Propertyscouts NZ: franchisees set to scale with Tapi

Property management is a family affair for Ryan Weir

After a career with the New Zealand Police, Ryan Weir’s father, Milton Weir, became a shareholder in Propertyscouts in 2005 and, after some years, eventually took sole ownership. Ryan followed in his father’s career footsteps, establishing his own property management firm before selling up to join the family business in March 2020. 

These days, Ryan is the sole shareholder in the business which is focused on empowering keen entrepreneurs to run successful property management franchises by providing them with all the marketing, systems and business support they need. He’s also the owner of Propertyscouts Exclusive, 1 of 17 franchises across New Zealand and Australia. 

Ryan estimates that property maintenance “equates to at least a third of your job as a property manager” so not keeping tabs on it “isn’t a good process for running a business”. As a company that understands good property management is about “dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s”, it’s not surprising that Propertyscouts was an early adopter of Tapi.‍

Before: “it felt like we were managing property blindfolded” 

As with many property management companies, Propertyscouts NZ had been using a well-known property management software to track its maintenance, but as Ryan explains, “You’d send off a work order, but then you’d have no visibility of what’s happening with that job until you received the invoice amonth or two later.”

That’s when Ryan knew the business needed a property maintenance system “so we could be aware and have our finger on the pulse of what’s happening.” Ryan’s a big fan of technology, particularly the way it can help property managers grow their business, so he signed up to trial one of Tapi’s competitors.

“Their system was clunky and complicated, so we left them quite abruptly. We had this burning desire to get our hands on software to help us manage our maintenance, but we just hadn’t found the right supplier. That’s when we came across Tapi.”

“It’s the opportunity cost – what I could be doing with that time”

In Ryan’s opinion, not having an effective property maintenance system wasn’t just costing their business time, it was a barrier to achieving growth. He says, “It was difficult to get across where things were at” and every maintenance-related task required a lot of effort.

“As a business owner, it’s pretty painful to be spending your time chasing up a leaking tap instead of calling a potential new client.”‍

After: franchisees set up for maintenance success

Eyes on every active maintenance issue across your portfolio

While Tapi “saves time and money”, it’s the convenience factor that has changed the way Propertyscouts’ franchisees can manage property maintenance. 

With one click, Ryan can pull up the Maintenance Tracker, which gives him a birds-eye view of the status of every maintenance issue across his portfolio, as opposed to wrangling information spread across multiple places. 

“You can also set automated reminders to follow up owners and contractors, which is awesome.”

Then, using the Tenants Concierge, tenants can load maintenance issues themselves, eliminating any double-handling by the property manager. Further, Tapi seamlessly integrates with Palace for automated work-order tracking and invoice automation capabilities.

He adds that he’s also never had a complaint from any of the tradies the company works with and there’s no training required. “They just pick it up and run with it.”

Access to real-time reporting across franchise network

Tapi has several benefits for franchisees as a maintenance tracking system, but it also has its perks for Propertyscouts NZ as a franchisor. 

“It lowers our risk and gives us continuity,” Ryan explains. “It gives our franchisees peace of mind that if something was to happen, head office could step in and run the business effectively for them.”

Ryan adds he’s also keen to go deeper into Tapi’s Data Insights feature, where you can set company-wide or individual goals around maintenance – and easily track progress or troubleshoot any problems.

“That’s a neat thing to have, so if I did go looking at our other franchises, I could easily get a handle from the top of how maintenance is looking by rent roll and area.”

Strong operational foundations, capacity to manage more properties

Ryan says Tapi has become “a really important tool for us operationally”, whether the goal is growth or simply maintaining high service standards. He remembers when he was growing his previous business, he was spending 5000 minutes a month on the phone, more time than he was spending off it, “so any tool that can save you time is completely necessary,” Ryan adds. 

He’s a big Tapi advocate, encouraging all Propertyscouts franchisees to consider using the system not only because it saves time, but it means you can manage more properties – and scale your business. ‍

“I haven’t met many property management business owners who don't want to grow the business. I think if you spoke to ten, all ten would say, yes. And Tapi is clearly a way to help you grow your business.”