A small property management office in a storefront, a manager on the phone, a wall map with pins, a tenant at the counter

Every tenant answered within the hour. Every maintenance request and lease renewal chased before it becomes a call.

A small crew of AI agents takes the office work off your company: the reply to every tenant, owner, and applicant who writes in, the follow-up on every maintenance request until the vendor has closed it, and the lease renewals, late rent, inspections, and owner statements nobody should have to carry in their head. All of it in your company's voice, none of it sent until you say so, and your property managers get back to the properties.

Built for property management companies of 50 to 1,500 units and the owner-operators behind them. Runs alongside AppFolio, Buildium, Rent Manager, and the software you already use.

Book a free 45-minute assessment

Why this exists

Most small management companies run on an owner, two or three property managers, and a maintenance coordinator who is also the receptionist. Each manager carries two hundred units and a phone that never stops. Every day the inbox fills with a tenant asking when the plumber is coming, an owner asking why the statement is late, an applicant asking about a unit, a vendor sending an invoice, a tenant whose lease ends in 60 days and hasn't been asked, and rent that's five days late with no note sent. All of it waits for whoever isn't at a showing or an inspection. Very few companies have the help the job needs: someone on the inbox, someone chasing the work orders and the renewals, someone watching rent and the owner reports. The reason is the margin, almost never effort. A management fee of a few percent doesn't carry another salary.

A tenant reports a leak on Friday and hears nothing until Tuesday, and the leak is now a ceiling. A work order goes to a vendor and nobody follows up, so the tenant calls the owner. A lease ends and the renewal was never offered, so the unit turns over at the worst time of year. Rent is late and the reminder goes out on day twelve instead of day two. An owner statement is three days late and the owner starts shopping for a new manager. None of it is hard. There's just too much of it, and all of it waits for the manager.

At some point we stopped thinking the answer was “find the fee income for one more coordinator” and started thinking there had to be a better way for a small company to support its managers. That's what Second Unit is.

It isn't for every company. If you have a leasing team, a maintenance dispatcher, and an accounting department, you don't need this. If you don't, and the same three people are managing the units and running the office, we built this for you.

The tenant who reported the leak on Friday called the owner on Monday. The owner called you. A note on Friday would have done it. Nobody had the hour.

The same crew we run our own business on

Second Unit is built and run by Noettic Labs, a Los Angeles studio that builds with AI to solve real business problems. We build products that do real work, and we install crews that do it inside your business: the quotes, the follow-ups, the renewals, the records, the reports, the paperwork that keeps a company moving and keeps its best people from doing any of it.

The crew on this page is the system we use to run our own business. We sat down with the people doing the best work with agents, kept what held up under a real week, and wrote it into the job cards and rules every crew ships with. An install is that system, set up on your business, by hand, on a call.

Second Unit is one of several products from Noettic Labs. See what else we've built.

What we built for you

Job CardTenant and Owner Desk
One Job
Job
Draft a reply to every tenant, owner, applicant, and vendor email within the hour, in the company’s voice, and route the ones a manager must see.
Reads
The general inbox, the maintenance request form, your lease terms and policies, your property list, your vendor list.
Writes
A draft reply, a work-order record, a task for the right manager.
Never
Sends. Promises a repair date a vendor hasn’t confirmed. Quotes a rent or a fee that isn’t in your records. Says anything about an eviction, a deposit dispute, or a fair-housing matter.
Reports to
Your Second Unit Lead, in the daily status.
Checked by
You, before anything goes out.

Second Unit is a service. There's no software for you to learn. We install a small crew of AI agents in your own accounts, one job each, and train each one on how your company works: your voice, your policies, your properties, your rules. A tenant and owner desk that drafts a reply to every tenant, owner, applicant, and vendor email within the hour, from your policies, and routes anything legal to a manager. A maintenance follow-up agent that follows every work order from the request to the vendor to the tenant's confirmation that it's fixed, chasing each step on a schedule, and tells you every morning which ones are stuck. A lease and rent tracker that holds every lease end, renewal offer date, rent due date, inspection, and owner statement in one record and drafts the note before it's late. The crew works alongside AppFolio, Buildium, Rent Manager, Yardi Breeze, or whatever you already run; that stays your system of record. Between them they take hours of office work off every week, and you approve every one before it goes out.

