Building Property Management App from Scratch

Property management mobile app that simplifies rentals, tenancies, and maintenance workflows.

How can we address the lack of integrated solutions in the rental market for landlords and tenants, resulting in disjointed property management, inadequate communication tools, manual lease handling, and platform fragmentation?

Designed a mobile app for efficient rental property management with real-time features, tenant screening, lease control, instant communication, and maintenance management, enhancing tenant satisfaction and business performance.

80% users reported satisfaction following iteration enhancements.

1.5x confidence boost with the app for property and tenancy management

40% increase in user perception of app ease-of-use post iteration

This project challenged me as the sole designer, requiring me to take on the role of a senior designer, making crucial decisions. I gained invaluable lessons about design and the importance of senior leadership guidance through this experience.

Beginning with thorough research, we understood business objectives, market dynamics, and user needs through methods like market research, user interviews, and affinity mapping. We generated ideas, identified core functionalities, and established information architecture and user flow.

We used an agile approach with weekly sprints for flexibility and progress. We made rough designs in the Design phase, adjusting them based on feedback. Then, we tested them refining based on user feedback. Finally, we finalized designs and prototypes for production, making further improvements based on user interactions.

A commissioned market research report gathered insights on challenges for renters and property owners via online surveys, focus groups, and interviews, yielding substantial data on rental market issues.

Key findings from the research elucidate crucial pain points and needs shared by renters and property owners alike, shedding light on overarching challenges within the rental market. This extensive analysis unveils common obstacles faced by stakeholders, underscoring the necessity for holistic solutions to streamline processes and enhance user experiences.

After conducting in-depth user interviews and analyzing the data, we have synthesized our findings into an affinity map to categorize the needs, pain points, and preferences of different stakeholders involved in property management.

Create an integrated property management solution for landlords

Develop a user-friendly platform for tenants

Improve communication and scheduling for service providers

The affinity mapping process revealed a clear need for a multifaceted property management solution that addresses the specific pain points and preferences of landlords, tenants, and service providers, including streamlining communication, automating tasks, and providing a centralized platform for managing all aspects of property management

We surveyed the market to find existing tools for property management and tenant communication.

Existing property management apps are limited in scope, lacking comprehensive solutions for property owners and tenants. There's a need for a unified tool to address the diverse needs of all stakeholders efficiently.

Following our research, I led a brainstorming session to generate potential solutions, emphasizing idea generation without feasibility constraints initially. We identified a promising solution: a single account with multiple profiles for different user types. While focusing on property owners and tenants for the initial launch to mitigate delays.

We identified a set of core functionalities that we believed were crucial for the success of the app:

To demonstrate the essential features, we've crafted a simple flowchart outlining key user tasks. The diagram below illustrates a process specifically tailored for landlords.

I quickly started creating low-fidelity wireframes of the main flow & functionalities.

Initially, I aimed to assess if the design supports landlords and tenants in property management, boosting confidence. A basic prototype for usability testing and improvement before full implementation.

Feedback sessions were conducted with three experienced landlords and two new tenants to assess the app's usability. Data was then collected through a questionnaire to measure design success quantitatively.

To assess design success quantitatively, goals were broken down into measurable objectives. A questionnaire was used to collect data. All five users expressed confidence in using the app for daily property management tasks, with four reporting complete satisfaction with its features.

Feedback sessions were conducted with three experienced landlords and two new tenants to assess the app's usability. Data was then collected through a questionnaire to measure design success quantitatively.

Simplifying User Flow: Integrating listing function directly into units reduces confusion

UI Decluttering: Grouping options under higher-level category based on user feedback.

Maintaining Usability: Creating dedicated tenant screen and relocating options for user clarity.

Users suggested integrating the listing function directly into added units for clarity. Based on this feedback, we simplified the UI by grouping options under higher-level categories. To maintain usability, we created a dedicated tenant screen and relocated relevant options.