How does the 30-day free trial work?

Start with no credit card required. Every feature in every plan is unlocked for 30 days across all the communities you import. At the end of the trial, pick the tier that fits your portfolio — the trial itself never rolls into a paid invoice without your sign-off.

Do I need a credit card to start?

No. The trial is genuinely free — no card on file, no auto-charge at day 31. We will email you before the trial ends so you can choose to continue, change tier, or let the workspace lapse.

How long does onboarding take?

Most property managers have their portfolio live in under an hour. Import your properties via the CSV template or add them by hand, import your existing staff credentials, and the dashboard flips from red/yellow/green the moment the last row lands.

Can I import from an existing spreadsheet?

Yes. The CSV import ships with property-industry column presets — staff name, credential type, issue date, expiration date, and document link. Map your existing columns once, and your full credential history loads in minutes.

What certification types are pre-loaded?

CertShield comes pre-loaded with CPO (Certified Pool Operator), EPA 608 (HVAC/refrigerant technician certification), fair housing training, CAMT (Certified Apartment Manager), and the most common property-specific credentials. You can also add custom types to match your state or company requirements.

What counts as a community?

A community is one managed property — a single apartment complex, HOA, or building you oversee. A community is not a seat or a staff member. Your whole team shares the same pool per tier.

What happens if I go over my tier?

We do not auto-charge you an overage. You stay on your current tier and we email you the moment you cross the next threshold so you can choose to upgrade, drop a community from tracking, or hold steady through the cycle.

Can I upgrade or downgrade mid-cycle?

Yes. Upgrades take effect immediately and we prorate the difference on your next bill. Downgrades take effect at the next renewal — so you keep everything you already paid for through the billing period you are in.

Do I get billed monthly or annually?

Both options are available. Toggle the Monthly / Annual switch on the pricing page before checkout to flip between billing intervals. Annual billing saves you 20% compared to month-to-month.

Is there a setup fee?

No. There is no setup fee, no per-seat add-on, and no charge for importing your existing credentials. The price on the card is the price you pay.

Cancel any time from your billing page. There is no phone-call gauntlet and no retention queue — your workspace stays active through the end of the billing period you already paid for, then lapses.

Why does it not price by seat?

Property managers swap staff in and out of communities all the time. Pricing by head count punishes growth and rewards keeping your team lean. CertShield tiers by community count so adding an assistant property manager never bumps you into the next plan.

How do I know which tier fits my portfolio?

Tier math is the number of communities you oversee on a given day — not your pipeline or your annual goal. $29/mo is for 1–4 communities, $59/mo is for 5–15, and $99/mo covers 16 or more. We will email you the moment you cross the next threshold so you can decide.

Can multiple managers share one workspace?

Yes. Your whole team shares one pool per tier — managers, assistants, regional supervisors, and anyone else who needs visibility into the portfolio. Invite or remove people from your dashboard at any time without affecting your plan.

Does everyone see everything?

You control who sees what. Every workspace member has a role, and the dashboard scopes views to the communities each role is responsible for. Regional rollups are available on the Portfolio tier so supervisors can see every property without flipping through tabs.

Where do I find the licensing reference?

Visit /requirements for the full state list, or /requirements/[state] for a single state. Every requirement row ships with the issuing board, the statutory citation, and a link to the official state board source.

How current is the licensing data?

Each row carries a citation and a link to the state board so you can verify in seconds. When a state updates a requirement, we update the citation — the dashboard does not present itself as the authoritative source; it points you to the authoritative source.

Can I cite CertShield in an attestation?

We deliberately do not position CertShield as the authoritative source. Cite the state board directly — the state board URL on each row is the URL to use in your filing. CertShield exists to keep you out of the position where you have to file at all.

My state is missing — what now?

Drop us a note from /submit and we will prioritize it. New states usually land within two weeks, and you will be emailed when the state goes live so you can review the citation before relying on it.

What does the audit-trail export include?

The audit-ready export pack is a single PDF bundle covering every active certification in your portfolio — credential type, holder, issue date, expiration date, attached document, and the audit history of every change made to that row. It is the document you hand to an inspector.

How do I generate an export on demand?

From any community view in your dashboard, hit Export — the pack generates in seconds and downloads straight to your browser. No third-party service, no PDF upload portal — the document is produced locally and handed to you.

Can I schedule exports?

Yes, on the Portfolio tier. A weekly regional digest lands in your inbox each Monday summarizing every active credential across your portfolio and flagging anything due in the next 30 days — so you never chase a surprise the morning of an inspection.

Where do I find the history of past changes?

Every change to a credential row — issue, renewal, attachment, expiration — is logged in /dashboard/audit-history. The history is append-only, so you can prove what was true on a given date long after the row has been updated.

FAQ

The questions property managers actually ask.

Straight answers on getting started, how billing and dunning work, the workspace / portfolio model, regulator attestation, and audit-trail exports — all grounded in the product itself.

Five sections · Twenty-three questions · Updated alongside every release.

01Getting started 02Billing & dunning 03Workspace / portfolio model 04Regulator attestation 05Audit-trail exports

Getting started

Up and running in under an hour.

A 30-day trial with no credit card, a CSV import that already knows your industry, and a pre-loaded library so you start tracking today.

Billing & dunning

No surprise charges. Ever.

You stay on your current tier until you choose to upgrade — and we will tell you when you cross the next threshold before you do.

Workspace / portfolio model

Plans that scale with the work — not the head count.

Your whole team shares one workspace per tier. Tier math is the number of communities you oversee, not the number of people on your team.

Regulator attestation

State-by-state licensing reference, ready when an inspector is not.

CertShield comes pre-loaded with a state-by-state licensing reference, each row carrying the board authority, the statute, and a link straight to the state source.

Audit-trail exports

Audit-ready exports. No last-minute scrambling.

When an inspector asks for proof, you pull a single document — or it lands in your inbox on a schedule you set.

Still have questions?

We'd rather you ask than assume.

If something here doesn't match what you're seeing in your dashboard, tell us what's missing and we'll update this page so the next person doesn't have to ask twice.

Tell us what to add Browse state requirements

Ready to stop chasing spreadsheets?

Start the 30-day free trial — no credit card, every feature unlocked across every community you import.

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30 days free · No credit card · Cancel any time