Tasks

Create jobs with instructions, assignees, and a schedule. A task holds its checklist and evidence; a visit groups tasks at the same property for the same date and assignees.

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Before you start

Add the property and people who will carry out the work. Set up departments such as Cleaning, Maintenance, and Inspection, with a short description of their responsibilities. For repeated work, prepare a task template and check the property’s rooms and elements so its checklist generates correctly.

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Find the work you need

Open Tasks. Use All Tasks for the work available to you, Your Tasks for your assignments, or a department view to focus on one team. A saved view combines filters such as status, priority, property, assignee, tags, and source. Create and name a view when you regularly need the same selection, such as urgent maintenance for a group of properties. Review its filters if a task seems missing; the task may exist outside the current view.

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Create a task

Choose Create Task. Enter a title that describes the work, set its urgency, and distinguish an issue from a planned activity. Select the property, source, department, and any required skills. Link an element when the issue concerns a particular appliance or fixture, and link the relevant reservation when the work relates to a stay. Add a description, select a template if appropriate, and attach the information the worker needs. Specify the expected result and required photos. Add supplies, a warehouse, approvals, or blockers where they affect whether the work can proceed. Choose the assignee and scheduled date, time, and duration, then create the task. Open it again to confirm the saved details. If assignment or timing is still undecided, keep it visible in your team’s planning queue rather than assuming it is on someone’s schedule. You can also describe the task to the AI Agent. Include the property, department, urgency, timing, and intended assignee, or ask it to check available teammates. Answer any clarification and open the resulting task to verify the details. Agent-created tasks may require review depending on the agent’s permissions and draft settings.

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Read an existing task

Open a task to review its Details, Work, Resources, and Posts. Details identifies the property, origin, department, skills, element, and reservation. Work contains the checklist; Resources holds attachments, supplies, costs, and approvals; Posts records comments and activity. For an agent-created task, the available trace helps explain the information and actions used to create it. Check the resulting record itself before dispatching the work.

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Task stages

Use the status tabs to find what needs attention:

• Open: active work that still needs planning, such as a scheduled date.
• Scheduled: work placed on a date. Check assignment as well as timing.
• Overdue: unfinished work whose scheduled date has passed.
• Draft: proposed work awaiting review. Check the details before accepting it; rejecting a draft removes it.
• Request approval: work with an outstanding approval or quote decision.
• In progress / Paused: work started by the field team, currently active or paused.
• Pending: work waiting for a date or another task.
• Completed: work marked finished, with its checklist and evidence available for review.

Additional tabs can be shown through the status menu. Completion and any required manager review are separate checks; read the record rather than relying on the tab alone.

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Wait for a date or another task

In Resources, set a pending reason when work cannot proceed yet. Choose a waiting date, or select a blocking task. For example, installing a replacement chair should wait until the purchasing task has been completed. This keeps the installation visible without presenting it as work someone can do immediately.

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Request owner approval or a technician quote

Use the approval controls in Resources to choose the recipients and whether Anyone or Everyone must approve. Review the cost and the attachments included in the shared request before copying the link or sending it through an available channel. An owner can review the proposed work and cost. For an external technician, request a quote and availability, then review the response in the task. Accept it, reject it, or send a counteroffer. When accepting a quote, confirm the date and assignee before scheduling the work. Use the Request approval view to follow requests still waiting for a decision. For the email sender used in owner approvals, see Outbound messages.

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Task templates

A task template stores defaults for repeated work, such as turnover cleaning or seasonal filter replacement. When you create a task from a template, Trellis fills in:

• Title and description
• Department and priority
• Estimated time and number of people
• Checklist
• Default supplies and costs

Review the generated task before assigning it, especially when a property has its own overrides. Templates are available for manual and mobile task creation, automations, and workflows. A template’s checklist contains room-type or custom sections. Steps can depend on the property’s rooms and elements, and each property can override default time, staffing, supplies, and costs. See How templates adapt to each property.

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Where to find templates

In the left navigation, open Tasks, then choose Templates under the Operations group. This opens the Task Templates screen, where you can search templates, filter by department, and create, edit, duplicate, or delete them.

