Emergency Identification & Escalation Criteria

Communication & Response Protocols

Availability & Scheduling Settings

Managing emergencies efficiently is critical in property maintenance—and Latchel makes it easier for you. The Emergency and Escalation Settings section helps you take control of how urgent situations are handled. From setting clear contact protocols and on-call schedules to defining emergency vs. non-emergency workflows, this guide ensures your team stays prepared, informed, and responsive when it matters most.

Overview

Emergency & Escalation Settings

Latchel

This hub is designed to give you quick access to all the resources you need to navigate your partnership with Latchel. Whether you're managing emergencies, understanding work order processes, updating account settings, or exploring service options, our categorized help guides provide step-by-step support and key information to help you work efficiently. Browse the sections below to find guidance tailored to your needs—so you can spend less time troubleshooting and more time supporting your residents.

Property Manager Articles

We're here to make managing your home as smooth as possible. Whether you need help submitting a work request, understanding maintenance processes, or learning about our services, you're in the right place.  Explore our resident help articles category below to quickly find answers, or use the search bar to locate specific topics.

Resident Help Guides

Latchel is here to help with the coordination and scheduling of service requests. And you can do this as a resident by accessing your dashboard.

Resident Dashboard Overview

Welcome to your go-to resource for getting the most out of your Latchel services. These guides are designed to walk you through common processes like submitting maintenance requests, understanding your Resident Benefits, and knowing what to expect during emergency or routine repairs. Whether you’re new to Latchel or just need a quick refresher, you’ll find helpful, step-by-step instructions to make your experience simple and stress-free.

Comprehensive Resident Help Guides

Welcome to the Latchel Help Center for service providers! Whether you're just getting started or looking for tips to manage your work more efficiently, this section is built for you. You'll find step-by-step guides on setting up your account, handling work orders, submitting estimates, invoicing, and more—everything you need to succeed on the platform.

Service Provider Help Guides

This help guide consists of different lists of guidelines meant to help you as a service provider.

Comprehensive Service Provider Guides

Explore what’s new in Latchel: features, improvements, and bug fixes.

What's New!

The following are the Latchel updates for the week of June 16, 2025.

June 16, 2025

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May 19, 2025

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January 27, 2025

Latchel Webhooks (1.0.0)

All webhook payloads are JSON data sent via POST and conform to the following format:

Payload Format

The following data is sent when a Job is created or updated in Latchel. (See Payload Format, above)

Job Created & Updated

The following data is sent when a Tenant is created or updated in Latchel. (See Payload Format, above)

Tenant Created & Updated

The following data is sent when a Portfolio is created or updated in Latchel. (See Payload Format, above)

Portfolio Created & Updated

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If you're a service provider new to Latchel, this section is for you. Learn how to access your portal, get familiar with your dashboard, and take the first steps to start receiving work orders.

Getting Started

Join thousands of service providers who get consistent work, fast payouts, and a hassle-free platform to manage it all. At Latchel, we connect you with property managers who need reliable pros like you—no cold calls, no chasing payments. Sign up today and start doing more of what you do best: great work.

A Guide in Joining Latchel Contractor Network

Exciting news for Service Providers! With the Latchel portal, you can easily access and view all jobs, providing updates to keep things moving smoothly.

Accessing Your Latchel Portal (Service Providers)

Take a quick tour of your Service Provider Dashboard to see where you can view work orders, track job statuses, manage your schedule, and access important account info. 

An Overview of the Service Provider Dashboard

Forgot your Latchel password? No worries! This guide will walk you through the simple steps to reset your password and regain access to your account. Follow the instructions below to get back in quickly.

Resetting Your Latchel Password (Service Provider)

As a service provider, it's important to keep your account details up to date. Here, you'll find guides on managing your company info, adding users, setting up payments, and syncing your calendar. 

Managing Your Account

If you need to add or update your bank account information, follow this help guide! 

Adding Bank Account Information (Service Provider)

As the **primary user** of your service provider company, you have the capability to manage multiple users within your company account settings. This includes **adding new service provider users**, **updating their contact information**, and **disabling users** if necessary. Let's take a look on how you can properly manage your service provider users.

