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How Afterkey compares
Afterkey is a post-closing software platform for residential home builders that manages warranty requests, subcontractor coordination, homeowner communication, and AI-built home maintenance schedules. Builders usually arrive here running post-closing on a CRM, a spreadsheet, or a construction suite. Here is the honest difference in each case — including where the other option is the right call.
Afterkey vs. a general CRM
A CRM is built to win the sale. Afterkey is built for everything that happens after it. A CRM tracks a deal through a pipeline to a close; Afterkey tracks a home through years of warranty requests, subcontractor dispatches, and maintenance.
A general CRM
- Organized around leads, deals, and pipeline stages
- Ends at the close — the record stops when the deal is won
- No concept of a home, an appliance, or a warranty period
- No subcontractor dispatch, ratings, or insurance tracking
- Nothing for the homeowner to log into
- Priced per user, so adding your team costs more
Afterkey
- Organized around homes, requests, and subcontractors
- Starts at the close and runs for the life of the home
- Tracks warranty periods, appliances, and maintenance intervals
- Per-trade dispatch with ratings and compliance gating built in
- A homeowner portal your buyers actually use
- Priced per home, with unlimited users at no extra cost
Afterkey vs. a spreadsheet
A spreadsheet records what you remember to type. Afterkey records what happened. The difference shows up the day a homeowner disputes a timeline and your only evidence is a cell somebody may or may not have updated.
A spreadsheet and a phone
- Only as current as the last person who updated it
- No timestamps — “we responded quickly” is a claim, not a record
- Nobody gets reminded when a request goes stale
- Insurance certificates live in an inbox until someone digs them up
- Homeowners have no way in, so everything routes to your cell
- Maintenance schedules get built by hand, one home at a time
Afterkey
- Updates when the work happens, by the person doing it
- Every request and dispatch timestamped automatically
- SLA clocks and automated reminders on every open request
- Compliance documents tracked with expiration dates and reminders
- A homeowner portal that absorbs the routine questions
- Maintenance schedules the AI drafts from the home’s documents
Afterkey vs. an all-in-one construction suite
Construction suites are built for the build — bidding, scheduling, selections, job costing. Warranty is usually a module in an expensive tier. Afterkey does one job, post-closing, and does it thoroughly.
An all-in-one suite
- Post-closing is one module among dozens
- The warranty features often sit in the top pricing tier
- You pay for estimating and scheduling tools you may already have
- Implementation is a project, not an afternoon
Afterkey
- Post-closing is the entire product
- Every feature is in the one plan — there is no upsell tier
- Runs alongside whatever you already use to build
- Self-serve onboarding is free; concierge setup is optional
Boundaries
What Afterkey is not
If you need one of these, Afterkey is the wrong tool and we would rather you knew now.
- Not a contractor marketplace or directory. Afterkey works with the subcontractors already on your roster and will never send you leads for new ones.
- Not a construction management or scheduling suite. It starts at closing, not at the permit.
- Not a lead-generation or sales CRM. It has no pipeline, no deals, and no prospecting.
- Not a homeowner app you have to talk your buyers into downloading. The homeowner portal runs in a browser on any phone.
You do not have to replace anything
Afterkey runs alongside whatever you already use to build. Keep your estimating software, your scheduling tool, and your accounting system — Afterkey picks up at closing, which is usually where those tools stop caring. Standard onboarding is self-serve and free; if you would rather have your existing home roster loaded for you, concierge onboarding is a one-time $499.
Still deciding? The FAQ answers the specifics, and pricing is published in full — no call required to find out what it costs.
See it against your own homes
A 30-day free trial beats a comparison table. Load one home and see whether it fits how you work.