Out of the spreadsheet. Into four linked records.
A disability accommodation provider tracking every property, room and tenant in one large Google Sheet. Now the records keep themselves in step.
- Client
- Project lead
Trav WhiteFounder and Head of AI Engineering
- Industry
- Specialist Disability Accommodation
- Location
- Australia-wide
- Platform
- HubSpot Sales Hub, custom objects
- Scope
- Data model, pipeline, reporting
01 The briefMove everything out of the Google Sheet into HubSpot, model the portfolio so every record stays linked, give the team a structured sales process with reminders, and report on vacancies and performance live.
A growing portfolio in one spreadsheet.
Apollo SDA develops and manages Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA), housing funded through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for people with very high support needs, across multiple locations Australia-wide.
Every property, dwelling, room, NDIS supplier and tenant was tracked in one large Google Sheet. It was easy to clear or misplace information by accident, so the data ended up inconsistent and scattered across several sheets, and the team could not see it up to date when they needed to decide something quickly.
A spreadsheet was never built for data this connected. Properties, dwellings, rooms and tenants are all linked to each other, and a sheet has no way to hold those links or keep them in step. Notes about conversations with clients had nowhere to live either, so follow-ups relied on memory and offline reminders, and some were missed.
Apollo was expanding quickly, so it needed fixing before the data became too much to handle.
| The job | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Portfolio records | One large Google Sheet | Four linked custom objects |
| Keeping them in step | By hand, across sheets | Automation between objects |
| Follow-ups | Memory and offline reminders | Alerts and reminders in HubSpot |
| Vacancies | Hard to see up to date | A live dashboard |
Four custom objects, kept in step.
Five pieces, in the order they were built. The data model came first, because everything else depends on it.
Four custom objects
After a workshop with the Apollo team and careful mapping of how the records relate, four custom objects: properties, dwellings, bedrooms and tenants, each with its own custom properties for finer reporting.
Automation between them
Workflows that move and sync data between the four objects across every data point, so an update on one record shows on every related record.
A structured sales pipeline
Workshops with the Apollo team to design a pipeline in HubSpot that works alongside the custom objects, with better conversion tracking and automated follow-up reminders and alerts.
Onboarding and the import
Sales Hub onboarding focused on the critical operational areas, and an import that brought all four objects in with the right links to each other and to contacts, companies and deals.
Reporting dashboards
Dashboards in HubSpot for property performance, vacancies, sales metrics and marketing effectiveness, updating in real time.
Four objects needed the rules first. One custom object adds complexity to a HubSpot account, and four get confusing fast unless the processes and automation are built in from the start, so the mapping came before any build.
What a custom object is
HubSpot comes with contacts, companies and deals. A custom object is a record type you design yourself, with its own fields, that links to those standard records and to each other.
Apollo needed four, because one could not describe a property portfolio.
The hardest part was getting them in. Importing four objects at once meant every property, dwelling, bedroom and tenant had to arrive already linked to the right records, including the contacts, companies and deals they belong with.
Every property, room and tenant, linked and up to date.
Running a portfolio from a spreadsheet?
Three jobs nobody does by hand now.
Once the records were linked, HubSpot could keep them in step, prompt the team at the right moment, and report without anyone building a sheet.
Sync between objects
An update on one record reaches every related record.
- Workflows across all four objects
- Every data point automated
- Manual entry errors removed
Reminders and alerts
Prompts to staff at the moments that matter.
- When a follow-up is due
- When a lead has gone quiet
- Tenant interactions and property movements tracked by workflow
Live dashboards
Built on HubSpot's own reporting.
- Property performance
- Vacancies
- Sales metrics
- Marketing effectiveness
Four goals. The result against each one.
What Apollo SDA wanted from the project, and where each goal stood after launch.
Goal 01
One source of truth for the portfolio
We built four custom objects, linked to each other and to contacts, companies and deals.
4
custom objects kept in step on their own: properties, dwellings, bedrooms and tenants. The one large Google Sheet is gone. An update on one record now reaches every related record, and the tenant and property records are more accurate for it.
Goal 02
Seeing vacancies and tenant movements
We built dashboards for property performance and vacancies, and workflows that track tenant movements.
Live
dashboard for vacancies, with no sheet to open. The team can see which rooms are vacant and how tenants are moving when they need to decide something quickly.
Goal 03
A structured sales process
We designed a pipeline in workshops with the Apollo team, with automated reminders and alerts.
8+
hours a month saved on admin, per person. Alerts reach staff when a follow-up is due or a lead has gone quiet, so follow-ups no longer rely on memory or an offline reminder.
Goal 04
Simpler reporting
We built dashboards for sales metrics and marketing effectiveness that update in real time.
8+
hours a month saved on reporting. The dashboards run on HubSpot's own reporting, so nobody builds a sheet to see how sales and marketing are performing.
Apollo SDA now runs its portfolio from linked records instead of a spreadsheet, with far less manual data handling and more accurate records. That has improved tenant satisfaction and the business's performance overall.
Apollo was expanding quickly, and it is now set up to keep growing in specialist disability accommodation. The team went live trained and confident in HubSpot, with ongoing support from us to keep refining the system.
“Neighbourhood was recommend to me from a good friend of mine who also had a terrific experience with the team. I think it couldn't have gone better. I was really impressed at the start with the extent that the team took to understand our organisation and what our problems were and then how to solve them in the context of a HubSpot Onboarding... The tools and the way the team trained our people meant that from launch date we had a team that was confident in being able to use HubSpot.”
Justin Goddard
Apollo SDA
Who ran it
Trav WhiteFounder and Head of AI Engineering
Led the records workshop, four custom objects, their automation, the sales pipeline and team training.
HubSpot Certified Trainer, 9 HubSpot Impact Awards, Founded Neighbourhood in 2015
Data too connected for a spreadsheet?
The neighbours next door.
The closest builds to this one, ranked by industry, HubSpot hub and service.