Problem
Property managers spend a large share of their day on maintenance request coordination. Calling tenants to clarify issues, finding the right vendor, following up when vendors do not respond, updating tenants on timelines. All manual. All reactive. Every request creates a chain of phone calls and follow-ups before anything actually gets fixed.
Solution
An n8n workflow that handles the entire intake-to-dispatch loop without human involvement. Tenant submits a request via webhook (AppFolio, Tally form, or email parser). Claude classifies urgency (emergency, urgent, or routine) and category (plumbing, electrical, HVAC, structural, or cosmetic) from the natural language description. n8n looks up the right vendor from a Google Sheet by category and sends a dispatch message via email or SMS. The tenant receives an automatic confirmation with an expected timeline based on the urgency tier. Everything is logged to Google Sheets. Unit, date, category, urgency, vendor assigned, tenant notified. If the vendor has not responded within the SLA window (emergency 2 hours, urgent 24 hours, routine 72 hours), the workflow sends an escalation alert to the PM office.
Results
- Property manager only involved when vendor goes quiet
- SLA-based escalation. 2h / 24h / 72h by urgency tier
- Full request log in Google Sheets
Webhook receives tenant submission (from AppFolio, Tally form, or email parser). Claude classifies urgency (emergency, urgent, routine) and category (plumbing, electrical, HVAC, structural, cosmetic) from the natural language description. n8n looks up the right vendor from a Google Sheet routing table by category and sends a dispatch message via email or SMS. The tenant receives an automatic confirmation with an expected timeline based on the urgency tier. Everything is logged to Google Sheets. Unit, date, category, urgency, vendor assigned, tenant notified. A scheduled check monitors vendor response: if the vendor has not responded within the SLA window (emergency 2 hours, urgent 24 hours, routine 72 hours), the workflow sends an escalation alert to the PM office. All parameters (intake method, vendor routing table, SLA windows, notification channel, and escalation recipient) are configurable per client deployment.
Tech Stack
- n8n
- Claude API
- Google Sheets API
- Webhook
- Email/SMS