Case Studies / Construction & Building
How a building brokerage cut variation-request handling from 35 minutes to under 30 seconds
Published
6 min read
Some client identities are withheld due to confidentiality and engagement agreements. References are available where appropriate.
35 min → <30 sec
Per variation request
17 builders
Managed on one team, up from 11
0
Policies missed since go-live
Challenge
The brokerage manages contract variation requests on behalf of homeowners across 17 builder partners, each with its own approval policy, sign-off thresholds, and documentation requirements. Handling a single request meant manually checking the right builder's policy before it could be actioned - a process that took 30 to 35 minutes and depended on staff remembering the specifics of every builder relationship.
Solution
PreSorted reads each variation request as it arrives, checks HubSpot to confirm the client and their contracted builder, and pulls that builder's specific policy before reasoning about the request against it. It drafts the reply and proposes the HubSpot update and monday.com job together, already assigned to the right build team, for a staff member to review and approve.
Outcome
Variation requests are now handled in under 30 seconds of staff review time, down from 30-35 minutes. The brokerage has onboarded six new builder partners since go-live without adding to its client services team, and policy checks have been consistent across every request.
This building brokerage sits between homeowners and builders across greater Sydney, managing the paperwork-heavy middle of a build: contract variations. When a client wants to move a wall, upgrade a fixture, or change a finish partway through construction, the request comes in by email - and someone at the brokerage has to turn it into an approved, costed, scheduled variation without breaking any builder's contract terms.
The problem was never volume alone. It was that each of the brokerage's 17 builder partners runs a different approval policy - different sign-off thresholds, different documentation requirements, different escalation rules. A junior team member reading a variation request had to hold all 17 of those policies in their head, or go digging for the right one, before they could even draft a reply.
The 35-minute variation request
Before PreSorted, handling a single variation request meant reading the email closely enough to understand what the client actually wanted, then opening HubSpot to find the client's file and confirm which builder they were contracted to. From there, someone had to pull up that specific builder's variation policy - approval limits, required sign-offs, standard turnaround - and check the request against it.
Only then could the team update HubSpot with the details, create a job in monday.com for the build team to action, and draft a reply that referenced the right contract clauses. Start to finish, a straightforward request took 30 to 35 minutes. A request that needed clarification or touched a stricter builder's policy could run well past that.
What changed with PreSorted
PreSorted now reads every inbound variation request as it arrives. It checks HubSpot to confirm the client and their contracted builder, pulls that builder's specific policy from PreSorted Atlas, and reasons about the request against it - approval limits, required documentation, who needs to sign off.
From there it drafts the reply, referencing the correct policy and next steps, and proposes the HubSpot update and the monday.com job together - already assigned to the right build team, with the right context attached. A person reviews and approves in seconds; nothing sends or updates without that approval.
- Reads the variation request and identifies the client and their builder
- Checks that builder's specific policy - approval limits, sign-offs, documentation
- Drafts a reply that references the correct contract terms
- Proposes the HubSpot update and monday.com job together, pre-filled and assigned
Scaling without adding headcount
The time saved on each request compounds fast at the brokerage's volume - dozens of variation requests move through the team every week. But the bigger shift has been what it let the business do: take on six new builder partners in the following two quarters without adding to the client services team.
Because each builder's policy is checked automatically and consistently, newer team members can handle requests for any builder from day one, instead of spending months learning the nuances of each contract. Response times to clients dropped noticeably, which builders noticed too - two of the brokerage's newest partnerships came from referrals citing faster variation turnaround as the reason for the switch.
For a brokerage built on managing complexity across many builder relationships at once, the win wasn't just speed - it was consistency. Every client gets the same careful policy check, whether it's their first variation request or their fifth, and regardless of who on the team is handling it.
About New South Wales Building Brokerage
Location
Sydney, NSW
Team
14 employees, brokering for 17 builder partners
Systems connected
HubSpot, monday.com
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