Summit uses Tapi as stepping stone to reach new heights

Market leaders in real estate and property management

If you’ve ever rented or purchased a property at the top of the South Island, you’re likely familiar with Summit. For 27 years, the real estate and property management success story has evolved from a small family business to a market leader. 

Today, with a team of 100 experienced specialists and highly skilled administrators, it’s all about achieving the best results for clients. 

Area manager Sam Burling started in property management (with Summit) when she was just 22 – almost a decade ago. These days, she still runs her own portfolio as well as managing a team of property managers. She’s also been a key player in Summit’s latest move to embrace the benefits of technology.

Before: increased workload, maintenance at risk 

To still be at the top of its game after almost three decades in business, Summit must be doing something right. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t room for improvement. 

Previously, property management teams were running written maintenance schedules, printing off and stamping contractor invoices before sending them on to their administrators. It was a process that was arguably “not broken”, Sam says, but it certainly had a few kinks. 

“We started to receive a lot of comments from our property managers about time management and how the job was progressively getting bigger, which could potentially put at risk maintenance jobs not being followed up and closed,” Sam explains. 

The business also wanted to significantly reduce its paper waste and think more carefully about its data security.

Then the global pandemic hit, and without the right hardware, it became increasingly difficult for property managers to work efficiently from home. 

That’s when Sam jumped into a webinar about Tapi. Once she saw the system in action, she was “hooked”.

“I could see the benefits, how it could help our business save time and grow in the future.”

After: great service, room for more growth

Speedy maintenance tracking and management

Sam estimates that property maintenance – answering enquiries, communicating with landlords and contractors, preparing quotes – takes up 30-40% of a property manager’s daily tasks. 

Typically, it could take up to two hours per day, she adds.

With Tapi, Sam says the same amount of work can be done in 20 minutes. ‍

“We open Tapi, log any jobs, send them off to landlords for approval, raise any invoices – all with a couple of clicks.”

Talking through maintenance issues with tenants could take almost half an hour. 

With the Tenant Concierge, the Summit team has been able to significantly reduce (or in some cases eliminate) the length and frequency of those phone calls – as well as help resolve minor maintenance issues faster.

Single source of truth, better record-keeping

A big part of property managers’ obligations is record-keeping, Sam explains. 

Between the Residential Tenancies Act and the Healthy Homes Standards, there’s often a lot of paperwork involved – especially when dealing with 2200 properties.

For a long time, Summit has been paper-based and the company has been successful in keeping accurate records that way – “we’re very regimented”. Some might ask, ‘Why fix what isn’t broken?’ but it all comes down to providing the best service possible, Sam says.

“Part of it is making sure that we get maintenance issues sorted in a timely manner, and the other part is being better prepared, and therefore more successful, at the Tenancy Tribunal.‍

“If there are any issues or delays with a job, we’ve got accurate records, all in one place, that prove we’ve tried to do everything in our power to get the job done.”

Happy, confident landlords

Tapi has helped the Summit team increase its communication with landlords and contractors – without costing more time and money. 

Sam says landlords love that they can see the progress of each job and when it comes to emergencies, they have peace of mind that Summit has got things covered.

“We like to keep our landlords in the loop, and they appreciate that we’re now able to do that with the click of a button.”

There’s also been an improvement in the number of billing issues. 

“Tapi has helped us improve our communication with tradies and we’re not having to fix as many complaints with billing issues at the other end.”

“We’re now operating more efficiently”

While the Summit team has always used Palace, Tapi was its first real step to introducing more technology. 

It has taken some getting used to, but “it has also left us wanting more,” Sam says. 

“The past two years have forced us to dramatically change the way we work and Tapi has created this pathway for looking at the sustainability of our business and how we can streamline other processes to make our jobs easier.”

Sam adds while Tapi has certainly helped the team save time, that time has quickly been absorbed by other tasks that need attention. 

But in her eyes, that’s a good thing.

“Tapi has given our business the ability to grow while continuing to provide a great service because we’re able to focus on those all-important areas.”