Dwellant’s software is a holistic, cloud-based system for the 21st century. Like no other building maintenance tracking software Dwellant brings together all stakeholders in a residential building or development with intelligence and elegance.
Residential and commercial asset maintenance is a complex job which calls for expertise from a variety of professions. The property management industry at times still utilises manual and paper-based systems to support their work. Businesses rely on different platforms from varying software providers for each of their work tasks. This mix is making it hard to keep track of all areas of the business and avoid duplicating efforts. The demands on those responsible for multi-occupancy building maintenance are ever increasing. Building maintenance tracking software that provides a holistic platform for a broad customer case are in demand.
At Dwellant, we thought long and hard about how we can assist with streamlining asset maintenance processes, reducing the stress associated with its high volume and high expectation nature. We created a system that provides a market-leading building maintenance tracking software - an all-encompassing, including platform that is genuinely easy to use.
Our building maintenance tracking software has been specifically designed for those who manage commercial and residential property with a multitude of assets. Dwellant is equally intuitive and easy to use for the building’s manager (on-site and off-site), the occupants (e.g. residents, commercial tenants) and any maintenance service providers. Its functionality has been developed after many years spent with property professionals, to understand what is important to them. Our solution is a platform that is interactive, with multi-layer access levels, intuitive to use by anyone and an invaluable tool to make building maintenance as easy as possible.
Dwellant understands the demands on the property manager and the needs of building developers, leaseholders, tenants and suppliers and has created a building maintenance tracking software that is versatile, simple to use and dynamic.
Building maintenance tracking software like Dwellant’s in-the-cloud platform, features crucial elements for enabling digital transformation in the building manager’s workplace.
Dwellant’s cloud-based Core building maintenance tracking software can revolutionise how the property management team delivers high volume maintenance and management, ultimately benefiting all of the building’s stakeholders.
The engine room of Dwellant powers a wide range of crucial workflow and task management activities. For the building maintenance and management team, this is their go-to platform for routine duties and longer term planning. This ‘core’ of the software presents itself to the building or property manager as a dashboard, clearly showing upcoming tasks, those overdue and tasks completed. Nothing is left to memory or to chance, so maintenance tasks are never unknowingly neglected.
Maintenance items can originate from many sources, including a report from a resident or tenant, a site inspection by a property manager or building manager, or from a third party contractor. However the item is reported, it will be logged on Dwellant and seen through to completion. A tenant reporting a maintenance issue on Dwellant will be kept up to date via the building maintenance tracking software, all the way to its resolution. Similarly, a contractor noticing a maintenance issue may be assigned the task of resolving it.
Once a maintenance issue is reported and recorded on the building maintenance tracking software the building tenants can follow what is happening with the repair. Updates by the property team and contractor can be made visible so to provide peace of mind to the tenants that maintenance is in progress. The progress report and lists of all maintenance activities can easily be downloaded and reviewed for performance measurement. Tenant Associations, Residential Management Boards and Landlords can have access to shared maintenance statistics and reports, thus always have visibility of management activity.
Spending service charge money on building maintenance has to be closely monitored, not least as maintenance expenditure will need to fall within funds available for the year. With budgetary constraints and statutory expenditure limits ( as per Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act) also programmed into Dwellant, building managers are able to stay on the right side of landlord and tenant legislation. ‘Section 20’ expenditure limits relating to qualifying works and qualifying long term agreements are automatically and continuously monitored by the building maintenance tracking software, for every invoice, for every contract and for every project. A clever flagging system prompts the manager to validate expenditure and reminds of purchasing limits.
Building maintenance software programs without in-built health and safety and compliance capabilities may lead to unsafe working practices with potentially catastrophic results. Dwellant has an integrated option to link risk assessments and method statements to the work order process. This way on-site staff, office staff and contractors can all access and review documents as needed, and relevant permit to work documents can be issued quickly and accurately.
