Understanding TrueCost

TrueCost means knowing what it should cost to address a Meld, using that insight to drive decisions throughout the life of the Meld, and capturing every cost so you can act on it. TrueCost helps Coordinators, Property Managers, Accounting and Executives make better maintenance decisions and, if your company bills for maintenance, recover what it spends. This overview explains how the parts of TrueCost fit together.

Who This Is For

TrueCost applies to every property management company. That includes companies that manage properties for Owners and companies that own the properties they manage, single-family and multi-family portfolios, and companies that work only with outside Vendors as well as those that also run in-house Technicians, whether roving or onsite.

Four personas use TrueCost:

• Coordinators check what work should cost before committing to it, capture every cost on the Meld, confirm nothing is missing, and then bill the Meld or close it without a bill.
• Property Managers manage the relationship with Owners, so complete costs give them bills and repair decisions they can stand behind. At companies where the Property Manager coordinates Melds, they also do the Coordinator work.
• Accounting receives costs that have already been captured and checked in Property Meld, and, for companies that bill, bills that are already built, before anything reaches the property accounting system. That means less manual checking and rework, whether or not the accounting team logs in to Property Meld.
• Executives use TrueCost Insights Pro to understand spending, margin and cost recovery across the portfolio, and to see where to focus their team to improve.

Two more roles contribute costs to TrueCost. Vendors submit invoices for their work. Technicians add Costs and receipts and log their time with work logs.

Key Concepts

These terms appear throughout the TrueCost articles.

• The full cost of a Meld: Vendor invoices, plus Technician labor, plus Costs.
• Costs: anything that isn't a Vendor invoice or Technician labor. Costs include parts bought for the job, parts from your own inventory that you charge for, and other paid items. You add Costs manually or from a receipt.
• Resolution: how the work on a Meld ended, for example Completed or Canceled. The resolution stays with the Meld as it moves through verification and billing.
• Closed: the final state of a Meld. A Meld is Closed after it's billed or marked No Bill Needed. Completed is a resolution, not the final state.
• Cost Projection: an estimated cost range for a Meld, shown before you commit to the work.
• MAX Verify: MAX's review of a Meld's costs and evidence before a Coordinator verifies it. MAX recommends, and the Coordinator decides.

How a Meld Moves Through TrueCost

TrueCost follows each Meld through four phases, from the first cost decision to the Meld's final state, and then turns what you capture into insights across your portfolio. The table below summarizes the phases in order.

Parts of TrueCost are available to every customer today, some require the Ops plan, and some are rolling out to AppFolio customers first, with other integrations to follow. Each phase below states its availability.

Making Decisions With Cost Data

In the first TrueCost phase, Cost Projection shows a likely cost range for a Meld before you assign it. The range comes from Property Meld's historical maintenance cost data, matched to the Meld's details such as the item, symptom and location, down to the metro area. Use it to judge whether the work is likely to exceed the property's maintenance limit and whether to get an estimate first.

Cost Projection is available on the Ops plan.

Articles for this phase:

• TrueCost - Cost Projection (Coordinators)

Capturing the Full Cost of a Meld

In the capture phase of TrueCost, every part of the full cost of a Meld is recorded as the work happens. Vendors submit invoices, Technicians log their time with work logs, and Coordinators and Technicians add Costs manually or from receipts. Labor rates set what Technician time costs you and what you bill for it, and cost markup sets what you add to Costs and Vendor invoices on a bill.

Vendor invoices and work logs are available to every customer. Costs, receipts, labor rates and cost markup are rolling out to AppFolio customers first.

Articles for this phase:

• Managing Vendor Invoices (Coordinators)
• How to Create and Manage Invoices - Vendor (Vendors)
• Add Parts and Other Costs to a Meld (Coordinators)
• Add Costs and Receipts in the Technician Mobile App (Technicians)
• Check In and Out of a Meld to Log Your Time (Technicians)
• Set Your Labor Rates and Cost Markup (people who manage billing settings)

Verifying

In the verification phase of TrueCost, a Coordinator reviews each Meld whose work has ended, checks the evidence, and confirms every cost is captured before the Meld is billed or closed. MAX Verify also reviews each Meld and flags what needs attention, and the Coordinator decides what to do.

Verification is rolling out to AppFolio customers first. MAX Verify also requires the Ops plan.

Articles for this phase:

• Verify Completed Melds (Coordinators)
• How MAX Verify Reviews a Meld (Coordinators)

Closing Out a Verified Meld

In the close-out phase of TrueCost, every verified Meld follows one of two paths: it's closed without a bill, or it's billed. Either way, the Meld then moves to Closed. Most companies use both paths. If your company never bills for maintenance, read the first path, because it's how all your Melds close.

Article for the whole close-out phase:

• Closing Out Completed Melds (Coordinators and people who manage billing settings)

Closing a Meld Without a Bill

In TrueCost, a Meld that doesn't need a bill is closed with No Bill Needed and a reason. A Coordinator can mark it, or rules can mark it automatically when the Coordinator verifies the Meld, for example on properties that are never billed. With rules in place, a company that never bills moves its Melds from verification to Closed without an extra step.

Closing without a bill is rolling out to AppFolio customers first.

Articles for closing without a bill:

• Close Melds That Don't Need a Bill (Coordinators)
• Set Up No Bill Needed Rules (people who manage billing settings)

Billing a Meld

Billing a Meld in TrueCost applies if your company bills Owners or its own entities for maintenance. A Coordinator builds a bill from the captured costs, labor and markup, approves it, and syncs it to AppFolio. Capturing every cost before billing means you recover what you spend instead of absorbing it.

Billing is rolling out to AppFolio customers first.

Articles for billing:

• Bill a Verified Meld (Coordinators)
• Set Up and Use Billing Profiles (people who manage billing settings)
• Set Up Bill Sync to AppFolio (people who manage billing settings)

Insights

In the insights phase of TrueCost, TrueCost Insights Pro, a sub-tab of Insights Pro, shows spending, margin, cost recovery and how quickly Melds are verified and billed across your portfolio.

TrueCost Insights Pro is available on the Ops plan and is rolling out to AppFolio customers first.

Articles for this phase:

• Understanding TrueCost Insights Pro (Executives, Coordinators, Accounting)
• How TrueCost Insights Pro Charts Work (Executives, Coordinators, Accounting)

Get Help With TrueCost

For help with TrueCost, see Contacting Customer Support.