The tenant’s message arrived at 6.40 on a Friday night: no hot water in Unit 4, and a toddler in the house. The property manager forwarded it to the plumber the agency always uses, then left for the weekend. The plumber was on another job and never replied. By Monday the tenant had rung the office three times, the owner had emailed asking why nobody fixed it, and the only record of what happened was a forwarded text and a missed call log.
Property managers run more doors per person every year. A mid-tier rent roll can mix houses, unit blocks, small commercial suites and retail strips, each with its own owner, its own access quirks and its own regular trades. The repairs themselves are rarely hard. Keeping track of who confirmed, who attended and what the owner gets told is where the week goes.
OpsChase puts every managed property on one queue: your regular contractors are offered the job first, every attendance is followed up until photos and sign-off, and the office sees every open repair without scrolling through a shared inbox.
From a tenant message to a work order
The property manager or assistant raises a work order against the property and the item: hot water system, split system in Suite 2, gate motor on common property, leaking roof over a bedroom. Attach the tenant’s photo and a short note on what is at stake: no hot water, water coming through a ceiling, or a front door that will not lock.
Put the access note on the job too: the tenant’s preferred times, the lockbox or key number, pets on the property, and whether the tenant needs to be home. A plumber who turns up to a locked house with a dog in the yard has wasted a trip, and the tenant has lost another day.
Who goes first in each suburb
A plumber who covers the inner suburbs is not much use for a house an hour out. Set the order of your contractors per property or per area and per trade: the local plumber first for the western suburbs and the electrician who knows the older unit blocks first for those.
The repairs that fill a rent roll
- Hot water and leaks. No hot water, burst flexi hoses, leaking taps and blocked drains go to plumbing; gas hot water and cooktop faults go to gas fitting.
- Power and lights. Tripping circuits, dead power points and outdoor lighting go to electrical; split systems in units and suites go to heating and cooling.
- Locks, doors and gates. Lockouts, broken locks and keys for a new tenant go to a locksmith; garage doors and gate motors on common property go to doors and shutters.
- Roof and storm damage. Leaks over bedrooms and storm damage go to roofing; broken windows go to glazing.
- Smoke alarms and fire equipment. Alarm faults and replacements go to fire protection or, for hardwired alarms, electrical, with the job record kept per property.
- Small fixes and vacates. Loose handrails, sticking doors and fly screens go to a handyman; pest calls go to pest control; end-of-lease touch-ups go to painting.
Attend-by times that match the repair
Every job carries an attend-by time that fits the risk: within hours for water coming through a ceiling or a house with no way to lock up, the same or next day for no hot water, within the week for a dripping tap. Your state’s tenancy rules treat some repairs as urgent, so set the attend-by times on those to match. Late jobs show against your response targets, so the office can see which property is still waiting and why.
Landlord, tenant and owner notes on the job
Not every repair is the owner’s cost. A blocked drain caused by a tenant, a lost key, or damage at the end of a lease may sit with the tenant. Record who is responsible, the owner’s spending limit and who approved the work as notes on the job, so the next person who opens it does not have to rebuild the decision from an email chain.
Contractor compliance before booking
Keep licence, public liability, induction and site-access details on file for each contractor through contractor compliance, so the property manager can check them before booking. An uninsured contractor on a tenanted property is a problem for the owner as well as the agency.
Proof the owner can read
Owners want to know what they are paying for. Set proof templates per job type: before and after photos, the contractor’s report, any parts replaced and the invoice. Proof of completion lives on the work order, so the owner update is built from what was actually done, not from a tenant’s text saying it seems fine now.
Planned maintenance across the portfolio
Smoke alarm checks run on the schedule your state sets; gutter cleans before storm season, air conditioning servicing and pest treatments repeat every year at every property. With Assets & planned maintenance switched on, run planned maintenance through scheduling on the same queue as tenant repairs, and each hot water system, split system and gate motor keeps its own job and service history. When an owner asks how old the hot water system is and when it was last serviced, the answer is on the property.
What the office sees on one queue
With every managed property on one queue:
- Property managers raise jobs from a tenant message with photos and the access note.
- Your contractors stay in calling order per area and per trade.
- Attend-by times follow the repair, not the inbox.
- Reports, photos and invoices are attached to the work order.
- The office sees every open repair across the rent roll in one view.
OpsChase is not trust accounting or property management software. Leases, rent and owner statements stay where they are; OpsChase is the contractor follow-up and proof behind each repair. If today’s process is a shared inbox and a spreadsheet of trades, see how that compares with spreadsheet and email follow-up. For body corporate common property, see strata; for larger buildings, see commercial offices.
Starting with one rent roll
Pick the portfolio with the most open repairs, usually the property manager with the most doors. Import those properties, the contractor book and the trades each one covers. Set roles for property managers and assistants. Set proof templates for plumbing, electrical and locksmith jobs. Raise the next tenant repair into OpsChase instead of forwarding another email, then add the next portfolio.
Read the property management industry page or book a demo with your property list and contractor book. Check pricing when you are ready to put the whole rent roll on one flow.
A Friday night tenant message should not turn into a Monday complaint from the owner. Put every property on one queue, get the regular contractor on site, and give the owner an update built from what the contractor actually did.