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Steward vs Spreadsheets

A spreadsheet is fine until a buyer, lender, insurer, or partner asks for proof by building, asset, vendor, and date.

Choose Spreadsheets when

Owners who only need a simple list of costs and are willing to type every maintenance event manually.

Choose Steward when

Steward turns invoices into an asset-level maintenance history and produces a buyer-facing report instead of another tab to maintain.

Decision point

Spreadsheets

Steward

Data entry

Manual typing and copy-paste from emails or PDFs.

Forward or upload invoices, then review key details.

Asset history

Usually buried in free-text notes or separate tabs.

Events attach to buildings, assets, vendors, and attached files.

Diligence report

A spreadsheet export the recipient must interpret.

A structured maintenance report built for review conversations.

Reminders

Manual calendar work, if it happens at all.

Asset intervals drive next-due schedules and reminder states.

Honest reason to pick them

They are cheap, portable, accountant-friendly, and already socially accepted by small property owners.