There's a leak on the third floor.
Fenna takes the report.
The AI receptionist for block management, lettings management and owners' associations. She picks up, establishes which address it is and what has happened, and passes it to you. She doesn't schedule.
There's water coming through the ceiling in my hall, I'm in Rietlanden.
A leak, a lift standing still, a key that won't work, a question about the service charge. There's no counter for any of it, so it goes to the manager who happens to have his phone in his hand.
Most reports can wait until tomorrow. Which ones, you find out only after you've answered. And by then you're out of your work.
You're at a block, with a contractor or in a meeting. What's left on the voicemail is a name and half a story, and you ring back to ask what it was about.
FENNAArda Property Management, Fenna speaking.
CALLERThere's water coming through the ceiling in my hall. I'm in Rietlanden.
FENNAThat's no good at all. Which number is that, and which town?
FENNAGot that: fourteen Rietlanden, apartment nine, water through the hall ceiling. This goes to the manager. I can't say when someone will call round; he'll let you know.
She never says when someone will come.
Fenna schedules nothing here, and that isn't a limitation we'll iron out later, it's the design. She doesn't know which contractor is free or whether the lift will run today, so she won't say. The booking functions aren't in her toolkit: even if a caller pushes, she cannot commit to anything. What she does do is ask. Which address, which block, what has happened and which number to ring back on. And if she doesn't know something, she doesn't invent it: she says a colleague will confirm and puts it in the note.
Your management software stays put.
Fenna writes nothing into your management system and raises no jobs there. What she takes lands on your dashboard: who rang, which address, what it was about and the number to ring back. The same goes to your inbox. At the end of the day you have one list instead of three voicemails and a missed number.
Hear Fenna answer your office.
- We ring you back within one working day.
- We set Fenna up on your blocks, your addresses and what counts as urgent to you.
- You sign off the test call before anything goes live.
- Quarterly plan, no annual lock-in.
She schedules nothing. Isn't this just an answering service?
At heart she does the same thing: pick up, ask the questions and pass it on. The difference is what comes out. She asks the same questions on every report, so you get the address, the block, what it is about and a number, rather than sometimes yes and sometimes no. On a breakdown she won't even let the report through without a house number. The standing questions you give her, about opening hours or where to find the service charge statement, she answers herself. What she doesn't know, she doesn't invent.
What does she do about a leak at eleven at night?
Pick up, ask, and write it down. If someone asks for a person, she puts them through to the one number you give us. If you give us none, the report lands on your dashboard and in your inbox with the address and the number. If you have an out-of-hours service, she passes that number on exactly as you wrote it. What she never says is that someone is on the way: nobody on the phone knows that, and then that resident sits waiting for something nobody arranged.
We have management software and a reporting portal. What's left?
You keep them, because Fenna doesn't go over the top of them. The portal handles the part that fits in a form. The rest rings. Residents who don't log in ring, people in a hurry ring, and anyone unsure whether it's the owners' association or the landlord rings too. Those calls she takes. How many of those you get, you know better than we do. Feel free to watch your phone for a week first.
I've seen this elsewhere for around a hundred euro a month. Why do you charge more?
Because we aren't the cheapest, and we won't become it. For 149 euro a month excluding VAT you get 300 call minutes, we set her up on your blocks, your addresses and the number she transfers to, and you sign off the test call before anything goes live. An office whose phone rings all day will pass that quickly; then 249 euro with 450 minutes is the honest choice. It runs quarterly, so you aren't tied in for a year.