The difference between AI and automation: What property managers should know

The terms AI and automation are everywhere in property management, and they often get used interchangeably.

To help clarify the difference, we sat down with Brittaney Brannock, Product Marketing Manager at Buildium. 

This post draws from her experience positioning some of the industry’s leading software tools in both categories and looks at specific examples in leasing, maintenance, and accounting. 

By the end, you’ll have a clear picture of how to use these tools to run a more efficient business. We will even cover how to get started without a big budget. It’s all about making smart choices that save you time.

What Is the Difference Between AI and Automation in Property Management?

Knowing the difference between AI and automation helps you figure out which tools will actually make your day-to-day work easier. Put simply, automation follows rules you set, while AI learns from data to make decisions.

But that simple distinction can get complicated when looking at both kinds of tools in practice, especially in an industry like property management: “I think folks tend to lump the two together and while they have similarities, they are very different,” says Brannock. 

Automation in property management follows predefined rules you create. When a specific trigger happens, a specific action follows. You can set up workflow automation once, and it runs the same way every time. If rent is five days late, an automation can mark that payment as overdue. If a maintenance request comes in for plumbing, an automation can route it to your plumbing vendor. These repetitive tasks follow an “if this, then that” pattern you control completely.

“Automation is built brick by brick, piece by piece meaning a human set up each step in the automation process, provided rules, specific actions, where to pull data from, exactly what data to pull and use,” Brannock explains. “For example, when automating a workflow, a human tells the system what specific event triggers the workflow and each specific task that needs to be carried out after that trigger.”

Artificial intelligence works differently. “With AI, and agentic AI specifically, a human defines the goal for the agent, guidelines and parameters and AI contextually reads data, autonomously performs the task and achieves the goal,” says Brannock. 

Instead of following rigid rules, machine learning algorithms adapt to new information. AI can analyze and compare details such as maintenance requests or rental history to help your team make the right call in less time.

Brannock offers a helpful visual comparison: “Automation in software such as Buildium is like building with Lego bricks: you have the tools, the legos, and you can build the structure exactly how you want it.” You snap together specific pieces in a specific order to create exactly what you planned. 

AI is more plug-and-play. “Customers don’t have to build out the automation to utilize it,” she explains. “They simply turn the AI on and it runs in the background.”

You connect AI tools to your data, and they start working immediately, learning and improving as they process more information. 

Here’s a side-by-side comparison to help illustrate the distinction:

Understanding this distinction between AI vs automation helps you choose the right tool for each task in your property management operations.

Leasing and Resident Communications Automation vs. AI

Let’s look at how this plays out in some of the most common workflows you handle every day, starting with leasing. 

Property managers know how leasing and communication workflows can consume entire days. Looking at each approach shows where automation and AI each add value.

Manual Workflow

Before any new tools enter the picture, leasing follows a familiar pattern. Phone calls come in throughout the day asking about available units. You manually schedule showings around your calendar, trying to batch them efficiently. 

Applications arrive via email or paper forms, requiring manual data entry. You send follow-up emails to prospects, trying to remember who needs which information and when they last heard from you.

What Can Automation Handle?

Automation takes these repetitive tasks off your plate: 

• Listing syndication pushes your available units to multiple rental sites with one click. Auto-responders acknowledge inquiries immediately, letting prospects know you received their message. 
• Screening workflows move applications through defined stages: received, under review, and approved, with automatic status updates to applicants. 
• E-signature reminders go out when documents sit unsigned for too long. 

For example, Buildium’s automation features handle rent reminders that go out on your schedule and work order routing that sends maintenance requests to the right team member based on property and issue type.

Brannock notes that “automation in Buildium offers heavy customization. For those that like to have control and flexibility, or for those that are technically inclined, automation is a great fit.” 

With these kinds of automation capabilities, you define the workflow and you know exactly what’s happening as it happens because you set it up.

Where AI Adds Value

AI adds intelligence to these workflows through natural language processing and pattern recognition. 

Buildium’s AI Leasing Agent, part of the Lumina AI Workforce, can delist units automatically when they’re rented and update applicant statuses based on their interactions, all without manual intervention. 

Some generative AI tools can create multilingual messages and adjust tone based on context, helping you communicate effectively with diverse resident populations. 

Buildium’s Write with Lumina AI feature lets you provide Lumina with a prompt and AI generates communications for you and translates and changes tone. This helps you get communications out quickly, and in a way that feels natural. 

Guardrails to Apply

Fair housing compliance requires consistent screening criteria for all applicants. Automation helps by applying the same process to everyone, while AI needs careful monitoring to avoid bias. 

Adverse action notices must go out when you deny applications based on screening results. You’ll want to keep humans in the loop for lease approval decisions and any edge cases where standard processes don’t fit. Document your criteria and review AI recommendations before acting on them.

Important note: Since compliance is a complex issue and laws vary by state and locality, it’s important to consult with a qualified legal professional before making your plan.

