DoorLoop vs. Building Stack: What's the Best Canadian Property Management Software?

Property managers juggle a plethora of tasks every day, from managing their relationships with tenants and property owners to staying on top of lease management, financial management, and all other aspects of property management.

Whether you manage commercial properties, residential properties, industrial properties, student housing, or other types of real estate, having the right property management software to help take care of your property portfolio is essential.

For Canadian property managers looking for the best property management software for their company, we've created this guide to help you in your decision-making process.

DoorLoop is our very own rental property management software built by property managers, for property managers. But how does it stack up against competitors in how it helps manage real estate?

If you're looking for a Canadian property management solution, then look no further than this article on Building Stack vs. DoorLoop.

We'll begin by providing an overview of what types of features popular property management software usually includes and then comparing the two tools to one another with regard to some of those features.

We'll then give you some tips for making the final decision.

Popular Property Management Software Features

When looking for a Canadian property management solution for your company, you should keep the typical needs of property managers and management companies in mind.

The best property management software will meet these needs through its comprehensive features.

Here are some of those key features Canadian businesses should look for:

• Accounting tools
• Reports for analyzing cash flow, profits and losses, and more
• Other financial management features
• Property maintenance requests and management
• Rent collection
• Resident portal
• Owner portal
• Marketing tools
• Communications

It's also worth checking which of these features is available on the website platform and mobile app of the property management software, where applicable. That way you can ensure that the tool truly will work on the go, wherever and whenever you need it.

Building Stack vs. DoorLoop Features

So do DoorLoop and Building Stack have these features? Where do they stand out in providing them to property owners and management companies?

Let's go over the different features each of these property management software options provide for property managers of residential properties, commercial real estate, student housing, and more.

Accounting

Without a doubt, accounting and financial management are a huge sore spot for property managers. Whether you manage residential properties, commercial real estate, or any other type of real estate investment, accounting is both time consuming and consequential.

Thankfully, property management software either fully or semi-automates bookkeeping tasks so that your accounting is in line at all times.

DoorLoop

DoorLoop is a cloud-based property management software with a complete suite of accounting features. The suite not only is built to replace other accounting solutions but also is available on the go, whether you want to use the website or mobile app.

With DoorLoop, you can track rent payments, perform bank reconciliation billing, and view a full chart of your accounts.

Building Stack

Building Stack is another cloud-based property management software. It has a wealth of accounting features, including detailed time and expense reporting options and other customizable reports for property owners and other parties.

As a property manager, you can export bills into a PDF invoice with your company logo and details and automatically generate bills for recurring expenses.

Lease Management

Leasing is the building block of property management. It's what sets up your relationship with tenants. For that reason, property managers need a robust property management software with a comprehensive set of features for lease management.

DoorLoop

DoorLoop helps manage your leases and old and new tenants alike with its excellent lease management features. You can track rent payments and paid or overdue rent automatically. If needed, you can also charge late fees.

Even as far as the beginning of the leasing process, DoorLoop has your back. You can advertise your rental properties for free with DoorLoop and, depending on your plan, make a custom website for your business. There, new tenants can submit online rental applications, which you can complete together with eSignatures.

Building Stack

Building Stack's property management software centralizes your leases, security deposits, renewals, and more on its cloud-based platform so that everything is accessible on the go. Its lease balance-tracking tools also let you check whether your tenants are paying rent, how much you are owed, and which payments may have been missed.

For any property manager, these features are a huge asset.

Tenant Portal

Having a tenant portal is a boon for any property management company and any type of rental property, whether commercial real estate or residential properties. These portals offer a convenient means to set up automated rent collection, contact the property manager, submit maintenance orders, and more.

When it comes to rental management, maintaining good communications is essential. This is where the resident portal is handy.

DoorLoop

DoorLoop's comprehensive tenant portal serves as an all-in-one platform for your landlord-tenant relationship. Through DoorLoop's resident portal, residents can submit tenant requests like maintenance orders, make rental payments, view the history of their rent payments, and communicate with their landlords or property managers.

They can do this through DoorLoop's website platform and mobile app—whichever is most convenient for them and helps them pay on time.

Building Stack

Building Stack's property management software comes with a handy resident portal to keep your residents in the loop.

Through the portal, you can sent out important notices to multiple tenants at the same time, receive maintenance orders, accept payments for rent, and complete lease records.

Owner Portal

While resident portals are important, so are owner portals. Owner portals offer a convenient means to remain transparent with your property owners so that they're aware of how you're managing their investments and what payouts they might be expecting.

Having a property management software with an owner portal is a good way to give your property management company an edge and maintain a good business relationship between investors and property managers.

DoorLoop

DoorLoop's property management software lets property managers give their investors access to an owner portal. Investors with permission can log in directly from your property management website or by email and see all the rentals and investments you manage on their behalf. This includes announcements you post, documents you share, and more.

Doorloop's owner portal also offers the ability to print checks for owner distributions, generate unlimited custom reports, automatically synchronize bank accounts, and more. Property managers can also assign tasks for owners to complete, if necessary.

