Prepared following our conversation, 29 August

Fifty suites, all full, and a waiting list that lives in a text thread.

Lux doesn't have a lead problem. It has a memory problem. Every good candidate who calls when the building is full gets remembered for about as long as a text message stays scrollable.

This plan fixes that first, then connects the rest of the tools around it — without replacing what already works, and without handing control of the business to a software vendor.

A walkthrough of the approach, the tools, and what each part would actually look like in use.
One location · 50 suites · currently 100% occupied
Interested, no suite available

There is no system holding the second row. When a tenant gives notice, finding those people again means searching old messages by hand.

What we learned

Six things we had assumed before the call turned out differently. Each one moves the shape of the solution, not just a detail inside it.

Multiple locations to manage
One location, fifty suitesScope is smaller and more concrete than the original proposal assumed.
Losing leads is the main cost
The building is completely fullLeads aren't scarce. Somewhere to keep them is.
Two door systems to connect
TTLock only — Brivo was the previous owner'sOne less integration, but the remaining one is the harder of the two.
Supplies are handled somewhere
Tracked nowhere at allSeasonal usage is worked out by scrolling a year of Amazon orders.
A feature comparison wins the work
Ownership decides itThe last quote was turned down because the vendor would have kept control.
There's a budget and a deadline
Neither has been set yetNothing is forcing a date, and no number has been named.
This person was a good candidate, but we didn't have any openings. And then somebody gives their notice and it's like — dang, who was that? On how the waiting list works today

Connect what works. Don't rebuild it.

The original proposal was effectively a from-scratch rebuild of an off-the-shelf salon suite platform. That's a large, slow, expensive piece of software for one building — and it leaves the owner hosting something he can't maintain alone.

This approach keeps the tools that already do their job, adds one database that Lux owns, and puts a layer of assistants on top to do the connecting, chasing and remembering that currently happens in someone's head.

Assistants that do the work between systems
Waiting listToursMove-in Tenant helpMaintenanceSuppliesWeekly briefing
One database, owned by Lux
SuitesTenantsEnquiries Waiting listRequestsSupplies
Tools already in place, kept as they are
PaySimpleSignNowTTLock WebsiteInstagram & Facebook

This also fails gracefully. Switch off any assistant and the tools underneath keep working exactly as they do today — which matters a great deal when the person hosting it isn't a developer.

What you'd actually be using

Seven assistants, ordered by how much they relieve. Pick one to see what it looks like in use.

Built for Lux, owned by Lux

The last proposal was turned down because accepting it meant losing control of the build and the data. That concern is reasonable, and it's answered here in writing rather than in conversation.

Yours from the first day

  • The code sits in a repository on the owner's own account
  • Hosting is billed directly to Lux, not resold through us
  • The database is in your account and exports in full at any time
  • Domain and DNS stay under your control throughout
  • Nothing in the middle that only we can operate

The part worth saying out loud

Hosting it yourself is not the same as maintaining it yourself. WordPress fluency is real, but this is a different discipline — security updates, dependency changes, and the occasional API change at PaySimple or TTLock.

  • Support is month to month and can be cancelled at any time
  • The handover runbook is written and delivered either way
  • If you leave, you leave with everything and instructions to run it

How it gets built

Each stage stands on its own and leaves something working. Nothing depends on finishing the whole thing.

A short, fixed-price piece of work that produces a firm quote for everything after it. No commitment beyond itself.

  • Test what TTLock will and won't let software do — the biggest unknown
  • Confirm what PaySimple allows on the current plan
  • Check whether SignNow is genuinely in use or was only in the old proposal
  • Trace the previous owner's website and map how to reclaim or redirect it
  • Find out who runs the SEO and billboard reporting, and on what terms

The database Lux owns, the waiting list assistant, tour handling, and the old domain sorted out. Nothing customer-facing changes yet.

  • Every enquiry lands somewhere permanent, from the website, Instagram or a phone call
  • Candidates stay warm without anyone having to remember to follow up
  • A suite opening produces a shortlist the same day

The part stylists touch, modelled on the apartment resident portal you described.

  • Rent, lease, and maintenance requests in one place
  • Move-in runs end to end, including the door code
  • Stylist profile pages under the Lux brand, so presentation stays controlled
  • Replaces the WhatsApp broadcasts and the WordPress QR documents

Maintenance, supplies and reporting — the administrative weight that currently falls on the manager.

  • Supply usage learned from the existing Amazon order history
  • Maintenance sorted by urgency and tracked to completion
  • A weekly summary of the building, sent automatically

Worth revisiting only after a good mobile site is in daily use. An app in the App Store and a site that works properly on a phone are different builds at different prices, and most of the value sits in the second one.

Any changeover would run on a Sunday or Monday, the two quietest days.

What could go wrong

Named early, because each one has a cost if it's found late.

Biggest unknown

The door locks

TTLock is closer to a smart home product than a building system. Automatic access codes at move-in depend entirely on what it permits software to do. Tested in the first stage, with a manual fallback ready.

Assistants talking to tenants

An assistant quoting the wrong rent or lease term is a real liability. Confidence limits, an escalation path to a person, and a full record of every answer are built in from the start.

Personal and payment data

Fifty tenants' details moving through a connected system is a security design job, not plumbing. Budgeted for openly rather than absorbed quietly.

Maintaining it afterwards

The most likely cause of trouble six months after handover. The written runbook is not optional, whether or not support is retained.

The unidentified marketing vendor

Somebody is running SEO and reporting click figures. Nobody on the call knew who. That relationship needs mapping before the domain work starts.

Questions for the owner

The answers that turn this plan into a firm quote. Tick them off as they come back.

Budget

Have you set a budget for this project?Yes or no is useful on its own — it tells us whether we're scoping to a number or helping you arrive at one.
If so, what is it?A rough ceiling is enough. It lets us scope to what you have rather than past it, and it stops us proposing something you were never going to approve.
Would you rather spend it in one go, or in stages as each part is delivered?

Ownership and hosting

When you say you want to host it yourself — does that mean the infrastructure sits in your accounts and is billed to you, or that you want to be able to leave any vendor and take everything with you?
Who maintains it after launch — you, someone on staff, or a retained partner?

Timing and decision

Is there anything that has to be working by a particular date?
Does anyone besides you sign off?

What's in place now

Who runs your SEO and the billboard reporting, and under what contract?
Are PaySimple and TTLock on contracts with renewal dates or early termination terms?
Is SignNow actually in use today, or was it only in the previous proposal?
What control do you have over the previous owner's domain?

Scope

When you say app — do you mean something downloadable from the App Store, or a site that works properly on a phone?
Stylist profile pages under the Lux brand: in or out?
If only one thing could be fixed in the next sixty days, which would you pick?

Nothing here needs to be built all at once, and nothing here belongs to anyone but Lux.