How Hausing helped to automate and scale the biggest business campus in the Baltics? - Ülemiste City [Case Study]

Using Hausing since: 2019

Hausing features in use: Maintenance work management

Previously used: Email and notebooks

In this case study story, we interviewed Martin Mäekivi, the head of the property management team at Mainor Ülemiste. Martin has been working at Mainor Ülemiste for over six years, and since the beginning of this year, he has been leading the property management team.

Mainor Ülemiste develops and manages Ülemiste City, the largest business campus in the Baltics, home to nearly 400 innovative companies. Ülemiste City is located near Tallinn Airport, on the site of the former Dvigatel factory. Their goal is to develop the 30-hectare Smart City into the region’s largest knowledge-based economic environment.

Today, Ülemiste City already ranks as Estonia’s third-largest economic hub in terms of labor taxes, following Tallinn and Tartu.

Background

Six years ago, Martin joined Ülemiste as the third member of the property management team. Over time, the workload gradually increased as the campus continued to grow, with each new building significantly adding to the team's management workload.

Hausing has been a tool for managing maintenance work in Ülemiste City since the beginning, but initially, it was primarily used internally and often remained in the background. As a result, maintenance tasks were mainly managed using three different tools:

• Emails
• Phone calls
• Notebooks

Since the workload wasn’t as large as it is today, Hausing was mostly used like a digital notebook where Mainor Ülemiste employees made notes for themselves. As team members changed over time, there was no dedicated product owner for Hausing—someone who would take ownership of the platform's implementation within the team and with clients to ensure its successful adoption.

The small property management team was able to handle all tasks effectively using the available tools, and there was no immediate need for a more advanced system at that point.

The Need for a New System

The journey toward actively using Hausing can be described as having two key phases.

Phase 1: The First Signs of Needing Property Management Software

The first indication of the need for dedicated property management software appeared when the team was reduced to just two members, while new buildings kept emerging across Ülemiste City. At that point, Hausing was increasingly integrated into their workflows, though the platform was still not being used to its full potential.

A step closer to active use came when they partnered with Grandhaus, their property maintenance provider, and agreed that all work orders would now be directed to Grandhaus through Hausing. As a trusted partner of Ülemiste City, Grandhaus took the task seriously and helped the team navigate through this challenging period.

"Hausing essentially became an extra member of the property management team," Martin explained.

Phase 2: The Decision to Fully Commit

At this stage, two companies—Mainor Ülemiste and Technopolis Ülemiste—were ready to join forces. It became clear to the property management team that the workload was about to grow even more, and they had to make a final decision: continue with Hausing or switch to another software solution.

They began researching different programs but ultimately came full circle back to Hausing.

"There are a lot of overly complicated programs on the market with unnecessary features, but software should simply get the job done," said Martin.

Hausing was chosen not only for its simplicity but also because of the open communication and belief in the platform's promising future.

"We choose partners, not just good software", Martin emphasized.

At that time, Hausing was handling about 150–200 tickets per month. Initially, the team estimated that the volume might grow to around 400 tickets. While they had a rough idea of what might happen, no one could have predicted the actual growth that lay ahead.

Fast forward to today: the monthly ticket volume has grown to 800 tickets.

A work order or ticket is a task or issue description that needs to be resolved. Such tickets are commonly used in maintenance, IT, and customer service to track and manage workflows. A typical ticket includes a task description, an assigned responsible person, a deadline, and the task status.

Internal Implementation

The company had grown significantly. Desks were, quite literally, covered with tasks, piled up to the very edges. The property management inbox was in chaos—some emails went unread, and certain tasks were done twice. Martin jokingly said, "If I ever become the manager, I’ll shut down that inbox."

Despite the workload, people would still stop team members in the hallways to share their concerns—issues that could easily slip their minds during a busy day. That's when a new mantra started spreading throughout the company: "Put the task in Hausing!"

Since habits can be hard to break, this phrase had to be repeated dozens—if not hundreds—of times. While it initially sparked a lot of laughs, everyone eventually realized that the effort paid off many times over. The property management inbox was finally closed, leaving Hausing as the sole system for all maintenance tasks.

