Local agency or remote studio for a property management company website in Montreal: how to choose (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

For a property management company in Montreal, a local agency makes sense if you want it to photograph your buildings, connect the site to your management software and sit in on your meetings, for a 2026 ballpark of 12 000 to 45 000 CAD (about 8 600 to 32 400 USD). A remote studio like Kolonell fits if you supply the photos and want a clear site, French first, for a fixed price of 2 900 USD, 4 900 USD or 8 900 USD, with a project manager reachable at your hours. The real decision point lies elsewhere than price: it is the tenant portal, which is a custom application or a module of your software, never a simple marketing site.

This version is written for the English-speaking managers and owners of property management companies in Montreal; the French version is the reference.

Which criteria should you compare between a Montreal agency, a freelancer and Kolonell?

These ranges are prudent. They rest on public rate cards of Montreal and South Shore agencies, minimum project sizes shown on Clutch.co profiles, hourly rates published by local studios (often 100 to 160 CAD per hour) and developer rates visible on Upwork. Conversion used: about 0.72 USD per CAD.

To be frank: a competent Montreal freelancer at 2 500 CAD costs less than our Starter plan. What Kolonell adds is a project manager, native French copy written for owners and tenants, a written fixed price and the handover of every login. The team is in Senegal (GMT): 4 hours ahead of Montreal in summer, 5 in winter, so calls take place in your morning or early afternoon. Payment by bank transfer or Wise, 50 % at kickoff, 50 % at delivery. Details on our international website offer.

When is the local agency the better choice?

Stay local, without hesitation, if:

• you want video tours of units shot and edited by the same supplier; Kolonell does not travel;
• you are launching a custom tenant portal (rent payment, tracked maintenance requests, lease documents) and want a team that builds and maintains it next to you;
• you prefer deciding in meetings, at the Rosemont or downtown office, rather than on video calls;
• you want a single contract for the site, paid listings and the Google profile of each building.

When does a remote studio like Kolonell do the job?

Most of the time, a property manager needs a site that reassures two audiences: owners looking for a manager and tenants looking for a unit or reporting a problem. Both needs are well covered remotely if the photos exist.

In Montreal, most property managers need French and English: the bilingual FR/EN site is available from the Premium plan. A real tenant portal, with accounts and payment, is a custom application, quoted on request. Many property management software packages already offer their own portal: the site can simply link to it.

What should a Montreal property manager's site show?

The Montreal rental market has its own rhythm. Leases often end on July 1, and housing requests concentrate in spring: the site has to absorb that peak without the front desk drowning in calls, with up-to-date sheets and a form that sorts requests. Neighbourhoods matter too: a plex on the Plateau, a building in Villeray, a tower in Griffintown or condos in Saint-Laurent and Laval do not target the same tenants.

• Language. The Charter of the French Language governs the language of commerce in Quebec: the site's commercial content must be available in French. An English version can sit alongside it.
• Personal information. Law 25 requires, among other things, publishing a privacy policy in clear terms, designating a person in charge of personal information protection and turning certain tracking technologies off by default. A rental application form should collect only what is necessary; a credit check requires separate consent.
• Brokerage. If you also carry out real estate brokerage, your advertising falls under OACIQ rules; check with the OACIQ which activities require a licence.
• Disputes. For lease questions, the site can link to the official information of the Tribunal administratif du logement rather than interpret the law.
• Accessibility. WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 AA is the technical reference for sheets and forms everyone can read.

This is not legal advice.

Which questions should you ask each supplier?

• Is the tenant portal included, or is it a link to our software?
• Who updates the available units, and how quickly?
• Is the site Law 25 compliant at launch (policy, banner, designated person)?
• Who writes the French version, and who translates the English one?
• Who owns the domain, the hosting and the photos?
• What is the written price of an extra building sheet?

What does each option cost over three years?

Both columns use the same maintenance assumption after the support period and the same hosting. Kolonell maintenance after support is quoted on request: the figure below is an assumption, identical on both sides.

Mini case study

Illustrative example. Mélanie G., operations director of a property management company that has just acquired a competitor, must merge two sites into a single bilingual one. A Montreal agency quotes 38 000 CAD, about 27 360 USD, custom tenant portal included. The other route: Kolonell Premium at 8 900 USD, the portal already included in the company's management software (linked from the site) and a local photographer at 1 200 CAD (about 860 USD), for about 9 760 USD. The gap is about 17 600 USD. If Mélanie insists on an in-house portal, the agency or a custom application quoted on request is the way; if her software's module is enough, the remote route covers the essentials.

FAQ

Can the site display our units in real time?

Sheets are updated from the CMS by your team in a few minutes. Automatic sync with your management software is a custom integration, quoted on request, outside the 2 900 to 8 900 USD plans.

Is a French version mandatory?

In Quebec, commercial content must be available in French; it is one of our native writing languages. The English version is added from the Premium plan at 8 900 USD.

Does Kolonell come to photograph our buildings?

No, Kolonell does not shoot on site. A local real estate photographer often costs 800 to 2 000 CAD (about 580 to 1 440 USD) for a day.

What time are the calls?

At your hours, usually in the morning or early afternoon, since the team is 4 to 5 hours ahead of Montreal. A written update reaches you every week during the 3 to 4 week project.

What happens after launch?

Support is included for 3 months, 6 months on Premium. After that, maintenance is quoted on request, and you keep every access if you choose another supplier.

Let's scope your project. Send us your list of buildings, your services to owners and the management software you use, and we reply with a fixed-price plan and a 3 to 4 week timeline. Request your free quote or see the international offer.