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Create a template

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Calculate template values with formulas

Choose Use a formula in a template value or calculation editor to calculate prices, costs, compensation, duration, staffing, or supply quantities from property fields. Search for a field or function and insert it at the cursor. Fields appear with readable names. Use Test with to choose a sample, then change its test inputs to check the result. These edits do not change property data. Fix highlighted errors, choose Done, then Apply or Save in the surrounding editor to save your changes. Cancel discards the formula draft; Use a fixed amount returns to a fixed value. Formulas support arithmetic, comparisons, true/false conditions, and functions such as if, min, max, round, ceil, floor, abs, default, and missing. For example, if(property.bedrooms > 3, 180, 120) gives 180 for more than three bedrooms and 120 otherwise. The function reference explains arguments and examples. Numeric custom property fields are also available in formulas. Missing built-in property values count as zero. Missing custom fields require a value or an explicit fallback. default(value, fallback) replaces missing inputs only; zero remains zero. Staffing results must be whole numbers from 1 to 1,000. Duration must be 1 to 100,000 whole minutes, and supply quantities must be whole numbers from 1 to 100,000.

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Apply, switch, or clear a template on an existing task

You do not have to choose a template when the task is created. Open any task, find the Template picker in the Details panel, and apply, switch, or clear it at any time.

• Apply a template to a task that had none. Trellis generates the template’s checklist and fills in its default supplies and costs.
• Switch to a different template if you picked the wrong one or the work changed. The current checklist is cleared and rebuilt from the new template.
• Clear the template (the X in the picker) to remove it. The checklist is cleared and the task is left with no template checklist.
• Re-selecting the same template does nothing, so you can open the picker without risk of wiping work.

Switching a template does not overwrite the task’s title, priority, or department. If the new template has a different description, Trellis asks before replacing the task’s description.

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Templates from connected integrations

If you connect an integration like Breezeway, the template picker groups templates by where they came from so you can tell them apart:

• From Breezeway (or another connected provider) - templates imported from that account. Choosing one keeps the checklist and requirements aligned so they carry over when the task syncs back to that system.
• From Trellis - templates you built in Trellis. These work for tasks managed entirely in Trellis, but their checklists do not appear on the connected provider’s side.
• PMS templates and Custom templates headers may also appear, depending on your connections.

Only active templates appear in the picker.

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Checklists

Add a checklist to one task or to a template for repeated work. Each step specifies an action, required answer, or photo. Each checklist item can include:

• A title and an optional description with instructions
• A step type that controls how the worker responds. Common types are a simple done check, yes/no, a number or count, a rating, a short text answer, and a photo step.
• A reference photo that shows what a finished step should look like
• Required photos (for example before, after, an issue photo, or a general photo) the worker must capture
• AI photo verification, which flags photos that look wrong, missing, too dark, or hard to verify so a manager can review before the task closes

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Checklist sections

Checklist items are grouped into sections so the team can work through them in a logical order. There are two kinds of section:

• Room-type sections are tied to a kind of room, such as Bedroom, Bathroom, Kitchen, or Living Room. These adapt to each property (see Repeat a step for each room below).
• Custom sections are free-form groupings such as Amenities, Exterior, or Final Walkthrough. These always appear as written.

Within a section, an item can also be linked to an element (like a grill or hot tub) so it only appears at properties that have that element.

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How templates adapt to each property

Trellis generates each task’s checklist from the template and the property’s rooms and elements.

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Repeat a step for each room

When a checklist item is in a room-type section (such as Bedroom or Bathroom), Trellis creates one copy of that step for each matching room at the property. Where the room count comes from:

• If the property has detailed rooms set up in its Rooms tab (often imported from a connected system), Trellis uses those rooms, including their names and photos.
• If it has no detailed rooms, Trellis falls back to the property’s room counts (bedrooms, bathrooms, and similar) from the property record.

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Element-aware steps

A checklist item can be linked to a specific property element, such as a grill, hot tub, pool, or washer. When a task is created, Trellis checks the property:

• The element is present and active - the step appears on the task.
• The element is missing or marked inactive - the step is skipped.

For example, a “Clean the grill” step is omitted at properties without an active grill element.

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Set up rooms and elements first

Open Properties → Rooms & Elements to add rooms and mark elements Active where they are present. Follow Rooms and elements for setup.

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Per-property template settings

Use the property’s Templates section to override shared defaults for that home. To override a template at a property: Set the property’s estimated duration, required assignees, default supplies, and default costs. For example, a larger home may need four hours and two cleaners, while a pool property may need additional supplies.

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Schedule and assign work

In the task’s Details, choose the teammate or vendor, then set the date, time, and estimated duration. Review the displayed shift availability and required skills. A suggested assignee still needs to be suitable for the work and property. Use Attach to upcoming visit to add work to a planned trip, or the available next-checkout option when the work should follow that stay. Review the resulting date and assignment before saving. In the web task list, search matches original titles and translations already displayed in Trellis. When choosing a task’s date for a property, the date picker shows calendar blocks, including their last day. Hover over a blocked date to see its reason; you can still select it when work is needed during the block.

