Skip to main content

Maintenance & repairs

The single biggest time-drain in residential property management is maintenance. PMFriend turns that into a clean assembly line.

The before-and-after​

Before PMFriend​

Tenant texts you a photo of a leaking dishwasher. You read it on the bus, plan to action it later. You forget. The tenant texts again two days later, less polite this time. You call three plumbers. Two don't answer. The third can come Friday. You text the tenant. The owner texts you asking what's happening. You'd forgotten to tell them. The plumber arrives, the cost is over your owner's threshold, the owner needs to approve it, you have to chase that. Time spent: ~2 hours scattered across 4 days.

After PMFriend​

Tenant submits the issue via the report page (link on the fridge sticker). It lands in the maintenance inbox with a photo. AI suggests "Plumbing / Urgent" — you accept in one click. Three plumbers ranked by relevance — you pick Watertight. AI drafts the work-order scope; you bump the budget ceiling; click Send. Plumber gets a magic-link, accepts, books in. Tenant + owner both see status updates automatically. Friday afternoon: it's fixed. Time spent: ~8 minutes total.

What the AI does for maintenance​

When a maintenance request lands, PMFriend's AI suggests four things in about two seconds:

  • Category — Plumbing, Electrical, Appliance, Structural, Pest, Cleaning, Smoke alarm, Pool, Other.
  • Urgency — Emergency / Urgent / Normal / Low.
  • Likely causes — short list typical for AU rentals.
  • Suggested actions — 2-3 next steps the PM should take.

💡 Real-life example: Tenant submits "water under the kitchen sink, dripping when I run the tap". The AI suggests Plumbing / Urgent, lists likely causes (loose drain trap, cracked S-bend, failed cold-water inlet), and suggests "1) ask tenant to place a bucket and not run the tap, 2) dispatch plumber within 24h".

You can accept, edit any field, or override entirely.

How tenants submit​

Three channels, all flowing into the same inbox:

  1. The web form — pmfriend.com/r/<token> link on a fridge sticker. No login.
  2. The tenant app — coming soon.
  3. Manually by the PM — tenant called, PM types it in.

SLA tracking​

Once triaged, PMFriend starts an SLA clock based on urgency:

  • Emergency — 2 hour target
  • Urgent — 24 hours
  • Normal — 7 days
  • Low — 30 days

The dashboard shows breached / about-to-breach / on-track. Sort and filter the list by SLA bucket.

Duplicate detection​

When the same problem's reported twice (often phone + web form), the AI flags potential duplicates so you don't dispatch two plumbers.

💡 Real-life example: Tenant calls Sarah at 9am about a faulty oven. Sarah types it in. At 10am the same tenant submits via the web form because they're worried Sarah forgot. PMFriend recognises the duplicate and shows Sarah the link rather than spawning a new ticket.

One-click contractor dispatch​

PMFriend ranks your contractors by:

  • Trade match
  • Recent activity at this property
  • Insurance status (expired = pushed to bottom)
  • ⭐ Preferred flag
  • Past job rating

Pick one, the AI drafts a scope, you set a cost ceiling, hit Send.

What stays in your PMS​

PMFriend handles the workflow. Trust accounting, owner statements, BSA record-keeping all stay in PropertyMe / PropertyTree / Console.

Going deeper​