Tribe Property Technologies Inc. completed the integration of Meritus Group Management, a key step for the Vancouver company to expand its Ontario business as it pitches its technology to condo boards looking to control operating costs.

The company announced the milestone last month, nearly three years after acquiring Meritus in December 2023. With the deal now fully integrated into the parent company, Tribe said its Ontario condominium portfolio now comprises more than 70 buildings and 5,400 units across Central and Southwestern Ontario, including the Greater Toronto Area. It now operates in eight markets across Canada.

Meritus provided the staff, customers and licensing that Tribe needed to build its property management presence in the Toronto market, Tribe’s founder and chief executive officer Joseph Nakhla said.

“For us to actually operate in Toronto meaningfully, we needed to acquire a company that had the licensing to operate in that market,” he told TechNX in an interview.

The company was founded in 2012  as a software business before adding property management services in 2017. The company has employed an acquisition strategy to expand its presence in local regions and introduce its technology suite to customers, Nakhla said.

That local focus allows Tribe to expand relationships with developers who are already using its software. The company is able to offer those customers property management services for their completed condo and rental projects, alongside the technology they already license from Tribe, Nakhla added.

Bringing Meritus onto Tribe Home

With the integration complete, all former Meritus condominium customers have moved onto Tribe Home, the company’s software platform. Residents can use Tribe Home to access building documents, submit service requests and communicate with neighbours, while condo boards use the software to review financial information and conduct votes. Tribe Home also includes a marketplace offering residents deals on services such as insurance and grocery delivery.

Nakhla said the Meritus transition also includes moving accounting and internal systems, digitizing building records and training property managers to use tools such as inspection reports on an iPad through instructional videos.

The lengthy integration reflects Tribe’s thorough approach to acquisitions, he said. It gives acquired businesses time to operate before making major changes, which allows Tribe to understand their operations and reduce any potential disruption.

For their clients that subscribe to Tribe Home, they should be able to start analyzing building data digitally to help identify excessive utility consumption or landscaping bills that compare poorly with those at other properties.

“More importantly, they want reporting that is timely, accurate and a lot more insightful,” he said.

Finding business in a slower market

Despite the recent slowdown in finished condominium units coming onto market in major cities like Toronto, Nakhla still sees opportunities in the space as condo owners and developers weather tougher conditions.

Nakhla said delayed condo projects mean expected management revenue is pushed back, making it challenging to both prepare staff to service new properties before residents move in and forecast revenue.

But Tribe can still manage those properties as rentals if developers agree to the strategic shift, generating income from inventory that would otherwise sit empty while retaining ownership of the units.

Meanwhile, declining condo values make owners more attentive to ancillary costs like maintenance fees and whether their buildings are being managed efficiently, Nakhla said. For example, Tribe’s software can reduce the amount of maintenance managers by handling multiple properties rather than one for each condominium.

“The market is now down to real math, real costs, savings,” he said.

Growing the national business

After spending heavily on acquisitions and national infrastructure, Tribe’s priority is winning more business in markets it already serves while reaching profitability, Nakhla said. Tribe recently reported that its Q2 revenue climbed three per cent from a year earlier to $8.35 million, while narrowing its net loss to $1 million from $1.29 million.

“Now it’s time to backfill our national footprint,” he said.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will be a key part of that effort. Nakhla said Tribe has tested several language models and has developed more than 50 AI processes across its various business and building operations that could be used to further identify potential cost savings and maintenance management for equipment such as elevators and heating and cooling systems.

He expects those processes to be running by the end of the year, with a potential impact to its bottom line during the first quarter of 2027.

That work in AI is extending Tribe’s original work on developing software for property managers nearly a decade ago as managing finances and the upkeep of buildings is central to how Nakhla views how the company needs to deliver to its customers.

“Customers are thinking, ‘This is arguably your biggest asset, and a lot of your household savings are in it,’” he said. “It heightens the responsibility we all have to make sure these people are steered right.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was corrected to reflect that Tribe was founded in 2012. TechNX regrets the error.