• List view is best for scanning work by status, assignee, property, priority, or due date.
• Calendar view is best for daily schedules, visit planning, and moving work between days.
• Mobile visits help field teams see the work grouped by property and date.

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Visits

When the same person has more than one task at the same property on the same day, Trellis can group those tasks into a visit. On mobile, field workers can open My Visits to see upcoming and past visits, task progress, property details, and assigned work. If a visit needs to move, use Reschedule on the visit so every task in that visit moves together. On the web, open a visit and choose Add task to select eligible tasks for that property. Filter by department to narrow the list; changing the filter keeps your selections. Choose Add selected to add them to the visit.

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Calendar planning

Use the calendar when you need to plan a day, week, or month:

• Use Visits mode to plan trips to properties.
• Use Tasks mode to see each task by itself.
• View the calendar by property when you are checking coverage at each home.
• View the calendar by team member when you are balancing workloads.
• Drag work to another day, property, or team member when plans change.

The Unassigned row in the team-member calendar shows work without an assignee.

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Mobile task work

Opening the checklist of an unfinished task on mobile automatically resumes its linked visit if the visit is paused. The original task start time is preserved; a task that has not started begins after the visit resumes. Scheduled and completed visits are not resumed this way. Field teams can create and update tasks from mobile. When creating a mobile task, they can choose a property, date, department, priority, assignee, and template. If the property has bookings shown in Trellis, the calendar helps the team avoid scheduling work during a guest stay. Admins can also update assignees and dates from the mobile task detail page.

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Communicate on a task

Each task has an activity feed for comments and updates. Use it to keep notes, questions, photos, and manager decisions in one place. Type @ in a comment to mention a teammate. Mentioned teammates receive a focused notification, even if they are not assigned to the task. Team members can manage how they receive task comment notifications in their own notification settings. If your team works in more than one language, task auto-translation can show titles and descriptions in each teammate’s preferred language while keeping the original text. Use the task’s share link when an external technician needs the task instructions, attachments, and completion controls. Review the content and intended recipient before sharing. A task link and an owner-approval link serve different purposes.

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Track time, supplies, and cost

Use time tracking when you need to know how long work took. A field worker can start time tracking while working on a task, and managers can later compare planned time with actual time. Use supply tracking when cleaners or technicians use items from inventory: If your team stores supplies in more than one place, use warehouse transfers in Supplies to move items from one warehouse to another and keep counts accurate. Mark work as no-charge when the cost should stay in your records but should not be billed onward. You can use no-charge for one task or for a whole visit, depending on what should be excluded.

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Publish completed work to an owner

An administrator can publish a reviewed update from a completed task once its owner approval is Approved. Open Resources → Owner portal publishing → Review and publish, check the owner-facing copy and photos, and select the approving owner’s active portal link. Follow the Owner Portal guide for visibility, publishing, and optional Guesty delivery.

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Export and report on tasks

Use filters to narrow the task list, then export tasks when you need a spreadsheet for owners, accounting, or internal review. Large exports show progress while the file is prepared, then download when ready. Common filters include status, date, property, assignee, department, priority, and vendor.

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Use live tracking responsibly

If location tracking is enabled for your workspace and your team has given permission, managers can use the live map to see active workers and route work more clearly. Location sharing depends on the worker’s permission and device settings. If a worker denies location permission or ends their shift, tracking stops.

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Keep connected systems aligned

See your integration guide for task fields and actions that sync to the provider. For Breezeway, keep costs and media on the synced task; visit-only entries stay in Trellis.

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Calculate internal costs

Use Costs to calculate supplies and labor from task templates. These internal totals are separate from agreed vendor fees and guest charges.

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Download task attachments

Open a task and select Download all in Attachments to save its uploaded files and photos together as a ZIP. The button shows download progress. Files with the same name are numbered so none are overwritten. Unsaved uploads are excluded. The combined limit is 500 MB; larger collections must be downloaded individually. If any file fails, no ZIP is saved and you can try again.

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Common problems

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Related articles

• Create a task — write instructions and completion requirements.
• Tasks and visits — plan trips and review evidence.
• Workforce — shifts, time approvals, and absences.
• Supplies — inventory and warehouse movements.
• Workflows — create work from recurring events.
• Task verification — configure completion requirements.
• Costs — record expenses and prepare reimbursement claims.