The problem
Tenants report repairs by phone, email and text, in no set format, and you re-key each one before you can instruct a contractor. If 120 properties generate 40 reports a month and each takes 10 minutes to take details, log and reply, that's 400 minutes, about 6.7 hours a month.
What the AI does
Give tenants one Google Form for non-emergency repairs, with fields for the property address, the tenant's name and email, what is wrong, where, and how urgent it is. The first line tells tenants that gas smells, floods, fire and anything dangerous must be phoned in straight away and not sent through the form. Responses land in a Google Sheet. A two-step Zapier automation starts on each new response and emails the tenant an acknowledgement. A property manager reads the sheet each morning, decides urgency, and instructs a contractor. The automation doesn't triage or instruct.
A worked example
A letting agency in Chesterfield manages 120 properties and gets about 40 non-emergency repair reports a month. The property manager checks the sheet at 9am and 2pm each working day.
Before
10 minutes to take details, log and reply for each of 40 reports: 400 minutes, about 6.7 hours a month
After
About 4 minutes to read and instruct from the sheet: 160 minutes, about 2.7 hours a month
What it's worth
About 4 hours a month saved (6 minutes x 40 reports = 240 minutes), worth around £80 if staff time is worth £20 an hour. Zapier's Free plan allows two-step Zaps and 100 tasks a month, so 40 acknowledgements fit. This assumes your agency already has a Google Workspace business account; if not, Business Starter was €6.80 (about £6) a user a month excluding tax on Google's pricing page, checked 17 October 2026.
How to set it up
- Write the form: address, tenant name and email, problem, location, urgency, preferred contact times, with the emergency warning at the top.
- Check that responses go to a Google Sheet your team can see.
- In Zapier, start a Zap on each new form response and add one action: email the tenant that you've received the report.
- Test with a dummy response and read the email as the tenant would.
- Agree who reads the sheet and how often, and add the link to tenant welcome packs.
What goes wrong
- Zapier can fail without telling you. Compare form responses with acknowledgements sent every week.
- An acknowledgement is not an instruction. Tell tenants you've received it, not that it will be fixed by a date.
- Zapier's Free plan allows only two-step Zaps and 100 tasks a month. More steps need Pro at $19.99 (about £15) a month on annual billing.
- Tenant names, emails and addresses are personal data. Share the sheet only with staff who need it. A free Google account has no business data processing agreement, so use your agency's Google Workspace account if you have one, and accept Zapier's data processing terms.