Make
When this tool is the right answer
Make (formerly Integromat) is a visual workflow tool. For an operator engagement, it’s usually the right answer when the work is multi-step orchestration across systems — not just a single trigger-to-action zap, and not yet complex enough to need a custom app.
- Multi-step orchestrations with conditional branching — the kind that would be 5+ Zaps stitched together
- Webhook-driven flows where I need fine control over data shape and error handling
- Anything that touches 3+ apps in a single run with data transformation in the middle
- High-volume scenarios where Zapier’s task pricing would get expensive fast
- Simple one-trigger / one-action flows — Zapier is usually faster and simpler for those
- Anything that needs a real user interface, persistent state across runs, or complex business logic — that’s a custom app
- Workflows that are core to the business and need version control, automated tests, and SLAs — visual builders are the wrong abstraction for that
Patterns I build with Make
Email/form/webhook intake → AI classification → routed to the right system or person, with full audit trail. Common for tenant requests, vendor inquiries, and inbound deal flow.
Keep AppFolio / Buildium / Procore / QuickBooks in agreement with each other and with an Airtable source-of-truth layer. The plumbing that makes the rest of the stack actually cooperate.
Pull data from multiple systems, transform it, generate owner statements or operations dashboards, deliver to Slack/email on a schedule. The Friday-afternoon report-building eliminator.
Inbound document → OpenAI/Claude extraction → structured data → into your PM system or matter manager. Lease abstraction, contract intake, invoice processing.