Brickwise

What do they actually do

Brickwise provides an AI assistant (“Alice”) that handles day-to-day property management tasks. It answers tenant calls and messages around the clock across phone, SMS, email and WhatsApp; triages maintenance issues using the tenancy agreement and local rules; books contractors from a pre-set vendor list or by sourcing new providers; follows up until resolution; and sends status updates into a customer’s email or CRM Brickwise homepage.

For letting and estate agents, the assistant also responds to enquiries, schedules viewings and manages follow-ups so leads and renewals are handled promptly while records stay organized Brickwise homepage.

Who are their target customer(s)

• Self-managing landlords (a few units): They lose evenings and weekends to tenant calls, chasing contractors and payments, and risk delays or misses on repairs that create tenant dissatisfaction Brickwise homepage · YC profile.
• Small independent property managers (1–5 people): Manual triage and vendor coordination don’t scale; growing message volume forces expensive hires and leads to missed follow-ups, tenant complaints and late invoices LinkedIn founders post · YC profile.
• Letting and estate agents: They need to respond quickly to enquiries, arrange viewings and manage renewals across many listings; slow or inconsistent replies hurt conversions and create heavy admin work Brickwise homepage.
• Mid-size property management firms (dozens–hundreds of units): Inconsistent maintenance workflows and weak contractor follow-up increase repeat fixes, tenant churn and headcount costs; supervisors waste time chasing updates YC profile · LinkedIn founders post.
• Landlords/agents operating across cities or time zones: They struggle to provide reliable after-hours support, leading to emergency escalations, higher urgent repair bills and unhappy tenants when nobody answers at night Brickwise homepage.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Run hand-selected paid pilots from the founders’ network and YC intros, with white‑glove onboarding (phone routing, vendor setup) and founders handling every edge case to capture testimonials and case studies Brickwise homepage · YC profile.
• First 50: Scale targeted outbound to landlord associations, Facebook/WhatsApp landlord groups and regional agent meetups; offer a short free trial plus small launch discount; automate demo booking/follow-ups; use pilot case studies and simple referral rewards Brickwise homepage · LinkedIn.
• First 100: Add integrations/reseller deals with smaller PMS vendors and contractor marketplaces; run webinars for multi‑office agents; buy narrowly targeted ads using pilot ROI; leverage YC/PR to reach mid-size managers; package low-friction onboarding to keep support load low Brickwise homepage · YC profile · Press example.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

The U.S. had about 44.5 million renter‑occupied housing units in 2023, a new high per Census-based analysis Arbor/Chandan. In the UK, roughly 19% of about 28.7 million households are in the private rented sector, implying around 5–6 million PRS households ONS PRS 2025.

Bottom-up calculation:

If an AI property manager is priced at about $3.50 per unit per month (~$42 per unit per year), applying that to ~50 million private rental units across the US+UK implies a gross TAM near $2.1B annually. Broader Europe and other markets would expand this further.

Assumptions:

• Price: ~$3.50 per unit per month for AI-driven triage, messaging and coordination; actual pricing may vary by features and service level.
• TAM here counts US+UK private rental units only and assumes 100% adoption for a gross market ceiling; it excludes social/assisted housing and short‑term rentals.
• Vendors/agents value 24/7 coverage and multi‑channel comms enough to pay per‑unit fees; larger firms may negotiate volume pricing.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• EliseAI: AI assistants for multifamily property management that handle leasing, resident inquiries and maintenance triage—strong in automation for large portfolios.
• Latchel: Maintenance coordination service for property managers offering 24/7 triage and vendor dispatching with resident support and SLAs.
• AppFolio: End‑to‑end property management platform used by mid‑market managers; offers AI-enabled leasing and 24/7 maintenance coordination add‑ons.
• Buildium: Property management software for small/mid‑sized managers with maintenance request handling, vendor management and communications tooling.
• Funnel Leasing: Leasing CRM and automation for multifamily, including AI assistants for lead response, tour scheduling and follow‑ups.