A CRM for builders has to do more than store leads. It must know every unit in every tower, refuse a second booking on a sold flat, run construction-linked payment plans, raise demand letters, settle channel partner commissions and keep a record of who changed what. This checklist gives you 25 builder-specific features to score, each with a demo test you can run on your own project data, so you buy on evidence rather than on a brochure.
Key takeaways
- Generic lead CRMs fail builders at the booking and collection stage, not at the lead stage. Test those stages first.
- Score every item 0, 1 or 2. A feature shown only on the vendor's sample data scores 1; working on your own inventory and payment plan scores 2.
- Bring your accounts head and your CRM/post-sales person to the demo, not only sales.
- Send your inventory sheet, one payment plan and one agreement format before the demo. Ask the vendor to load them.
Why does a builder need a different CRM from a broker?
A broker sells other people's stock and the relationship mostly ends at the token cheque. A builder owns the stock, sells the same unit only once, and then runs a two-to-four-year relationship with each buyer: instalments against construction milestones, loan disbursements, cheque bounces, cancellations, registration, possession. Money comes in over years, partners expect their commission on time, and RERA and tax rules sit on top of all of it.
A generic CRM treats a booking as 'Closed Won' and stops. The builder's real work starts there. That is why a checklist for a builder CRM has to weight inventory, booking control, collections and audit far more heavily than lead capture. For the lead side, the usual tests still apply; see the unit tracking system and post-sales automation guides for how the two halves connect.
How should you score vendors with this checklist?
Use a simple 0/1/2 scale on each of the 25 items:
- 0 – not available, or the vendor says it is coming later.
- 1 – shown in the demo on sample data, or possible only through a manual workaround.
- 2 – works live on your own data (your tower, your plan, your partner, your agreement) during the demo.
Maximum score is 50. Do two demos: the first to see the product, the second on your data with the people who will actually use each module. Print the tables below, hand one copy to sales, one to accounts and one to whoever manages channel partners, and have each person score only the groups they own.
Group 1: Tower, floor and unit inventory (items 1–5)
| # | Feature to check | Demo test to run |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tower → floor → unit hierarchy, with plotted layouts handled in the same system | Ask the vendor to create one tower, two floors and four units live, then a plot in a layout. A unit should know its tower, floor, area and base price. |
| 2 | Unit status lifecycle (Available, Hold, Temporary Booked, Booked, Allotted, Sold) with hold/release history | Put a unit on hold, release it, open the history. If you cannot see who held it and when, score 0. |
| 3 | Bulk unit import from your own Excel with a per-row success/fail reason | Send your inventory sheet beforehand. Count failed rows and check the reason is readable (duplicate unit number, missing floor) rather than a generic error. |
| 4 | Clickable plot or tower map built from your AutoCAD drawing (DXF/DWG), coloured by live status | Share your layout file. Clicking a plot should open that unit; a JPEG with hand-placed pins does not count. |
| 5 | Shared inventory for channel partners: partner requests access, builder approves, partner sees live status | Use two logins. Approve access as builder, book a unit, refresh the partner view and confirm the unit is no longer available. |
Group 2: Booking and double-booking controls (items 6–9)
| # | Feature to check | Demo test to run |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Hard block on double booking: a Sold or Allotted unit cannot take a second booking | Book unit 1204, then try to book it again from another user's login. The CRM should refuse, not merely warn. |
| 7 | Booking record with auto booking number, agreed price, applicant KYC (ID type, number, file), co-applicants and NRI fields | Create a booking with two applicants and upload a PAN. Ask when and how the price gets locked. |
| 8 | Cancellation and refund with a configurable charge (% or fixed, override with reason), refund tracked to settled, ledger entry, partner commission voided | Cancel the booking you just made. Trace the refund into the ledger and check whether the due commission on it disappears. |
| 9 | Deal file per booking: stage tracker (agreement, stamp duty, registration), fee breakdown, compliance checklist | Tick 'Stamp duty paid' on a booking. Confirm the stage shows a timestamp and user, and that the stamp duty estimate can be edited for your state's rate. |
Group 3: CLP payment plans, demand letters and collections (items 10–15)
| # | Feature to check | Demo test to run |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Construction-linked, time-linked and hybrid plans, saved as reusable templates (e.g. 20:80) by customer category | Ask the vendor to load your actual plan as a template and apply it to a booking. Schedule lines should appear with due offsets. |
