Answering service for property management companies: how SIAS handles tenant calls, maintenance emergencies and large portfolios

Special Interest Answering Service (SIAS) answers for property managers, landlords and apartment communities 24 hours a day with live, US-based, bilingual operators. Each property can have its own greeting, contact list and on-call rules under one bill, and portfolios of 500 or more properties are quoted directly. Here are the questions property management companies ask us most, answered from how the service actually works and what it costs as of October 26, 2026.

What happens when a tenant calls after hours?

A live operator answers with the greeting you set for that property, asks the questions on your script, and sorts the call the way you told us to. A routine request such as a rent question or a non-urgent repair becomes a message delivered to you by text, email or fax. A maintenance emergency such as no heat, a water leak or a lockout goes to your on-call person: the operator pages or texts your on-call list in the order you set, or patches the caller straight through. Talk time after a patch is not billed.

How do you handle a company with many properties?

Each property address gets its own scripting, contact list and on-call tree under one account and one bill. A plan from our price table covers the shared pool of operator minutes, plus $10 per property address per 4-week cycle for the separate setup of each address. Where individual units generate heavy call traffic we may price per unit instead, and we tell you before that applies. Multi-account, multi-line and loyalty discounts show up on the invoice as separate credit lines.

Do you take portfolios of 500 or more properties?

Yes, and we quote them directly rather than from the price table. Call (815) 741-2007 or email [email protected] with the property count and the on-call structure and we will send a written quote. Enterprise property management and real estate portfolios are the accounts we focus on.

What does a property management answering service cost?

SIAS plans: Starter, $159 every 4 weeks for 100 operator minutes ($0.99 per extra minute); Growth, $219 for 200 minutes ($0.89); Business, $379 for 400 minutes ($0.85); volume tiers of 560, 700, 860 and 1,200 minutes at $515, $630, $756 and $960 ($0.72 to $0.81 per extra minute). Add $10 per property address per cycle for multi-property accounts. No setup fee, no contract, 14-day money-back guarantee for new accounts. Billing is every 4 weeks (28 days), so a year has 13 cycles. What a real billing cycle looks like, drawn from six months of actual invoices, is on Pricing and Plans Explained.

How many tenant calls does a plan cover?

Our operators averaged 82 to 90 seconds of talk time per handled call between July 1 and October 18, 2026 (about 248,000 call records across all accounts), so 100 minutes covers roughly 65 to 75 answered calls and 400 minutes roughly 260 to 290. Properties with many emergency dispatches use a little more time per call. If you are regularly over your plan, moving up one tier costs less than the overage; a plan change takes effect the next cycle and there is no fee to change.

Can Spanish-speaking tenants call?

Yes. Bilingual English and Spanish operators are on every plan, 24 hours a day, at no extra charge.

How do messages and emergency alerts reach my team?

Text, email or fax for messages, with no per-message fee, and a live call, page or text to the on-call person for emergencies. Every message is also visible in the online account portal. For messages that should not travel by plain text or email, SIAS offers a Secure Delivery app for browser, Android and iPhone.

How do I update on-call schedules and property contacts?

Call or write in with the change. Operators work from the current version of your account, so a new on-call rotation, a new vendor for a property or a changed emergency definition takes effect once we enter it. There is no fee for changes.

How long does setup take for a portfolio?

A single-line account is live within 24 hours of sign-up. A multi-property account takes as long as it takes to enter each address's greeting, contacts and on-call tree; we build it from the contact lists and on-call rotations you send, so the more complete they are, the sooner it goes live. Forwarding instructions for every major carrier are on our How to forward page.

Is there a contract?

No. Service renews every 4 weeks and you can cancel at any time by calling or writing in, with no cancellation fee. Invoices are due net 15 and carry a 3% late charge after the due date.

Further reading

After-hours emergency dispatch: how a live answering service handles it. Per-minute vs per-call answering service pricing.