Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Tuesday Edition #8

Welcome to Issue #8 of the Tuesday Edition! Not interested? Click here to opt out (you’ll still receive the Friday editions).

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PM Firms that Spend More on Tech are Less Profitable

Crane members can elect to share their business performance data with ProfitCoach, who then compiles it into a monthly report with some analysis. For example, here’s their scoreboard for January of this year (Crane performance is the colored portion, the dark bold line is industry average, and the small tick mark is “Benchmark” performance, i.e. top quartile):

Their analysis for this month is FASCINATING. Let me quote their findings directly:

What?!?! This was pretty shocking to me. I kind of assumed that tech spending displaced expensive labor, and coming out ahead was all but guaranteed. Clearly that’s not the case. The most profitable firms appear to be keeping a tight rein on tech spend.

So what does this mean, we should all go back to collecting rent checks by hand, and tracking owner disbursements with spreadsheets?

I don’t think that’s the case. The most profitable firms aren’t spending nothing on technology; far from it. According to ProfitCoach they’re spending 3.7% of revenue, or about $10/mo per unit, which is actually quite a reasonable technology budget considering your base PM software, which should be your largest bill(?), is likely only a few bucks a month per unit.

Digging into this data at my own PM company out of curiosity, I found we spent 3.9% of revenue on technology in 2025—a bit above the high-profit benchmark of 3.7%.

What's interesting is the trend. In 2023 we were at just 3.3% of revenue and $6.51/door/month. As we grew from 620 to 700 doors, our tech spend climbed from $48K to nearly $77K, but as a percentage of revenue, it barely budged. That tells me our tech stack is scaling efficiently alongside the business rather than ballooning ahead of it.

I don't think this means we're being stingy with technology. We're spending real money; over $76k a year. But we're not chasing every shiny new tool either. The low-profit companies at $22/door/month are spending more than double what we are, and the ProfitCoach data suggests they're not getting a return on that extra investment.

My takeaway: it's not about spending less on tech. It's about spending deliberately. The most profitable firms appear to have a tight, intentional tech stack rather than a sprawling collection of overlapping subscriptions. Every tool earns its keep.

PM Company & Vendor Updates

• PMI just launched their first-ever national ad campaign. It will “run through the end of 2026 across multiple high-impact channels, including two 30-second commercial spots now live nationwide on all major streaming platforms.” Don’t miss my recent interview with their co-founder & CEO Steve Hart.

• Madeline Vinson’s PM Dash has quickly expanded support for new property management software and seems to be getting real traction.

• Ascent, the new vendor-led community from Aptly, opened up applications and added a few new vendor partners including Black Sheep Global and StreamWorksPM. If a PM-led community is more your style, register for Crane’s upcoming Access Granted live launch.

• RentScale’s new CLOZR program, which is a done-for-you sales solution for property managers, has as webinar tomorrow that looks interesting. Their webinars are always high-signal.

Peter & the Wolf Webinar Replay:
In-House or Outsource?

Last Thursday, Wolf and I walked through one of the biggest questions PMs run into as they grow: what should stay in-house and what should be outsourced? 

Maintenance, accounting, leasing support - and everything else that comes with running a PM company. We dig through real scenarios, tradeoffs, and mistakes they have seen when teams scale too fast or too cautiously. Check it out:

What I’m Reading Right Now

• The Shape of the Thing by Ethan Mollick, a summary of the state-of-the-art with regard to AI and where it might be headed.

• An Australian tech entrepreneur used AI to help create the first-ever bespoke cancer vaccine for his dog. This is wild.

• Observations from a PM Co. Acquisition. A "searcher" (self-funded investor who buys companies) recently bought a 650-door property management company and joined Crane. He just posted a followup 9 months post-close examining his initial assumptions vs how things actually went. [Crane Only]

• Our NPS survey vendor, Retently, just released “State of the Survey 2026” which I found very interesting and useful. “The overall average response rate in our dataset was 5.76%”

Global Talent Spotlight: Celeste A.
Executive Assistant • $1,200/mo.

Celeste is a bilingual professional with over ten years of remote experience supporting client relationships, managing communications, and coordinating schedules across international teams. Celeste is highly organized, comfortable working across multiple time zones, and experienced with tools such as HubSpot, Salesforce, and Google Workspace. Her ability to manage communications, maintain detailed records, and support ongoing partnerships makes her well-suited for an Executive Assistant role. Watch Celeste’s introductory video, view her resume, or book an interview below.

Meme Tuesday:

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The content of this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. I may have consulting agreements with, or financial interests in, companies mentioned in this newsletter. Additionally, some of the links included in this newsletter are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links. Always perform your own due diligence before making any financial or business decisions.