Core features
Contractor dispatch
Onsite lets you dispatch contractors via SMS directly from a maintenance ticket — no app, no portal, and no login required on their end. The contractor receives a text with the job details, address, and your contact information.
Requirements
- Starter or Pro plan (SMS dispatch is not available on Free)
- At least one contractor added to your account
- An open maintenance ticket to dispatch from
Add a contractor
Go to Contractors in the sidebar and click Add contractor. Fill in:
- Full name
- Trade or specialty (e.g. Plumber, Electrician, HVAC, General contractor)
- Phone number — this is where the SMS dispatch is sent
- Email (optional, for your records only)
- Notes (optional, e.g. availability or preferred contact times)
Save the contractor. They are now available to select when dispatching from any ticket across all your properties.
Open a maintenance ticket
Navigate to Tickets in the sidebar and open the ticket you want to assign. If the ticket doesn't exist yet, create it first — see the Tickets & Work Orders guide for details.
Dispatch a contractor
Inside the ticket, find the Dispatch contractor section. Click Dispatch and select the contractor from your list.
You can optionally add a note to the SMS — for example, the best time to access the unit or the tenant's preferred contact method.
Click Send dispatch. Onsite sends an SMS via Twilio immediately.
What the contractor receives
The dispatch SMS contains:
- Your name (as the landlord)
- Property address
- Unit number (if applicable)
- Issue description from the ticket
- Any note you added at dispatch time
- Your phone number as the contact
Example message:
Track dispatch status
After dispatching, the ticket shows a Dispatched badge with the contractor name and dispatch time. You can dispatch multiple contractors to the same ticket if needed (e.g. a plumber and a drywall contractor for water damage).
To mark a job as complete, update the ticket status to Resolved.
SMS delivery and costs
SMS is delivered via Twilio. Standard carrier SMS rates apply per message sent. There is no per-dispatch fee from Onsite beyond the Twilio usage included with your plan.
If a contractor reports they did not receive the message, verify the phone number on their record and re-dispatch. Twilio delivery logs are available from the Onsite support team upon request.
Last updated July 2026