Engine Labs

From the Lab

Public builds, fully documented.

The Lab is Engine Labs' build log. Client builds are written up with the pain point, what shipped, and the hours and dollars it retired, in AUD. Public builds document one small Engine, demo or workflow, including what didn't work. Take what you like.

The MCG Property Shoalhaven series covers all eight Engines, built one at a time for a sales and property management office of under ten people. Read it in date order from the bottom up.

founder engine · client build

MCG Property Shoalhaven

A landlord portal MCG could afford to be wrong about

Prototype in eight days, working MVP in four weeks, built on data the earlier Engines had already cleaned up. About 2 hours a week of owner calls retired.

By Cam Douglas · 14 August 2026 · 4 min readRead the build

outreach engine · client build

MCG Property Shoalhaven

Following up every past appraisal without a call-around

Consent-checked drafts to people already in Agentbox, throttled and reviewed by the agent. About 3 hours a week retired, roughly A$12,200 a year.

By Cam Douglas · 26 June 2026 · 4 min readRead the build

back-office engine · client build

MCG Property Shoalhaven

120 trade invoices a month, read and matched before the bookkeeper sees them

Invoices matched to work orders and owners, duplicates caught before payment, nothing posted without a human. About 5 hours a week retired, roughly A$10,800 a year.

By Cam Douglas · 29 May 2026 · 4 min readRead the build

founder engine · client build

Engine Labs, Sydney (in-house)

Building the Control Centre that built itself

Case study: this site, built for Engine Labs by Engine Labs, shipped in under 24 hours for under A$50.

By Cam Douglas · 19 May 2026 · 8 min readRead the build

knowledge engine · client build

MCG Property Shoalhaven

Stopping the senior PM from being the office search engine

A private chat over MCG's own procedures with a weekly list of what nobody has written down yet. About 4 hours a week retired, roughly A$8,600 a year.

By Cam Douglas · 17 April 2026 · 4 min readRead the build

support engine · client build

MCG Property Shoalhaven

Triage for a property management inbox that gets 80 emails a day

Every tenant and landlord email tagged, urgent maintenance texted to the on-duty PM, routine replies drafted with citations. About 10 hours a week retired, roughly A$21,600 a year.

By Cam Douglas · 13 March 2026 · 4 min readRead the build

insight engine · client build

MCG Property Shoalhaven

Taking Sunday night back from the Monday meeting spreadsheet

Agentbox, the rent roll and portal stats in one dashboard, with a written briefing at 6am Monday. About 3 hours a week of the principal's time retired, roughly A$12,200 a year.

By Cam Douglas · 6 February 2026 · 3 min readRead the build

ops engine · client build

MCG Property Shoalhaven

Lease expiries and landlord approvals that chase themselves

Three workflows for the property management side: renewals at 90, 60 and 30 days, maintenance approvals chased automatically, one Monday status email. About 5 hours a week retired, roughly A$10,800 a year.

By Cam Douglas · 19 December 2025 · 4 min readRead the build

sales engine · client build

MCG Property Shoalhaven

Portal enquiries into Agentbox with a draft reply, any hour of the day

Every realestate.com.au and Domain enquiry scored, filed in Agentbox and answered in the agent's voice within minutes. About 8 hours a week retired, roughly A$32,600 a year.

By Cam Douglas · 14 November 2025 · 4 min readRead the build