Managing Service Provider Users

Latchel allows you to integrate your **Google Gmail account** so that you can automatically sync new work events to the Google calendar of your choice. Set up upcoming work order reminders today!

Google Calendar Integration (Service Provider)

This section is for service providers looking to stay on top of their jobs. Learn how to accept, schedule, update, or reschedule work orders—all from your Latchel dashboard.

Work Order Management

Once the work order is assigned, you can provide multiple updates on it. This guide will provide information on these work order updates.

A Service Provider's Guide in Updating a Work Order

When there is a work order available, the service provider will receive an SMS message and email notification that contains a link to the work order details. Learn how to accept new work orders and schedule them directly through your Latchel dashboard so you can get jobs on your calendar quickly and keep things moving.

How to Accept and Schedule Work Orders (Service Providers)

Through this article, you will be guided on how to accept and schedule a work order that is assigned to you as a VIP Service Provider. Here's how it works!

Accepting Work Orders as a VIP Service Provider

Need to make a change to a scheduled job? This guide shows service providers how to reschedule work orders in just a few clicks through the Latchel dashboard.

Rescheduling Work Orders in Latchel (Service Provider)

This **Flexible Auto-Assignment** enables the **Primary Service Providers** to accept and/or schedule for themselves or any Service Provider user within their company.

Scheduling Work Orders for Another User within the Company

Stay organized and on schedule—this guide shows service providers how to access and use the calendar view to see all upcoming work orders at a glance.

Viewing Work Order Calendar (Service Providers)

This is a step-by-step guide for service providers when action is required from their open work orders.

Taking Action on Open Work Orders (Service Providers)

This help guide explains the process of responding to new work orders once received. When a work order becomes available, you'll receive an SMS message and email notification with a link to the work order details. From there, you can choose **to accept** or **decline** the work order.

How to Reject a Work Order (Service Provider)

As a service provider, submitting clear documentation is key to getting paid on time. This section shows you how to send estimates, upload photos, and invoice correctly after completing a job. 

Estimates, Invoicing & Documentation

If the cost to complete a work order exceeds the approved budget limit for the property, service providers may submit their bid or estimate. Alternatively, Property Managers can assign a work order to Service Providers, allowing them to submit their bids and enabling the Property Manager to choose the best bid. In either case, let's explore this step-by-step guide on how to submit a bid or estimate.

Submitting an Estimate or Bid on a Work Order (Service Provider)

There are times when a work order needs to have additional files and photos to support the budget or Property managers/owners requesting these for their reference, for example, the before-and-after photo. This help guide will give step by step process on how to upload files or photos on the work order.

Adding Images/Files to a Work Order (Service Providers)

This guide walks service providers through the steps to create and submit an invoice in Latchel after completing a job.

How to Create an Invoice (Service Providers)

Once the work is complete, you must send your invoice to get paid. Here’s the step-by-step guide on how you can submit an invoice.

Uploading an Invoice (Service Providers)

We know that a well-maintained home is essential to your comfort, and we’re here to help! This guide provides clear, step-by-step information on a variety of maintenance topics—from troubleshooting common issues to understanding the repair process. 

Maintenance Request Guides

As a resident, you have access to your Resident Dashboard from where you can access your existing and past maintenance requests, and also submit a new maintenance request. This help guide will assist you on how you can submit a new maintenance request.

Submitting a New Maintenance Request (Resident)

As a resident, you have access to your Resident Dashboard from where you can access your existing and past maintenance requests. If you need assistance in any of your existing or recent maintenance request, you may follow the steps below.

Requesting Assistance from Latchel Via Work Order

As a resident, you have access to your Resident Dashboard from where you can access your existing and past maintenance requests. To confirm completion of your recent maintenance request, follow the steps below.

Confirming Completion of a Work Order (Resident)

Latchel values customer feedback! Here are the steps you can follow to leave a review about your recent experience with a maintenance request.

Rating the Service Provided (Resident)

As a resident, you have access to your Resident Dashboard from where you can access your existing and past maintenance requests. To report an incomplete maintenance request that you have recently submitted, follow the steps below.

Reporting an Incomplete Maintenance Request (Resident)

As a resident, you have access to your Resident Dashboard from where you can access your existing and past maintenance requests. If you need to provide any updates to any of your existing maintenance requests, follow the steps below.

