Solving Our AWS bill tripled in 6 months and we don't know why for PropTech
Expert Fractional CTO Solutions for PropTech & Real Estate Companies
This problem has significant impact on PropTech companies, affecting operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and competitive positioning. Our fractional CTO services provide PropTech & Real Estate-specific expertise to resolve this challenge quickly and sustainably.
How "Our AWS bill tripled in 6 months and we don't know why" Impacts PropTech
This problem has significant impact on PropTech companies, affecting operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and competitive positioning. In the PropTech & Real Estate sector, this problem manifests differently than in other industries, requiring specialized expertise and industry-specific solutions.
Business Impact
Cloud costs consuming 35% of revenue vs 15% industry benchmark. Burning $500K annually on unnecessary infrastructure. Can't reach profitability with current unit economics. Investors questioning operational efficiency. Had to cut marketing budget to cover unexpected infrastructure costs.
PropTech & Real Estate Specific: Revenue loss, customer churn, competitive disadvantage
Team Impact
Developers provisioning resources without considering cost. DevOps overwhelmed trying to track down cost sources. No one willing to shut down resources fearing they might be important. Team morale low from constant cost-cutting pressure in other areas while infrastructure waste continues.
PropTech & Real Estate teams face unique pressure and expertise requirements
Leadership Impact
CFO escalating infrastructure costs to board. Being compared unfavorably to competitors with lower cloud costs. Embarrassed by operational inefficiency. Afraid to check AWS bill each month. Investors questioning if leadership team can manage resources responsibly.
Critical for PropTech & Real Estate founders and technical leaders
Warning Signs for PropTech
PropTech & Real Estate Red Flag
MLS data sync failures daily
PropTech & Real Estate Red Flag
Virtual tour loading times exceeding 10 seconds
PropTech & Real Estate Red Flag
Agent adoption rate declining
General Symptom
Cloud costs increasing 15-30% monthly with no corresponding growth
General Symptom
Can't explain what majority of cloud spending is for
PropTech & Real Estate Compliance Risks
This problem can jeopardize critical compliance requirements for PropTech & Real Estate companies:
Our PropTech & Real Estate-Specific Approach
We combine deep PropTech & Real Estate industry expertise with proven problem-solving methodologies to deliver solutions that work in your specific context.
Solution Framework
Cloud cost optimization requires systematic approach - audit to understand spending, eliminate obvious waste, right-size resources based on actual usage, implement monitoring and governance to prevent costs from spiraling again. We use data-driven approach examining actual resource utilization, not guesses about what you might need. Most organizations can cut costs 40-60% without impacting performance.
For PropTech & Real Estate companies, we adapt this approach to account for industry-specific challenges including mls integration, virtual tours, and more.
Implementation Timeline
Cloud Cost Audit and Waste Identification
We conduct comprehensive audit of cloud spending across all services, regions, and accounts. We analyze cost trends, identify top cost drivers, and categorize spending by service, team, project, and environment. We identify unused resources (servers not receiving traffic, databases with no connections, storage volumes detached from instances), idle resources (development instances running 24/7), oversized instances (16GB RAM servers using 2GB), inefficient architectures (NAT gateways costing more than necessary, data transfer patterns, inefficient storage tiers), and redundant resources (duplicate databases, overlapping services). We implement proper tagging strategy to attribute costs accurately. You'll get detailed cost breakdown showing exactly where money is going and prioritized list of optimization opportunities with estimated savings. This audit typically identifies 50-70% waste that can be eliminated immediately.
1-2 weeks
PropTech & Real Estate optimizedQuick Wins - Eliminate Obvious Waste
We immediately eliminate waste with minimal risk - shut down unused resources after verification, delete unattached storage volumes, terminate idle instances, remove orphaned resources from deleted projects, clean up old snapshots and backups, consolidate redundant resources. We implement auto-shutdown for development/staging environments running only during business hours. We delete test resources no longer needed. We optimize storage tiers moving infrequently accessed data to cheaper storage. We right-size obviously oversized instances (64GB RAM instance using 4GB). We review and cancel unused SaaS subscriptions and cloud services. These quick wins typically reduce costs 30-40% within 2-3 weeks with zero business impact and often improved performance from cleaner infrastructure.
2-3 weeks
PropTech & Real Estate optimizedStrategic Right-sizing and Architecture Optimization
We analyze actual resource utilization patterns over time using CloudWatch metrics to right-size instances based on real usage, not speculation. We implement auto-scaling so capacity matches demand - scale up during business hours, down at night and weekends. We optimize database instances based on actual query patterns and connection counts. We redesign inefficient architectures - replace expensive NAT gateways with VPC endpoints where appropriate, optimize data transfer patterns, implement CloudFront caching to reduce origin traffic, use spot instances for non-critical workloads, implement reserved instances for predictable baseline load (40-60% savings vs on-demand). We optimize storage using lifecycle policies to move old data to cheaper tiers. We review and optimize serverless architectures (Lambda, Fargate) for cost efficiency. This phase typically yields additional 20-30% savings beyond quick wins.
4-6 weeks
PropTech & Real Estate optimizedCost Governance, Monitoring, and Culture
We implement cloud cost governance to prevent costs from spiraling again. We set up budget alerts at team and project level, implement approval workflows for large resource requests, create cost reporting dashboards showing trends and anomalies, and establish regular cost review meetings. We implement proper tagging policies and enforce them programmatically. We create cost optimization runbooks and train team on cost-conscious practices. We establish cost metrics tied to business metrics (cost per customer, cost per transaction) to measure efficiency. We implement FinOps practices with shared responsibility between engineering and finance. We set up anomaly detection alerting on unusual cost spikes. We create internal showback/chargeback so teams understand their cost impact. This ensures cost optimization is sustained and becomes part of culture.
2-3 weeks
PropTech & Real Estate optimizedTypical Timeline
30-40% cost reduction in 3-4 weeks, 50-60% total reduction in 2-3 months, ongoing optimization
For PropTech & Real Estate companies
Investment Range
$12k-$20k/month for 2-3 months, typically saves 5-10x that in reduced cloud costs within first quarter
Typical for PropTech & Real Estate engagement
What You Get: PropTech & Real Estate-Specific Deliverables
Comprehensive assessment of our aws bill tripled in 6 months and we don't know why in proptech context
PropTech & Real Estate-specific solution roadmap with timeline and milestones
Technical architecture recommendations tailored to your industry
Implementation plan with risk mitigation strategies
MLS integration reliability audit and optimization plan
Virtual tour performance optimization and CDN strategy
Property search algorithm tuning and mobile optimization
PropTech & Real Estate Tech Stack Expertise
Our fractional CTOs have extensive experience with the technologies your PropTech & Real Estate company uses:
languages
frameworks
databases
Success Metrics for
When we solve "Our AWS bill tripled in 6 months and we don't know why" for PropTech & Real Estate companies, you can expect:
Improvement in key performance metrics
To full resolution and sustainability
PropTech & Real Estate compliance maintained
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Learn about PropTech & Real Estate solutions →Ready to Solve Our AWS bill tripled in 6 months and we don't know why in Your PropTech & Real Estate Company?
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