PropAI

News & Events

Life at PropAI

Personal notes, company updates and conversations from the property community.

The journal

What’s on our minds.

Personal notes, PropAI news, events and community stories. Explore the whole mix or choose a collection.

6 of 26 updates

Gustaf’s notebook

Ah yes. A wet tile.

Humorous illustration of a property manager puzzling over a close-up of one wet tile, without the surrounding room for context.

I can see the wet tile. I can’t see which part of the room it’s in. One wider photo can save a lot of follow-up questions.

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A beautifully clear close-up can still leave a property manager guessing. Is the water beside the toilet, bath or shower? Is it a small patch or the whole floor?

The person taking the photo can see the room around them. The person receiving it has only what is in the frame. A wider photo showing the water in relation to the fittings gives us a better starting point.

I never expected ‘please take a few steps back’ to become such a regular part of my job. Fellow property managers: which sentence do you find yourself saying most often?

From PropAI

Paid, but where? The Friday night puzzle.

Illustrative Friday night payment enquiry with an owner checking his phone and a PropAI Assistant panel showing an old account flagged, proof requested and follow-up open.

An owner had paid into the scheme’s previous account. A useful reply explained the mismatch and kept the enquiry open for proof of payment.

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An ‘I’ve paid’ message at 21:45 on a Friday usually comes with a practical question: where did the money go? In a recent enquiry, the owner had been paying into the body corporate’s previous account.

PropAI’s AI assistant spotted the mismatch, replied within 15 minutes, explained the difference and requested proof of payment. It kept the enquiry open for the owner’s follow-up.

That first reply did not resolve the payment. It gave the owner a useful answer that evening and left our team able to see what was still outstanding. A good first response needs context and an honest next step, as well as speed.

Gustaf’s notebook

Apparently, I’m the assistant now.

Illustration of a smiling PropAI computer handing a folder marked For review to a property manager holding a red pen.

Maintenance messages arrive from residents, contractors and trustees. AI helps connect them, leaving me to review the first pass and work with the people at the building.

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Lately I’ve been feeding more of my work to our AI. The unusual part is how often I’m checking the first pass rather than doing it myself.

A maintenance request starts with one email. A resident follows up, a contractor replies and a trustee asks where things stand. Our system connects those messages and keeps the item’s status up to date.

I would rather spend that time at the building, working out the right next step and talking to the people involved. Fellow property managers: what would you gladly hand to an assistant, and what would you always check yourself?

From PropAI

You bought a home. Somehow got a helpdesk.

Humorous illustration of a trustee serving dinner while handling gate, parking and leak questions on a telephone, headed You bought a home. Somehow got a helpdesk.

Trustees can end up handling gate, parking and maintenance questions on their personal phones. Clear reporting routes and named follow-up give them room to make decisions.

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Trustees volunteer because they care about their building. That should not make their personal phone the reporting route for every maintenance update, especially when several trustees end up chasing the same answer.

Start with a simple question: could a new resident find where to report a problem without messaging a trustee first? Then make it clear who is handling the issue, what happens next and where the update will appear.

At PropAI, our AI helps bring relevant correspondence and records together for our team to review. That context helps, but someone still needs to take responsibility for the next step. Trustees should have room to make decisions about their building, and occasionally finish dinner.

From PropAIGustaf’s notebook

Before saying yes, see the whole file.

Illustrative managing-agent and trustee review of an AI-prepared file flagging changed banking details.

The invoice matches the quotation. A later email changes the bank details. Our new article explores what still needs checking before approval.

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This fictional Friday-afternoon example asks three practical questions: does the approval cover this quotation, have the changed bank details been independently verified, and who has authority to approve payment?

At PropAI, AI brings relevant emails, decisions and supporting documents together for our team to check. The article separates preparing the file from authorising the next step.

Explore the article and invoice example
Gustaf’s notebook

The scheme’s memory is trying to have a braai.

Conceptual illustration of a man at a braai being interrupted by a question about scheme approvals, with quotes, approvals and history in his thoughts.

Where is the quotation? What did we approve? If every answer starts with ‘Ask Dave’, the scheme’s records are relying too much on one person.

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The person who remembers the history deserves an evening off. The quotation, recorded decision and contractor’s commitment should be available for the next person to check.

At PropAI, our AI brings relevant correspondence, recorded decisions and supporting documents together around a scheme issue. Our people review the sources, check what was agreed and prepare the next step.

The braai illustration is a conceptual example, not a record of an individual client scheme.