Recorded live at the Builder Innovator Bull Session featuring industry leaders from PropTech IQ, Zenni Homes, AE Ventures, and Builder Innovator.
The Question Has Shifted
A year ago, the multifamily industry was asking whether AI was coming. That question has been answered. AI is here. It is being deployed across portfolios today — in leasing, in maintenance, in financial workflows, in energy management, in resident communications.
The question that matters now is different: where is AI actually creating value, and where is it still experimental, over-promised, or not ready for the operational realities of multifamily at scale?
That distinction is everything. Because the cost of deploying AI in the wrong place — on the wrong workflow, against the wrong data, across a team that was not prepared for it — is not just a wasted budget line. It is operational disruption, staff frustration, resident impact, and a loss of organizational confidence in technology that will slow down every future adoption decision.
The operators and technology leaders in this conversation have been through enough AI implementations to know the difference. And they came to this Bull Session to share what they have learned.
Hosted at the Builder Innovator Bull Session, this conversation brings together four industry leaders who are actively implementing AI across multifamily portfolios today. The format is intentionally candid — a bull session, not a panel presentation — designed to surface real insights rather than polished talking points.
The discussion covers where AI is already reducing operational friction, which use cases are closer to production than most operators realize, where human judgment still matters more than any algorithm, and how teams can evaluate AI through a practical ROI lens rather than a technology trend lens.
This is one of the most grounded and honest conversations about AI in multifamily that exists in the public record. If you are trying to separate what is working from what is hype, this is the session to watch.
Featured Speakers
Devam Dhawan — Builder Innovator Technology strategist and Builder Innovator leader focused on advancing practical innovation conversations across the multifamily and real estate development ecosystem.
Taylor Wiederkehr — Founder & CEO, PropTech IQ Founder of the multifamily industry’s leading independent proptech validation platform. Former head of innovation at two of the NMHC’s top ten largest multifamily management companies. Founding member of the NMHC Innovation Committee and RETA Emerging Technologies Committee. Taylor brings a data-driven, validation-first perspective to every AI conversation — focused on verified outcomes rather than vendor claims.
Demetrios Barnes — Zenni Homes Operator and technology leader at Zenni Homes with firsthand experience deploying AI workflows across real multifamily portfolios. Demetrios brings the operator’s perspective to AI adoption — what works in practice, what breaks at scale, and what the industry needs to be more honest about.
Brandon Savage — AE Ventures Investor and innovation leader at AE Ventures with a broad view of where AI investment is flowing in multifamily technology and which bets are paying off in the current market environment.
What This Panel Covers
Invoice Automation and Financial Workflow AI One of the most mature and highest-ROI AI applications in multifamily today is automated invoice processing and general ledger coding. This session examines how AI is already reducing the manual burden of financial workflows, improving coding accuracy, and freeing accounting and operations teams to focus on higher-value work — with measurable, documentable impact on operational efficiency and cost.
The Real Challenges of AI Deployment at Scale Single-property AI implementations are relatively straightforward. Deploying AI consistently across multiple assets, multiple teams, and legacy systems that were never designed to talk to each other is a fundamentally different challenge. This panel offers candid insight into what breaks when AI scales — from data quality and system integration issues to change management and staff adoption challenges that no vendor slide ever mentions.
Predictive Maintenance and Energy Optimization Predictive maintenance and energy optimization are among the most compelling near-term AI use cases in multifamily — and they are closer to production-ready deployment than many operators realize. This session examines what these applications actually look like in practice, what infrastructure they require, and what operators can realistically expect in terms of cost savings and NOI impact.
AI in Renter Communications AI-powered renter communications — from leasing chatbots and automated follow-up sequences to maintenance update notifications and renewal campaigns — are already in use across multifamily portfolios. This discussion covers what is working, where the resident experience risks are, and how to deploy communication AI in a way that enhances rather than undermines the human relationship at the center of resident retention.
Where Human Judgment Still Matters Most AI is exceptionally good at reducing the cost and friction of repetitive, rules-based tasks. It is not a replacement for contextual judgment, relationship management, or complex operational decision-making. This panel draws a clear and practical line between where AI should replace human effort and where removing human judgment creates risk that outweighs any efficiency gain.
Practical AI Pilot Frameworks For operators who want to start somewhere without overcommitting, this session offers practical ideas for AI pilot programs that are realistic, measurable, and designed to generate the validated performance data needed to make confident scaling decisions. Evaluation through a practical ROI lens — rather than a technology trend lens — is the consistent theme.
Key Takeaways
- AI is already being deployed across multifamily portfolios today — the question is no longer whether to adopt it but where and how
- Invoice automation and GL coding are among the most mature, highest-ROI AI applications available to multifamily operators right now
- Deploying AI across multiple assets, teams, and legacy systems introduces complexity that single-property pilots do not reveal
- Predictive maintenance and energy optimization AI are closer to production-ready deployment than most operators realize
- AI in renter communications delivers efficiency gains but requires careful implementation to protect the resident relationship
- Human judgment remains essential in complex, contextual, and relationship-dependent workflows — AI should replace repetition, not discretion
- Evaluating AI through a validated ROI lens rather than a hype lens leads to better decisions and better outcomes
- Independent validation of AI performance, like PropTech IQ Impact Analysis Reports, helps operators separate verified value from vendor claims
Who Should Watch This
This session is essential viewing for:
- Multifamily owners and operators are actively evaluating or deploying AI across their portfolios
- Property management executives are responsible for operational efficiency, cost management, and technology strategy
- Innovation and technology leaders building AI roadmaps for multifamily organizations
- Finance and accounting teams interested in AI applications for invoice processing, GL coding, and financial workflow automation
- Maintenance and operations teams exploring predictive maintenance and energy optimization AI
- Proptech vendors developing or positioning AI-powered solutions for the multifamily market
- Investors and asset managers are evaluating how AI adoption impacts property performance and portfolio value
- Anyone who has heard the AI pitch and wondered: but what is actually working in the real world right now?
About PropTech IQ
PropTech IQ is the multifamily industry’s leading independent property technology validation provider. Their Impact Analysis Reports use proprietary data and algorithms to assess the actual financial impact of proptech — including AI-powered solutions — on NOI and ROI, eliminating the need for costly pilots and replacing vendor claims with objective, third-party analysis operators can trust.
Services include:
Impact Analysis Reports — Independent, data-driven assessments of proptech and AI solution performance, NOI impact, ROI projections, and operational efficiency gains, generated in minutes rather than months.
Fractional Innovation Leadership — On-demand strategic guidance for multifamily owners and operators navigating AI adoption, from technology planning through implementation and optimization.
Business Development Consulting — Go-to-market strategy, lead generation, market expansion, and operational scaling support for AI-powered proptech vendors and technology organizations.
