70% less time on manual tasks for OccamStrata.
- 70% less staff time on routine work: 40 hours a week down to 12
- 2 h or less to answer an owner or tenant, down from two days
- 30% lower staff costs
*Bushido's estimate, first two months after go-live, 2022.
What did Bushido build for OccamStrata?
A single source of truth in Airtable for OccamStrata, an owners corporation (strata) manager in Melbourne that had just acquired a property management company. In three months one Bushido automation engineer designed the database, migrated the records out of Urbanise with Python, kept Urbanise's financial functions through a two-way sync, and replaced manual follow-ups with Airtable's built-in JavaScript automations. OccamStrata now spends 70% less staff time on routine work, answers owners and tenants within two hours instead of two days, and runs at 30% lower staff cost.
We build products,
not just tech.
Real Estate, Property Management, Business Automation
3 months, 2022
1 automation engineer
Custom CMS in Airtable
JotForm data intake forms
Ingestion scripts for Urbanise
Two-way Urbanise and Airtable sync
Missive contact list
Airtable, JotForm, JavaScript, Python, Missive, Urbanise
The starting point
OccamStrata, an owners corporation manager in Melbourne, had just acquired a property management company. The business looks after the people in its buildings: running building communities, handling emergencies like burst pipes, replacing missing keys and processing changes of ownership.
It ran on Urbanise, an ageing CRM that no longer fit the way the business worked. There was no single, trusted home for its business and financial data, and much of the day-to-day — sending emails, updating records, creating new entries — was done by hand.
What we changed
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Mapped the business before touching a tool.
Working sessions with the stakeholders, then a full database schema in draw.io, so the new system follows how the company actually works rather than how Urbanise did.
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Built one source of truth in Airtable.
A purpose-built base holding both business and financial data. Every other system now reads from it or writes to it.
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Moved the records across with Python.
Custom ingestion scripts pulled the existing data out of Urbanise, so the new base started with the company's records rather than a blank slate.
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Kept Urbanise for the money, in sync.
A two-way sync between Urbanise and Airtable preserved the financial functions the business still relied on, without anyone entering the same data twice.
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Put structured intake at the front door.
Airtable forms for simple requests and JotForm for the complex ones, so new information lands in the base already structured.
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One contact list, in Missive.
Contacts sync from the base into Missive, the team's shared inbox, so staff reach owners and tenants from one place with current details.
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Let the base do the busywork.
Automations on the base's tables send emails, update records and create new entries. They run on Airtable's built-in JavaScript automations, so there is no Zapier or Make subscription billing per task.
Every integration and automation was tested, then walked through with the stakeholders before go-live.
Before and after
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the data lives | Urbanise, an ageing CRM that no longer fit the business | One Airtable base, modelled on how the business works |
| Financial functions | In Urbanise | Still in Urbanise, kept in step with Airtable by a two-way sync |
| Emails, record updates, new entries | By hand | Automations on the base |
| Staff time on routine work | 40 hours a week | 12 hours a week |
| Answering owners and tenants | Up to two days | Within two hours |
The net effect, by our estimate over the first two months after go-live: 70% less staff time on routine work, answers within two hours instead of two days, and 30% lower staff costs.
Questions people ask about this project.
Can a business be automated on Airtable instead of custom software?
Yes, when the work fits it. For OccamStrata one automation engineer delivered a running system in three months, and the automations run on Airtable's built-in JavaScript rather than on paid tools like Zapier or Make.
Did the client have to abandon Urbanise?
No. Urbanise kept the financial functions the business still relied on, and a two-way sync keeps it in step with Airtable. Airtable became the source of truth without the accounting side being rebuilt.
How was the existing data moved out of Urbanise?
With custom Python ingestion scripts that loaded the Urbanise records into the new Airtable schema. The schema itself was designed first, in draw.io, with the stakeholders.
Yours is next.
Same team, sharper tools. Tell us where you are and we will tell you what it takes — scope, shape and a timeline we would actually hold ourselves to — on a 30-minute call with an engineer.