"Do I really need another system, or can my current systems cover Homepal?" (well... no)
A common question when Homepal comes up is, “Can't we just build this ourselves in a tool we already have?”
Let's talk about it!
It is reasonable to consider whether existing systems can solve a problem before purchasing something new! Many real estate companies already have access to tools such as Hypergene, Insikt, or Power BI—and many are experiencing, quite rightly, a certain amount of system fatigue. Is it really necessary to add yet another system to the pile? Shouldn't it be possible to achieve the same effect with the systems you already have?
The short answer is yes, it is entirely possible to connect data from different sources and build dashboards in other platforms. It is done every day. But – and this is crucial – just because something is possible does not mean it is meaningful. There is a difference between being able to build a solution and having a tool that actually works, is used, and is developed—and who is responsible for that development.
To understand the difference, we need to look at what it actually takes to build it yourself—and what you get when you choose Homepal. Here is a step-by-step comparison.
With Homepal:
With Homepal, you don't even have to think about this part. You won't even notice it happening. Still curious? We have a ready-made, proven data model that perfectly suits the needs of the real estate industry. It is flexible, clear, and directly linked to the key figures you need. You don't have to do the technical work and, above all, pay for someone to reinvent the wheel for you when it's already available. You can focus on what actually creates value: using the insights in your business.
Step 4: Build dashboards and reports
Your own solution:
Once the data is structured, you need to create visualizations that are understandable, relevant, and useful. Each dashboard must be designed, filtered, linked to the right data sources, and tested. In addition, the right people must have access to the right reports—which requires rights management and maintenance.
If you want to customize the views, change filters, or add new reports yourself, you often need the same technical expertise as in the previous steps—or help from a consultant.
With Homepal:
Homepal gives you access to thousands of ready-made visualizations—for rentals, operations, customer service, fault reports, finance, energy, sustainability, and much more. They are built for real estate companies, tested in practice, and ready to be activated. You can adjust them yourself with user-friendly drag-and-drop features and an intuitive interface – if there's one thing our customers testify to, it's how EASY Homepal is to use. In addition, we are always available in the support chat and on the phone, always free of charge. You should focus on making the right decisions, not struggling to find the information you need.
Step 5: Operation, further development, and support
Your own solution:
A self-built system is never finished. The data needs to be maintained, the visualizations adjusted, models updated, and users onboarded. When key figures change or new questions arise, someone needs to own and develop the solution. In practice, this means that you have to allocate time, money, and expertise—not just to build, but to maintain and improve. In practice, this very rarely works the way you want it to.
With Homepal:
Homepal manages itself. We continuously develop the platform based on the needs we identify from our customers. When we build something together with a company, all other customers also get to use that functionality – at no extra cost. You get a tool that gets better every week, without having to spend time or money on development.
Summary
Building your own solution in a general BI tool is entirely possible. But it requires expertise, time, commitment, and ongoing responsibility for development. In practice, it often ends up being more expensive, slower, and less sustainable—especially for property management, where needs are many and change over time.
Homepal is a ready-to-use alternative, built specifically for your industry, developed in collaboration with real estate companies across Sweden – and which continues to evolve without you having to do the work. That's why it's not just easier to get started. It's a better decision, both in the short and long term.
Calculate your price, or contact us here.
With Homepal:
With Homepal, you don't even have to think about this part. You won't even notice it happening. Still curious? We have a ready-made, proven data model that perfectly suits the needs of the real estate industry. It is flexible, clear, and directly linked to the key figures you need. You don't have to do the technical work and, above all, pay for someone to reinvent the wheel for you when it's already available. You can focus on what actually creates value: using the insights in your business.
Step 4: Build dashboards and reports
Your own solution:
Once the data is structured, you need to create visualizations that are understandable, relevant, and useful. Each dashboard must be designed, filtered, linked to the right data sources, and tested. In addition, the right people must have access to the right reports—which requires rights management and maintenance.
If you want to customize the views, change filters, or add new reports yourself, you often need the same technical expertise as in the previous steps—or help from a consultant.
With Homepal:
Homepal gives you access to thousands of ready-made visualizations—for rentals, operations, customer service, fault reports, finance, energy, sustainability, and much more. They are built for real estate companies, tested in practice, and ready to be activated. You can adjust them yourself with user-friendly drag-and-drop features and an intuitive interface – if there's one thing our customers testify to, it's how EASY Homepal is to use. In addition, we are always available in the support chat and on the phone, always free of charge. You should focus on making the right decisions, not struggling to find the information you need.
Step 5: Operation, further development, and support
Your own solution:
A self-built system is never finished. The data needs to be maintained, the visualizations adjusted, models updated, and users onboarded. When key figures change or new questions arise, someone needs to own and develop the solution. In practice, this means that you have to allocate time, money, and expertise—not just to build, but to maintain and improve. In practice, this very rarely works the way you want it to.
With Homepal:
Homepal manages itself. We continuously develop the platform based on the needs we identify from our customers. When we build something together with a company, all other customers also get to use that functionality – at no extra cost. You get a tool that gets better every week, without having to spend time or money on development.
Summary
Building your own solution in a general BI tool is entirely possible. But it requires expertise, time, commitment, and ongoing responsibility for development. In practice, it often ends up being more expensive, slower, and less sustainable—especially for property management, where needs are many and change over time.
