Operations infrastructure for real estate teams.
We help brokerages, funds, and property teams unify their data, automate the busywork, and deploy AI in the places that actually move revenue — without ripping out the tools your team already knows.
Operators who build software, not the other way around.
Lucid Refinery was started by a former head of operations manager and a systems engineer who spent a decade wiring PMS and CRM stacks together. We kept meeting real estate teams paying six figures for software that nobody used — and paying it again to a consultant who left a Zapier account nobody could log into.
We work with a small number of brokerages, funds, and property teams each quarter. Every engagement is led by a partner and every system we build ships with documentation your ops lead can actually own after we're gone.
What we build.
Six disciplines, one operating system. We plug into your existing stack before we ever recommend a new tool — and we're happy to tell you the answer is no new tool at all.
Diagnose before you buy.
A low-commitment starting point. We assess your PMS, CRM, spreadsheets, and integrations — then tell you what to fix, what to keep, and what to retire before recommending a single new tool.
- —Stack review
- —Gap analysis
- —Prioritized backlog
- —Written recommendations
Deliberate, not disruptive.
Two weeks mapping your data, tools, and where hours actually leak. You get a written diagnosis whether you hire us or not.
A single document: the target system, the migration path, the tradeoffs. Priced fixed so scope conversations happen up front.
We implement in weekly sprints, shipping working automations you use immediately — not a big-bang launch six months out.
Documentation, Loom walkthroughs, and training for your ops lead. Optional retainer for ongoing changes and new automations.
Selected work.
How a 40-agent brokerage cut lead response time from 6 hours to 4 minutes.
A boutique residential brokerage in Austin was losing warm leads to bigger firms with faster follow-up. Every inquiry passed through three tools and two humans before an agent got the ping. We consolidated their intake into Airtable, routed via Make with agent-availability logic, and layered a GPT-4 responder for after-hours triage.
Six weeks, four automations, one dashboard. Their close rate on inbound leads increased by 24% in the first quarter after launch.
Tools we compose,
not tools we sell.
We're software-agnostic. Every recommendation is chosen against your team's fluency and your deal volume — never a partnership commission.
9 categories · 76 tools · hover to reveal
- Buildium
- AppFolio
- Yardi
- RentManager
- Rentvine
- Propertyware
- DoorLoop
- TenantCloud
- Hostaway
- Guesty
- OwnerRez
- Lodgify
- Hospitable
- Hostfully
- iGMS
- Track
- Streamline
- Escapia
- Airtable
- Notion
- Postgres
- Supabase
- Zapier
- Make
- n8n
- Workato
- Retool
- Softr
- Glide
- Airtable Interfaces
- HubSpot
- Salesforce
- Follow Up Boss
- LeadSimple
- Knock
- Sierra Interactive
- kvCORE
- Rechat
- Slack
- Front
- Zendesk
- Intercom
- Twilio
- OpenPhone
- Dialpad
- RingCentral
- Claude
- ChatGPT
- Gemini
- Perplexity
- ElevenLabs
- Intercom Fin
- Zendesk AI
- Cursor
- PriceLabs
- Wheelhouse
- Beyond
- Key Data
- AirDNA
- Rented
- Breezeway
- Property Meld
- Latchel
- Turno
- TIDY
- ResortCleaning
- Operto
- QuickBooks
- Stessa
- Bill.com
- Ramp
- Baselane
- DocuSign
- PandaDoc
- Dropbox Sign
- Documint
“Lucid Refinery rebuilt our entire deal pipeline in five weeks. Our acquisitions team stopped complaining about the CRM — which had never happened before.”
“The lease abstraction agent alone saved us two full-time roles. And the docs they left behind meant we could actually keep improving it ourselves.”
Transparent, fixed-scope.
Two-week diagnostic. Written report, systems map, prioritized backlog. Credited toward a build engagement.
- —Tool + data inventory
- —Time-leak analysis
- —90-day roadmap
- —Async debrief
Fixed-scope implementation of the blueprint. Weekly demos, working automations shipped continuously.
- —Everything in Audit
- —System build + migration
- —Team training + docs
- —30 days post-launch support
Ongoing partnership for teams that want us on-call for new automations, changes, and second opinions.
- —Priority Slack channel
- —8 hours implementation / mo
- —Quarterly systems review
- —Cancel anytime
Common questions.
Do we need to switch our CRM?+
Almost never. We work inside whatever CRM your agents already know — HubSpot, Follow Up Boss, Salesforce, Lofty. The value is in the connective tissue around it, not in replacing it.
Is our data safe with AI tools?+
Everything we deploy runs through providers with enterprise data agreements (no training on your inputs). For sensitive workflows we build with self-hosted models or scoped API keys. We document exactly what data touches what system.
How long until we see results?+
First automation usually ships in week two. Most clients see meaningful weekly time savings within 30 days. Full engagements land in 6–10 weeks depending on scope.
Do you work with small teams?+
Yes. Some of our best work is with 5–15 person brokerages where a single well-placed automation is transformative. We're not the right fit under $2M in annual revenue.
What if we already have an ops person?+
Perfect. We build with them, not around them. Your ops lead becomes the owner post-handoff — we're just the leverage that gets the system built faster than they could alone.
Let's refine your operation.
Thirty minutes, no deck. We'll ask about your workflow and tell you honestly whether we can help.