A word about AI, because in property management some emails are legal documents. These agents stay on the office side. They answer the question, chase the vendor, and remind you of the date. They never send a notice, never say anything about an eviction, a deposit dispute, a fair-housing matter, or a lease violation, never promise a repair a vendor hasn't confirmed, and never quote a rent or a fee that isn't in your records. Those go to a manager with a note, the same hour. Every draft is read by a person at the company before it leaves.

The name comes from film. On a set, the second unit shoots everything that doesn't need the director: the establishing shots, the inserts, the driving scenes. The director keeps the scenes that need them. Same deal here. The agents take the replies, the chasing, and the dates. You keep the owners, the properties, and the judgment calls.

A property manager with a tablet and a maintenance technician in the hallway of a small apartment building
Monday morning, every open work order. Each one has a row: what was reported, when, which vendor has it, what the last update was, and a drafted nudge to the vendor or a drafted update to the tenant, in your voice.

Three jobs, one company

Draft · not sent
ToJasmine Carter, Unit 4B, Maple CourtSubjectRe: Kitchen sink leaking under the cabinet

Hi Jasmine, thanks for letting us know, and sorry about the sink. I've logged it as work order 2281 and sent it to our plumber, Reyes Plumbing, as a priority.

They'll contact you directly to set a time; if you don't hear from them by tomorrow noon, reply here and I'll chase it. In the meantime, if the leak is more than a drip, please put a bucket under it and turn the shutoff valve under the sink clockwise.

If it gets worse before they arrive, call the emergency line on your lease and we'll get someone out.

Thanks,
Dana, Harbor Property Management

Tenant and Owner Desk

Every email from a tenant, an owner, an applicant, or a vendor gets a drafted reply within the hour, in your voice, from your policies: how maintenance works, what the lease says about the question, which units are available and at what rent, what an owner's statement covers. It logs every maintenance request as a work order and routes anything about an eviction, a deposit, a violation, or fair housing to a manager the same hour with a note. Tenants who hear back the same hour don't call the owner.

Reads: the inbox, the request form, your policies, your property and vendor lists. Writes: a draft, a work order, a task. Never: sends, promises a repair date, quotes a rent off the records, touches anything legal.

Monday morning, in your drafts

Reyes Plumbing, 2281 · status request, one line
Oak Street 12, is the heat holding? · two lines, close if yes
Owner at Pine Ave, the window · quote attached, approval link
Maple Court 7C, the part · ETA from the vendor, passed on
Elm Row 3, logged and assigned · locksmith, Tuesday
1 work order closed, tenant confirmed
Five orders read, five drafts, one closed, nothing stuck in silence.
Maintenance Follow-up

Every work order gets followed from request to close: the vendor is nudged if there's no update in 2 days, the owner is asked for approval the day a quote comes in over your threshold and nudged at day 3, the tenant gets a status note every time something changes and a 'is it fixed?' note the day after the vendor says done. It tells you every morning which orders are stuck and why. Work orders that go quiet are where tenants and owners leave, and the fix is a note that gets sent on day two.

Reads: the work-order list, the vendor list, the inbox. Writes: follow-up drafts, a status per order. Never: approves a quote, dispatches a vendor on its own, sends.
Draft · 75 days before lease end
ToMarcus and Lena Oyelaran, Oak Street 9SubjectYour lease ends March 31, and an offer to renew

Hi Marcus and Lena,

Your lease at Oak Street 9 ends on March 31, and we'd like to offer you a renewal. The owner has approved a 12-month renewal at $2,150, up from $2,075, which is below what comparable units in the building are leasing for.

The renewal is attached with the e-sign link. If you'd rather talk about terms, or you're planning to move, reply here and we'll go from there. Either way, we'd appreciate knowing by February 28 so we can plan.

Thanks for being great tenants,
Dana

Lease and Rent Tracker

Every lease end, renewal offer date, rent due date, inspection, and owner statement goes into one record. The agent watches the dates and drafts the note before it's late: the renewal offer 75 days out at the terms the owner approved, the reminder at 45, the rent reminder on day 2 and day 5 in the tone your policy sets, the inspection notice at the legal lead time for your state, the owner statement reminder to you three days before it's due. You stop finding out from the tenant, the owner, or the vacancy.