Our platform allows maintenance contractors to view any identified health and safety hazards on site, including the presence of asbestos and any unprotected areas. The health and safety information is held on the building maintenance software program for all relevant parties to see and share.
The ‘frequent event’ function for routine surveys and patrol checks provides the team on-site with structure to their working day. Whether these are for common parts site inspections, security patrols, or health and safety checks, site managers can download a monthly report for onward transmission to head office management and ultimately to the client as needed. The results of such inspections and surveys provide useful data for regular tool-box talks and training. Any reports are immediately accessible and downloadable from Dwellant’s building maintenance software program thus ideal to be used for team or client or contractor meetings.
A health and safety dashboard allows a building manager to see outstanding health and safety tasks and actions, whether they relate to fire safety, water hygiene, asbestos, utility safety or working at height. Actions resulting from risk assessments, surveys and inspection reports are extracted by the building maintenance software program and the necessary parties can view them, delegate them, mark them as ‘in progress’ and close them off once completed. The use of one system for on-site as well as off-site management means delegation to those at the coal face helps to spread the workload and accelerate its completion. As necessary, risk assessors themselves, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), the fire service and others can be given access to this Dwellant dashboard to view the courses of action prior to a health and safety incident or an accident. Near-misses as well as accidents can be recorded on Dwellant, to aid safer working practices in the future.
Automated, repeat messages from the building maintenance software program to team members facilitate the collation of such data for internal statistical analysis, safety reporting and prompting of actions outstanding.
Supply chain management is one of Dwellant’s most popular functions amongst maintenance managers. Valued contractors are provided with a login to use Dwellant to receive works orders. Firstly, they need to provide the necessary accreditation and certification, which they can do electronically on the platform. The onus is on the contractors to update their credentials as often as they are renewed, usually annually. Once approved, contractors are then able to receive and progress quotation requests and work orders. Annual regular maintenance contracts are also managed by the building maintenance software program. Automated reminders prompt the management team for contract renewals and reviews. Renewal is simple, and quotes for contracts are equally easy to obtain and accept. The building maintenance software program retains the contract history so the manager can review previous suppliers, prices and terms.
Not all can complete the circle. Dwellant does with aplomb. Once a maintenance contractor has completed a job, he can bring up the job on Dwellant, mark it as complete, upload any proof as required (e.g. a photograph) and upload an invoice there and then. The invoice - which should be coded perfectly as it was done when the order was placed - goes directly into the building manager’s workflow. The contractor can even email his invoice and it will be auto-read, matched automatically to the corresponding works order and key data populated instantly, all by our AI engine. The contractor need not do any data entry. No paper. No postage. No lost invoices - the app does all the hard work. At any time, the contractor can see on the dashboard of the building maintenance software program the status of his payment - so no chasing is required.
From the property manager’s point of view, Dwellant’s prescriptive but tried-and-tested systems ensure invoices are coded to the correct funds, schedules and nominal codes. Once the property or building manager has approved them, they are endorsed by a superior or superiors ahead of payment. Throughout, communication is facilitated through messaging flags carrying crucial information to allow approval and finally invoice payment. The building maintenance software program is monitoring input error too. Where invoice amounts differ from contracted sums or work order details, this is automatically flagged for further scrutiny.
For regular and predictable building maintenance, contracts can be set up on Dwellant, thereby ensuring invoices are auto-approved (within set expenditure tolerances) and go directly to the accounts department for payment. The data from all invoices processed in Dwellant are seamlessly uploaded to the building maintenance manager’s back-end accounts system ready for physical payment to the supplier.
Dwellant has provided its customers with a building maintenance software program that handles maintenance issue reporting through to invoice payment and everything in between.
Arguably the most important resource paid for by the service charge payers is the on-site staff. They are customer facing and usually kept very busy, especially with maintenance related tasks. Dwellant provides a building maintenance software program that ensures the on-site staff are genuinely connected to the overall management of the building. The use of our software means one system, coordinating the efforts of on-site and office based staff. It means office based property managers can delegate tasks to maintenance focussed site staff, who can then liaise directly with the contractors. In this day and age of on-site staff running the show, the greater the investment in the site staff, the less stressed the property manager becomes and the better service the residents will receive.
