# The back-office assistant for small property managers and landlords

By James Grokman, CEO, TapeAndFloat · 2026-10-25 · Canonical: https://pm.tapeandfloat.com/

**TapeAndFloat is an AI back-office assistant for small property managers and independent landlords that watches your inbox and your own Google Sheet and flags open maintenance requests, stalled vendor work orders, expired vendor insurance and unpaid invoices. It costs about $15 a month; AppFolio's pricing page lists a 50-unit minimum ([pricing page](https://www.appfolio.com/pricing)).**
Property management software is built for companies with leasing staff, accounting teams and hundreds of units. If you manage a few dozen doors from your phone and a spreadsheet, you mostly need nothing to fall through the cracks.

## What slips for small landlords and PMs

- **Maintenance requests** that arrive by text, email and voicemail and never get a work order.

- **Vendor work orders** with no follow-up: was the plumber scheduled, did they finish, is the tenant happy?

- **Vendor paperwork**: expired insurance certificates (COIs), missing W-9s, invoices that do not match the work order.

- **Tenant communication** that goes quiet while a repair waits.

- **Unit turnovers** where one trade's delay pushes the move-in date.

## How it works

- Forward maintenance emails, vendor quotes and invoices to the assistant (text screenshots work too).

- It keeps your own Google Sheet current: requests, work orders, vendors, invoices.

- Each morning you get a short list of what is open, overdue or missing, with drafted tenant and vendor messages.

- Nothing is sent without your OK. You keep the Sheet if you stop.

## TapeAndFloat vs property management platforms

Prices below are what each vendor's own pricing page showed on October 25, 2026.

| Option | Price (checked Oct 25, 2026) | Built for | New app to learn? | 
| **TapeAndFloat** | Free 60-day pilot, then about $15/month per company (planned $10-20) | Small offices: 1-10 people | No: works in your own email and Google Sheet | 
| AppFolio | [From $1.49/unit/month; minimum spend and 50-unit minimum apply](https://www.appfolio.com/pricing) | Property management companies | Yes: your team moves its work into it | 
| Buildium | [From $62/month (Essential); onboarding required on Growth/Premium](https://www.buildium.com/pricing/) | Growing PM portfolios | Yes: your team moves its work into it | 
| Yardi Breeze | [From $1/unit/month, $100/month minimum, annual agreement](https://www.yardibreeze.com/pricing/) | Residential and commercial managers | Yes: your team moves its work into it | 
| Rent Manager | [Custom quote](https://www.rentmanager.com/pricing/) | Property management companies of every size | Yes: your team moves its work into it | 

If you need rent collection, leasing and owner statements in one system, those platforms do that. TapeAndFloat is the cheap layer for the maintenance and vendor follow-up that a small operator does by hand. More: [AppFolio and Buildium alternatives for small landlords](guides/appfolio-buildium-alternatives-small-landlords.html).

## Guides for small property managers

- [Managing maintenance requests and vendor work orders](guides/maintenance-requests-work-orders.html)

- [Tenant communication for small landlords](guides/tenant-communication-small-landlords.html)

- [Unit turnover checklist](guides/unit-turnover-checklist.html)

- [Collecting and tracking vendor COIs and invoices](guides/vendor-coi-invoice-tracking.html)

- [AppFolio and Buildium alternatives for small landlords](guides/appfolio-buildium-alternatives-small-landlords.html)

## Frequently asked questions

### What is TapeAndFloat for property managers?

An AI back-office assistant for small property managers and independent landlords. It reads the maintenance, vendor and invoice emails you forward, keeps your own Google Sheet current and sends a daily list of open requests, stalled work orders, expired vendor COIs and unpaid invoices.

### Is it a replacement for AppFolio or Buildium?

No. It does not collect rent or do accounting. It handles maintenance and vendor follow-up for operators who do not want a full platform.

### How many units is it for?

It is aimed at small operators, from a handful of doors to a few hundred, especially below the minimums some platforms set.

### Does it message my tenants?

Only drafts you approve.

### What does the pilot cost?

Free for 60 days, no card. The planned price afterward is $10-20 a month per company.