Agentic AI has become one of the most promising advances in enterprise technology, but building reliable agents is difficult. These systems must make decisions, interpret unstructured information, and carry out multi-step processes with a level of consistency that matches or exceeds human performance. That requires more than a general-purpose model. It requires a deep understanding of industry workflows, edge cases, data formats, and the real operational risks teams face every day. Without that foundation, agentic AI quickly breaks down in the messy realities of mature industries such as multifamily operations.

Stackpoint—a venture studio that conceives, funds, and builds agentic AI companies in real estate, insurance, construction, finance, and more—was built to solve this. One of the four critical components of our proven process is our partnership with design partners. These are industry operators who work with us from day one to shape the product, validate assumptions, test prototypes, and ensure the resulting agents work reliably in the field. Design partners gain early access, preferred pricing, and the ability to influence solutions built specifically for their workflows. In return, companies benefit from real-world insight and an accelerated path to commercial traction.

This case study highlights that process in action.

SurfaceAI, a Stackpoint portfolio company, partnered with Coastal Ridge, a national multifamily operator with roughly 40,000 units, to build an AI agent capable of auditing every lease in the portfolio faster and more consistently than humans—saving nearly $1 million in manual work, or the equivalent of 13,200 human hours. The collaboration eliminated audit backlogs, uncovered systemic process issues, and helped validate SurfaceAI’s broader product vision as a modern, AI-native operations platform for multifamily. Learn more about how Stackpoint's product discovery process shaped SurfaceAI here.

The Revenue Blind Spots Caused By Lease Audit Pains 

Before working with SurfaceAI, Coastal Ridge relied on spot-checking 5–10% of all leases to confirm the rent roll was correct and no revenue was missing. While manageable for site teams, the approach was insufficient during high-stakes moments like acquisitions or sales. Those limitations became clear when inconsistencies in amenity fees and missing charges surfaced during a sale process.

“I just didn’t feel confident that our rent roll was correct,” recalls Amanda Pour, Operations Compliance Manager. “It actually came to bite us during a sale because it was so far off what we thought it was.”

In response, leadership instructed teams to audit everything. It created a sudden, heavy lift and exposed the limitations of existing tools. The vendor Coastal relied on couldn’t handle the variety of lease types in the portfolio. “It was pretty rigid. They weren’t flexible with our lease types,” says Nelson North, Director of Operations Administration.

What Coastal Ridge needed wasn’t another static software system. They needed an agent capable of reading, interpreting, and validating thousands of leases across different templates, states, and legacy portfolios—continuously and with precision.

Co-Developing a Lease Audit AI Agent From the Ground Up

SurfaceAI approached the problem by building a dedicated Lease Audit AI Agent trained directly on Coastal Ridge’s context, ecosystem, and program rules. The solution required deep collaboration. Pour taught the SurfaceAI team every lease variation and charge code so the agent could learn how to identify discrepancies.

Training began with student housing leases, the most complex part of the portfolio. Errors were common early on as the system learned to navigate document formats, naming conventions, and inconsistencies introduced through acquisitions. Pour reviewed every lease “cover to cover,” providing the documentation needed to help the system adapt.

The Lease Audit AI Agent is designed to operate as a 24/7 digital auditor. It continuously scans leases, rent rolls, and associated addenda to detect revenue leakage and policy violations the moment they occur. The agent identifies mismatched names, incorrect rent amounts, missing amenity charges, unapproved discounts, incomplete documents, and discrepancies between leases and PMS data. It also ensures SOP compliance by monitoring for missing signatures or improperly executed addenda. Unlike manual, periodic audits, the agent runs in real time, eliminating delays and backlogs while adapting to property-specific lease variations.

Once the agent stabilized, each new lease could be screened upfront on a continuous basis, catching missed revenue the moment it occurred. Instead of building backlogs, on-site property managers received real-time feedback and predictable workflows.

The Results: Full Coverage, Zero Backlog, and $1 Million Saved

The outcomes of the partnership were substantial.

Coastal Ridge moved from auditing 5–10% of leases to 100%, completing 46,508 audits between August and October 2025. Sixteen percent were flagged for errors. The agent evaluated 23 criteria per lease, compared to 14 checks previously done by humans. Backlogs disappeared entirely, and the Lease Audit AI Agent now audits leases continuously, catching missed revenue as soon as it appears.

To recreate this level of coverage manually would require an estimated 13,200 human hours annually—equivalent to nearly $1 million of labor. The agent also uncovered systemic issues that spot-checking never revealed, such as missing charges on resident accounts, improperly executed addenda, and inconsistent documentation across properties. “We’re identifying training opportunities and process issues we never knew existed,” Pour says.

The improvements went beyond efficiency. Continuous accuracy and consistent audit standards strengthened Coastal Ridge’s confidence in its rent rolls and reduced the risk of costly surprises during critical transactions.

What’s Next for SurfaceAI

Coastal Ridge plans to expand the Lease Audit AI Agent to its conventional portfolio in Q2 2026. The acquisitions team is evaluating how the system can support due diligence, and additional pilots are underway in accounting for accounts receivable.

For SurfaceAI, the partnership confirmed the need for specialized AI agents that handle high-value, language-heavy workflows across multifamily operations. The Lease Audit AI Agent is only one example. SurfaceAI also supports renewals, delinquency management, and other operational tasks through dedicated agents that work in the background to enforce compliance, uncover revenue, and standardize execution.

Partner With Stackpoint to Build AI Solutions that Work 

The Coastal Ridge partnership illustrates what is possible when industry operators, Stackpoint, and an exceptional founder work together in the age of agentic AI. If you have an operational challenge that AI may finally be able to solve, there is no better way to make it happen than partnering with Stackpoint—and the time to do so is now.

Stackpoint is actively seeking new design partners to co-build the next generation of vertical AI companies. If you are exploring how agentic AI can transform your operations, we invite you to build with us.