What changed
We work with a solo property manager who looks after 140 rentals. Tenant repair requests arrived by text, email, and the portal. An AI helper now sorts each request, asks the tenant for photos, and drafts the job for the tradie, so every request is logged the same day. Urgent jobs still go to a phone call.
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Repair requests arriving three different ways
We work with a solo property manager who looks after 140 rentals. Tenants reported repairs by text, by email, and through the tenant portal, whichever was handy at the time. Each request had to be read, matched to the right property, followed up for photos, and turned into a job for a tradie.
With one person and three ways in, some requests sat for a day or two before anyone logged them. Tenants then sent a second message asking if the first had arrived.
What we set up
We started with automating repeat work (the industry calls it workflow automation). Texts and portal messages now forward into Gmail, so every request lands in one inbox. From there, an AI helper (the industry calls it an agent) reads each request and matches it to the property in Airtable.
The AI helper sorts the request by type, like plumbing, electrical, or appliances, and replies to the tenant asking for photos. Once the photos arrive, it drafts the job for the tradie with the address, the problem, and the photos attached. The property manager approves the job and sends it.
What didn’t work the first time
Our first version tried to judge urgency from the tenant’s words. A tenant wrote about a “small leak”, and it turned out to be water coming through a light fitting. The AI helper had filed it as routine. Now anything that mentions water, power, gas, or a lock goes straight to the property manager, without waiting for photos.
What changed, and what still needs a person
Every repair request is now logged the same day it arrives, and tradies get jobs with photos attached.
Urgent jobs still go to a phone call. The property manager also approves every job before it goes to a tradie, and handles any question about who pays for a repair.
Where this fits
This is automating repeat work, with an AI helper doing the sorting and the follow-up. If your repair requests live in your phone, get your AI Starter Plan and tell it where your week goes.
What changed
Logged the same day
Every repair request is now logged on the day it arrives, whichever way the tenant sent it.
Photos before the tradie
The AI helper asks the tenant for photos up front, so the tradie gets the job with the details already attached.
Urgent jobs get a phone call
Anything urgent goes straight to the property manager, who calls the tenant and the tradie personally.
This story uses our Automating repeat work service, set up mainly in Airtable , for a business in real estate.
Other tools: Gmail, Claude.
Read more: Automating repeat work for Real estate , or Automating repeat work with Airtable.
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Common questions
What happens with an urgent repair?
Does the AI helper book the tradie?
Where are the requests kept?
Get repair requests out of your phone
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