Smart Apartments Solutions: Driving Revenue and Operating Efficiency

About Mark-Taylor Residential

Mark-Taylor Residential ranks as the largest apartment developer in Arizona’s history, the second-largest owner of rental communities in the state, and the investment manager for over 22,000 units.

Our smart home solutions were installed in Mark-Taylor communities starting in 2021 as an operational solution to staffing challenges, the need to create specialized roles, and the post-pandemic shift to self-service.

Smart Access Solutions Drive Major Efficiency Gains Across Centralized Operations

Centralized teams have enabled Mark-Taylor to manage their communities more efficiently with 1 team member per 1,500 residents, compared to the traditional 1-to-100 ratio. This shift has unlocked significant payroll efficiency and strengthened overall performance. By sharing personnel across properties, Mark-Taylor reduces costs while still delivering faster, more consistent service to residents.

Smart access technology plays a key role in these gains. Maintenance teams report saving 10–15 minutes per unit entry, and across Mark-Taylor’s smart apartment communities, smart access was used more than 56,000 times in the past year—saving an average of 274 hours in unit access efficiency per community.

As a fully keyless solution, teams no longer spend time re-keying or generating physical keys. Leasing staff can now turn units more efficiently, contributing to substantial time savings. Data shows Mark-Taylor communities have saved 16,337 total hours in unit-turn workflows, with an average of 320 hours per community.

What types of smart home devices were installed?

Technology package includes:

1. Smart hub thermostats (all-in-one)
2. Water leak sensors
3. Keyless access / smart locks
4. Resident smart home app
5. Management portal software

There are three types of technology packages for apartment communities, each tailored to the property’s needs.

How do property management teams benefit from these smart devices?

Smart thermostats optimize energy usage, reducing utility costs. Keyless locks streamline access control, improving security and convenience for both managers and tenants. Water leak sensors detect and alert to potential issues early, preventing costly damage and repairs. Smart automations help them reduce energy cost in vacant units, streamline the move-in/out process with smart lock access control, and detect water leaks and critial HVAC issues in resident units.

Together, these technologies enable more proactive and responsive property management, enhancing tenant satisfaction and operational effectiveness.

Maintenance teams receive automated alerts:

1. High humidity alerts
2. 24/7 water leak detection
3. HVAC system failures ( float switch or outage)

As a keyless solution, smart locks help turn units more efficienctly and improve the response time for staff when needing to access a unit, as opposed to managing hundreds of physical keys.

Self-guided tours has been a phenominal success at Mark-Taylor

SGT (self-guided tours) has enabled Mark Taylor to operationally transform their business. From a leasing prospective, “self-guided tours has been a fenominal aspect of Mark-Taylors shift to a centralized leasing model,” according to Dustin. “It has enabled immediacy for our Class-A prospects by giving them the ability to tour our communities on their schedule, not having to reconsile their personal schedule with our leasing team appointment schedule. It’s reduced the work load put on leasing teams and improved our ability to convert them from a lead to a resident at a Mark Taylor community.”

Offering smart home is a market differentiator

After extensive polling and surveying residents, Mark-Taylor concluded that smart technology is a differentiator in the decision around a new apartment to call home. “It’s a distinction, if don’t have it – they note it, but if you do have it, it become a value add, helping drive the ‘yes’ when deciding to live at one of our properties”