Key Takeaways
- A CRM is built around contacts. Insurance policies, properties, cars and pets aren't contacts, so HighLevel lets you make them their own record type with custom objects.
- Every build follows the same four steps: create the object, add custom fields, associate contacts by role, then automate with workflows.
- Associations carry labels and limits, like one policyholder per policy but many beneficiaries.
- Object-based workflows can trigger when a record is created or changed, or on a date field, and email only the contacts with a certain role.
- You can import records from a CSV once your custom fields exist.
HighLevel just dropped four tutorials on custom objects, each for a different industry: insurance policies, real estate properties, vehicles and pet records. All four are walked through by Andrew from the HighLevel team. Watch them back to back and you notice it's the same build four times with different fields. That's the useful part. We're On Point Tech Solutions, a Go High Level Bay Area consultant in Los Gatos, and we set up custom objects for insurance agencies, real estate teams and contractors. Here's the pattern, plus what changes in each industry.
The Four-Step Pattern
1. Create the object. Settings, then Objects, then Add Custom Object from scratch. Give it a singular and plural name, an icon, and a display field. The display field is how you'll find the record, so choose it on purpose. A new tab shows up in the left menu next to Contacts and Opportunities.
2. Add custom fields. Back in the object's settings, add fields for what you track: dates, money, numbers, dropdowns. Then use Manage Fields on the object's table to show the ones you care about.
3. Associate contacts by role. Create an association to Contacts with a label, then set the relationship. Each side can be one or many, and a contact can be tied to up to 1,000 records.
4. Automate. Create a workflow and pick the object-based type. Triggers include created, changed and custom date reminders. The send email action can go to all associated contacts, the most recent or earliest one, or only contacts with a certain association label.
Insurance Policies
The display field is the policyholder plus the policy title. Custom fields are effective date, premium (a monetary field) and policy type as a dropdown: whole life, term life, renters, home. Two associations: policyholder, set so each policy has one holder, and beneficiary, set so a policy can have many.
The workflows are where agencies save time. When a policy is created, email the holder and beneficiary. Wait 365 days and send a renewal reminder. Trigger on policy changed, filtered to premium, to send a premium-change notice. You can also bring in existing policies with a CSV, using the sample file HighLevel gives you so the headers match.
Real Estate Properties
The display field is the address, marked unique. Fields include city and buy price. Associations are owner (one per property) and buyer (a property can have several).
Andrew's point is that the owner shouldn't be a text field. Make them a contact and associate them, so you can text, email and see their history right from the property. Workflows email the owner and buyer through separate actions using association labels, and filters narrow it down, like only properties in a certain city. A regular form workflow can also create the property record from an intake form and attach the person who submitted it.
Vehicles
For a big fleet, use the VIN as the unique display field. For a few cars, year, make and model works. Fields include VIN, mileage, color and last service date. A dealership might associate a previous owner and a buyer. A rental business deletes those and uses a single renter association instead. Workflows can notify the owner when mileage changes, or email a service tech when a car is created. A service complaint form can update the car's record, which then fires any car changed workflows.
Pet Records
Each pet is associated with one owner, and an owner can have many pets. Add date of birth, weight and dates for shots or exams. The custom date reminder trigger runs off those date fields, so the owner gets an email when shots are due. A pet changed trigger filtered on weight can email the owner or add a note when a weight hits a set number.
Why This Matters for Bay Area and San Jose Businesses
Plenty of San Jose insurance agents, property managers, auto shops and vet clinics run the real business out of a spreadsheet, with the CRM only holding names. That's how renewals get missed and the wrong person gets the update. Custom objects move the policy, the unit or the car into the CRM, so reminders and notices come from the record itself.
If you already track projects this way, the newer custom object workflow emails we covered recently are the same idea applied to jobs.
Practical Steps
- Name the one thing your business tracks that isn't a person.
- Choose a display field that won't repeat, like a VIN, an address or a policy number.
- List the fields you look up most and add them as custom fields.
- Decide the roles and limits: one owner or many, one policy or many.
- Download the sample CSV, match your spreadsheet to it and import.
- Build one created workflow and one date or changed workflow, then test with a dummy record.
Watch the Insurance Policy Walkthrough
The other three: tracking properties, tracking vehicles and managing pet records.
Final Thoughts
Once you've built one custom object, you can build them for any industry. The fields change and the roles change, but the four steps stay the same. If you want a Go High Level Bay Area team to map your business into custom objects and automate the reminders, 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'll either do it for you or teach your team with an SOP.