Homepal is a ready-to-use alternative, built specifically for your industry, developed in collaboration with real estate companies across Sweden – and which continues to evolve without you having to do the work. That's why it's not just easier to get started. It's a better decision, both in the short and long term.
Calculate your price, or contact us here.
Step 1: Do you know exactly what you want?
Do it yourself:
Before anything is built, you must first develop detailed documentation. Which key figures should be monitored? How should they be defined? Which data source contains the information, and what is its structure? For example, what does “rental rate” mean to you – is it based on the number of apartments, floor space, contracts, or something else? It is not enough to know what you want to track – you also need to have a deep understanding of how the figures should be calculated and why.
For most real estate companies, this means gathering expertise from different parts of the organization – and often involving external consultants who can set requirements, translate between business and technology, and document everything. It's a lot of work even before a single line of code has been written or a dashboard created.
With Homepal:
In Homepal, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. We've done this countless times before and know exactly how key figures are defined and packaged for different roles in your organization. Homepal is built by the industry, with the industry – and we know exactly how other real estate companies – with similar structures, portfolios and goals to yours – have chosen to follow up and how they do it in practice. When you get started with Homepal, you don't have to start with a blank requirements specification. You get ready-made, validated templates to start from – and a team that drives the setup for your specific organization.
Step 2: Structure and retrieve data
Do it yourself:
In order for data to be used, it must first be made available – via APIs, exports, databases, or file transfers. In practice, this means dialogue with system suppliers, projects with integration consultants, legal handling of data storage and access, and extensive work to understand the quality and structure of the data.
For many real estate companies, this is one of the biggest hurdles – anyone who has done it before knows that implementations are painful processes. Some data sources require special solutions, others deliver inconsistent data – and it is your responsibility to solve this. It often takes months before any data transfer can begin.
With Homepal:
We have ready-made integrations and established relationships with all systems in the industry. We have good channels of communication between us and know exactly what to ask for – and above all, we have already made this journey many times. You send an email to your supplier saying “I want integration with Homepal” – then we take over. Go and have a coffee. When you give us access to your systems, the rest is our job. You avoid long integration projects and can get started in a few weeks – not months.
Step 3: Model the data
Do it yourself:
Retrieving data is just the beginning. To be able to analyze it, you need to create a data model – a structure where information from different systems is linked together in the right way. This involves building relationship diagrams, making calculations, aggregating, filtering, and normalizing. For this to work, you need technical expertise in data modeling, SQL, BI architecture – or access to external consultants who can do it for you.
You also need to think long term: the model must be able to change over time, scale up, and handle new needs. If you do it yourself, you – or your consultant – are responsible for ensuring that it works. And to address the elephant in the room: consultants, no matter how skilled they may be, tend to 1) lack sufficient in-depth expertise in real estate data and therefore need explanations and reviews of “what does vacancy actually mean?” and 2) earn more money the more hours they spend on a project. So think twice before putting your future in the hands of someone who doesn't know your industry and also has something to gain from it taking a long time.
With Homepal:
With Homepal, you don't even have to think about this part. You won't even notice it happening. Still curious? We have a ready-made, proven data model that perfectly suits the needs of the real estate industry. It is flexible, clear, and directly linked to the key figures you need. You don't have to do the technical work and, above all, pay for someone to reinvent the wheel for you when it's already available. You can focus on what actually creates value: using the insights in your business.
Step 4: Build dashboards and reports
Do it yourself:
Once the data is structured, you need to create visualizations that are understandable, relevant, and useful. Each dashboard must be designed, filtered, linked to the right data sources, and tested. In addition, the right people must have access to the right reports—which requires rights management and maintenance.
If you want to customize the views, change filters, or add new reports yourself, you often need the same technical expertise as in the previous steps—or help from a consultant.
With Homepal:
Homepal gives you access to thousands of ready-made visualizations—for rentals, operations, customer service, fault reports, finance, energy, sustainability, and much more. They are built for real estate companies, tested in practice, and ready to be activated. You can adjust them yourself with user-friendly drag-and-drop features and an intuitive interface – if there's one thing our customers testify to, it's how EASY Homepal is to use. In addition, we are always available in the support chat and on the phone, always free of charge. You should focus on making the right decisions, not struggling to find the information you need.
Step 5: Operation, further development, and support
Do it yourself:
A self-built system is never finished. The data needs to be maintained, the visualizations adjusted, models updated, and users onboarded. When key figures change or new questions arise, someone needs to own and develop the solution. In practice, this means that you have to allocate time, money, and expertise—not just to build, but to maintain and improve. In practice, this very rarely works the way you want it to.
With Homepal:
Homepal manages itself. We continuously develop the platform based on the needs we identify from our customers. When we build something together with a company, all other customers also get to use that functionality – at no extra cost. You get a tool that gets better every week, without having to spend time or money on development.
Summary
Building your own solution in a general BI tool is entirely possible. But it requires expertise, time, commitment, and ongoing responsibility for development. In practice, it often ends up being more expensive, slower, and less sustainable—especially for property management, where needs are many and change over time.
Homepal is a ready-to-use alternative, built specifically for your industry, developed in collaboration with real estate companies across Sweden – and which continues to evolve without you having to do the work. That's why it's not just easier to get started. It's a better decision, both in the short and long term.
Calculate your price→, or contact us here→.
