How it works
From a quarter of invoices to a plan your team can act on.
The Benchmark reads every line on every invoice a property paid in the quarter, identifies the actual product behind each one, and searches the market for the same item at a lower price. Six steps, none of which change how the property buys.
Method
The six steps
01
Send the quarter's invoices
Whatever your platform already exports is enough. Yardi, RealPage, Entrata, AppFolio, MRI, ResMan, and Buildium all produce it. There is nothing to install and no change to how the property buys.
02
Read every line to the SKU
Each line on each invoice is read down to its SKU and identified as an actual product. This is the only level at which one price can be compared to another, and it is the step most cost exercises skip.
03
Search the market for the same item
Our own search runs each identified product across the open market and our strategic suppliers, looking for the same item at a lower price rather than a comparable item at a comparable price.
04
Rank what matters
The twenty items bought most often and the twenty items with the highest spend lead the report. Between them they account for where the money actually went in the quarter.
05
Show the better price, and where to get it
Every ranked item shows whether the price paid was the best available. Where it was not, the report links to the better priced product from a named source, so the recommendation is something a purchasing manager can act on the same day.
06
Project it forward
The report totals what the quarter should have cost, then carries the strategy forward against the property's historical spending rate to show what the rest of the year saves if it holds.
Included
What comes with it
Onboarding report
The first report covers the previous calendar year, so the baseline is a full year of real spend rather than a single quarter.
Quarterly reporting
A new report every quarter for one year, each one built from that quarter's invoices.
Committed support
Team training and one-on-one sessions for anyone using the report, plus ongoing customer support for as long as you hold the product.
Money-back guarantee
If we do not find at least the amount you invested in potential annual verified savings for a property, you get your money back. Terms and conditions apply.
Benchmark Search
Included at no extra cost once it is released.
Support
We stay on the report with you
A report nobody acts on saves nothing. Team training and one-on-one sessions come with the product, for anyone who touches purchasing, for as long as you hold it.
- Reading the quarterly report
- Acting on a flagged line item
- Bringing a better price to an existing vendor
- Working the report into a purchasing routine
- One-on-one sessions for anyone using it
Fit
Who is The Benchmark for?
The Benchmark is built for multifamily operators who buy the same products over and over across many properties. The more doors sitting behind a purchasing decision, the more a single corrected price is worth.
Property management companies
Third-party managers running several thousand units across multiple owners get the most from The Benchmark, because one purchasing habit repeats across every property in the portfolio. Correcting a single recurring price is not one saving, it is the same saving multiplied by every door that buys the item, and it arrives as evidence for the owner reports managers already have to defend.
Real estate investment firms
For owners holding a thousand units or more, operating expense is valuation. Every dollar removed from a recurring cost line lifts net operating income and, at prevailing cap rates, the value of the asset with it. The Benchmark reaches that line without touching rent, occupancy, staffing, or anything a resident would notice.
Asset management companies
Asset managers accountable for portfolio performance across thousands of units use The Benchmark for the layer beneath the variance report. It turns “repairs and maintenance ran over” into a specific list of products, the price paid for each, and a cheaper source, which is the difference between explaining a number and being able to change it.
Start with one property and one quarter
Send us a quarter of invoices and we will show you what it should have cost. If there is nothing there, we will tell you that too.
