Uses

Creating violations and doing inspections without having to use a separate inspection software

Future Planned Uses

Having a better and more comprehensive mobile app for IOS devices

Likelihood to Renew

I have used three property management softwares and know of others who have used additional softwares for managing properties. Buildium seems to be the best of all of them

Evaluating Buildium and Competitors

Products Replaced

Key Differentiators

Product Features
Product Usability
Product Reputation
Prior Experience with the Product

The versatility of its features and the ability to tailor those features to meet our needs in managing almost 100 homeowner associations which vary in type from small condo buildings to large single family homes.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

I cannot think of any way I would change my evaluation and selection process.

Buildium Implementation

Implementation Rating

I cannot rate this since I was not part of that process

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Don't know

Implementation Issues

I was not in the company when they implemented it

Buildium Support

Support Rating

I have been able to get through to support immediately and they have been awesome in quickly resolving issues. More importantly, their communication when there is an issue which might take some time to resolve surfaces. Getting updates and resolution are critical.

Buildium Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Premium Support

I have not had to purchase premium support

Bug Resolution

Exceptional Examples of Buildium Support

I cannot think of an example, but have always been very happy with their support

Using Buildium

Usability

Once trained, I find that its usability is quite easy and comprehensive. If working on something I am less familiar with, I find that I can usually find the solution pretty quickly

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

Creating violations while on site
Tracking delinquencies
Sending out mass communications to all homeowners, or a select number of them

Difficult Tasks

I cannot think of any at this time

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes - I have an iPhone. The IOS mobile app is pretty good for basic use, but there are a lot of features which cannot be accessed. I will frequently click on the "full site" option and work through a browser on my phone

Comments

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