Case Study

Rental Agreement Automation:
From Wrong Contracts to Zero Manual Follow-Up

How I built an end-to-end rental agreement pipeline for a mobility rental business — eliminating wrong contracts, missed follow-ups, and the manual effort of keeping a solo operator's process from falling apart.

Build Time
1 Week
Implementation
~2 Weeks
Type
CRM Automation & Workflow
Industry
Mobility Rentals
Tools
GoHighLevel, Make (Integromat)

Wrong agreements. Missed follow-ups. One person holding it all together.

When I came in, the client was running a mobility rental business on his own. He was the operator, the follow-up person, the closer. Every order that came in meant he had to manually pull the right rental agreement, fill in the client's details, attach the right addendum depending on the item rented, and send it out himself.

It sounds manageable until it isn't. Wrong agreements were going out with some regularity — wrong client name, wrong rental item, wrong dates, wrong delivery location. Not because he was careless, but because he was doing too many things at once and the process had no guard rails.

"Beyond the wrong contracts, the follow-up problem was just as bad. Keeping track of who had signed, who hadn't responded, who was about to show up for a rental without a signed agreement — it was all manual. All in his head. All on him."

Clients were moving through the pipeline inconsistently. Some would get chased for a signature. Others would slip through. And when the rental date was close and the agreement still wasn't signed, there was no system telling anyone to act — just the hope that he'd remember to check.

He hired me specifically to fix this. And what he needed wasn't a patch. He needed the whole thing automated so that once an order came in, the process ran itself.

One week to build it. Two weeks to make it hold.

The build itself took about a week. But the real work happened in the two weeks after — going back and forth with the client on edge cases, preferences, and the small quirks that only surface once a system starts running against real orders. That back-and-forth is where the difference between a workflow that technically works and one that actually fits how someone operates gets sorted out.

The goal was simple in concept: every rental agreement touchpoint — sending it, following up, notifying the right person, confirming when it's signed — had to happen without him manually initiating anything. He places the order in GoHighLevel, and from that point forward, the system handles it.

The stack that made it possible.

GoHighLevel Make (Integromat) GHL Native SMS GHL Email System GHL Documents & Contracts Custom Contact Fields
4-Stage Workflow Pipeline
Stage 1
Order Placed
Item Check
Right Agreement Sent
Status: Pending
Stage 2
12hr Wait
Status Check
If Unsigned → Follow-Up SMS
If Signed → Exit
Stage 3
Internal Alert
Drop-Off Logic
Assigned User Notified
Stage 4
Signed Event
Status: Signed
SMS + Email Sent
Pipeline Updated

Four stages. One connected pipeline.

The system is built across four distinct workflow stages, each one picking up where the last left off. Together they cover the full lifecycle of a rental agreement from the moment an order is placed to the moment it's confirmed signed.

