What is usually missing
The concierge email is generated from what the agent typed into the brokerage’s system, so it is only as complete as the agent was in a hurry to be. The same gaps come up again and again.
- Square footage — the field everything is priced on, often blank.
- Occupancy — vacant or occupied is rarely stated, so teams default to occupied.
- Access — lockbox yes or no, the code, a gate code, or “agent will meet”.
- Beds and baths — not asked for at all, and the reason most revisits happen.
- Timing — an order placed at 3 a.m. for the same day, with no one to ask.
What teams do by hand
Owners describe the same routine: the square footage is blank, so someone Googles the address. Occupancy is unknown, so it goes in as occupied. The lockbox answer decides the entry method, and the code gets pasted into the access field. If something cannot be found, someone calls or emails the agent.
None of that is wrong. The problem is that it lives in people’s heads, so the order looks different depending on who entered it.
Why guessing is the expensive option
A wrong square footage puts the order in the wrong pricing and duration tier, and picks the wrong floor-plan variant. A wrong access method leaves a photographer at a locked door. A default that is wrong in a way nobody sees — occupied when the house is vacant — changes how the shoot is scheduled. Each of these is cheap to check before the order goes in and expensive after.
How to automate it without guessing
This is the pattern, and most of it is what our Order Review module does on every new order. It is a little technical; the principle is that every value on the order either came from the email or has a named source.
- Whatever reads the email, a parser or a language model, must leave a field empty when the email does not contain it, never fill a blank with a plausible number.
- Square footage and bed and bath counts are looked up in public property records for the address, and written into the order notes with the source, so the photographer and your team can see where the number came from.
- If the email gives a square footage and public records disagree by a wide margin, the order is flagged rather than corrected.
- A lockbox marked yes with no code is flagged as a missing access detail before the shoot day, not discovered at the door.
- The free-text notes are read for changes and constraints — “owner home until 10”, “skip the basement” — and moved into the appointment notes.
- When a field that changes price or access is still blank, the order is kicked out as an exception with that reason, and a person decides.
Which gaps should stop an order, and which should not
Not every blank deserves a phone call. A sensible split:
- Stop and ask: no address, no agent email, no package, a lockbox with no code, a time outside your service hours.
- Fill with a source and continue: square footage, beds and baths from public records.
- Continue with a note: occupancy unknown, free-text requests the form has no field for.