Utility Junction – The Utility Bill Management Solution
A large property portfolio presents many operational challenges. This applies to property management companies, vacation rentals hosts (Airbnb, VRBO) as well companies in the innovative real estate space.
While each niche has its own set of challenges, one common challenge across all of them is – managing utilities. One may say what challenges can anyone face in managing utilities? Guess what, there are quite a few.
Here are the top 4 challenges companies in the real estate space face
1. Managing utility connections & disconnections
We have come across business categories in the real estate niche who have varying views on this. Some consider this the simplest thing to do. For some, this is where they need help and are willing to explore their options. In our experience, utility connections & disconnections are not as simple as they sound. Consider this:
– A new tenant moves in and does not get the services transferred to his/her name making the home buying experience frustrating.
– You have sold the property and new owners do not get the services set up in their name.
– You have purchased the property and the utilities are not connected which hampers your renovation crews who are on site.
These are some of the situations that our clients have experienced first-hand. And this is where we intend to make the difference. With our TAP (Turn on, Analyze & Pay) model being our guiding principle we ensure our clients never face the above situations.
Gone are the days when large portfolios could be managed using offline manual tools. In today’s technologically advanced times, our Utility Management Platform steps in to address this need. By managing the property portfolio on our dashboard, you get complete control of your utilities. With a few clicks, you can submit the request to either connect or disconnect services and our team does all the heavy lifting from there. No more following up with service providers, no waiting on the phone due to long hold times. And yes, we connect services with the service providers that best fit your needs.
2. Tracking utility bills
Thus far we’ve seen tracking of utility bills always takes a back seat. This is because –
– the bills are scattered.
– received via many mediums (mail or email).
– the need to manually update multiple pieces of information in tools used to track them.
– the effort of analyzing the consumption & expenses trends.
This is where our platform makes the difference. We call it smart & intelligent. With data getting fed to it, it continues to learn from it. Learn the consumption trends, spending trends & more. The next time you come back to add a bill, you only need to update the service period, the consumption, the bill amount & the due date. It remembers everything else. Also, based on the last bill information that was updated, as you start entering the service period, the dashboard predicts the due date.
Now we know that some users do need a little more push to start tracking their bills. Hence, once you have activated your account and added the property details, the dashboard reminds you twice a month to update your bills.
During a quick survey that we conducted, we were able to gather data that confirmed that when it comes to building a habit (in our case tracking bills regularly), one needs continuous nudging. The dashboard is well aware of it. Hence, for users who have added a bill and then don’t feel the vibe to add the next one, the dashboard sends a Smart Bill Addition Reminder. Fancy title!! These reminders are linked to the last bill entry. Based on that, the dashboard predicts that your next bill should have been generated & sends you a reminder to add the bills to the dashboard.
Now one may ask – why so many reminders to add bills? This is because unless the dashboard gets data, how will it analyze your usage and provide you easy to understand trends? Wouldn’t it be perfect that the high electricity expenses are budgeted for the summer months and high energy expenses are budgeted for the winter months? To help you with this budgeting, the dashboard needs the data.
3. Managing bill payments
Managing bills has always involved many touchpoints. Bills are received either via regular mail, email or on service providers online portals. Then comes the effort to check them and finally make the payment. This sounds tedious. Imagine going through this process when managing a portfolio of properties. The effort involved in managing it is unimaginable. Now, imagine the effort involved in ensuring these bills are paid on time using manual, offline tools.
No wonder, this activity has always been a pain point for every client we have worked with. So the question is, what can be done to improve this experience. Well, quite a bit. That’s where our utility management platform (utility dashboard) makes a difference.
With all the bills getting tracked under one roof, it takes away the need to maintain many offline trackers. As soon as the bills are added to the dashboard, it starts tracking if you have completed the bill payment. Until the bill is marked as paid, the dashboard sends reminders:
– 5 days before the due date.
– 3 days before the due date.
– On the due date.
Now just in case, the bill is not marked as paid even after the due date; the dashboard sends more reminders. This is to ensure you do not face utility disconnection issues. The reminders are sent:
– 3 days after the due date.
– 5 days after the due date.
– 10 days after the due date.
Once you have added bills to the dashboard, you no longer need to manually track the next bills, manually. This is done by the:
– Smart Bill Addition Reminders – This is based on the service period of the last bill. Based on that, the dashboard predicts the next bill period & by then if it does not sense a new bill addition, it sends you a reminder to add the bill.
– Smart Bill Payment Reminder – This is based on the service period & the due date of the last bill. Based on that, the dashboard predicts the next bill period and the related due date & by then if it does not sense a new bill addition, it sends you a reminder to make the payment, 6 days before the predicted due date.
Apart from all these, the dashboard does send you 2 generic reminders during the month. If bills are added to the dashboard based on these, the dashboard is smart enough to not spam you with the rest of the reminders to add the bills.
At the end of the month & beginning of the next month, if you have any bills outstanding (pending to be marked as paid), the dashboard sends you a consolidated summary email with the details of all the bills not marked as paid.
This entire mechanism ensures that you never miss a bill and more importantly never pay late fees. We have a saying for our reminder mechanism – They will get under your skin but not under your pocket.
4. Lack of centralized data to have an efficient budget for utility expenses
For a lot of organizations we have worked it, utility management is all about:
– Connecting the utilities on time.
– Making the bill payments on time.
For us, efficient utility management also involves being able to budget for any upcoming utility expenses. Usually, the data for utility consumption and expenses are scattered. By tracking the utilities under one roof, you ensure that the data is being centrally collected & collated. This ensures:
– You are able to access the data for the utilities under one roof.
– Getting meaningful analysis at a property level.
This ensures you are able to better predict the upcoming utility expenses, and becomes especially important for:
– Vacation rentals hosts (Airbnb Hosts, VRBO hosts)
– Property Managers especially when the utility expenses are borne by the landlord.
– Individuals/companies with investment properties who follow the DIY approach.
For us the list of what our platform can do is endless. However, we felt compelled to share this with everyone, especially in the real estate niche. This is because the founding team for this platform runs a property management company, where they have experienced all these challenges first hand. As a result, our platform is solution-oriented and brings a noticeable difference to the finances of this niche.
So, let’s connect for a discovery call & we can discuss the challenges you are facing in your operations. Know exactly what you need, contact us here or send us an email at support@utilityjunction.net