An Auction Operating System
Website Live on Vercel · Public Launch July 2026
Auctions · Real Estate · Appraisals
Meet Gavel
Metzger Auction
This is not a website project, and it is not a generic CRM. Cloud Radix is building the Gavel Platform with Metzger Auction — a real-world auction operating system covering the public website, authority content, CRM, CMS, auction listings, bidder education, multi-tract auction logic, timed online lot bidding, and staff workflows. Gavel is the AI Employee doing the work — and the proof that AI Employees can operate inside a real business.
Updated July 10, 2026
Gavel
AI Employee — Metzger Auction
12
Auction formats & service lines
Live
New website deployed on Vercel
Pilot
Timed online auction engine
Intake → Settle
End-to-end auction lifecycle
All-new Next.js website (live on Vercel)
Timed online auction engine (in pilot)
Multi-tract auction logic
Real estate auction workflow
Personal property auction workflow
Combination auction support
Integrated CRM and contact history
Bidder education & BidMetzger bridge
Project management for every sale
Property management side of business
The client
Metzger Auction — Expanding Your Horizon, Generation After Generation
Metzger Property Services, LLC — operating as Metzger Auction — is a family-run auction company in North Manchester, Indiana with more than 50 years in business, serving Northeast Indiana and the surrounding region. The firm fields 16 auctioneers, five REALTORS®, and eight licensed real estate brokers across auctions, real estate brokerage, appraisals, and property management. Generations of the family have worked the room.
Metzger is not one workflow. It is auctions, real estate, appraisals, property management, bidder support, seller intake, staff scheduling, listing content, marketing, settlement — and multiple auction formats running at once. The software stack for an operation like that has historically been a patchwork: a CRM that does not know about the website, a CMS the marketing person updates manually, project tracking in a spreadsheet, and an auction platform that exports nothing useful. Cloud Radix and the Metzger team agreed there was a better answer. So we are building it.
The new Metzger Auction website, built and live on Vercel — the timed online auction engine is visibly running pilot and training auctions ahead of the phased public rollout. Public-domain cutover to metzgerauction.com is planned for July 2026.
Before: the legacy Metzger Auction website — the old origin still serves the public domain until cutover.
The Gavel Platform
One platform. Everything Metzger runs on.
The Gavel Platform is the single, all-in-one software system Gavel is building for Metzger Auction — replacing the patchwork most auction companies cobble together. It is the CRM, CMS, marketing platform, project management system, and auction operations engine in one.
CRM — Every Contact, One System
Buyers, sellers, bidders, consignors, vendors — every relationship lives in the Gavel Platform with full history. Gavel knows every auction the firm has run and every lead it has worked.
CMS — Marketing Content, Owner-Run
Auction listings, property pages, appraisal content, and team updates are managed by the Metzger team with Gavel assisting on every change — and the platform pushes every update to the public website automatically.
Marketing Platform
Email campaigns, social distribution, listing syndication, and pre-auction promotion — all driven by the same data the auction operations use, so marketing always knows what is selling and when.
Project Management
Every auction is a project: scout, list, market, run, settle. The Gavel Platform tracks the staff tasks, deadlines, and handoffs against each upcoming sale, so nothing falls through the cracks the week before an auction.
Property Management
The Metzger property management side of the business — leases, tenants, maintenance, and owner reporting — runs in the same platform alongside auction operations. One firm, one system.
Gavel — Inside the Software
Gavel is not a chatbot bolted onto a CRM. Gavel is the AI Employee that built the platform and works inside it every day — drafting listings, fixing content, verifying deployments, and getting sharper with every auction.
Every format Metzger runs
Complicated in ways most software cannot handle.
Metzger does not run one kind of auction. It runs a dozen distinct formats and service lines — multi-tract land auctions, combination events that sell real estate and personal property in one day, timed online lot sales, live auctions, and simulcast events — plus brokerage, appraisals, and property management. The Gavel Platform is being designed for all of it.