Reads: the leases, the rent roll, the calendar. Writes: the record, a reminder, a draft. Never: changes a rent, a term, or a date, sends a notice, sends.

Want a different agent first, or the whole crew at once? Leasing Desk, Vendor Desk, Owner Reports, and Move-in and Move-out are all on the menu. Ask on the call.

Meet the crew

Each agent is set up for one job, the way you'd train a new coordinator in week one: the instructions for that job, the rules it works inside, the lines it never crosses, and nothing else. Your tenant desk knows your policies. Your maintenance agent knows every open work order. Your tracker knows every lease and every date.

Start with one. Add the next when you're ready. The Second Unit Lead comes with any setup and ties them together.

Needs youThe reply to Jasmine Carter about the sink leak
ApproveNot now
Done today17 tasks · 4 agents
Daily status sent, one thing waiting on youSecond Unit Lead
Drafted 23 tenant and owner replies, 2 routed to a managerTenant and Owner Desk
Chased 9 open work orders, 3 closed with tenant confirmationMaintenance Follow-up
Oak Street 9 lease ends in 75 days, renewal offer draftedLease and Rent Tracker
  1. Second Unit LeadIncluded with any setup

    Your first agent. Runs the daily status, keeps your queue to one request at a time, and walks you through changes to the other agents so you never need us for a small tweak.

  2. Tenant and Owner DeskLaunch agent

    Drafts a reply to every tenant, owner, applicant, and vendor email within the hour, from your policies, logs every maintenance request, and routes anything legal to a manager.

  3. Maintenance Follow-upLaunch agent

    Follows every work order from request to close, nudging the vendor, the owner, and the tenant on your schedule, and reports every morning which ones are stuck.

  4. Lease and Rent TrackerLaunch agent

    Keeps every lease end, renewal, rent due date, inspection, and owner statement in one record and drafts the note before it’s late.

  5. Leasing DeskOn the menu

    The reply to every listing inquiry with the showing times, the application follow-up, the screening-status note, and the approved-applicant welcome.

  6. Vendor DeskOn the menu

    The quote request to two vendors from your list, the W-9 and insurance chase, the invoice match against the work order, and the thank-you after a job done well.

  7. Owner ReportsOn the menu

    The monthly owner note drafted from the statement and the work-order log, in plain English, and the annual review note before the management agreement renews.

  8. Move-in and Move-outOn the menu

    The move-in checklist and welcome, the 60-day move-out confirmation, the inspection scheduling, and the deposit-return timeline note at the legal lead time.

Once you say yes: what you get in the first week

Nothing is left for you to figure out. This is what we set up, and when.

  1. Day 1Installed and Running.

    Your Second Unit Lead and your Tenant and Owner Desk are set up on your own accounts, interviewed on your voice, your policies, and your lines, and one real tenant email is answered before we end the call.

  2. Day 2The Inbox Stops Waiting on the Showing.

    Every new email has a drafted reply within about an hour, from your policies, and every maintenance request is a work order. Your team reads, edits if they like, and sends.

  3. Day 3First Check-in.

    We read the week's drafts together, note what you changed, and tighten the rules so the next ones need less of your hand.

  4. Day 7Your First Number.

    How many drafts went out untouched. It's the one figure we track from here, and it tells you whether this is keeping your managers at the properties instead of in the inbox.

A cold snap in week one? Your Tenant and Owner Desk drafts every reply the hour it comes in, and your Maintenance Follow-up chases every no-heat order until the tenant says it's fixed.

How it works

  1. Assessment.

    A free 45-minute call. We find the tasks that are eating your office's week and match them to the agent that can take them over.

  2. Install.

    Everything works from day one, and you don't set up a thing alone. We help you sign up for Grok Bot, and for Notion if you don't have it yet, both on your own accounts. Then, in one screen share, we install the agents, connect your email and calendar from your side, and run the interview that teaches them your voice, your policies, your properties, and your lines. We walk you through the whole thing and check every piece before we hand them off to you.

    Runs on
  3. Two Weeks of Tuning.

    We read the drafts with you every few days and tighten the agent until most go out with no edits. Then a monthly check-in, and the next agent setup when you want it.

