How do tenants get into the app without a messy signup?

Invite codes per unit. The manager creates the unit and shares a short code or a link; the tenant installs the app, enters the code, and is bound to that unit with no address typing and no chance of attaching themselves to the wrong property. Expire the code once used, and let the manager regenerate it when a tenant moves out.

Does this need to handle emergencies?

It needs to be honest that it does not. An app is the wrong channel for a gas leak or a flood, and a tenant who waits on a push notification during a real emergency is a liability problem. Put a permanent line on the new-request screen giving the emergency phone number, and make the highest urgency level say "call, do not submit" rather than pretending the queue is fast enough.

How to Build a Maintenance Request App with AI (2026)

What a maintenance request app needs

Tenant submits a request with photos and an urgency level
Status pipeline: submitted, acknowledged, scheduled, done
Manager assigns a request to a contractor with a date
Threaded comments per request, visible to both sides
Push notification on every status change
Per-property history of all past requests

The screens

Screen	What it does
My Requests	Tenant view — open requests with current status
New Request	Category, description, photos, urgency, access notes
Request Detail	Timeline, photos, comments, scheduled visit
Inbox	Manager view — all requests across properties, filterable
Assign	Pick a contractor, set a date, add an internal note
Properties	Units, tenants, and per-unit request history

The data model

Property: address, unitLabel, managerId
Tenancy: propertyId, tenantUserId, startDate, endDate
Request: propertyId, tenantUserId, category, description, urgency, status, createdAt, accessNotes
RequestPhoto: requestId, uri, takenAt
Assignment: requestId, contractorName, contractorPhone, scheduledFor, internalNote
Comment: requestId, authorUserId, body, createdAt, visibleToTenant

The build prompt (copy this)

Paste this into ShipNative and it becomes a working React Native app with these screens, navigable in a live preview, in about two minutes:

“A maintenance request app for small landlords and their tenants, with two roles. A tenant sees only their own unit: they submit a request with a category, description, photos, an urgency level, and notes about entry access, then track its status. A manager sees an inbox of every request across all properties, filterable by status and urgency, and can acknowledge a request, assign it to a contractor with a scheduled date, and add internal notes the tenant cannot see. Every request has a timeline showing each status change with a timestamp, and a comment thread where comments can be marked internal or visible to the tenant. Both sides get a push notification when the status changes. A Properties screen lists units with their current tenant and past request history. Screens: My Requests, New Request, Request Detail, Inbox, Assign, Properties. Needs accounts with a tenant and manager role.”

Then iterate with small, screen-specific prompts (“make the primary button bigger”, “add an empty state”), preview on your own phone, and export the full Expo project whenever you want. The full method: how to build an app with AI.

How it makes money

Per-unit subscription billed to the landlord — roughly $1–3 per unit per month, with tenants always free. Charging tenants kills adoption instantly, and adoption on the tenant side is the entire value of the product. A free tier of one or two units gets solo landlords in the door.

Implementation and the revenue math for every model: how to make money from an app. When you’re ready to ship: App Store and Google Play publishing guides.

Build it now

The prompt above is free to run at shipnative.dev — working maintenance request app on your phone today, full code export, no credit card.

How to Build a Maintenance Request App with AI