An initiative to partner with Multi-Family Housing Operators, to facilitate, oversee, supply and manage operations for the renovation of thousands of rental units around the country.
The Project
Changes in the economy, effecting the new housing market, necessitated a pivot from supplying new home construction to other potential verticals in the construction field.
A segment identified by GoSource leadership as fertile ground for new solutions in Construction material sourcing, were Multi-Family Owners and Operators. These are companies who operate tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of rental units at multiple properties across the United States.
Of the inventory these organizations manage (often they are not the owner), on average 5-10% are being renovated per year, this is called Capital Improvement. For a company managing 100,000 rental units, it takes a massive amount of resources to facilitate upgrades and repairs on 5,000 +/- apartments.
By partnering with such organizations, GoSource provided value by managing, providing insights, labor and materials for these projects, alleviating a huge burden.
Roles & Responsibilities
• Primary Product Designer
• Design Team Lead
• Research & Competitor Analysis
• Dev Handoff Prep
Team
Nikolay Tischenko, CPO/Co-Founder
Yuval Mekler, CTO/Co-Founder
James Porter, Senior/Founding Product Designer
Dima Portenko, Senior Developer
The Problem
• Every day a unit is unavailable to rent to a new tenant, is money lost. Apartments must be ‘turned’ as quickly as possible, without sacrificing quality of materials or workmanship.
• Between 10-15 different steps/trades, are required to remodel a living space. The oversight and logistics of this process must well coordinated, to ensure there is no down or ‘wasted’ time that increases the unit’s time off the market.
• Resources can be wasted unnecessarily sourcing materials, if there are not set packages of supplies, based on the layout, size and ‘quality’ of the unit.
• Communication and transparency are key to the Multi-Family Owners and Operators. Upper management and property managers need dependable timelines and easy insights into overall properties and individual projects.
Users
• Upper Management – Leadership on the multi-family side, executives, VP’s and regional managers.
• Property Managers – Personnel on the client’s side (multi-family operator), who oversee a(n) entire property(ies), often encompassing multiple buildings with 100+ units in each.
• Project Managers – GoSource in-house multi-family operations staff.
• On-Site Project Managers – GoSource in-house staff who are onsite ensuring quality, punctuality and troubleshooting any unforeseen issues.
• Contractors – Individual trades people hired to complete specific parts of a remodel.
Scope & Constraints
• Discoverability: whether it is upper management looking to see how many projects are in process, a property manager ensuring there are no delays, or a contractor identifying their responsibilities, make it intuitive for every user to find what they need.
• Protect Sensitive Data: a clear hierarchy of permission levels should protect sensitive customer information.
• Conserve Resources: automate the process of day to day oversight, simplify material packages, utilizing supplier relationships to ensure best pricing.
• Preserve Data: ensure a computer issue in one area does not wipeout important data (project status, metrics, etc.).
• Ensure Accountability: documenting every step of the process from previous tenant move-out to new tenant move-in, guarantees transparency into any issues.
The Solution
Implement a platform that allows easy and transparent insights, project management and communication for multiple user types. Connect a customer facing interface to an internal communications, e-commerce and management platform, storing and backing up all data.
Utilize different user permissions to compartmentalize sensitive information, as well as support each specific user, prioritizing unique needs.
Require specific assets (pictures, video, notes, etc.) before a user can sign-off on their specific responsibilities.
Automate alerts and scheduling triggers, based on dependencies in the remodel process.
Easy to Identify Progress
Allow a user to quickly and easily see which projects are on-track, which are behind schedule and which are ahead of schedule.
Documentation of projects from start to finish to quickly and easily identify choke points and the causes of any delays.
Unify the Process
For every floor plan at each property there is 1 set project plan, with a set progression. Define steps, unify as much as is possible and allow universal insight into the project status.
Automated Reports for Complete Transparency
Generate reports based on current data provided on the customer’s chosen schedule, allowing those who need, to know the status of all active projects.
Clarity of Vision at all Levels
Whether needing a global view or information about an individual unit, allow the user to adjust the level of focus accordingly.
The Process
Starting with one Multi-Family Operator and their process, build a solution to manage and facilitate capital improvement projects, that is scalable and adaptable to other partners –
- Identify all necessary steps, trades, contingencies and materials needed for a capital improvement project.
- How are the projects currently being managed and run?
- What platforms are in use to support the day-to-day operations and manage the process as a whole.
- Who needs insights into projects and their status?
- What are the ‘levels of vision’ needed, who are the stakeholders that need insights?
With this information we utilized a core design approach to conceptualize how to unify all of these needs into one digital platform.
As GoSource got a “foot-in-the-door”* with Multi-Family Operators by managing all aspects of capital improvement projects without a technical solution in place, we could easily test and iterate as products went live.
Research
Identify the steps of a capital improvement project, from start to finish. Identify responsibilities and parties involved.
* During the user interviews we discovered a massive potential issue.
- While the customer tracked the properties and units at a high level on Airtable, they did not allow our Project Manager access that platform. In order to track all projects in process, the PM was using a massive spreadsheet, containing all of the granular information. If this document was corrupted, all information about every project would be lost!?!
It was fundamental to capture and store all data, from the portfolio to the individual project step level in our enterprise platform, ensuring backup and recovery access.
Synthesize Data
Using the information gathered, I diagram the project, as a user flow and gantt chart, providing a thorough understanding of the process.