| 11 | Demand letters raised when a construction milestone is completed, sent per line or in bulk, on your letterhead | Mark 'Plinth complete' and check whether due lines appear on every booking on that plan. Generate one letter and compare it with your current format. |
| 12 | Collection entry: online through your own payment gateway with a Pay Now link, plus Cash/Cheque/UPI/NEFT with reference, finance verification and cheque clearance | Record a cheque, then clear it. Check whether a sales user can confirm it or whether finance must verify. |
| 13 | Overdue follow-up built in: automatic reminders every N days, late-payment interest after a grace period, cheque bounce charge | Backdate an instalment, run the reminder, inspect the interest line. Ask what is on by default and what is opt-in. |
| 14 | Receipts and buyer statements as PDF in your own format (agreed, due, received, balance, interest) | Download the receipt for the cheque you entered and the full statement for the booking. |
| 15 | Home loan tracking per booking: financier, sanction, disbursement tranches with UTR, schedule lines payable by bank | Add a loan, mark two lines as bank-payable, record one disbursement, confirm the balance recalculates. |
Group 4: Channel partners and commissions (items 16–18)
| # | Feature to check | Demo test to run |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Channel partner master with commission % per partner and project allocation | Create a partner, allot one project, and confirm leads and bookings tagged to that partner roll up on the partner record. |
| 17 | Commission with separate legs (partner, referral, internal), agreed vs paid, mark as paid, void on cancellation | Book through the partner, mark the leg paid in the commission tab, then cancel the booking and see what happens to the entry. |
| 18 | Partner booking requests: partner raises a request, builder accepts, the converted sale appears on both sides | Run it from two logins. The partner should see Pending → Accepted → Converted without calling you. |
Group 5: Lead flow for a builder sales floor (items 19–21)
| # | Feature to check | Demo test to run |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | 99acres, MagicBricks, Housing.com, Meta Lead Ads and your website pushing leads automatically, with source and sub-source locked | Ask for the webhook URL in the demo and submit a test lead. Then open the source-effectiveness report. Details in portal lead integration. |
| 20 | Auto-assignment by project, budget or round robin, plus a first-response SLA that escalates to the manager | Set a 30-minute SLA, create a lead, and do nothing. Watch what the manager receives and when. |
| 21 | Site visits booked from the lead with customer confirmation, a visit calendar, and a no-login form for the site guard to register walk-ins | Book a visit, confirm it as the customer, then register a walk-in from a phone browser. |
Group 6: Documents, audit logs and control (items 22–25)
| # | Feature to check | Demo test to run |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Document generation from templates with placeholders (agreement to sell, sale deed, NOC) in your own format | Upload your agreement DOCX with placeholders and generate it from a booking. Check buyer, unit and price fields fill correctly. See document management for builders. |
| 23 | Audit logs with before/after values for leads, bookings, commission payments, expenses and settings | Change a booking price, then open Audit Logs and find the entry with old value, new value and user. |
| 24 | Permissions grid by module and action, visibility My/Team/All by reporting line, 2FA, export switch per screen | Log in as a telecaller and try to open collections and export leads. Both should be blocked when configured so. |
| 25 | Finance ledger with a status graph (Due → Paid → Refunded) so a payment cannot be silently deleted, with project and branch filters | Try to delete a paid entry. It should archive with a restore option, not vanish. Filter the ledger by project. |
What does a scored evaluation look like? (illustrative)
Imagine a mid-size builder in Pune with three projects, two of them under construction, scoring two shortlisted vendors.
- Vendor A scores 2 across inventory and booking controls, 1 on items 10–13 because CLP and demand letters were shown on sample data only, 0 on items 16–18 because partners are tracked in a spreadsheet, and 2 on audit and permissions. Total around 34/50.
- Vendor B loads the builder's own inventory sheet and 20:80 plan, raises demands live after a milestone is marked, has a partner master, but scores 1 on item 4 because the plot map has to be drawn by hand. Total around 44/50.
The interesting part is not the totals. Vendor A's zeros sit exactly where this builder's money leaks: late demands and disputed partner payouts. A feature list would have shown both vendors with ticks on 'payment plans' and 'commissions'. The demo test separated them.
Which mistakes do builders make when evaluating a CRM?
- Letting the sales team pick alone. Sales sees the lead module and is happy. The people who live with the CRM for the next four years sit in accounts and CRM/post-sales.
- Accepting the vendor's sample data. A demo on a fictional project with round numbers hides import failures, template mismatches and state-specific fee defaults.
