Aprao | Blog

Real estate tech to empower your development business

Written by Daniel Norman | January 10, 2022

Technology is driving change in the Australian real estate market and helping create more innovative solutions for companies across the sector. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the property development trade, where developers are benefiting from tech advancements designed to offer a seamless approach to building homes. 

Excel spreadsheets, endless emails, and day-to-day manual management are all becoming tasks of the past, thanks to tech solutions. In their place is proptech software that reduces the time it takes to complete tasks. 

Whether you’re a real estate development company with years on the clock or are just starting out, we’ve put together the best technology to drive your brand forward. So read on and discover the digital platforms designed to turbocharge your property development business.

Real Estate Data

Pricefinder

With Pricefinder, you can generate suburb reports, valuation estimations and more. The Map Search function lets users search by state and find the information they need for areas and property. You can also take advantage of data-driven research to identify new development opportunities while minimising risk.

Nearmap

Nearmap is an Australian aerial imagery technology and location data company offering developers in-depth details about their next site. It lets you conduct research remotely, and you can assess current and prospective property assets. Nearmap also lets you save time and money as there’s no need for in-person inspections and evaluations.

CoreLogic RP Data

Use CoreLogic RP Data for the latest property data, reports and desktop valuations. From cost estimates for residential building materials to getting time-frames for approval times on building projects, CoreLogic lets you control every aspect of the project at hand. 

On The House

Search more than 12 million properties using On The House and get a better picture of estimated values, land sizes, sold histories and what’s currently on the market. Using On The House can offer more details about the potential of an area and what current properties have already achieved in the sales and rental market. 

pointData

You can harness the power of data and make more informed decisions about your next project with pointData. It’s powered by AI, which identifies property data and real estate trends to give property professionals more clarity over their business decisions. 

Australian Property Monitors

Since its inception in 1989, Australian Property Monitors has delivered data to several industries, including real estate. You can get better insights into data types and use them to make decisions about your next real estate project. 

Archistar

Archistar lets property professionals find, assess and design sites, turning what would normally be a month’s long process into a 10-minute analysis. With Archistar, you get 25,000-plus data sources, the ability to scroll through thousands of sites with ease, and an instant feasibility and compliance check. Using Archistar helps you rescue risk from pre-design to operation. 

Construction Management Tools

Procore

ProCore operates in 125 countries, including Australia, and lets you manage projects, resources and financials from project planning to closeout. With Procore, you can also look after tender management and estimations, meaning you can focus on building while taking fewer risks and improving on profits.  

Buildertrend

Connect your teams with Buildertrend and oversee every part of the process, from pre-sales to project management and even customer management. There’s more transparency between teams, and you can enjoy oversight on development projects, which gives you access to a single portal where you can centralise all communication and share progress updates with ease. 

Autodesk BIM 360

Autodesk BIM 360 is construction management software designed to help you connect workflows, teams and data. It enables you to deliver projects on time while reducing risk and improving quality across all layers of your team thanks to its ability to predict safety hazards, proactively manage quality, automate tasks and reduce rework. As a result, you can stay in control of costs and keep on schedule.

RedTeam

Founded in 2006, RedTeam is popular with construction contractors of small-to-midsize thanks to its competitive pricing. It’s web-based, meaning you can access it from any device with an internet connection. RedTeam allows you to manage customer databases, build and manage budgets, create RFQs, develop estimates, generate bids and much more. 

Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate

While RedTeam is popular with smaller businesses, Sage 300 is the construction management tool of choice for larger enterprises. It helps development businesses that use complex workflows and manage large-scale projects, giving organisations increased visibility into the entire construction process. Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate is an on-premise solution, meaning it needs to be installed on a central company server and accessed from licensed workstations. 

 

Procurement Platforms

NexusPayables

As a payment automation software for the real estate industry, you can use NexusPayables as a procure-to-pay solution for your property development business. It takes a 360-degree view of customer and supplier needs, addressing pain points unique to real estate. NexusPayables allows you to track the progress of invoices and payments throughout the cycle while building custom workflows and comparing budgets, and more. 

Yardi

Yardi works for all sections of the housing sector, from multi-family builds to senior living and more. Use it to benefit from strong compliance, increased flexibility and an extended procurement platform for property businesses of any size. 

Productivity tools

Quickbooks

As one of the world’s most-used accounting platforms, Quickbooks is a favourite with businesses in a variety of industries, including real estate. Take control of your expenditure, getting insights into VAT, taxes and invoices. You don’t need to be an accounting pro to use the software, either. Quickbooks is designed for ease and efficiency. 

Trello

Manage tasks with more collaboration on Trello. Using cards, you can create entire projects and share them with your team so everyone knows where they stand. Brainstorm your next development, or use it to move tasks through the pipeline for your current projects and enjoy real-time updates with total transparency.

Boomerang

When it comes to the marketing aspect of your development business, you’ll want to create clear promotional guidelines that hit the right spot with your target audience. With Boomerang, you can focus on the email aspect and write and schedule them for the perfect send time to give your marketing a boost. You can also set reminders so you can follow up with prospects.  

Monday.com

Monday.com is a powerful workflow system that simplifies collaboration across all departments. Detail every aspect of your real estate development business and take advantage of the CRM to move leads through the pipeline and gain better awareness of every part of the business, from development to the after-sales process. 

Google Workspace

An increasing number of businesses are switching their entire setups over to Google, using its email, video functions and day-to-day working documents. With Google Workspace, you can collaborate in real-time with Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides, giving your team a smarter way to work on projects. 

Bonus: Aprao

Of course, there’s Aprao, too. Our property appraisal software gets you results faster by increasing accuracy, efficiency and consistency. Automated cash flows let developers make predictions with confidence, while sensitivity reports help provide more details about potential projects. Learn the financials of your next development – find out more about how Aprao can help. 

Screenshot of the Aprao Finance tab, which helps you make interest and funding calculations on your development project. 

Like the sound of it? Get started free with Aprao, no credit card required.

Summary

The solutions on this list are designed to make your life just that little bit easier, giving you smoother processes and more clarity over projects. Whether you need construction software, an appraisal platform or a bit of everything, you can run your real estate development business while saving time and money.