Property Management CRM
Designed and implemented a CRM system for a growing lettings agency, replacing spreadsheets with a unified platform for property, tenant, and contractor management.
Client
Greenfield Lettings
Role
CRM Architect
Duration
3 months
Tools
HubSpot, Zapier, PostgreSQL, Airtable
Overview
Greenfield Lettings had grown from managing 30 properties to over 200, but their systems hadn't kept pace. Client information lived in spreadsheets, maintenance requests came through email, and nobody had a clear view of the pipeline. They needed a CRM that could handle property listings, tenant relationships, and contractor coordination in one place.
Constraints
Time
Three months to full implementation with minimal disruption to daily operations
Budget
Mid-range budget requiring efficient use of existing tool subscriptions
Team
Small office team with varying technical comfort levels
Platform
Needed to integrate with existing accounting software and property portals
Approach
Started by mapping every existing workflow—how leads came in, how viewings were scheduled, how maintenance requests were tracked. This revealed where information was getting lost and where manual work could be automated.
Chose HubSpot as the core CRM for its balance of power and usability, but built a supporting PostgreSQL database for property-specific data that needed more structure than HubSpot could provide.
Created custom pipelines for different transaction types: lettings, renewals, and maintenance. Each had its own stages and automation rules, but they all fed into unified contact records.
Built Zapier workflows to connect the CRM with their property portals and accounting software, eliminating the double-entry that was consuming hours of admin time each week.
Outcome
- Admin time reduced by approximately 12 hours per week
- Lead response time improved from 24+ hours to under 2 hours
- Zero lost enquiries in six months post-implementation
- Maintenance request resolution time halved
The implementation gave Greenfield a single source of truth for all client and property data. More importantly, it freed up the team to focus on relationships rather than data entry.
Reflection
What worked
- Mapping existing workflows before touching any software prevented us from automating broken processes
- Using HubSpot for CRM and PostgreSQL for property data gave us the best of both worlds
- Building in training time from the start meant adoption was smooth
What didn't
- Initial data migration took longer than estimated due to inconsistent formatting in legacy spreadsheets
- Some automations were too aggressive at first and needed manual override options
What I would do differently
Would have done a more thorough data audit before starting the migration. Cleaning up years of inconsistent data formatting mid-project was avoidable.