Whether a property manager is looking after homes or workplaces, he/she will be dealing with demanding owners and occupiers who expect maintenance issues to be dealt with efficiently and the cost of resolution reasonable. Whether homes or offices, Dwellant provides a sense of ‘community’. Our software facilitates a closeness between building management and end users, but also a closeness between the community members. Our software gives the community a voice, a platform to help make decisions, including discussion forums and voting tools.
Dwellant’s building maintenance software program gives users the ability to be self-sufficient. Why spend time on the phone with a property manager when you can report a maintenance issue through the platform and enable others in the building to see that they need not raise the same issue? To report such a maintenance issue, a user can simply send an email to the platform which in turn creates a task for the property manager. The tasks are visibly logged and can be tracked by those who need to act or need to know about the progress of the maintenance issue.
Commonly asked questions - maintenance related or otherwise - can be answered via an online residents’ guide, a guide that is constantly updated and brings to life the wider, local community.
Practically speaking, any Dwellant user can choose our building maintenance software program to make online payments from anywhere in the world. These may be for service charges, ground rent, or for individual ‘home’ services. Accessed through a secure personal vault showing all previous transactions, users can rest assured that their details are safe.
Residents and commercial tenants can access their building’s branded platform from anywhere, anytime, from a PC or smart device connected to the internet. This means that they can keep up to date with news, important messages or progress with building works. The management team has the ability through the software to issue emergency notifications via email or SMS, thus alerting of any incident or important update in real time.
The system holds a huge capacity for reporting downloads and uploads on all levels.
Senior management and operational managers alike can view activity and performance against set targets live, and can download reports across different business sectors with data analysis tools, ready for presentations or group reporting.
On a building level, the on-site estate manager can see live activities and outstanding tasks for the property and his team. Simple metrics reports keep the manager updated on critical activities and site statistics.
Typical reports include for example building unit owners registered as users on the building maintenance software program. Normally this is related to the number of units, depending on whether partners and tenants register separately, and whether commercial tenants have been invited to register.
The property manager will be interested in statistics to monitor his own performance and identify areas for improvement. The system permits managers to keep an eye on their KPIs by running status reports on day to day activities as well as specific business focuses from the building maintenance software program.
A useful report is one produced on supplier contracts. A contract describes regular, repetitive work to be carried out in the building e.g. cleaning, gardening. The building maintenance software program monitors renewal dates and reminds the team and manager when contracts need to be renewed. Checking the data regularly informs the manager of where new contracts need to be placed or renewed - very useful when consolidating.
High volume invoice processing needs close monitoring and KPIs are frequently set for invoice statuses. Dwellant’s metrics reports show data on invoices by ‘open’, ‘value’, ‘disputed’, and ‘average days to payment’.
Further operational metrics reporting relates to the number of open requests. There will always be some open requests as most jobs take more than a day to complete (especially if waiting time is included).
Reports can also be seen on the open requests, their content and for how many days they have been kept open. This can provide a picture of the efficiency of the individual manager or the team, and the speed of open requests, average age in days the request has been worked on.
Most buildings have events that are repeated at regular intervals e.g. fire alarm tests, lift alarm test, boiler maintenance etc. The key events are set up on the building maintenance software program when the property comes online. They can be added to and edited as needed. Each repeated event has a date and time and reminders are issued by the system to alert when an event is upcoming or overdue. Events can be simply closed by responding to the system email and for example attaching the relevant maintenance report, or by closing the event within the system. All documentation relating to the event and maintenance can be attached to the file, then retrieved or viewed by all staff or managers or surveyors.
Property managers often use the building maintenance software program to send updates and newsletters to leaseholders, residents or staff. Residents can in turn comment on the newsletter or pose questions. Unanswered newsletter responses will be flagged on the dashboard.
