Call protocol
Maintenance request call script for property managers
Short answer
When a tenant calls about a repair, a 100% AI receptionist answers in your company’s name and follows a maintenance request call script: is anyone in danger, which property and unit, what’s wrong, and whether it’s on your emergency list. Property and unit come early, because they decide who gets the job. It also asks whether maintenance may enter if nobody’s home and whether there are pets. Emergencies reach your on-call maintenance person at once; everything else arrives as a complete work order in your inbox.
The AI tells tenants it’s an assistant and never promises a repair time you haven’t approved. This is the protocol we start from for property managers; you adapt it to your buildings and approve it before it answers.
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Example call: no heat in January
Oakridge Property Management · No heat in January
- AI
- Oakridge Property Management, this is AI Receptionist, the AI assistant. How can I help?
- Caller
- My heat’s not working.
- AI
- Is anyone in danger, or is there a gas smell?
- Caller
- No, just cold.
- AI
- Which property and unit?
- Caller
- Maple Court, unit 12. Tomasz Nowak.
- AI
- No heat is an emergency. May maintenance enter, and any pets?
- Caller
- Yes, one cat.
- AI
- Thanks, Tomasz. Is this the best number to reach you?
- Caller
- Yes.
- AI
- I’m alerting on-call maintenance now. They have your number.
Summary sent to you
- Emergency
- no heat, Maple Court unit 12. No gas smell.
- Tenant
- Tomasz Nowak, 555-0112 (confirmed on the call). Permission to enter: yes. Pets: one cat.
- Done
- on-call maintenance alerted. No repair time promised.
The script, step by step
-
Danger first
Fire, a gas smell, a carbon monoxide alarm, someone hurt: the tenant is told to leave if needed and call 911 first. Whatever the AI already has, the caller’s number and what was said, goes to your on-call person at once, even if the tenant hangs up to make that call.
The AI says: “If anyone is in danger or you smell gas, please leave and call 911 now.”
-
Which property, which unit
Property name or address, unit number, and the tenant’s name. If you manage many buildings, this comes before the details of the problem, because the answer changes who gets the job.
The AI says: “Which property are you in, and what’s your unit number?”
-
What’s wrong
In the tenant’s words, then the questions your protocol adds: is water still running, is the heat completely off, is the door lock broken or just stiff.
The AI says: “What’s going on in the unit?”
-
Is it on your emergency list?
Your list decides: no heat in winter, active flooding, a sewage backup, a door that won’t lock, a lockout at night. For a lockout, it takes the caller’s name and number and passes them to your on-call person, who checks them against your records before anyone opens a door.
The AI says: “That’s an emergency for us. Two quick questions and I’ll alert the on-call team.”
-
Entry and pets
Whether maintenance can enter if nobody is home, and whether there are pets inside. Two questions that save a wasted trip.
The AI says: “If nobody’s home, may maintenance enter? Any pets in the unit?”
-
Confirm, and say what happens next
It confirms the callback number and tells the tenant what happens next in your words, without a repair time unless you approved one.
The AI says: “I’ve sent this to the maintenance team. They’ll contact you to schedule the repair.”
What it never says on this call
- A repair time or date you haven’t approved.
- Who pays for the repair, or anything about the lease or rent.
- Whether maintenance may enter without the tenant’s okay, or how much notice is required. That’s your lease and your state’s rules.
- That someone will let a caller into a unit. Your team decides that at the door.
- Repair advice beyond your approved safety lines.
What you decide
- Your properties and units, and which team or vendor covers each.
- Your emergency list, by season if you like, including where no hot water and AC fall.
- Who’s on call, with a backup, and whether they get the call put through or an email.
- Lockouts: whether they count as emergencies, what the AI asks before alerting anyone, and that your on-call person checks the name and ID at the door.
- Entry rules and what tenants hear about next steps.
- Where work orders go: which inbox, and in what format.
We build it with you, and you approve it.
Emergency, urgent or routine: how it sorts a tenant maintenance call
Before any level comes one question: is anyone in danger? Fire, a gas smell, a CO alarm or someone hurt means 911 first, then your on-call person is alerted. After that, these are the three levels we start from for a property manager. Your rules replace them.
| Level | What happens | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency | On-call maintenance reached now | No heat in winter, active flooding, sewage backup, a door that won’t lock, a lockout at night |
| Urgent | Work order in your inbox, flagged urgent for your team’s next working slot | Fridge not cooling, one toilet out of two, no AC in mild weather |
| Routine | Work order in your inbox, no flag | Dripping tap, loose cabinet, light fixture |
Some items, such as no hot water or no AC in a heat wave, are treated as emergencies by many managers and by many local housing codes. You place them according to your leases and your city’s rules.
Why this protocol works
Our call protocols come from nearly two decades of running phone reception for small businesses, including the night calls property managers dread. A good maintenance emergency line does two things: it wakes someone for a flood and not for a loose cabinet, and it sends a work order your team can act on without calling the tenant back. It asks what matters, in an order that gets there fast. You see every call, so you can check what tenants were told. More on our method and on how urgent calls reach the right person on the emergency answering service page.
Questions property managers ask
Can it handle several buildings with different teams?
Yes. It asks for the property first and routes by your list: this building’s emergencies go to one person, that building’s to a vendor. The summary always names the property and unit, so nothing goes to the wrong team or vendor.
Will tenants abuse the emergency line?
The AI doesn’t decide what’s an emergency because a tenant says so. It asks the questions and compares the answers with your list. A tenant who calls about a dripping tap at midnight gets a work order, not your on-call technician.
Does it create work orders in my software?
It sends each request by email with the fields your team needs for work order intake: property, unit, tenant, callback number, problem, entry permission, pets and urgency, with the recording and transcript in your dashboard. Your team adds it to your system. Ask us about the tools you use today.
What do tenants hear after an emergency call?
That the on-call team has been alerted and has their number, in the words you choose. It doesn’t promise when someone will arrive unless you’ve approved a timeframe. The whole call is recorded and summarized, so you can see exactly what was said. Messages without urgency work like message taking.
Put this protocol on your maintenance line
Start with your properties, your emergency list and who’s on call; entry rules and where work orders go come next. We build your maintenance protocol as part of your free setup, and you approve it before you forward your line. With Pay As You Go there’s no monthly fee, just $0.99 per answered call; see pricing. The after-hours triage protocol and the rest of the call protocol library are there too.
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