Builder portal setup and bulk home import

A builder sets up an organization once, describes each floor plan as a model, groups lots into communities, loads the homes (by hand or from a spreadsheet), and then invites each buyer to claim their home at closing. Everything the builder enters about a home travels to the buyer with the claim. This article walks the whole path.

Create the builder account

Sign in with a normal account, open the user menu, and click "I'm a builder". On "Set up your builder account", enter the Organisation name (homeowners see this on their warranty and support pages) and, optionally, Support email, Support phone, and Website. Click "Create builder account". You land in the builder portal at Dashboard. One organization per person; Team is where you add colleagues.

Under Settings (admins only) you can update those contacts and set a Brand color.

Communities and models

Communities (Portfolio → Communities → "Add community") are subdivisions. Enter Name, Division / region, City, State, ZIP, Warranty / support email, and Support phone. A community carries defaults: homes in it inherit the city, state, and ZIP on import, and the support contacts.

Models (Portfolio → Models → "New model") are floor plans. Enter Model name (for example "The Aspen"), an optional Community, and a Description, then fill in the model's systems, finishes, shutoffs, and documents once. Every home created from the model starts with a copy of those records.

Roles matter here: Sales Coordinator or higher can create homes and communities and send invites; Construction Manager or higher can create models; only Admin can delete things, change settings, or manage the team.

Import a phase from a CSV

1. Open Portfolio → Homes and click "Import". The page is "Import homes".
2. Prepare a CSV with these columns: address (required), city, state (two letters), zip, lot_number, and closing_date (YYYY-MM-DD). Column order does not matter and extra columns are ignored. Click "Use an example" to see a two-row sample in the paste box.
3. Upload the file under "Upload a CSV", or paste the rows into "…or paste the rows".
4. Choose a Community if the rows leave city, state, or ZIP blank; the community fills them in.
5. Click "Check the file". Nothing is imported yet. Errors name the spreadsheet row (the header counts as row 1): "Row 3 — address: Address is required", "Duplicate of row 2 — the same address twice", or a note that some addresses already exist. Fix the file and check again.
6. When the preview shows "{n} homes ready", click "Import {n} homes". The import is all or nothing. You will see "{n} homes imported as drafts."

The limit is 500 rows per import. Every imported home arrives as a Draft, so nothing is visible to any buyer until you hand it over.

Add a single home

Click "New home". Pick a Model (or "Blank home (no template)"), a Community, and enter Street address, City, State, ZIP, Lot number, and Closing date. "Create home" copies the model's records onto the lot.

Get a home ready and invite the buyer

Open the home. The "Handoff readiness" card lists what is needed before a buyer can be invited. Required: Street address, At least one system or appliance, Shutoffs & key locations, and Closing date. Optional but worth doing: Square footage & specs, At least one document, Paint & finishes. Set the status as the build progresses (Draft, Under construction, Pre-closing); "Ready for handoff" is only allowed once the required items are done.

When it is ready, in the "Homeowner handoff" card click "Invite homeowner", enter the Buyer email (and name), and click "Send invitation". The buyer receives "Your new home at {address} is ready to claim"; the dialog also shows the link so you can send it yourself. The link is shown once and expires after 14 days. Status becomes Invited, and "Revoke" cancels the link if you need to reissue it. What the buyer sees, and what they receive, is in claiming a home from a builder. After the claim, the home's records belong to the owner and are no longer visible in the portal.

After the handoff

Owners of claimed homes send warranty claims and service requests to your Requests inbox (Portfolio → Requests). "Waiting on you" lists them urgent first, then oldest. Any team member can Acknowledge, Schedule a visit, Mark resolved, or Decline (with a reason), and message the owner on the request. The owner's side of a request shows what they see at each status.

What to do next

Build the models before importing the homes; a home created from a finished model is nearly handoff-ready on day one. Then add the team under Organization → Team with the smallest role each person needs.