1
Order Trigger: The right agreement goes out automatically
When a new order is placed in GoHighLevel, a workflow fires with a two-minute delay to allow for system processing. Then it checks what item was ordered and routes accordingly. A Beach Wheelchair order gets the standard rental agreement plus the Beach WC Addendum. A Onewheel Scooter order gets the standard agreement plus the Onewheel Addendum. Everything else gets the standard agreement alone. No manual selection. No wrong attachment. The logic decides, the email sends, and an internal note is added to the contact record with the exact timestamp. The contact field "Rental Agreement Status" is set to Pending.
Contract Routing Logic
New Order Placed in GHL
What item
was ordered?
Beach Wheelchair
Standard Agreement+ Beach WC Addendum
Onewheel Scooter
Standard Agreement+ Onewheel Addendum
All Other Items
Standard AgreementNo addendum
2
SMS Follow-Up: 12 business hours, then a nudge goes out
If the client hasn't signed within 12 business hours — no weekends, business hours only — the system checks the Rental Agreement Status field. If it's still showing Pending (not Signed), a follow-up SMS goes out automatically with a direct link to the agreement. If the agreement is already signed by the time the wait ends, the workflow exits silently. No unnecessary messages. A GHL snippet is also made available to the team for any manual calls, so the message stays consistent whether the follow-up is automated or done by a person.
3
Internal Alert: The assigned user gets notified based on rental proximity
While the client-facing follow-up runs on its own, a separate workflow handles the internal side. When the Rental Agreement Status is set to Pending, a two-hour delay kicks in. If it's still unsigned, the system evaluates how close the drop-off date is and acts accordingly.
Drop-Off Date Logic
  • Today: Wait 1 hour, then send an internal SMS to the assigned user to call the client before delivery.
  • Tomorrow or within 3 days: Wait 1 day, recheck signature status, then notify the assigned user if still unsigned.
  • More than 3 days away: Set a wait until exactly 3 days before the start date, then recheck and notify if still needed.
Every path checks the signature status before acting. If the client signed at any point, the workflow exits. Nobody gets an alert they don't need.
4
Signed Confirmation: The moment it's signed, everything updates
When the rental agreement is signed via GHL's document signing event, a final workflow fires. The Rental Agreement Status field updates to Signed. Two minutes later, a confirmation SMS goes to the client. One minute after that, an email with the signed agreement copy is sent. An internal note is added to the contact record with the exact date, time, and document URL. The assigned user gets a notification. The pipeline updates. Everything that needs to happen, happens — automatically, in the right order, without anyone manually moving the contact through stages.

What it actually changed.

Before this system, the rental agreement process was entirely manual — sending agreements, tracking who signed, following up, updating the pipeline, notifying the right person. All of it depended on the owner remembering to do each step and doing it correctly every time.

After the system went live, his involvement in that side of the process dropped to zero. Not reduced — eliminated. The agreements go out correctly every time. The follow-ups happen on their own schedule. When something needs his attention, he gets a notification. That's it. He doesn't chase signatures anymore. He receives confirmations.

100%
Of the owner's time on agreement follow-up cut from the process entirely
0
Wrong agreements sent after the system went live
4
Interconnected workflow stages covering the full agreement lifecycle
3
Agreement types handled automatically based on item ordered
Before vs. After: Agreement Process
Before After
Contract selection Owner manually picks the right agreement System reads the item and sends automatically
Wrong contracts Sent with some regularity Zero after go-live
Follow-up timing Whenever the owner remembered 12 business hours, automatic, business days only
Internal alerts None — owner had to track it himself Proximity-aware alerts to assigned user
Signing confirmation Manual check of pipeline status Auto SMS, email, CRM note, pipeline update
Owner involvement Every step Receives notifications only
Owner Involvement: Agreement Process
Before
Manual end to end
After
Notifications only
100% of manual effort removed from this side of the process

When it fully clicked.

There's something particular about building a system for someone who is running a whole business by themselves. Every hour you give back to them isn't just saved time — it's breathing room. It's the difference between a founder who's constantly reacting and one who actually has space to think.

When the rental agreement pipeline was fully operational, he stopped being the person who chased signatures. The system did that. He stopped being the one who had to remember to move a contact from one stage to the next. The workflow did that too. By the time he heard from the process again, it was to confirm something was done — not to ask him to do it.

That shift — from doing to receiving — is what the system was built for.

📄
Correct agreement, every time
Item-based conditional logic routes the right contract and addendum automatically. Wrong agreements became a problem that no longer exists.
⏱️
Smart follow-up timing
Business hours only. No weekend sends. Proximity-aware internal alerts so urgent rentals get escalated and future ones don't create noise too early.
🔔
Notifications, not tasks
The owner doesn't manage the process anymore. He receives updates from it. His only job at this point is to read the notification when it arrives.
🔗
One connected pipeline
Four workflows, one system. Each stage hands off cleanly to the next. Nothing falls through because there are no manual handoffs left to miss.
← Back to Portfolio