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Of Work Orders Completed Before SLA
After-Hours Emergency Call De-Escalation %
Of All Completed Work Orders Generated by AI
Cowboy Properties is a Utah-based multifamily management company that exclusively stewards the assets of Cowboy Partners, one of the Mountain West’s premier multifamily and mixed-use developers. Since 2001, the Cowboy team has pursued its mission of “creating compelling communities” across its differentiated 3,000 unit portfolio. A key component of that initiative is the consistent and committed nature of Cowboy Properties’ executive leadership, composed of veteran operators with lengthy tenures as members of the Cowboy team.
Cowboy Properties is also noteworthy for their community-oriented voluntary
affordable housing commitment. This focus on providing high-quality, safe, and well maintained housing to members of the community who may otherwise struggle to afford it while remaining in Utah makes crystal clear the type of organization Cowboy Properties is.
It was this commitment to providing well maintained homes and making as many happy residents as possible that first led Cowboy Properties to look into EliseAI’s Maintenance App.
Entering the summer of 2025, Cowboy Properties management found themselves consistently running into issues with their maintenance operations that many operators are all too familiar with. Lack of visibility was one major pain point, as management lacked a clear window into day-to-day maintenance operations. They knew work was getting done, but they couldn’t see how work orders were being delegated or prioritized on the site level. There was no strategic framework for maintenance workflows, resulting in occasional inconsistency and reducing opportunities for cost-savings, automation, and repeatable process.
This lack of visibility was only exacerbated by the systems that Cowboy’s maintenance operations were running on. Back-office processes were unfortunately relatively vulnerable to staff changes. For example, recurring tasks like garage inspections, filter replacements, and amenity checks relied on individuals remembering to schedule them. If someone went out of town for a week, or someone got sick,the team would have to schedule floating help, or address it upon the employee's return. They were dependent on managers diligently tracking annual inspections, and while Cowboy Properties managed to keep things running smoothly, it took significant hard work, dedication, and staff hours to do so.
The problem was, despite all the work getting done, they had very few data points or operational metrics that they could use to improve the way their team was maintaining their communities. With minimal baseline data on work orders, unit turns, or completion times, it was hard to identify any systemic issues or make any significant changes to their way they were operating. This introduced another wrinkle when it came to technician evaluation and compensation. Cowboy Properties performed annual reviews for techs, but lacked the performance data to support giving raises based on performance. These lack of metrics also made it impossible to empirically evaluate performance across communities.
Going into the summer of 2025, the Cowboy Properties team was already well acquainted with EliseAI. They had rolled out a variety of EliseAI products in August 2024, including LeasingAI, Delinquency, Renewals, and VoiceAI, and seen a full year’s worth of results from integrating agentic AI into their operations, including moderate but notable bad debt reduction, consistent leasing performance, and significant time savings for onsite teams. So when they heard about EliseAI’s new Maintenance App they decided to give it a try, hoping it could help solve some of the issues they were facing. Spoiler alert: it was just what they were looking for.
Today, Cowboy Properties is in the process of rolling out EliseAI’s Maintenance App across the entire portfolio in order to give techs everything they need to do their job more efficiently in one convenient app. With the Maintenance App, technicians can now view, pause, and complete work orders, communicate directly with residents via chat or call (with real-time translation), clock in and out by geolocation, upload photos, and access full unit and resident history on their phones, with AI-powered auto-assignment that matches work orders to the right technician based on specialty, position, estimated duration, priority, and location. Designed to promote tech adoption, it’s available in English and Spanish on both iOS and Android, and allows techs to log in with just their phone number and a one-time passcode.
Now, Cowboys Properties’ maintenance supervisors can use the Maintenance App’s drag-and-drop calendar to manage schedules, set shift times, block out breaks, and create recurring tasks, like those monthly amenity checks, garage inspections, and air filter replacements that were normally handled manually. An automated Turn Board handles unit turnovers with customizable inspection templates, auto-generated work orders from failed inspection items, and move-in/move-out date tracking. AI-powered vendor management automates scheduling and coordination with third parties through email and SMS.
With recurring tasks now pre-scheduled in the app, turnover no longer impacts operations the way it used to. Cowboy Properties’ maintenance teams share recurring task templates across properties, adapting for each community's needs and ensuring work gets done no matter what. And having EliseAI automatically handle work order assignment saves time for supervisors, ensures the right techs get the right work, and helps make sure all work orders are handled in a timely, organized manner.
Having increased visibility into the way maintenance operations are actually running onsite has given Cowboy Properties’ management the data-driven insights they need to optimize scheduling, improve technician compensation and retention, and increase resident visibility and satisfaction. Now that management can now see patterns in how individual technicians operate, they can identify where additional support or training is needed, reward technicians for strong performances, and spot inefficiencies or repetitive tasks that signal larger issues. And with 60% of all completed work orders across Cowboy Properties’ communities assigned by EliseAI, it’s clear that adoption is strong.
With cross-community benchmarking, Cowboy Leadership can actually compare metrics across properties for the first time, allowing them to set baseline standards for the entire company and empirically evaluate technician performance. This visibility, in turn, creates a culture of "friendly competition" among technicians, decreasing average work order completion times and increasing technician app adoption. It also gives the Cowboy team the foundation they need for performance-based raises, moving away from an arbitrary raise system and actually giving them the hard data they need to recognize those techs that go above and beyond.
Cowboy Properties views this usage of The Maintenance App as an opportunity to help technicians build meaningful career trajectories through measurable performance tracking and evaluation. They expect, in the long run, that further usage of this tool and the subsequent metric-based recognition programs will help reduce technician turnover, strengthening their service delivery model and further contributing to their mission of creating “Connected Communities.”
For Lou, Steve, and the whole Cowboys Properties team, their continued partnership with EliseAI is a cornerstone of their tech-enabled, high-performing operating model. When the compounding retention and resident satisfaction gains from this investment in maintenance-focused technology is coupled with the NOI improvement they’re already seeing from EliseAI’s other tools, it becomes clear that their AI-powered operating model has them well positioned to continue expanding their presence in the Utah market. And with their continued commitment to affordable housing, that means more high-quality, well maintained, and cost-effective homes for the people of Utah—a noble pursuit that the EliseAI team is proud to play a small part in supporting.
Steve Findlay plays a key role in leading Cowboy Properties, with a focus on operational excellence and portfolio performance across the Cowboy Partners–developed communities. Steve has been with the company since 2011 and brings deep institutional knowledge and long-term continuity to the organization. His experience includes overseeing and supporting a diverse mix of property types, including luxury apartment communities, LIHTC properties, and mixed-income and mixed-use developments throughout the western United States. Steve is known for his collaborative leadership style and his focus on improving processes, implementing new technologies, and supporting on-site teams to drive consistent results across the portfolio.
Lou is a Portfolio Leader at Cowboy Properties, overseeing a diverse portfolio of market-rate, tax credit, and mixed-use communities. With more than a decade at Cowboy, he brings deep operational expertise shaped by a career that began as a leasing agent. In his role, Lou provides strategic oversight while staying closely connected to day-to-day operations. He leads teams across budgeting and forecasting, capital planning, project management, and data-driven marketing. Known for aligning people, processes, and technology, Lou emphasizes accountability, informed decision-making, and sustainable portfolio performance.
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