A tenant texts that the sink is leaking, and nothing else.
Most of what I automate at work is tickets. One agent reads every ticket the minute it lands. If the ticket doesn't say what's broken, where, or since when, it goes straight back to the person who filed it with the questions, before anyone on my team sees it. When the answers come in, it sets the priority by rules we wrote, routes it to the right person, attaches the procedure we've documented for that kind of problem, and tells whoever needs to know. My team opens tickets that are ready to work.
A maintenance request is the same ticket with a sink in it. A tenant texts "sink is leaking" at 7:40 at night. Nobody knows which unit, whether there's water on the floor, when they're home, or whether there's a dog. So somebody in your office spends the next morning texting to find out, and the plumber gets called at noon for a drip that could have been on his list the night before.
I'd set up the same thing I run at work. The request is checked the minute it lands, the tenant is asked for whatever is missing, your rule says emergency or routine, and the right vendor gets the job with your checklist for that kind of fix. Every Monday it tests itself, and once a month it tells you what came through. If you run a plumbing or HVAC outfit, the same thing works on your service requests.
What I'd set up
A tenant's number is matched to the lease, so nobody asks which unit. Whatever is missing from the text, the tenant is asked for, in your words. Your rule sorts it emergency or routine, the right vendor gets the job with your checklist for that kind of fix, and the tenant hears back at every step. Every Monday it tests itself, and once a month you get one short note of what came through.
The rules it follows
- It only answers tenants who texted first, and it never promises a time the vendor hasn't given.
- Emergency or routine is your rule, written down. Nothing decides that for you.
- A vendor only gets a request that has what your list says it needs.
- Every message to the tenant goes on the unit's record. Asked if it's automated, it says so.
- The Monday test deletes its own ticket. If it fails, you get one text.
Which vendors you trust, what counts as an emergency, and anything about the lease stay with you.
Working demo
One leak, from a nine-word text to the plumber's list.
Put your company's name in, then follow one leak from Dana's first text to the plumber who fixes it. You're out showing units all week.
The company, the tenant and the plumber are made up. The replies were written in advance and play back in your browser. Nothing you type leaves this page.
It signs every text here, and never leaves this page.
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Tuesday
Tuesday evening. The office closed at 5.
Dana texts, and gets an answer
Answered in under a minute, after hours.
- Danahey the kitchen sink is leaking under the cabinet
- Bledsoe Creek PropertiesHey Dana, no problem. Kitchen sink, 12B, got it. Drip or running? Send a pic if you can.
- Danajust a drip, I put a bowl under it. home after 5 most days Photo: under the kitchen sink
- Bledsoe Creek PropertiesPerfect, the bowl buys us time. Plumber's coming this week after 5, I'll text you the day. If it starts running, little valve under the sink, righty tighty, and text me.
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Tuesday
Seven minutes later. Nobody in the office.
Your plumber has the whole job
Photo, dog, access window, your checklist.
Work order, to your plumber
Routine, by your rule.
- Where
- 12B, Building 2. Kitchen sink, under the cabinet.
- What
- A drip, caught in a bowl. Photo attached.
- Access
- Weekdays after 5. Dog in the unit.
Your checklist for a sink leak
- Shutoff valve: check it closes, show Dana where it is.
- Supply lines and trap: tighten or replace, note which.
- Cabinet floor: photo any water damage.
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Wednesday
Wednesday morning. You're showing a unit in Building 1.
Dana hears back, and nobody typed it
The plumber picks a time and Dana gets it.
- Bledsoe Creek PropertiesMorning Dana. Plumber can come Thursday between 5 and 7. That work? He knows about the dog.
- Danayes thursday is fine thank you
- Bledsoe Creek PropertiesThursday 5 to 7 it is. He'll text when he's on the way. Anything changes, just reply here.
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Monday
Every Monday, before the office opens.
It checks itself every Monday
A test every Monday, a note every month.
Monday's test: pass
From the test number, unit 00T
What it checked
- 6:00 Text in: hall light out by the stairs. Questions back in 41 seconds.
- 6:01 Sorted routine, to your electrician marked test. His phone stayed quiet.
- 6:02 Tenant update sent, test ticket deleted.
The text you'd get if it failed
Bledsoe Creek Properties watchdog: Monday's test got stuck after the questions went back. No tenant affected.
What chasing the details costs you
Put in what an hour of office time costs you and how many hours a week go to asking tenants which unit, for a photo, and when they're home.
The starting figure is an example. Change it to yours.
Count last week's texts and calls that only asked a tenant for something the first message should have had.
What you're losing
- A week
- $150
- A month
- $650
- A year
- $7,800
Rough math: the week times 52 for the year, divided by 12 for the month. The hours are the number to get right; the dollar figure only scales them.
How you'd set this up yourself
Five steps, and the first two are a page of writing, no software at all.
Write the list
Five things every request needs before a vendor sees it: unit, what and where, a photo, when they're home, pets. Put the same five on the portal form and in the first text back.
Write the emergency rule down
Water that won't shut off, no heat, no hot water, a lockout: emergency, straight to the on-call number. Everything else waits for the morning. One page, so the rule is yours and the software only follows it.
Let it ask, in your words
A business AI account with training off reads each request against your list and writes the one text that asks for what's missing. Give it the five things and three of your own texts to copy.
One checklist per kind of job
Leak under a sink, running toilet, no cool air, a light out: a short checklist for each, written with the vendor who does them. It rides on every work order, so he has it before he drives.
Test it Monday, read it Friday
Send a fake request from a spare phone every Monday, watch where it lands, then delete it. Once a month, count what came in missing a photo. If that count isn't falling, rewrite the first text back.
If you'd rather not build this, I'll set it up on the portal, texting and vendor list you already use, test it every Monday, and send you the month's note. The same thing works for a plumbing or HVAC shop's service requests.