Now, each tenant has their own user account, allowing them to add tasks to Hausing, track the work process, ask follow-up questions, and more.

"The implementation took time because of our scale, both with our partners and tenants. But today, we’re already enjoying the fruits of that effort,"

Martin said proudly.

The key to a successful implementation lies in the company itself: it must start using the software daily and actively guide both partners and tenants to do the same.

Current Situation

Mainor Ülemiste receives an average of 800 work tickets per month in Hausing, and this volume continues to grow.

"Our property management team is still relatively small, with just five people, but the number of buildings has increased significantly. Hausing has been like a lifeline for us from the very beginning,"

Martin explained.

While not all tenants have fully adopted the habit of submitting tasks through the platform, they are continuously encouraged and supported in doing so. Currently, around 600 Ülemiste City tenants have active Hausing accounts. Each company has appointed a designated person—whether it’s an office manager or a team leader—responsible for reporting maintenance issues. The information submitted via Hausing is generally clear and high-quality, with only a few tickets needing to be rejected.

Managing such a high volume of tickets—receiving, reviewing, and directing them to the right people—is a significant task in itself. One ticket can take on a life of its own, generating various questions and feedback. To handle this workload, there is a dedicated property services coordinator who acts as a filter, handling simpler tasks and making key decisions, such as:

• Determining whether the task is urgent or not
• Assigning the appropriate task category
• Selecting the responsible service partner

"Hausing, combined with a good partner, makes for an excellent system. Without the right partner, it’s just another tool. You need someone to process the information and provide feedback," Martin emphasized.

The World’s Best Service

The goal of the Mainor Ülemiste team is to offer their tenants the world’s best service, supported by the Hausing platform. They always approach challenges and processes with a customer-centric mindset, constantly exploring new ways to improve their services.

The next step in their journey is to start measuring customer satisfaction through Hausing. The goal is to identify potential bottlenecks and resolve them before they become recurring issues. Even now, the statistics generated in Hausing provide valuable insights for improving processes. The team maintains an open and honest relationship with their partners, ensuring top-quality service. Feedback flows both ways—partners receive input from Mainor Ülemiste, and vice versa.

Here are some recent changes implemented to make task management smoother for everyone involved:

• Requiring a phone number when submitting a task:
  This ensures that the team can quickly reach the client if additional information is needed.

• Service partners now add comments about completed work:
  Instead of tickets simply moving from one status to another, clients receive clear descriptions of the work being done, providing greater transparency and better communication.

"If Hausing dissapeared tomorrow, things would get really complicated," Martin admitted.

Future

As mentioned earlier, the next big goal is to gather tenant satisfaction data to identify and address potential pain points. Additionally, Mainor Ülemiste is developing a dedicated portal for their tenants where Hausing will be fully integrated, ensuring that all information reaches clients through a single, unified platform.

Since day-to-day maintenance work is already running smoothly, the next step is to integrate all regular maintenance tasks for the various systems and equipment within Hausing. For each piece of equipment, they will be able to define:

• Scheduled tasks (e.g., filter changes or cleanliness checks for ventilation systems)
• Task frequency
• Assigned service providers
• Maintenance instructions
• User manuals

All this information will come together in Hausing as a comprehensive maintenance calendar, giving the team an easy-to-follow overview of all upcoming tasks.

Conclusion

Today, Hausing plays the role of multiple property managers at Ülemiste City. The entire team trusts the platform, and no one doubts its value.

Years ago, when the workload was smaller, Hausing remained in the background, and the team managed tasks on their own. However, the consistent implementation of Hausing among tenants and partners has paid off—all property management issues are now centralized in one place. The workload has multiplied, and handling tasks with notebooks and emails is no longer feasible.

Mainor Ülemiste strives to provide the best service in the world to its clients, and they actively work towards that goal. High-quality service is ensured through transparent and direct feedback between three key parties—partners, tenants, and the company itself.

If you're facing similar challenges or need a better solution for managing work orders, reach out to us at info@hausing.ee or book a demo.