Building Stack

Although Building Stack does have owner management tools, it does not list an owner portal as one of the tools in its property management software.

Communications

Communication is key for all things, and property management is no exception. Both of these programs offer great features for communication in their property management software so that you can stay on the same page with your tenants, owners, and other key parties.

DoorLoop

DoorLoop offers multiple methods for communicating with your tenants, whether through tenant requests for maintenance on the resident portal or through email and SMS text messaging.

To keep your investors in the loop, you can also communicate directly with your investors and enjoy a transparent property management business relationship.

Building Stack

You can send notices to your tenants from Building Stack's app. You yourself can receive notifications via email, SMS, or voice message.

Maintenance

Maintenance management is one of the most important features in property management software, as it plays an integral role in maintaining communication between tenants and property managers regarding the unit's condition as well as safeguarding the integrity of the property itself.

DoorLoop

Through DoorLoop's tenant portal, residents are able to submit maintenance requests and any additional information, documentation, or photos regarding the issue.

Once those requests come through, property managers can edit the work orders, assign them to vendors, get status updates, and communicate with residents and contractors about the request until the job is done.

Building Stack

Building Stack similarly uses its resident portal for maintenance orders. From the portal, tenants are able to report issues and request maintenance for their units. They can also share relevant photos and files as needed.

Building Stack vs. DoorLoop Pricing

For property managers, one of the primary factors to consider when choosing the best property management software is cost. In this section, we'll go over the pricing plans available for both DoorLoop and Building Stack.

DoorLoop Pricing

DoorLoop has a pretty straightforward pricing model. It has three pricing plans: Starter (starts at $59 per month), Pro (starts at $119 per month), and Premium (starts at $169 per month). Each of these gives you up to 20 units to start. There are no contracts, and if you want to save money by switching to a yearly plan, you can.

DoorLoop's Starter plan includes everything property managers need: accounting, customer service relationship (CRM) management, maintenance requests, rent payments, eSignature, a tenant portal, and more.

With the Pro plan, you get all of the above and an owner portal and tenant announcements, among other features. You can also enjoy a customizable property management software by customizing your dashboards.

Finally, with DoorLoop's Premium plan, you get it all in your rental management software. This includes the aforementioned features and some other powerful property management tools like a personalized website, API access, and unlimited users, data storage, and free eSignatures.

Building Stack Pricing

Building Stack only lists annual contracts on its website. It has multiple pricing tiers for its property management software depending on the needs of your property management company or business, though.

The first is its Core Platform for $25 per month (with a one-year contract). The Core Platform plan includes lease management, a tenant portal, rent payments, automatic rent payments, and owner and vendor management.

If you're looking for marketing tools, Building Stack has an option for that for $65 per year (with a one-year contract). This plan includes everything from the Core Platform, as well as some helpful marketing features like multi-channel property listing syndication and custom websites.

Similarly, there's a communication option for $65 per year (with a one-year contract) if you're looking for maintenance requests and real-time notifications in addition to the core features.

If you need all of this, however, you'll need to upgrade to the Full Stack package for $99 per month (with a one-year contract).

Note that the aforementioned prices cover up to 25 units. After that, the prices significantly increase to $125, $315, $315, and $499 per month (again, with an annual contract as well).

Interestingly, Building Stack does have a free option for online payments. However, this option only includes the basics, such as a tenant portal, online rent payments, and automatic payments.

How to Choose the Right Property Management Tool

Choosing the right Canadian property management solution for your business is a difficult decision that shouldn't be taken lightly. You should always make well-informed purchase decisions for your company.

Factors to Consider

Once you have a good understanding of the different property management software options, you should evaluate the following factors to make the final decision:

• Cost: Does the cost of the property management software fit in your business's budget?
• Scalability and flexibility: Can the program adapt to your evolving business needs and industry trends? Is it a customizable property management software that lets you tailor parts of the software, such as the dashboard, to fit your needs?
• User-friendly interface: Is the program easy to use for both novice and experienced users?
• Customer support and training options: How are the company’s customer support channels, response times, and availability? Does the company offer videos, webinars, or other training resources?
• Security and data protection: How does the software protect your data and that of your users?
• Mobile accessibility: Can you use the software anywhere and from any device?
• Reputation and customer reviews: What have real customers already said about their experiences with both the software and the company?

The best property management software is the one that helps manage your properties by ticking all these boxes and matching your other business needs, such as portfolio type (e.g., residential or commercial real estate).

Bottom Line

Even though it's our own property management software, we can confidently say that DoorLoop does fulfill all these needs and more for property managers and real estate investors.

If you're looking for a secure, affordable, scalable, and accessible program backed by a resourceful company with customer service and onboarding specialists by your side, then DoorLoop may be the best property management software option for you.

If you're still uncertain, then we invite you try out free demo! See exactly how DoorLoop's customizable property management software and time-saving features can benefit your business reallocate some of your resources to more important matters than things that can be automated like rent collection.

Schedule a free demo with today's leading, easy-to-use rental management software for property managers and real estate investors in Canada today.