Providing Updates on a Work Order (Resident)

As a resident, you have access to your Resident Dashboard from where you can access your existing and past maintenance requests. If you need to update your availability, follow the steps below.

Updating Availability (Resident)

As a resident, you have access to your Resident Dashboard from where you can access your existing and past maintenance requests. If you need to add images and files on any of your work orders, follow the steps below.

Adding Images and Files on a Work Order (Resident)

Need to stop a request that’s no longer needed? This guide walks you through how to properly cancel a work order in Latchel and what happens after it’s canceled.

Cancelling a Work Order (Resident)

As a resident, you have access to your Resident Dashboard from where you can access your existing and past maintenance requests. If you need to generate work order details of your existing or past maintenance request, follow these steps below.

Generating Work Order Details (Resident)

As a resident, you have access to a range of valuable benefits designed to make your living experience more convenient and rewarding. This guide provides everything you need to navigate and take full advantage of your resident perks.

Resident Benefits Guides

Every time you contact Latchel, you'll be sent a link to access your online portal. Latchel offers wide range of popular benefits you can choose from to enhance your resident experience. Here's how you can access your Resident Benefits Hub.

Accessing Your Resident Benefits Hub

Latchel’s drain packs are provided to residents as part of their Resident Benefits to help prevent build-up and reduce the risk of clogs in sinks, tubs, and showers. This guide explains the simple steps for using the drain pack effectively—supporting cleaner drains, fewer maintenance issues, and a better living experience overall.

Resident Benefits: Drain Pack Instructions

One of the standout features within the Resident Benefit Hub is the ability to file for reimbursements. We offer several types of reimbursements, and this guide is designed particularly to help residents like you understand more about cash reimbursements.

Resident Benefits: Filling for Cash Reimbursement

Air filters are devices designed to remove airborne particles, pollutants, and microorganisms that pose health risks and can harm the environment. The Free Air Filter program is one of the resident benefits that property management companies may include as part of their Latchel subscription.

FAQ Air Filters for Residents

One of the standout features within the Resident Benefit Hub is the ability to file for reimbursements. We offer several types of reimbursements, and this guide is designed particularly to help residents like you understand more about lockout reimbursements, and how to submit a request.

Resident Benefits: Lockout Reimbursement

Latchel’s Resident Benefits make it simple for residents to claim cash reimbursements for approved repair expenses. Once a reimbursement request is approved, residents are sent a secure link to Ramp, where they can quickly access their funds. It’s a hassle-free way to cover repair costs.

ACH Setup Through Ramp

Welcome to Latchel! These Getting Started Help Guides are built for property managers to learn the basics, whether you’re new or just need a refresher. You’ll find step-by-step tips on how to manage service requests, vendors, escalations, and more. Each guide is easy to follow and great for training your team or finding answers fast. Let’s get started!

Getting Started with Latchel

Approvals are a powerful way to stay in control of your maintenance workflow while keeping things running smoothly for residents and owners. In Latchel, approvals let you decide what gets done, when, and by whom—without all the back-and-forth. Whether you're greenlighting work orders, reviewing budgets, or looping in owners for big decisions, our flexible approval settings give you the oversight you need without slowing things down. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the three types of approvals available in Latchel, how to manage them from your dashboard, and how to tailor the experience to fit your team’s workflow. We’ll also cover smart budget controls, automatic invoice approvals, and how to keep owners involved—only when you want them to be.

Approvals

Managing maintenance doesn’t have to mean managing chaos. With Latchel’s Dispatching system, you can say goodbye to back-and-forth scheduling and vendor delays. Our smart dispatch engine connects the right service provider to the right job—fast—based on your unique preferences and urgency settings. Whether you're working with your trusted in-house team or leveraging Latchel’s extensive service provider network, our system ensures that every work order is handled quickly, efficiently, and with full visibility for your team. This guide will walk you through how dispatching works in Latchel, the steps we take to engage vendors, and how you can fine-tune your dispatch settings to get the results you want—every time.

