Real Estate Development Document Management
Real estate development involves the careful management of many different business processes. From initial development needs like land assessment, permits, and feasibility studies to end-stage endeavors like ongoing marketing and buyer searches, the process creates a long trail of critical documentation that requires professional organization.
At Rabbet, we specialize in systems that help real estate developers and construction capital partners streamline their internal operations. In this blog, we define real estate development document management and take a look at some of the benefits and features the real estate industry should expect to receive from their management platforms.
What Is Real Estate Development Document Management?
Document management refers to how your organization or development firm stores, organizes, tracks, and connects critical documents throughout the course of your operations.
In real estate development, organizations must create and manage a wide array of document types. Those document types include:
- Land or property titles
- Permits for construction, plumbing, and electricity
- Survey documents
- Environmental assessment paperwork and outcomes
- Marketing information
- Profit projections
- Press releases
- Materials receipts
- Payroll information
- Employee documentation
- Client communications
- Service contracts
- Budget information
While these documents received management through standard paper filing systems in the past, today’s software makes it easier to digitize critical information and organize it in a fast, efficient, all-in-one system.
Real Estate Development Management Software
Document management tools are a key part of real estate development management software. Platforms like Rabbet extract and code vendor and project information from key project documents. Once extracted, the document can be used for various insights, reports, compliance checks, approvals, and draw packaging. Automatically parsing documents for information saves significant time and reduces manual data entry.
Software solutions like Rabbet give project owners a structured approach to managing documents and data. With a record of all changes and updates in one place, it's easier to identify missing documentation, avoid paying duplicate invoices, and quickly confirm covenant compliance.
On-Site and Cloud Storage
When searching for a document management solution, determine if your organization needs on-site or cloud storage. With on-site storage, organizations must keep computer hard drives or services on-premises. In the event that this hardware fails, organizations must rely on backup digital copies, if such exist, or hard copies to retrieve information.
Other systems use what is known as cloud storage. Cloud storage utilizes storage space on off-premise servers that receive high-end maintenance and redundancy protocols. Using cloud storage, organizations can retrieve their documents and data anywhere, at any time.
Benefits of Using a Document Management System
Real estate development document management is much easier when using software built for the real estate industry. In addition to allowing fast access to countless documents, these tools offer a number of benefits for any real estate industry team, including:
- Increased productivity
- Improved document security
- Scalability for business growth
- Improved customer service
- Document retrieval via keyword searches
- Collaborative platform options
- Easy access for emailing and in-office references
What To Look For In A Document Management System
As with any software, service, or tool you obtain for your business operations, real estate document management software must have features that suit your needs.
When considering software systems for purchase, keep an eye out for features such as:
- Streamlined document storage
- Keyword and date search capabilities
- Password or pin-restricted access
- Document access monitoring
- Document edit history
- Document restoration tools
- Auto-deletion or sorting of outdated documents
- Mobile access
In addition to these features, consider whether you’d prefer your document storage system to include on-site storage or cloud-based storage.
Real estate project owners have a lot on their plates. With project oversight taking priority, they shouldn’t need to feel concerned about their document management processes. Learn more about how Rabbet can help streamline your real estate development operations.
