The LEGO Guide to Workflow Implementation for Property Managers
You’ve been drowning in information about automations. You know you need to automate but you have been unsure where to start, until now. You took the plunge and purchased a business process automation platform. NOW WHAT?
The software alone won’t transform your operations. It takes strategy, customization, and the right implementation, in the right order to bring your automations to life.No matter which platform you choose for automating, none of them are a plug-and-play experience. You just started a project with many layers and steps to it. You just bought the most advanced LEGO set on the shelf.
My son started building LEGOs when he was very young. From simple sets to complex LEGO Technic models and LEGO robotics competitions, he learned through trial, error, and experience. Now he’s heading to college to study mechanical engineering, and yes, he still plays with "LEGOs," just the grown-up kind, like robotics and mechanical design.
The LEGO Model of Workflow Implementation
Buying a system like Aptly, LeadSimple, Monday.com, or Asana is like buying a massive LEGO set. You have all the pieces and some instructions, but turning it intosomething functional is a whole other story.
You may know what the end result should look like (like the picture on the box!) but that doesn’t mean you know how to build it. If you haven’t built a complex set before, it’s easy to make mistakes. Business workflows are no different.
Even if you know your process, you may not know how to translate it into a platform like Aptly. Or worse—you think you do, only to find out ten steps in that it’s not working.
Small errors early in the build often lead to massive rework. This is where a consultant helps. We understand your instructions (aka your business process) and we also know the full parts catalog of what your software can do. That’s how we help you build it right, faster, and without backtracking.
No One-Size-Fits-All Workflow (And Why That Matters)
Just as no two LEGO builds are identical, no two property management businesses are the same. A pod-structured team operates differently from a non-pod setup. Your team structure, goals, and communication flows all affect your workflows.
Some software systems integrate well with others. Rentvine, for example, supports two-way data syncing. AppFolio, on the other hand, supports only one-way data flow. That changes everything about how workflows should be designed.
Even with the same platform, your processes and system dependencies mean you’ll need different configurations than the next company. Best practices help, but they apply to individual pieces, not the whole system. Think:
Using Calendly integrations to schedule showings and trigger tasks
Sending automated lease renewals on a rolling timeline
Creating maintenance workflows based on tenant input
These are clever techniques. But they only work if you’ve got the right structure to support them. Explore our workflow mapping services.
"I Didn’t Know It Would Cost This Much"
One of my clients recently told me they were surprised by the cost of implementing their Aptly workflows. That’s fair. Many people don’t expect that implementing automation takes more than just a login.
But someone has to build it. Whether that’s you, someone on your team, the software company, or a consultant like me—it takes time and skill. The more you want the system to do, the more investment it takes.
You can start small with owner leads or maintenance requests. Or you can build out your entire platform. Either way, it has to be built. Check out our Aptly Setup Checklist.
Build It Right the First Time
We’ve seen companies build entire onboarding processes off the wrong data. One client had a new process architect who didn’t realize that onboarding should be built around the newly added cards in the Units board. Instead, she duplicated fields and logic across multiple boards and workflows, using another data source that seemed logical at the time. The result? A complex web of duplicated effort that could have been avoided entirely by pointing to the Unit card from the beginning. Eventually, the entire onboarding workflow had to be scrapped and rebuilt, wasting time and creating confusion for the team.
That’s why building it right the first time matters. Whether you’re assembling a LEGO Lamborghini or designing a workflow for your business, what you build is only as good as the foundation.
Yes, implementation costs money. But it’s not just a cost. It’s an investment in doing it right.
The Piece Most Property Managers Skip
Workflows aren’t built in a day. They’re not downloaded and done. They are carefully crafted, tested, and refined—just like any great LEGO build. You can try to go it alone, but without a clear plan and the right expertise, it can quickly turn into a time-consuming rebuild.
At home, we have LEGO models in various states of disrepair—on shelves, in drawers, tucked in closets. Each one reflects hours of building, enjoyment, and learning. It’s a lifetime of building.
That lifetime of building applies to us, too. We've spent years building systems, processes, and solutions for property management professionals. We know how to take your vision and turn it into a working solution—efficiently, correctly, and customized to your business.
So take the time. Use the right pieces. And if you need help building your business workflows into something amazing, you know who to call.
