Products & Services
Property Management Software Case Studies
Wenlock & Taylor
Established since 1927 in Kensal Rise and now run by the third generation of the Taylor family, Wenlock & Taylor
manage a variety of properties, including Regulated and AST tenancies, shops, workshops, and lock-up garages, in the north and
north west areas of London. They started using Vebra Premier’s forerunner, PropertyCraft, in October 1992 and their sales office
has been using EstateCraft since 1997.
Director of Wenlock & Taylor, Tim Taylor says they originally chose PropertyCraft because it represented better value for money than the other systems they looked at. They have subsequently found that Vebra’s software helps them perform everyday tasks quickly and easily: “We were apprehensive about changing from the DOS version to the Windows version, but the use of drop-down menus makes data entry just as easy. Recent enhancements to the software have further automated some of the tasks relating to diary entries, and repair order status. Although the idea of a paperless office can never apply to property management, the new features in Vebra Premier enable us to keep far more information on-screen, enabling us to quickly locate the information we need.”
An increasing part of Wenlock & Taylor’s business is now block management of flats, involving the running of numerous bank accounts and Tim feels that using Vebra Premier, together with Barclays Business Internet Banking, enables them to maintain full control of client and service charge funds. “Because the system easily copes with multiple bank accounts, it is easy to see at a glance the up to date financial position with any particular block of flats. We also now store electronic versions of documentation, such as service charge accounts and insurance policies, to facilitate providing copies when required. These are linked to the properties via the attachments facility.”
And they’ve enjoyed a number of other benefits using the software. “We use the text facility to send instructions to contractors, and email is ideal for keeping in contact with both clients and tenants, especially if the client is resident abroad. Export of payment files to bank software to minimise the number of cheques being written has been used to pay clients for some years, but we are now also using it to pay suppliers. Repair Orders help to eliminate the amount of paper normally associated with dealing with contractors for minor repairs.”
Tim also finds the training and support an essential part of Vebra’s offering. “As with any software, we believe that training is crucial to achieve the maximum benefit. To be able to train on the software away from the office environment is ideal for exploring areas of the software that are new, or may not have been used before. And when we do have any queries, that cannot be resolved quickly by phone (which most are), it is easy to send our data to the support team for them to investigate. The new remote access facility allows Vebra support staff to see your system over the internet enhancing the support facility even further.”
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