Recipe 1 of 5 · workflow automation
Everyone on the team already knows the order things need to happen in. Here's how to make the platform enforce it instead of a person — a working n8n build you can deploy this week.
You can automate real estate task sequencing and partner briefing today with a Google Sheet, an n8n workflow, and a scheduled trigger — no dedicated platform required. Below is the exact build, a ready-to-use briefing prompt, and the point at which this DIY approach stops scaling.
Most asset managers don't have a coordination problem so much as a lack of sequencing enforcement. The inspection needs to happen before the legal review. The legal review needs to clear before the broker goes to market. Everyone knows the order — but email, a shared drive, or a spreadsheet doesn't enforce it, so the asset manager enforces it manually, which is exactly where errors creep in. With a handful of assets this is a minor issue. At scale, it starts to require a dedicated coordinator whose entire role is reminding qualified professionals to do things they already know they need to do.
In Google Sheets, create a table with these columns: Asset ID, Asset Name, Asset Address, Assignee Email, Inspection Type, Frequency (days), Last Completed Date, Next Due Date, Completed (Yes / No). One row per asset per process type — this is your system of record for the workflow.
In n8n, create a workflow with a Schedule Trigger set to run at 7:00am daily. Connect it to a Google Sheets node that reads all rows where Next Due Date equals today. This is your daily queue.
Add an IF node. Route by Inspection Type — Technical to Partner A, Legal to Partner B, Facility to Partner C. This replicates the logic that currently exists only in the asset manager's head.
Add a Gmail node with a templated briefing. Generate your templates once using the prompt below, save the output, and reuse it.
When an inspection is confirmed complete, update the register with Last Completed Date and Completed (Yes), then set the next Next Due Date. Build a second daily workflow that checks for rows where Next Due Date is more than three days in the past and Completed = No. When triggered, it sends a summary of overdue assets by name.
Yes, for a single process type across a modest number of assets. n8n's Schedule Trigger, Google Sheets node, and conditional routing cover the core logic well. The friction appears when you're running several process types (technical, legal, facility) simultaneously across 100+ assets — visibility across the whole set becomes the bottleneck, not the automation logic itself.
This recipe enforces sequence for one workflow at a time, using a spreadsheet as the system of record. A dedicated platform gives you a single, always-current view across every workflow and every asset at once — the question "what needs my attention today, across the whole portfolio" answers itself instead of requiring you to open five sheets.