Monday morning in the shared inbox
Agent A sends a PDF work order with a reference in the top corner and the tenant's number buried in the notes. Agent B uses a contractor portal that emails a link you have to log in to see. Agent C's property manager just emails: 'Flat 2, bathroom fan not working, tenant is Sam, can you go?' There are twenty of these waiting after the weekend.
Somebody in the office reads each one, opens your job software, types the address, finds the tenant's number, works out whether there's a spending limit, and books a slot. Then the tenant says nobody told them you were coming.
Why agent work is harder than it looks
Letting agent jobs carry information that normal domestic jobs don't: the agent's order number, which must appear on the invoice or it won't be paid; a spending limit above which you need approval; the landlord's name; key collection from the branch; tenant access rules. Each agent puts these in a different place, and some don't include them at all.
Miss the order number and the invoice bounces. Miss the limit and you do work nobody will pay for. Miss the key arrangement and your electrician sits outside a locked flat.
| Detail | Where it goes wrong |
|---|---|
| Agent order number | Not copied to the job, invoice rejected |
| Spend limit | Unknown on site, extra work unpaid |
| Tenant contact | Missing, electrician can't get in |
| Keys | Held at branch, not collected |
| Invoice route | Some agents want portal upload, some email |
What copy-typing costs you
Office time is the obvious cost. The bigger ones are unpaid invoices waiting for an order number, wasted trips with no access, and agents who judge you on how often their property managers have to chase. Agents talk to each other, and a reputation for reliable updates is worth having.
There is a quieter cost in the tenants. When a tenant hears nothing, then gets a knock on the door from someone they were not expecting, they complain to the agent, and the agent's opinion of your firm drops even though the work itself was fine.
The intake we build
- Single intake: work order emails, PDFs and portal notifications are gathered from one inbox. For portals that only show details after login, we use the portal's export or API where one exists.
- Format reading: each agent's format is read by rules set up for that agent, with an AI model handling the free-text emails. Missing fields are flagged, not invented.
- Job creation: the job is created in Simpro or your job software with the address, order number, spend limit, landlord, tenant contact and key arrangements in the right fields.
- Tenant contact: the tenant gets a text offering slots, and the agent sees the booking.
- Limit check: when the electrician's quote or time on site nears the limit, the job flags for agent approval before more work is done.
- Close-out: the invoice goes out with the agent's order number, in their preferred route, with the certificate or photos attached if they ask for them.
What the office sees instead
A list of new work orders already turned into draft jobs, with a short list of ones missing something. The office confirms and books rather than types. Agents get updates without asking, and invoices go through first time.
Agents with many branches benefit most. Each branch tends to develop its own habits for sending work, and the intake treats every branch as a separate format while still grouping them under one agent for invoicing and reporting.
Is agent work like this for you?
- Work orders arrive by email, PDF and portal, all different.
- Invoices are rejected for missing order numbers.
- Electricians turn up and can't get into the property.
- Nobody on site knows the agent's spending limit.
- Property managers chase you for updates.