Dispatching

Managing maintenance requests doesn't have to feel like a maze. Our Work Order system is designed to help you quickly find what you need, stay organized, and take action with confidence. Whether you're checking in on open issues, filtering for specific updates, or reviewing completed jobs, this guide will walk you through every step to make navigation smooth and intuitive. From smart filters to status tags and powerful search functions, we’ll show you how to use the platform like a pro—saving you time and keeping your operations on track.

Work Order Navigation

Keeping your team organized in Latchel is key to making sure the right people get the right information at the right time. Whether you're adding new team members, setting up groups based on portfolios, or managing who gets notified during emergencies, Latchel gives you the flexibility to keep everything running smoothly. This guide walks you through how to manage users, build user groups, set up emergency escalation contacts, and adjust notification preferences—so your team can stay aligned, respond faster, and stay focused on what matters most.

Team & User Management

Whether you're managing a routine unit turn or overseeing a large-scale renovation, Latchel’s Projects feature gives you everything you need to stay on top of progress, budget, and documentation—all in one clean, organized view. With Projects, you can easily group related work orders, track completion, and centralize important files so nothing falls through the cracks. From the moment you create a project, you’re set up to link it to properties, add due dates, and monitor work with complete clarity. You’ll also be able to spot which work orders belong to projects with clear visual indicators right from your dashboard. This guide will walk you through how to create and manage projects step by step, so you can turn unit turns into smooth transitions and renovations into wins for your team and your residents.

Projects & Unit Turns

 Whether you’re managing a unit turn, documenting property conditions, or performing routine check-ins, Latchel’s Inspections feature gives you the tools to capture everything in one place—efficiently and clearly. With customizable templates, mobile-friendly inspection forms, and the ability to create work orders directly from flagged items, your team can stay organized and on track from start to finish. Each inspection can be linked to a project for full visibility, helping you manage tasks, timelines, and property updates without missing a beat. In this guide, you’ll learn how to build templates, assign and complete inspections, and turn inspection results into actionable tasks—all while keeping your workflow smooth and your team aligned.

Inspections

Latchel’s upgraded dashboard brings a more intuitive and efficient experience, making it easier to manage work orders, track requests, and access key account settings—all in one place. With a modern interface and improved navigation, Dashboard 2.0 helps property managers and service providers streamline their workflow and get things done faster. Check out the new features and enhancements designed to simplify your day-to-day operations!

Dashboard Overview

The Task Page in the Latchel Dashboard gives you a streamlined view of all open work orders that require action from your team. Each task is clearly categorized, making it easy to prioritize what needs attention—whether it's approving a proposal, reviewing an invoice, or responding to a vendor. Use the filter options to sort tasks by type, status, or urgency, so you can quickly take action and keep operations moving smoothly.

Latchel Task Page Overview

Latchel Reports Overview

This guide covers how to access and view a resident's Public Dashboard. The dashboard gives you a real-time view of a resident’s work order, including updates, scheduling details, and communication history—making it easy to stay informed and provide support when needed.

How to Access and View a Resident Public Dashboard

The Tool tab in the Latchel Dashboard is your go-to spot for managing invoices, viewing reports, and exploring skill categories. This guide will help you get familiar with each section so you can make the most of the tools available at your fingertips.

Navigating the New Tool Tab in the Latchel Dashboard

In line with our continuing dedication to accelerating and simplifying navigation within the Latchel dashboard, we've enhanced the work order search functionality.

Quick Search Box for Work Orders

Now Property Managers can customize their default view for the work order detail page. By choosing which most relevant information to show and how they want to see it in order.

Customizable Work Order Quick View

This guide shows you how to access the Help Center directly from your Latchel dashboard. Whether you need answers to common questions or step-by-step instructions, the Help Center is your go-to resource for quick support.

How to Access the Help Center Through Your Latchel Dashboard

Welcome to the Account Settings Help Guides! This section provides step-by-step instructions for managing key settings in Latchel, ensuring your account is configured to meet your property management needs. Whether you need to add properties and residents, adjust severity and responsibility settings, or customize service provider prioritization, these guides will help you navigate and optimize your account settings with ease.  Explore the articles below to learn how to efficiently configure and manage your account!

Account Settings

Keeping your company address up to date in Latchel ensures accurate invoicing and proper documentation. This guide walks you through how to add or update your company address in just a few steps.

