PROPERTY OPERATIONS · A WORKFLOW ON SENTINEL SERVICE CENTER
Tenants, residents and homeowners report problems by video, voice, text or email. Sentinel diagnoses the issue, checks who is responsible, dispatches within your protocols, verifies the work and pays the provider. Your team approves only what needs a decision.
Commercial portfolio · 14 sites
InboundTenant call · Suite 1400 running warm
Setpoint adjustedOutboundProvider called · lobby badge reader
Accepted, on site by 10InternalTeams · elevator 3, three reports
Merged, manager approved3 requests · 0 calls to the team
IN SHORT
It is the first workflow built on Sentinel Service Center, and it carries a repair or maintenance request from the first report to a paid invoice. The requester shows the problem on video, Sentinel diagnoses it, works out who pays from the lease type and property type, dispatches your provider within the spending limit you set, collects proof of work and matches the invoice before paying the provider within 48 hours. About 10 to 12% of requests are resolved on video with no visit at all.
TRY IT
Watch Sentinel handle a repair for your kind of property, or call the maintenance request demo line and report one yourself.
SENTINEL FOR PROPERTY OPERATIONS
Follow a walk-in cooler that fails on a Saturday night. Sentinel diagnoses it, works out who is responsible, dispatches within your protocols, checks the work and follows the invoice to payment. No new software for your team.
Make a repair request yourself: (843) 429-8973 (maintenance request demo)
The store manager scans the code on the cooler and shows the problem. Sentinel sees the condenser fan has stopped and the temperature is climbing past 45°F.
The suite is retail space on a triple-net lease, so the walk-in cooler is tenant equipment and the rooftop power feed is the landlord’s. The power is fine, so the job is billed to the tenant and the landlord’s team is not woken up.
Food will spoil before Monday, so Sentinel flags it as an emergency and pages the tenant’s on-call manager with the video and the diagnosis. The manager approves the call-out from their phone. The on-call refrigeration provider gets a call, a text and an email with the video, accepts on the call and commits to arrive within two hours.
The repair comes to $1,850, under the $2,500 not-to-exceed limit, so the provider goes ahead without a second approval. Over the limit, the provider would send an estimate with photos, and the tenant’s manager would approve it, reject it or ask three more providers to quote.
The provider checks in on site, where the location is confirmed, and photographs the cooler before starting. After the work, they upload photos of the new fan motor and the cooler holding at 36°F. The final charge can’t exceed the approved amount. The tenant is notified.
The tenant’s manager confirms the work. Sentinel writes the provider’s invoice and pays them within 48 hours. The repair appears on the tenant’s monthly statement with the photos, the provider and their PO number. Nobody on your team chased anything.
Illustrative example. Times show the order of events.
PROPERTY OPERATIONS · EVERY ROLE
See every request across every property, with spend by property and service type and a record of every call, text and email. Approve the requests that need your decision, or switch on auto dispatch. The rest follow the protocols you set.
REQUEST TO PAID · FROM THE MANAGER’S SEAT
Each stage of a repair, the old way and with Sentinel. The steps marked as yours are decisions about money or liability. Everything else runs under your protocols.
| Stage | The old way | With Sentinel |
|---|---|---|
| Report and triage | The old wayTenants call or email the office, and someone types it in later with details lost. Urgency is judged from a voicemail, and a 30-second fix still becomes a truck roll. | With SentinelCaptured on any channel and logged once. New reports are matched to open requests, emergencies go first, and simple fixes are solved on video. |
| Who paysYour decision: landlord repairs | The old wayThe manager pulls the lease, goes from memory or skips it, so the landlord pays for work the tenant owes. | With SentinelWorked out from the lease type and property type before anyone is dispatched. Repairs that fall to the landlord go to the landlord’s team to decide. |
| Provider and estimateYour decision: estimates over your limit | The old wayThe coordinator works a phone list, chases bids by email and phone, and the estimate sits in an inbox. | With SentinelYour providers, or ours, matched by trade and area and sent the job by call, text and email. Work under your not-to-exceed limit goes ahead, and estimates are laid side by side. |
| Scheduling and access | The old wayPhone tag to book the visit, then the provider asks at the front desk for access and hunts for the panel. | With SentinelThe provider picks a time within the property’s hours and everyone is told. The job carries the access rules, sign-in, safety procedures and where the panels and plant are. |
| On siteYour decision: scope changes | The old wayA paper sign-in, photos left on the tech’s phone, and extra work done and billed later as a dispute. | With SentinelArrival confirmed by location, before photos on the record, and any change in scope sent to you with photos and cost while the provider is still on site. |
| Close | The old wayClosed in one system and left open in others. Quality is checked when a tenant complains. | With SentinelAfter photos and a summary from the provider, checked against the request, then closed once in every system Sentinel is connected to. |
| Invoice and payment | The old wayThe invoice arrives weeks later. AP matches it to the work order, codes it by hand and pays in 30 to 90 days. | With SentinelSentinel writes the invoice from the completion record, codes it to the right cost center and pays the provider within 48 hours of the work being confirmed. |
| Provider compliance | The old wayW-9 and insurance collected at invoice time, or not at all. Lapses turn up at audit or after an incident. | With SentinelTax ID, insurance and signed terms verified before the first job, with follow-up before cover lapses. |
FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS
What your service providers see when Sentinel sends them work: the job and its limit up front, no bidding, and payment within 48 hours of the work being confirmed.
