Why property managers need more than a message
A leak in one unit becomes a ceiling in the unit below within hours. A message that waits until morning turns a plumbing call into a restoration job and two unhappy tenants.
At the same time, tenants call about everything: lights, appliances, neighbours, rent. Waking the on-call tech for all of it burns out your maintenance team.
Emergency or work order
| Tenant call | Decision |
|---|---|
| Water leaking into the unit or the unit below | Emergency |
| No heat in freezing weather | Emergency |
| No power to the whole unit (not a utility outage) | Emergency |
| Sewage backup | Emergency |
| Broken exterior door, window or lock | Emergency |
| Gas smell | Leave the building, call 911; then emergency |
| Dripping tap, appliance, light out | Work order |
| Pests, noise complaints, lease questions | Work order or office |
More in tenant emergency triage.
Example call
Oakview Property Management maintenance line, this is Josie. What's happening at your unit?
Water is dripping from my bathroom ceiling, a lot.
Which building and unit are you in? Do you know who lives above you?
Rule matched: "Leak into unit" → Emergency · paging Luis (on call)… accepted
No fee step here: for property managers, Josie skips fee consent and pages directly.
Cost
Per-minute services charge for every tenant call, including the long ones about noise and parking. PATLive's published plans start at $99/month for 50 minutes, with extra minutes from $1.79 to $2.29 and pay-as-you-go at $2.99 a minute (October 2026). A flat-price line doesn't punish you for chatty tenants. Compare with the cost calculator.
What Josie does
- 24/7 Emergency Line: Answers every after-hours call and sorts real emergencies from routine jobs with your rules.
- On-Call Paging + Schedules: Calls your on-call tech with the details. Press 1 to accept. No answer? Next person, then you.
- Spanish + Multilingual Line: Josie switches to Spanish (or another language) when your caller does. Same triage, same paging.
- For your trade: Property Management Answering Service for After-Hours Maintenance
Common questions
What does a property management answering service do?
Answers tenant calls 24/7, triages maintenance emergencies, pages the on-call maintenance tech for real emergencies, and logs routine requests for the office.
Can it handle multiple properties?
Yes. Josie asks for the building and unit and includes them in every page and work order.
Does it speak Spanish?
Yes. Josie switches to Spanish when the tenant does and sends your team the summary in English.
What does HireJosie cost?
HireJosie is $29/month for 200 AI minutes, starting with a 7-day free trial — cancel before day 7 and you pay nothing. Pro is $79/month for 500 minutes, with $0.25/minute overage after that. Every feature is on every plan, and every plan starts with a 7-day free trial.