Where packages are stored by the concierge team, the building maintenance software program can be used to report on those packages that have not yet been collected. This report can be utilised by the concierge to create a list to call residents and remind them to visit reception and collect the items that have arrived for them. A mail merge can use this data to target all late collections en masse. It can also serve to record measurement of parcel turnaround and residents’ speed of pick up - and encourage efficient management of the parcel room.
Dwellant plug-in CSite allows property managers and on-site staff to conduct site surveys on a tablet. Actions populate Dwellant upon synchronisation. Concierge HV and MV seamlessly manage your on-site key, package and visitor obligations. All Dwellant plug-ins fully integrate with our central cloud-based software.
Csite is the ultimate building inspection tool for property and estate managers who wish to carry out swift and accurate site inspections.
Once you have set up a template for each building, there are three simple steps to complete.
The Csite site inspector operates anywhere with offline use. The app is downloaded on a phone or tablet and is ready to use. Using the app saves valuable time for the site surveyor. The survey and report are geo-location tracked and logged immediately, saving 90% office admin time. All data be stored where you can make it work for you and your clients.
The management tasks following on from your site visit are simple. The Csite app turns tasks into work orders there and then. The app and its functions are easy to learn and use. New staff are swiftly trained to use the tool. Csite ensures consistency of data across all teams and buildings. It provides safe and secure storage of surveys and reliable end-to-end reporting.
Csite works on any Android and IOS device; it removes all need for site inspection write ups. The inspector can work offline and synchronise the report and all photos and data once back in reception range or back in the office. Questions linked to assets and historic asset data can be saved and followed up easily, and any work orders that result from the queries can be issued immediately. The app allows the creation of template content and specific questions to ensure continuity across your portfolios.
A simple link to the Dwellant portfolio allows integration and seamless, automatic reporting of all on-site issues. Defects management has never been so easy. Geo and time stamp validate the report and make it usable for explicit uses including witness statements. Once the site survey is finalised, instructions are ready to be assigned to the contractor. The synchronised content from the site inspections is kept ready on Dwellant to be expanded on or shared with others.
All onsite staff will need to be aware of the requirements for a building’s maintenance. To teach knowledge and awareness the team will require guidance and training. Dwellant’ s property management inspection app can serve as a training instrument that gets engagement and attention from all staff. The app can facilitate the on-site staff’s genuine interested in the building’s good maintenance and provision of services and their positive input in the overall management of the building. The use of the property management inspection app will bring together the efforts of both on-site and office based staff for the benefit of the property and its stakeholders. It means office based property managers can through the use of the property management inspection app delegate tasks to maintenance focussed site staff, who can then liaise directly with the contractors as and when needed. In this day and age of on-site staff being the heart and soul of a development, the greater the investment in the site staff, the less stressed the property manager becomes and the better service the residents and the landlord will receive. The Csite property maintenance tracking software is your platform for achieving this goal.
Software security is a top priority at Dwellant. Our ISO 27001 certification gives our clients and users the assurance that all data and user functionality is protected by the highest security features. Our in-house developers maintain Dwellant’s suite of products, ensuring security remains paramount.
Data Protection is addressed via a signed agreement between Dwellant and the client. This states that the client has the legal right to disclose all personal data that it discloses to Dwellant under or in connection with this agreement and further that the client shall fully comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 and GDPR Act 2016.
Dwellant warrants that it will act only on instructions of the client in relation to the processing of any Personal Data performed by Dwellant on behalf of the client. That it has in place reasonably appropriate security measures (both technical and organisational) against unlawful or unauthorised processing of Personal Data. The web service is protected using security systems and technologies which include a Hardware Firewall configured with the minimum standard rule set and a software firewall configured to protect systems and restrict traffic to the minimum protocols. Further is administrative access given through a secure site and appropriate rules for password security enabled. Regular security monitoring and configuration checks are carried out. Dwellant provides market-leading software to ensure your and your clients’ data is handled correctly.