- Counting a workaround as done. 'You can export to Excel and do it there' is a 1, not a 2.
- Ignoring total cost. Minimum seat counts, per-message wallets, SMS DLT and gateway charges all sit outside the headline per-user price. The guide to hidden costs of real estate CRM software lists what to ask.
- Not asking about leaving. Ask which screens export, in which formats, and whether an admin can control who exports.
- Treating compliance as the CRM's job. A deal file checklist can remind your team about TDS under section 194-IA on resale above ₹50 lakh or RERA agent registration, but the rules and rates come from the official sources; confirm them at the Income Tax Department's portal (incometax.gov.in) and your state RERA site rather than relying on software defaults.
How Homelead handles the builder checklist
Homelead's Builder panel is built around the items above. Inventory runs as towers → floors → units plus plots, with status moving through Available, Hold, Temporary Booked, Booked, Allotted and Sold; hold and release carry history, and a booking on a Sold or Allotted unit is refused, so double booking is blocked at the system level. Plot maps are generated from AutoCAD DXF/DWG or vector PDF files into clickable live-status maps, and tower and floor maps are available in the Builder panel. Units import from an .xlsx template with a per-row result. Brokers can request access to your stock and see live status in their Shared Inventory grid once you approve.
Payment plans can be construction-linked, time-linked or hybrid, saved as templates by customer category (for example 20:80) or customised per booking. In CLP auto mode, completing a construction phase raises the due lines with a due date 15 days out; demand letters go out per line or in bulk from Recommended Demands by email, WhatsApp and a shareable Pay Now link on your own template. Buyers pay through your Razorpay or Easebuzz account and the payment is recorded automatically; offline entries by cash, cheque or UPI/NEFT/RTGS go through optional finance verification and a cheque clearance step. Overdue instalments trigger reminders every N days (default 7), with configurable late interest after a grace period and a cheque bounce charge. Receipts download as PDF in your own format, and each booking has a buyer statement PDF showing agreed, due, received, balance and interest. Each booking also holds loan details, sanction, disbursement tranches and a deal file with stage tracker, fee breakdown and compliance checklist.
A Channel Partners master stores commission % and project allocation; commission legs for owner, buyer and reference are tracked agreed vs paid in Finance, and a cancelled booking voids the due commission. Documents → Generate drafts agreements, sale deeds and NOCs from booking data, editable, in your own saved format. The Audit Logs screen records who changed what with before and after values across leads, bookings, commission payments, expenses, settings and users, behind a 120+ row permission grid with My/Team/All scope and TOTP 2FA. Pricing is per user per month (see Homelead pricing), and the demo runs on your own inventory sheet if you send it in advance. Book a demo at https://homelead.com/#demo and send your inventory sheet and one payment plan beforehand so the tests above run on your own data.
Frequently asked questions
What makes a CRM for builders different from a normal real estate CRM?
A builder CRM manages owned inventory (towers, floors, units, plots), blocks double bookings, runs construction-linked payment plans with demand letters and collections, settles channel partner commissions and keeps an audit trail. A normal real estate CRM stops at the booking and leaves all of that to spreadsheets.
How do I test double-booking protection in a demo?
Book a unit from one login, then try to book the same unit from a second login. The CRM should refuse the second booking outright. Also put a unit on hold and check that the hold shows who placed it and when, and that releasing it leaves a history entry.
Should the CRM replace my accounting software?
No. The CRM should own the customer-facing collection side: schedules, demand letters, receipts, statements, refunds and commission dues. Your accounting system remains the book of record. Check that the CRM exports ledger statements and collection summaries so finance can reconcile without re-typing.
What data should I send the vendor before the demo?
Your unit inventory sheet, one real payment plan (for example 20:80 or a CLP with milestones), your demand letter and agreement formats, and a list of two or three channel partners with their commission terms. A vendor who loads these into the demo is showing you the product; one who declines is showing you a presentation.
Can channel partners see my live inventory without calling the sales team?
In a proper builder CRM, yes: the partner requests access to a project, the builder approves, and the partner sees unit status update as bookings happen. Test it with two logins during the demo and confirm a booked unit disappears from the partner's available list.
How should I weight the 25 items?
Weight by where you lose money today. If demands go out late, weight items 10–13 double. If partner disputes are the problem, weight 16–18. If you have had a double booking or a changed price nobody can explain, weight 6, 23 and 25. The 0/1/2 scoring works either way.