BRICKS 4.2
As cities grow and the complexity of building infrastructure increases, property managers face mounting pressure to maintain operational control, financial clarity, and service transparency. Bricks 4.2, our latest AI-powered property management software that redefines how real estate assets are managed across the Netherlands.
As the Product Manager (non-technical) and UX Researcher for Bricks 4.2, I led the design and development of an AI-powered property management platform tailored to the needs of real estate professionals across the Netherlands. This project was born out of a simple insight: property managers are often overwhelmed by fragmented tools, repetitive tasks, and poor visibility. My role was to rethink this experience, turning complexity into clarity through user-centered design, smart automation, and scalable architecture.
Through continuous interviews with tenants, property owners, and portfolio managers, I shaped a system that transforms how buildings are managed, financially, operationally, and technically. The result: Bricks 4.2, a modular yet unified platform that empowers real estate professionals to work faster, stay in control, and make informed decisions backed by data.
DPM
The AI-powered features in Bricks 4.2 dramatically enhance property management quality by reducing manual workloads, increasing speed, and boosting accuracy. Automated service charge statements eliminate human error and generate accurate, dispute-free reports in seconds. Rent indexing, based on real-time CBS data, ensures compliant rent adjustments without manual input. AI-driven invoice scanning, payment matching, and automated reminders optimize financial accuracy while reducing missed payments or follow-ups. Maintenance ticketing, inspections, and digital rental agreements are streamlined through intelligent workflows, keeping both tenants and managers fully informed with minimal effort. The result is a highly efficient, responsive, and transparent property management experience.
Speed and Accuracy Through Automation
Bricks 4.2 leverages AI to replace repetitive, error-prone tasks with automated precision, enabling property managers to operate faster and more effectively. I collaborated on tasks like ticketing when I joined as a Product Manager, streamlining community issue reporting to property managers and landlords to enable faster decision-making when receiving tickets from residents.
I started with a question previously posed by the product team:
| How can we create a ticketing system for a community where members can report issues and track their resolutions?
Before I started the project, I wanted to put together a process that allowed me to be on scope for the two weeks and have a vision of what I wanted to do. I wanted this process to be high-level and agile enough to allow me to change it as I go.
Understand
understanding the question and the problem was the first thing I wanted to tackle. I needed to create a picture of what the problem space looks like and also the stakeholders involved with in it
Implementation and refine
My solution has to be lean enough to easily be prototyped for testing experiences and implementing functionality. This would allow it to go through usability testing, learning from the testing, and then refining the features further.
What is the question, and what are the requirements? We know there is a need, so let’s define and map the problem with the focus on users and their tasks.
- Who are the residence?
- Who are the maintenance staff?
- Are the maintenance staff from the same company?
- Are the maintenance staff working full-time on the property?
- How are members reporting the issue now?
- Why is the system not working?
- Who else is involved in the system?
- Why is tracking the issue important to the user?
By putting everything from my research on a wall, it enabled me to identify patterns within the data and also provide a place to go back to and synthesize the data by simply clustering it according to specific categories or by creating a simple mind map of my data.
I wanted to simplify and categorize everything that I came across and rearranged everything to the categories below.
Simplified system flow
This flowchart shows the simplest way to showcase how the system works now. And usually is way more complicated than this, but I wanted something simple to go back to and brainstorm on.
Implementation
Only about half of the work is done by this point, and to continue, I would need to work with a developer to verify the quality of development and impact of this application.
Potential user benefits
- The system could create transparency between residences and the other stakeholders involved within the community.
- The system could also provide an environment for the members to be more involved and be connected with other members within the community.
- The system can using the ML for real time solutions when tickets are reporting by residence.
Potential risks & challenges
- How to get the users on the system
- Providing an easier way for users to complain to management
- Strict rules and regulations from the condo board
- Technical inability of stakeholders to adapt to the new system
This application has multiple interfaces and had to be designed to please all the stakeholders at the same time. Because of that the system is designed so everyone would participate by using the application, and a potential risk could be a key stakeholder in the system not using the application such as the property manager.
Learning
As a non-tech PM, building Bricks 4.2 taught me the importance of designing for both operational efficiency and user trust. Automating complex processes is not just about speed, it’s about creating clarity, reducing friction, and supporting compliance without overwhelming users. Watching how features that we created and built confidence reaffirmed that thoughtful automation can be a strategic asset, not just a convenience.