Once all steps, trades, responsibilities and dependencies were understood and confirmed with our in-house Project Manager, I could start conceptualizing how the process could be unified and simplified.
The goal was to replace all current platforms/touch-points used (phone, text, email, WhatsApp, Airtable, GoSource App, etc.) with one platform providing access points for many different types of users:
In-House (GoSource) –
- Project Manager with unlimited insights & access.
- On-site operations staff with more limited access.
At the Multi-Family Operator –
- Upper Management with insights into the company’s entire property portfolio (active projects, budgets, etc.).
- Property Managers with access to only the property(s) they manage.
- Facilities personnel with access to only the projects they are assigned to by higher permission levels.
Independent Contractors – who can see only certain parts of the projects they are assigned to.
Set-up for Project Manager
Employ the structure of the existing GoSource Enterprise Platform (MSM Portal), for a Capital Improvement Project, by adding the ability to choose:
- The floor-plan.
- The quality tier.
- Relevant dates (Vacancy, Projected Start Date, Projected Completion Date, etc.).
Project Steps & Responsibilities
Once a project has been initiated and assigned to a partner, a property, a floor-plan and a finish level; the system will automatically assign the appropriate sequence of project steps, material list, the correct property manager and prioritized due dates, based on ‘hand-over’ and estimated milestone dates.
Implement Different Permission Levels
Develop and support the needs of 5 separate user use cases.
Automated Reports
Compile reports across all properties (or a selected segment) to alert approved users as to pressing dates, status, etc.
Focus can be adjusted by properties and dates.
Intricacies of each project can be seen, document can be downloaded or shared.
Originally the reports were sent to internal PM’s to disperse, but once the system was implemented, it was quickly recognized that sending reports directly to specific stakeholders (Property Mangers and Client Leadership) was essential.
The ability to configure and automatically send reports on a predetermined schedule was prioritized and implemented. This allowed stakeholders to see what they needed to focus on and provide ‘answers’ to them, before they had to ask questions.
Conclusions
Due to a very cohesive cross functional communication and collaboration between the Product Design, Engineering and Operations Teams, functionalities were identified, designed, built and delivered very quickly.
The live product allowed collection of real-time feedback from actual users, facilitating rapid iteration of the product, to ensure it was meeting the needs of all permission levels. Additionally, unnecessary functionalities could be eliminated, so it the product remained as relevant and as ‘light-weight’ as possible.
By leveraging this cross functional collaboration, allowed the product to support the efficiency of time and effort, that was the key metric for this process.
Outcome & Results
* During follow-up user interviews with the Multi-Family partner’s leadership, a glaring blindspot was identified.
– While the partner did not own the properties they managed, they did own all appliances in every property they managed. These assets accounted for hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, for which they had no system in place for tracking and managing this inventory.
Once this need was identified, our team focused on incorporating inventory management functionalities into the Capital Improvement Management Platform.
This project was just as rewarding as it was fast paced. In a short time, we were able to build a scalable solution to manage tens of thousands of capital improvement projects, accommodate multiple stakeholders, leveraging automation, while still allowing for custom adjustments when needed.
By addressing the needs of involved parties, allowing many user types to interact in one space, while insulating sensitive information, the MultiFamily Initiative simplified the process and expedited the desired results.
As of December, 2024, this product is being used by 23 Multi-Family partners, accounting for more than 75% of GoSource’s current quarterly revenue.
Customer benefits include:
- 11% IRR increase, on average
- 2x faster project turnaround times
- 22% savings on materials from top-tier brands
- 24/7 support for smooth operations and execution
Lessons Learned
• Witnessing a user’s process thoroughly is essential to understanding the problem space, and often reveals unexpected insights. An example here was learning about a massive and potentially catastrophic approach to data storage.
• Nothing can replace watching a user working with the live (or close facsimile) product. Whether due to Social Desirability Bias, or another cause, what user’s say often differs from what they do.
• Early user research can identify many ‘needs’. Occasionally, a functionality deemed necessary will go unused, once added to the live platform. Without tracking data or follow up testing this can go unnoticed, leading to unnecessary allocation of resources to maintain superfluous features.
Recommendation
“It’s my pleasure to recommend James for his exceptional work at GoSource. During his work at GoSource, he has consistently demonstrated strong leadership in managing the design team, ensuring priorities are clearly set and the right designers are allocated to the right projects. He took initiatives from early-stage ideation through to discovery, prototypes, and eventually to high-resolution, developer-ready handoffs which have been instrumental to our product success.
One of his key strengths is the seamless collaboration with Product/Project Managers, ensuring efficient asset allocation and effective management of all design projects.
Not only has he played a pivotal role in competitive analysis, which informed and led the design and launch of GoSource’s four platforms—app, MSM Portal, Enterprise Platform, and Marketplace—but he also proactively identified new opportunities for innovation in our product offerings, furthering our competitive advantage in the market.
Additionally:
1. James implemented a structured design process that significantly improved turnaround time for critical design assets.
2. Fostered a collaborative team environment where feedback was encouraged, leading to more innovative solutions.
3. Consistently mentored junior designers, cultivating a culture of growth and professional development within the team.
James is a highly skilled, detail-oriented, and forward-thinking design leader, and any organization would be lucky to have him as part of their team.”
Nickolay Tischenko
Co-Founder, CPO
GoSource, Jun 2022 – Present