Maintenance Automation vs. AI

Maintenance is another area where the difference between AI and automation can make a difference. After all, maintenance requests never stop coming, and managing them efficiently can make or break resident satisfaction.

Manual Workflow

Traditional maintenance management starts with phone calls. Residents call to report issues, you call vendors to schedule repairs, and vendors call back with updates. Paper forms pile up on desks. You assign each request to a vendor manually based on your memory of who handles what. Tracking happens through spreadsheets that fall out of date quickly, leaving you unsure which repairs are complete and which are still pending.

What Can Automation Handle?

Automation brings order to maintenance chaos. Through a resident center or similar portal, tenants submit maintenance requests directly with photos and descriptions. Automatic task routing sends each request to the appropriate team member based on rules you set: electrical to your electrician, landscaping to your grounds crew. For recurring work orders, you can set up templates and schedule communication to send automatically.

Buildium’s Workflow Automations can handle entire maintenance workflows. “This isn’t just single step automation, these are entire workflows,” Brannock notes. “You can create a workflow to automate the steps after move-in like an email to the rental owners, a text to the new tenants, a to-do task to change the door code, or a maintenance project for the unit turnover.” 

Buildium’s Marketplace offers integrations that extend these capabilities even further, connecting with specialized maintenance management tools when you need them.

Where AI Adds Value

AI enhances maintenance management through predictive analytics that spot patterns humans might miss. AI can classify incoming requests by urgency, learning from past data which issues typically escalate if not addressed quickly. Vendor routing suggestions can improve over time as it is trained on more data and can similarly offer troubleshooting suggestions for common issues it spots in work order requests.

Guardrails to Apply

Emergency classifications may need human verification. You don’t want an AI deciding what constitutes a true emergency without oversight. 

Complex repairs often require human judgment about vendor selection, especially when considering factors such as warranty work or existing vendor relationships. You can review AI suggestions but maintain final decision authority on important maintenance decisions.

Accounting and Payments Automation vs. AI

Moving from maintenance to the financial side of property management, accounting and payments present another opportunity to blend automation with AI capabilities.

Financial management forms the backbone of any property management business, yet manual processes can bury you in paperwork.

Manual Workflow

Picture the traditional approach: residents drop off rent checks at the office or mail them in. You enter each payment manually  into ledgers, calculating who’s late and by how many days. 

Late fees require manual calculation based on your policies, then separate notices go out. Bank deposits mean trips to the branch. Monthly reports require hours of spreadsheet work, pulling data from multiple sources.

What Can Automation Handle?

Automation changes this entire workflow. Payment processing happens online with funds deposited directly to your account. Here’s what automation can handle:

• Late Fee Automation: Buildium issues a late fee charge automatically based on your policy. “You don’t need to go into every single resident ledger and issue a manual payment. With 50 tenants it would take an hour  to go through every ledger,” Brannock points out.
• Scheduled Batched Reports: You can batch multiple reports together and schedule them to be sent on a specific cadence and keep rental owners in the know without the extra work your team would otherwise have to complete
• Management fee collection: Bulk collection can be based on custom policies you set per property or portfolio-wide.

These automated processes reduce errors and can help you manage your time more effectively each month. Financial reporting also becomes consistent and timely, building trust with owners who receive regular updates.

Where AI Adds Value

AI brings intelligence to financial workflows that automation alone can’t match. For example, Buildium’s AI Bill Scan feature extracts data from an invoice and autofills that data in Buildium to create a draft bill, “You don’t have to spend hours manually keying in bill details,” Brannock explains. 

Anomaly detection can flag unusual transactions—such as duplicate payments or amounts significantly outside normal ranges—for review. This combination of automation for routine tasks and AI for complex analysis can create a robust financial management process.

Guardrails to Apply

Set review thresholds for automated payments to catch any amounts above your comfort level. Large invoices may still benefit from human approval before processing. Regular audits of AI-flagged transactions help you refine the process and catch any patterns it might miss. 

Keep authorization levels clear so team members know which payments they can approve independently, and since trust accounting requirements vary by state, consult with a legal professional for compliance.

How to Get Started on a Small Budget

You don’t need to automate everything at once. Smart implementation starts small and grows based on results. Let’s look at practical steps for implementation, especially when budgets are tight. 

Tip #1: Quick Wins to Turn On

Pick one high-impact automation to start. Marking late payments often saves time right away. Set your policy once and overdue charges can be tracked consistently without manual effort. Alternatively, automated rent reminders can reduce late payments before they happen.

If you’re ready for AI, enabling one AI agent for your busiest area can offer immediate relief. “AI specifically is the tool I would recommend for those on a limited budget,” says Brannock. “It’s the most user friendly to implement, meaning you won’t be spending money to have a staff member build it. It does the heavy lifting allowing you to focus on business growth.” 

With AI doing the tasks that bog you down the most, you can do the work that you excel at and build a stronger management company. AI can be an upfront investment, but it’s a long term solution for success.

