Make Maintenance Run Itself: How Lula Automates Vendor Sourcing & Dispatching

Vacancies are rising, reaching a high of 6.9% in 2025, putting additional pressure on owners and operators to maintain occupancy rates. Maintenance isn’t just essential — it’s a key driver of revenue and resident satisfaction. Fast repairs and clear communication build trust and reduce turnover, but rising costs, labor shortages, and outdated processes can make it challenging to provide quality service.

Now integrated with the AppFolio Realm-X Maintenance Performer and Contact Center, the Lula Vendor Network automates vendor outsourcing, dispatch, and coordination, ensuring maintenance requests are handled quickly and efficiently 24/7.

Creating a Maintenance Strategy for Today’s Market

In the 2025 AppFolio Property Management Benchmark Report, we asked over 2,000 property management professionals about their concerns and the strategies and tools they plan to use to stay ahead. The report indicated that maintaining occupancy rates is now considered the no. 1 threat. The report also revealed that 42% of professionals believe that streamlining maintenance operations is a major opportunity to improve efficiency.

It’s no secret that maintenance has a direct impact on resident satisfaction — and our 2024 Renter Preferences Report confirms just that. Of the renters surveyed, those satisfied with maintenance were 25% less likely to say they’re planning to move and three times more likely to recommend their property management company. On the flip side, renters who were unsatisfied with their visibility into maintenance were more than 7 times more likely to be unsatisfied with their property management company.

To address these challenges, many property managers are rethinking their approach to maintenance by handling more work orders in-house, renegotiating vendor relationships, and adopting technology to improve efficiency and service quality. Property managers are increasingly turning to AI-powered solutions to support shifting staffing models, assist their in-house and vendor techs, and maintain consistent communication with residents.

Does this sound similar to your strategy?

Future-Proofing Maintenance Operations

With rising costs and labor shortages, property managers are rethinking operations. Many are centralizing teams and mobilizing in-house technicians and vendors across properties, requiring the right technology for synchronized coordination and workflow visibility.

Industry Principal Dom Beveridge’s 20for20 report found that 60% of multifamily residential operators were planning or actively implementing centralized maintenance operations. Additionally, 40% are consolidating technology in 2025 to better support centralized or off-site maintenance teams. These numbers show a clear trend: Property managers are prioritizing maintenance centralization to improve workflows and provide better service to residents.

In single-family rentals, centralization isn’t new — it’s the norm. With properties spread across multiple locations, operators are relying on remote teams and mobile technology for more efficient maintenance. Unlike multifamily communities with on-site staff, single-family properties need a coordinated approach for dispatching requests and vendor management. The key question isn’t whether to centralize but how to optimize operations with in-house teams or third-party vendors.

When done properly, centralizing maintenance operations can result in quicker service, better use of resources, and reduced operational expenses. This approach allows teams to manage multiple properties without duplicating tasks, ensuring that maintenance is handled efficiently rather than separately for each property.

Despite its efficiency, a centralized approach to maintenance comes with its own challenges:

To overcome these challenges, forward-thinking property managers are embracing automation to enhance productivity. When your teams operate within a unified platform that allows them to collaborate seamlessly, your business (and residents) can reap all of the benefits of centralization.

Introducing: The Lula Vendor Network

With our AppFolio Stack™ integration, AppFolio now partners with Lula to offer a network of vetted vendors and contractors ready for immediate assignments. Whether you use on-site crews, mobile techs, or a hybrid team, you can use the Lula Vendor Network to outsource maintenance whenever you need complete coverage. Fully integrated with your Maintenance Performer and Contact Center, you can automate dispatch for select or all types of work orders. In return, Lula manages vendor tasks from dispatch to coordination to completion.

Here’s how 24/7 maintenance works with the Lula Vendor Network on your team:

With the Lula Vendor Network, you can confidently enhance your maintenance approach without the challenge of hiring additional, specialized maintenance employees or being concerned about the reliability, cost, and productivity of vendors. Unlike traditional vendor coordination, which often relies on back-and-forth phone calls or emails, the Lula Vendor Network offers real-time job status visibility and maintains documentation standards.

Automate Third-Party Repairs for the Right Price

Take the stress out of maintenance and embrace a smarter, more efficient way to manage work orders with the Lula Vendor Network.

Because the Lula Vendor Network is fully integrated with the AppFolio Realm-X Maintenance Performer and Contact Center, you don’t need another login to manage vendors. Enable the Lula Vendor Network in under 24 hours, set it as your preferred vendor, set your budget, and automate dispatch — running maintenance 24/7 without skipping a beat.

Ready to transform vendor management to support your maintenance team’s workflow and elevate resident satisfaction? Experience smarter, faster results with the AppFolio Realm-X Maintenance Performer and the Lula Vendor Network here.

Key Takeaways

• Maintenance Excellence Drives Business Growth: Satisfied residents are 25% more likely to renew their leases and three times more likely to refer others to your management company.

• 24/7 Automation: Integration with AppFolio Realm-X Maintenance Performer and Contact Center enables fully automated vendor dispatching and coordination around the clock.

• Smart Centralization: Overcome common centralization hurdles like vendor inconsistency and hidden costs by leveraging a vetted network with total operational transparency.

• Effortless Visibility: Get real-time status updates and automatic documentation directly within AppFolio, ensuring you stay informed without the manual follow-up.

• Rapid Deployment: Activate the Lula Vendor Network in under 24 hours with no extra logins required, instantly scaling your maintenance capabilities.