Key Takeaways
- HighLevel workflows can now send emails from company and custom object workflows, not just contact workflows.
- One project record can email everyone attached to it: the homeowner, the contractor, the partners.
- You pick who gets it: all associated contacts, the most recent one, the earliest one, or only contacts with a certain association label.
- Project fields like the timeline can drop right into the email.
- Trigger it when a project is created or changed, and filter by amount, city or address.
Workflows in HighLevel have always been about one contact moving through a series of steps. But a lot of businesses don't run on contacts. They run on projects, jobs, properties or vehicles, and each one has several people who need to know what's going on. A new "Did You Know" video from HighLevel, walked through by Andrew from the HighLevel team, shows a feature that fixes that: workflows can now send emails straight from custom object and company records. We're On Point Tech Solutions, a Go High Level Bay Area consultant in Los Gatos, and we build project-based CRMs for contractors, so this one caught our eye.
Why Custom Object Workflows Needed Email
Quick background. A custom object is a record type you create that isn't a contact. A remodeler might have Projects. An auto shop might have Cars. A property manager might have Units. Companies count too, since they're a default object in HighLevel.
Custom object workflows run a project or job through the steps instead of a person. They have their own triggers and actions, because a lot of what you can do to a contact doesn't make sense for a project. The catch was email. You had a project that changed, and no clean way to tell the people attached to it.
Now there's a send email action built for exactly that.
How to Set It Up
First, turn on the email action for company and custom object workflows in Labs. Then go to Automations and create a workflow from scratch. Instead of a contact workflow, pick a company workflow or a custom object workflow and choose your object. In the video, Andrew used Projects.
Pick a trigger. Project created and project changed are the two he called out as the most useful. Then add the send email action.
Inside that action you choose who receives it:
- All associated contacts. Everyone attached to the project gets the email. The homeowner, the contractor, the partners.
- Most recently associated contact. Whoever was just added to the project.
- Earliest associated contact. The first person ever tied to the project.
- Association labels. Only contacts with a certain role, like client, so the subs don't get the client update.
Then write the email like normal. The bonus is that you can pull in custom object fields, so the email can carry the project's own details, like the timeline, instead of a generic "your project was updated."
Filters Make It Precise
Triggers can take filters. Only email when the project is under a certain amount. Only when it's in a certain city. Only for a certain address. That turns one workflow into a targeted update instead of a blast.
The project changed trigger is the one we'd use most. A project moves to a new stage, and everyone who needs to know hears about it without anyone on your team writing an email. And yes, the same thing works in company workflows.
Why This Matters for Bay Area and San Jose Businesses
Think about a San Jose ADU builder. One project has a homeowner, maybe a spouse, a lender, an architect and two subcontractors. Every time permits clear or framing starts, somebody on the team has to remember who to tell. Usually that somebody is the owner, at 9pm, from their phone.
Same story for Bay Area property managers with units and owners, auto shops with cars and customers, or event companies with bookings and vendors. The work lives on the record, not the person. This feature lets the updates live there too.
And for clients, fewer "hey, any update?" texts means fewer interruptions and a better review at the end of the job.
Practical Steps
- List the things your business actually tracks: projects, jobs, units, vehicles.
- If they're living in notes or spreadsheets, set them up as custom objects in HighLevel.
- Associate the right contacts to each record and give them labels like client or subcontractor.
- Turn on the email action in Labs.
- Build one project changed workflow that emails clients when a stage moves, using custom object fields in the body.
- Add filters so only the right projects trigger it, then test with a dummy record.
Watch the Walkthrough
Final Thoughts
If your business runs on projects, this one action saves somebody on your team from typing the same update over and over. Let the record send it. If you want a Go High Level Bay Area team to set up custom objects and project workflows for you, that's what we do at On Point Tech Solutions. We're a Go High Level consultant in Los Gatos serving San Jose and the Bay Area. You own what we build, and we either run it for you or teach your team with an SOP.