Questions builders actually ask

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. It consists of three portals: a builder portal for homes, service requests, subcontractor management, billing and AI tools; a homeowner portal for submitting requests, tracking status, messaging, and viewing the maintenance schedule and service history; and a subcontractor portal for assigned jobs, status and photo updates, and compliance document uploads.

Afterkey is built for production and custom residential home builders who handle warranty and service obligations after closing. It is designed for builders who want the post-closing relationship to generate referrals, repeat business, and reputation rather than consume margin. Subcontractors and homeowners use Afterkey through their own portals at no cost to them; the builder is the paying customer.

Afterkey has one plan with no tiers: $149 per month base, which includes unlimited team members and subcontractors, plus $10 per month per active home. A home is billed only while it is under warranty or on an active service plan, and dormant homes are never billed. Optional add-ons are SMS at $29 per month (dedicated business number, 1,000 segments included, $25 per additional 1,000) and AI at $5 per month per active home (8 AI actions per home per month, pooled across all homes, $1.50 per additional action). A 2.5% platform fee applies to homeowner payments processed through Afterkey, with card processing passed through at cost. Concierge onboarding is an optional $499 one-time fee; standard self-serve onboarding is free. Annual prepay takes 10% off the base.

Afterkey’s AI Home Binder turns a home’s documents — owner’s manuals, spec sheets, invoices — into a proposed maintenance schedule. For appliances with a known make and model, it looks up the manufacturer’s published maintenance and cites the source: every suggestion carries a numbered footnote linking to the manufacturer, to the uploaded document, or labeled honestly as a typical schedule to verify against the manual. The AI never invents an interval, and the builder reviews and confirms every line before it reaches a homeowner. Afterkey also shows a cost preview before any AI spend, listing which appliances are already in the shared library (free) and which are new, with a dollar estimate.

Builder, homeowner, and subcontractor data is separated by role, so each party sees only what applies to them: homeowners see their own home, and subcontractors see only the jobs assigned to them. Afterkey does not sell or trade customer data. Homeowner payments are processed by a PCI-compliant payment processor, and Afterkey does not store card numbers. Documents uploaded to a home’s binder belong to the builder and the homeowner, and are used to build that home’s maintenance record.

A CRM is organized around leads, deals, and a pipeline that ends when a sale closes. Afterkey is organized around homes, service requests, and subcontractors, and begins at the moment a CRM would finish. Afterkey understands warranty periods, appliances, and maintenance intervals; it dispatches subcontractors by trade and tracks their insurance and license expirations; and it gives the homeowner a portal of their own. Afterkey is also priced per home with unlimited users, rather than per seat.

Homeowners get access to a browser-based portal — there is no app to download. They submit warranty and service requests with photos, track the status of each request through to completion, message the builder directly, view the maintenance schedule built for their specific home and appliances, and see the full service history of the house. If the builder sells a maintenance membership or service plan, the homeowner subscribes and pays through the same portal.

No. Subcontractors use Afterkey free. They sign in to see the jobs assigned to them, update status from the jobsite, upload before and after photos, and keep compliance documents such as general liability, workers’ compensation, auto insurance, trade licenses, and W-9s current. The builder’s $149 monthly base includes unlimited subcontractors, so adding trades never increases the bill.

No. Afterkey is not a marketplace, a network, or a contractor directory, and it does not send you leads for new trades. It works only with the subcontractors you have already vetted and added to your own roster. The competitive quoting tool puts planned maintenance out to bid among those subcontractors so you can compare pricing — it is a private, back-office tool, and homeowners never see it.

A home is active while it is under your builder warranty or has an active service plan or membership. Active homes bill at $10 per month, flat, regardless of the home’s age. When neither a warranty nor a plan applies, the home goes dormant automatically and you pay nothing for it. If a homeowner later starts a membership — including after a resale — the home reactivates automatically.

Standard onboarding is self-serve and free: you create an account, add your homes and subcontractors, and start logging requests the same day. The 30-day free trial requires a card to start, but you are not charged if you cancel before the trial ends, and no sales call is required. The trial is not limited by home count — you can load your whole roster and evaluate Afterkey the way you would actually use it. AI actions during the trial run at the free allowance of 5 per month, and Afterkey shows a cost preview before spending anything. Builders who want their existing home roster loaded for them can buy optional concierge onboarding for a one-time $499, where Afterkey builds the digital binder for every home from the documents you provide.

Yes. Afterkey is month-to-month with no contracts and no termination fees. Annual prepay is available as a 10% discount on the base, not as a commitment requirement. Published prices are rate-locked in the sense that any increase requires 60 days’ notice, takes effect at your next billing cycle, and is never applied mid-term or retroactively.