  4. Most companies are running within a week of the assessment.

Everything that comes with a crew

One price, once. Beside each piece is what the same work costs when you buy it as a person's time. Rough US figures, so you can see what you're getting.

We start four new businesses a month.By hand, on a call, so each one gets the tune-up it needs.
What's in the BoxThe Three-Agent Crew
  1. The Assessment45 minutes with us to find the tasks eating your week and the agent for each.
    $250
  2. Install DayOne screen share. Agents installed in your own accounts, email and calendar connected from your side.
    about $1,200
  3. The InterviewYour voice, your prices, your rules, written into every agent before it drafts a word.
    about $600
  4. Three Launch AgentsTenant and Owner Desk, Maintenance Follow-up, Lease and Rent Tracker. The same three jobs as hires.
    $5,000 to $12,500 a month
  5. Your Second Unit LeadDaily status, one request at a time, and the walkthrough for every small change.
    included
  6. Two Weeks of TuningWe read the drafts with you on days 3, 7, 10, and 14, and tighten the rules each time.
    about $1,000
  7. Job Cards and Rules, Yours to KeepEvery agent's instructions on paper, in your Notion, so the crew stays with you.
    about $500
Bought as people and consultants, the first month aloneabout $8,500 to $16,000
Your crew, once$2,500 to $6,000
Then about $50 a month in software, paid to Grok Bot and Notion.
The Tune-up Guarantee.

If most of your drafts aren't going out untouched by the end of the two-week tune-up, we keep tuning at no charge until they are.

What it costs

Priced to the size of your portfolio, and settled on the assessment call, not before. A company managing 50 units sits at the low end of each range. A company managing 1,500 sits at the high end.

Setup, per agentRange
One Agent, Set Up and Tuned
The assessment, the install, the interview, and two weeks of tuning.		$1,000 to $2,500
The Three Launch Agents Together
Tenant and Owner Desk, Maintenance Follow-up, Lease and Rent Tracker.		$2,500 to $6,000
The Whole Crew
All eight agents, installed a week apart so each gets its tuning.		$6,500 to $16,000

Then Pick One of Two Paths

Ongoing Care

$100 to $750 a month per agent, scaled the same way. A monthly check-in, tuning as your company changes, support when something's off, and the next agent when you want it. Ninety days minimum, then month to month with 30 days' notice.

Setup Only

No monthly fee. Your Second Unit Lead agent walks you through changes to the other agents yourself, and when you'd rather we did it, we're on call by the hour.

The assessment call is free, and there's nothing to decide until it's done. You pay for your own software: about $30 a month for Grok Bot and about $10 a month per seat for Notion, paid to them, not to us.

What the Same Help Costs as People

Rough US figures for hiring the equivalent, so you can see what you're getting. These are estimates.

If You Hired People$60,000 to $150,000a year
  • Maintenance coordinator$42,000 to $55,000 / yr
  • Leasing and tenant-services coordinator$40,000 to $52,000 / yr
  • Assistant property manager$45,000 to $60,000 / yr
  • After-hours answering service$300 to $900 / mo
  • Bookkeeper for owner statements, part-time$1,500 to $3,000 / mo

Before payroll taxes, before benefits, and before they've learned how you like things done.

Your Second Unit Crew$2,500 to $6,000once, the three launch agents$6,500 to $16,000once, the whole crew
  • Works every day, the first of the month and the cold snap included
  • Trained on your voice, your policies, your properties
  • About $50 a month in software, paid to Grok Bot and Notion
  • Ongoing care from $100 a month per agent, or setup only with support on call
  • Yours to keep. If we part ways, the crew stays with you

Three agents for about one month of one salary.

What the agents won't do

What changes

The tenant who reported the leak on Friday has a reply in your drafts by Friday, with the work order number and the vendor's name. Every open work order gets chased on day two, and the owner never gets the call. The renewal offer goes out at 75 days with the owner's approved terms, and the unit doesn't turn over in December.

You still write the important emails. You just stop writing all of them.

Book a free 45-minute assessment Not ready? Read what the agents won't do and see exactly what they read, write, and never touch.
A property manager handing keys to a young couple on the front steps of an apartment building
Every open work order is a tenant deciding whether to renew.