Adding Your Company Address

**Latchel's Starter** feature is a **self-service option** designed for property companies and managers. It offers a firsthand experience of how Latchel operates, particularly valuable for managers overseeing properties with fewer than 50 units. Having had this enriching experience, you are then ideally placed to make an informed decision about signing up completely with Latchel.

Self-Signup - Latchel Standard

Your Latchel-assigned phone number is the dedicated line residents use to reach our support team. This guide shows you where to find that number in your dashboard so you can share it or reference it as needed.

How to View Your Latchel-Assigned Phone Number

Stay in control of your billing alerts by customizing your invoice notification settings. This guide will show you how to adjust your preferences so you receive updates the way that works best for you.

How to Manage My Own Invoice Notification Settings

Setting default access instructions ensures that service providers know how to enter the property without delay. This guide walks you through how to add or update these instructions for each property to help jobs get completed smoothly and on time.

How to Configure a Property with Default Access Instructions

Portal Settings are Latchel account settings where you can customize your company logo and color, and most importantly, this is where you can add your maintenance URL and Resident Review URL.

Configuring Portal Settings

Latchel allows property managers to direct satisfied residents to leave public reviews through a customizable ***Resident Review URL***. When a resident submits a ***4- or 5-star rating*** after a service, they’ll be prompted to visit this URL—helping boost your company’s online presence by turning positive feedback into public endorsements. This guide walks you through how to set it up and make the most of it.

Customize Resident Review URL

This guide will walk you through how to customize budget limits for work orders in your Latchel account. Setting clear budget thresholds helps ensure that service providers are authorized to complete necessary work without delays, while also keeping costs aligned with your property management policies. Whether you're updating limits for a specific property or applying changes across your portfolio, this guide covers everything you need to know.

How to Customize Work Order Budget Limits

Latchel uses both temperature thresholds and severity levels to determine when an HVAC issue qualifies as an emergency. This guide explains how these two settings interact to ensure urgent situations are handled appropriately without unnecessary escalations.

How Emergency Temperature and Severity Settings Work Together

This guide explains how to set emergency temperature thresholds in your Latchel account. These thresholds help ensure that temperature-related issues—like heating or cooling failures—are treated as emergencies when conditions fall outside of safe limits for residents.

How to Add Emergency Temperature Thresholds

This setting allows you to control whether residents can request non-emergency appointments during evening hours. Use it to enforce company-wide scheduling preferences and ensure appointments align with your team’s availability.

Set Up Non-Emergency Schedule

Severity and responsibility settings help define how different types of maintenance issues should be handled—whether they require immediate attention and who should take action. This guide explains how to review and adjust these settings to align with your property management preferences.

Managing Severity and Responsibility Settings

 If your handling preferences for certain issues change over time, you can easily update your existing presets. This guide walks you through how to add, edit, and delete severity and responsibility presets to reflect your current workflows.

Property Managers Help Guides

Emergency & Escalation Settings

Emergency Identification & Escalation Criteria

Emergency Escalations: Property Damaging and Extreme Habitability Situations

Maintenance Automation: Emergency vs. Non-Emergency

Emergency Process Quick Guide

Communication & Response Protocols

Emergency Outbound Communication Process

How to Contact Latchel

How to Update Your Escalation Contacts

Setting Up Pre-Dispatch Instructions with Latchel

Availability & Scheduling Settings

How to Restrict Evening Availability for Non-Emergency Work Orders

How to Set-up an On-Call Rotation

Property Managers Help Guides

​Emergency Identification & Escalation Criteria

Emergency Escalations: Property Damaging and Extreme Habitability Situations

Maintenance Automation: Emergency vs. Non-Emergency

Emergency Process Quick Guide

​Communication & Response Protocols

Emergency Outbound Communication Process

How to Contact Latchel

How to Update Your Escalation Contacts

Setting Up Pre-Dispatch Instructions with Latchel

​Availability & Scheduling Settings

How to Restrict Evening Availability for Non-Emergency Work Orders

How to Set-up an On-Call Rotation

Emergency Identification & Escalation Criteria

Communication & Response Protocols

Availability & Scheduling Settings