THE ECONOMICS
What a repair costs you today, next to what it costs with Sentinel. In a walkthrough we run the numbers with your work order volumes.
| The work | What it costs you today | With Sentinel |
|---|---|---|
| Processing a work order | Today$181in admin per work order: $25 intake, $75 provider onboarding, $56 approvals, $25 invoicing | With Sentinel20–40%lower total repair cost from day one across a portfolio, with no new software for your team |
| Coordinating a $350 repair | Today~$52of coordinator time: about 45 minutes at $70 an hour | With Sentinel$17.50Sentinel fee. Your coordinator gives one approval. |
Providers are paid in 48 hours, so they prioritize your jobs.
They dispatch with no context. No one checks what the issue is, what it should cost, or whether the landlord is obligated to fix it. The confusion slows the management team and passes the inefficiency to the service provider, which drives cost higher.
Where it shines: properties with no onsite management or maintenance team carry the most hidden cost, and gain the most.
THE SAME MOMENT, TWICE
An illustrative example. Times show the order of events.
11:20 p.m. Apartment building
Without SentinelMessage taken
The answering service writes it down. Nobody acts on it until the office opens.
Result: By morning, the unit below has a stained ceiling.
With SentinelAnswered on the first ring
Result: The leak stops in the unit where it started.
YOUR NUMBERS
Tell us your sector and how many properties or units you run. We come back with what a repair costs you today from report to paid invoice, what it would cost with Sentinel, and a walkthrough link if you want one.
GETTING STARTED
Overhaul or step-by-step. Start with one capability or connect your entire workflow. With basic information from you, we can start as soon as tomorrow, sending requests as formatted emails your system accepts, and integrate once you’re ready.
Choose after-hours calls, scheduling, status checks, maintenance requests or repairs. Start with the one that costs you most.
On your policies, emergency protocols, escalation contacts and providers. It is private-labeled as your technology.
Forward all calls, overflow only or after hours only. Your numbers stay the same. Add the next flow once the first is proven.
QUESTIONS
Something else? Ask Sentinel directly, or pick your industry for answers specific to it.
A service that carries a repair or maintenance request from the first report to a paid invoice: video diagnosis, working out who is responsible from the lease type and property type, dispatch within your spending limits, proof of work and payment to the provider. Your team approves only what needs a decision.
No. Sentinel can start tomorrow by sending requests to your team as formatted emails your system accepts, and integrate directly once you are ready.
Yes. Sentinel dispatches your providers by location and trade, and fills gaps from its own network when you want it to. Providers are paid within 48 hours of the work being confirmed, so they prioritize your jobs.
Before dispatching, Sentinel works out who is responsible from the lease type (net, NNN, gross, modified gross or other) and the property type (industrial, retail, office), and bills the repair to that party.
Work under your not-to-exceed limit goes ahead without waiting for approval. Over it, the provider sends an estimate with photos, and the person you name approves it, rejects it or asks three more providers to quote. The final charge can never exceed what was approved.
No. They scan the code or open the link, confirm their phone number, and the request runs in the phone’s browser. They get a reference number by text and email.
Only if you want to. Approve each one with the video in front of you, or switch on auto dispatch for a property, and Sentinel dispatches within your limits.
Approve it, reject it, or ask Sentinel to get quotes from three more providers in the area. If you reject it, the provider is still paid for the work already done.
The provider sends the change with photos and the cost, and Sentinel routes it to your manager while the provider is still on site. Approve it before they leave, so there’s no second trip and no surprise on the invoice.
Before their first job, Sentinel collects and verifies each provider’s tax ID, insurance and signed terms. It follows up before insurance lapses, so cover never quietly expires between jobs.
You have 24 hours to confirm the work. If there’s a problem, payment is held while your manager and the provider sort it out, and Sentinel steps in if they can’t.
By card for each job, or on one monthly invoice with your PO number. Sentinel calculates and pays the sales tax.
Yes. Mark a service type as handled internally, and Sentinel notifies your team instead of dispatching.
Jobs sent to one provider at a time, chosen by location and trade, never broadcast. The not-to-exceed limit is shown before they accept, Sentinel tells the requester when they are scheduled, writes the invoice and handles the sales tax. Payment arrives within 48 hours of the work being confirmed, faster with location services on, with the same terms for every provider and no lead charges or monthly fees.
About $181 in admin per work order: $25 to process the request, $75 to onboard the provider, $56 in approvals and reviews and $25 to process the invoice. With the average repair under $500, that is over 30% of the repair cost. For owners with multiple properties, Sentinel typically cuts total repair costs by 20 to 40% from day one.
About 10 to 12% of requests are resolved on video, such as a tripped breaker, a reset disposal or a thermostat setting, so no truck rolls.
Commercial real estate and facility management, multifamily and residential, homebuilder warranty service, and multi-site retail and restaurants. Properties with no onsite management or maintenance team gain the most.
FROM THE JOURNAL
From service request to paid invoice, most buildings run on broken handoffs. How Sentinel maps the one workflow every other tool leaves disconnected.
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Every handoff between systems costs time, money and accuracy. Connecting request to invoice removes the busywork without adding another dashboard.
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For 25 years, every new tool promised to take over the daily grind, and ended up watching you work instead of working for you. It’s time to change that.
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Commercial real estate & facility managementEvery request across every site handled, with no one on site.→
Residential & multifamilyResidents get an answer at 11 p.m., and your team gets the morning back.→
Service & customer experienceEvery call booked and every job scoped before the truck leaves.→
Homebuilder warranty serviceWarranty requests handled across every community, under your brand.→
Multi-site retail & restaurantsEvery store and kitchen kept running, without a facilities team at each one.→ASK. FIX. DONE.