Orchards

Published Oct 26, 2026

Before Cortex, if Orchards wanted something to run automatically from an action in Street.co.uk, Adam had to build it himself by bolting outside tools onto the system. It worked, but it came at a cost: something as simple as an automated email response took hours to build, and needed constant upkeep to keep it running.

Adam had already built his own automations outside Street to enhance how Orchards communicated with clients. But juggling multiple outside tools came at a time cost that could have gone toward other parts of the business.

"We'd already built that automated email response ourselves using outside tools, but administering it took hours," Adam says. "Building the same thing inside Cortex took minutes, and I'm not having to be software support for it anymore. Cortex does that inside Street."

Adam moved a handful of existing automations across to Cortex almost immediately, then started building bespoke Cortex agents around Orchards' own way of working: a lettings 'moving control tower' that keeps every move-in on track, a weekly review of every property on the market, a daily lettings task list, and a set of chatbots that field day-to-day questions across the team, from guiding staff through sales progression to drafting calm, consistent landlord updates.

But the one that's made the clearest difference to the bottom line is much simpler: making sure no lost valuation just disappears.

Whenever a valuation goes to another agent, Cortex automatically marks it as lost and drafts a thank-you and feedback email to the vendor. That email asks one more question: are they looking to buy locally? Most people selling a property are also buying one, and Cortex uses the answer to register them as a new applicant, turning a lost listing into a live lead on the buying side. It's exactly the kind of follow-up that used to sit at the bottom of the list.

For Orchards, that's helping secure a minimum of six sales worth at least £33,000 a year, by growing a larger, more active buyer database, giving every vendor who lists with Orchards a bigger audience for their property and a better chance of converting through to SSTC.

"No valuer wants to accept defeat," Adam says. "Getting Cortex to turn a lost valuation into a positive outcome: send the thank-you email, ask for feedback, register them as an applicant, means we get at least six extra sales a year that we simply wouldn't have had. That's pure profit."

Keeping that data clean and up to date in Street also means it's ready to work harder elsewhere. It feeds straight into other Cortex automations built around the same information, like the valuation win-back recipe. This ready-made automation follows up with lost valuations that have since had a price drop with competitors, to try and win the business back a second time round.

Separately, Adam's favourite of all the agents he's built is the vendor updates agent, a weekly review of every property on the market that puts together a clear picture before any vendor call. "It's very easy to go into a vendor update and improvise," Adam says. "This builds a much clearer picture, so instead of an awkward call, you're giving genuinely valuable information."

Adam is also looking at what else Cortex's growing library of abilities and recipes can take on, without needing to build a new agent from scratch each time.

"If you regard it as a tool that helps you build good internal processes and remove silos of communication, it's been a brilliant investment for us in time and money," Adam says.

"I don't think this is about replacing staff. It's about making people better equipped to do their job well."