For Buildium customers specifically, Brannock recommends Workflow Automations that can  provide instant relief after implementation as it targets your specific needs. She also recommends exploring Buildium’s Marketplace partners, as many of the solutions listed there provide automation right from your Buildium account.

Tip #2: The Data You Need

Clean data makes automation and AI work better. Start with accurate tenant and unit records, including names, move-in dates, lease terms, and contact information. Vendor contacts should include service types and coverage areas. 

Clear lease terms help both automation rules and AI understand your policies. Focus on data quality over quantity; it is better to have complete records for some properties than partial data everywhere.

Tip #3: Human-in-the-Loop Checkpoints

Build review cycles into your workflows. Weekly reviews can catch any automation issues before they compound. Approval workflows for sensitive decisions keep humans involved where judgment matters. Exception handling processes help you deal with situations that don’t fit standard patterns. These checkpoints help maintain quality while you scale up usage.

Tip #4: Measure ROI and Scale with Intention 

Track metrics that matter to you, such as time spent on routine tasks, reduction in data entry errors, and resident satisfaction scores. “When you have a team of 5 doing the workload of 10 and then implement automation, you instantly take a significant workload off your plate and can allocate that time to focus on marketing, growth, and maintaining properties and happy residents,” says Brannock. “These tools scale with your business making them extremely valuable for maintaining and scaling long-term success.”

Start with baseline measurements before implementing changes. Document which processes you’ve automated and what impact each has. Gradual expansion based on success helps you build confidence and buy-in from your team. When one automation proves valuable, look for similar repetitive tasks to tackle next. If you have access to them, use business analytics features in your property management software to track your performance.

Put Automation and AI to Work with Buildium

Ultimately, automation and AI tools work best when they’re used together in a unified platform. “Buildium’s AI and automation tools work in a sort of symphony together,” says Brannock. “They work off of the other, they are both great on their own but together provide a greater impact. Some starting events or steps on one workflow may trigger steps in another workflow leading to a cascade of efficiency.”

However, if you’re not ready to commit fully and want to start with just one type of technology, take a look at your priorities and the way you prefer to run the day-to-day of your business.

Brannock points out that “with both AI and automation, you arrive at the same destination: It’s about choosing the journey. Do you prefer customization, creating from scratch and knowing every detail or do you prefer a more out-of-the-box solution that provides instant implementation, ease of use, and intelligent automation?”

Whatever your choice, keep a few main takeaways from this post in mind:

• Automation gives you control and customization for repetitive tasks.
• AI offers plug-and-play intelligence for complex decision-making.
• Both can help you operate more efficiently but serve different purposes in your tech stack, automation is for predictability, AI is for adaptability.
• Start small with your biggest pain points and scale from there based on measured success

As we mentioned, Buildium includes built-in automation features across accounting, leasing, maintenance, and communications, and offers AI capabilities through the Lumina AI Workforce and Marketplace integrations, so you can use automation and AI together within the Buildium environment. 

To see how you can button up your operations before you scale ,schedule a guided demo for personalized guidance or sign up for a 14-day free trial to explore these features yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions About AI and Automation in Property Management

Does Automation Count as AI in Property Management Software?

No, automation and AI are distinct. Automation is built piece by piece, meaning a human programmed each step in the automation process, provided rules, specific actions, where to pull data from, exactly what data to pull and use. AI makes decisions based on patterns it learns from data, adapting its responses without needing explicit programming for every scenario.

How Are AI Agents Different from Automation Rules in Property Management?

AI agents make autonomous decisions based on learning from past data and recognizing patterns, while automation rules simply execute predefined actions when triggered. An automation rule might route all plumbing requests to a specific vendor, but an AI agent could analyze the request details and past repair patterns to suggest the most appropriate vendor based on urgency, complexity, and availability.

What Should Property Managers Enable First with a Limited Budget?

You might start with one high-impact automation such as late fee automation or rent reminders, which can help with operational efficiency with minimal setup. For AI, you could enable a single AI agent in your busiest area, such as leasing communications, since AI can require less configuration than automation and start delivering value quickly.

Do Property Managers Need Technical Staff to Use AI or Automation Features?

Most modern property management platforms design their AI and automation features for non-technical users with intuitive interfaces and pre-built templates. Support resources, training materials, and customer service teams can help you implement these tools without needing dedicated IT staff, though having someone comfortable with technology on your team can speed up adoption.

Buildium’s AI Assistant, for example, provides you with answers from the thousands of resources in the HelpHub so you don’t need to go searching for information manually.

Buildium’s Commitment to Safe and Secure AI

At Buildium, we believe that AI should be a trusted extension of our platform–not a replacement for human judgement. Our approach to AI is grounded in transparency, education, and rigorous security standards. We deploy AI features with a clear focus: to automate routine tasks while preserving the integrity of sensitive decisions that require human oversight. Lumina AI is built for property managers who value efficiency, security, and trust. We’re not just innovating–we’re doing so responsibly.