Real Estate Auctions
Farmland, residential, commercial — listing, marketing, bidder qualification, auction day, and closing.
Traditional Real Estate Listings
Brokerage listings alongside the auction business — five REALTORS® and eight licensed brokers on staff.
Multi-Tract Farm & Land Auctions
Bidders compete on individual tracts, combinations, or the whole property — auction math most software cannot handle.
Combination Auctions
Real estate and personal property in a single event — orchestrated as one auction by one platform.
Timed Online Lot Auctions
Digital personal-property auctions with hidden max bids, per-lot soft close, increments, reserves, and buyer premium.
Live Auctions
In-person events with on-site bidder management, clerking, and settlement run through the Gavel Platform.
Simulcast Auctions
Live and online running simultaneously — bidders in the room and bidders on the internet in one stream. A later phase of the platform.
Personal Property & Estate Auctions
Estate, household, and consignment — lot intake, cataloging, marketing, and settlement.
Farm Equipment & Machinery
Tractors, implements, and shop equipment — the categories Metzger has moved for generations.
Business Liquidations
Complete business sell-outs — inventory, equipment, and real estate coordinated as one project.
Appraisals & Valuation
Certified appraisal work for estates, lenders, and sellers deciding what to bring to auction.
Property Management
Leases, tenants, maintenance, and owner reporting — a whole side of the business the platform runs alongside auctions.
Why auction software is hard: multi-tract auctions
Metzger does not only sell single lots. In a multi-tract land auction, bidders may compete on individual tracts, combinations of tracts, or the whole property. The platform has to preserve bidder intent, compare scenarios, support live auctioneer judgment, and help identify the best outcome for the seller.
That is a very different problem than a simple online checkout page. It is not a normal product catalog — it is auction math, buyer choice, tract combinations, whole-property scenarios, bidder strategy, and seller outcome optimization. The Gavel Platform is being designed for that level of auction complexity from the start.
The timed online auction engine — built, and rolling out the right way
The timed online auction engine has been built and tested against the live database. Metzger is not rushing it straight into public production. The website launch is the July priority; online auction bidding is moving through pilot testing, staff training, operational hardening, and bidder-flow review before a phased public rollout in August 2026.
Per-lot biddingHidden max (proxy) bidsPer-lot soft closeBid incrementsReservesBuyer premiumLot awardsStaff lot management
From first call to final check
Intake → Settlement
Every auction is a project that begins with a phone call and ends with a seller check. The Gavel Platform runs the entire lifecycle in one system, with Gavel inside it every step of the way.
1
Intake
A seller calls Metzger about an auction. Gavel captures the inquiry, qualifies the lot and the seller, and routes the deal to the right Metzger team member with a full briefing.
2
Listing & Cataloging
Properties and lots get cataloged in the Gavel Platform — descriptions, photos, condition reports, reserves, and metadata that powers both the marketing and the auction day workflow.
3
Marketing
Email campaigns, social distribution, listing syndication, and pre-auction promotion fire on the schedule the Gavel Platform builds for each auction type and lot mix.
4
Auction Day
Timed online, live, or simulcast — the platform runs the clerking, bidder registration, real-time bidding, increments, and proxy bids. The auctioneer runs the room; Gavel runs the data.
5
Settlement
Invoices, payment processing, title work coordination, commission accounting, and seller statements — drafted in the platform and signed off by the Metzger team. Full settlement operations are a planned later phase.
A public knowledge system, not just a prettier website
Button Block's website architecture, Cloud Radix's AEO/SEO playbook, and Ken Button's decades of website design, development, and search experience are built into the Metzger site at the structural level. The result is not just pages that look better. It is a public knowledge system designed to help buyers, sellers, search engines, and AI answer engines understand who Metzger is, what services Metzger provides, what auction formats Metzger runs, and why the firm is authoritative in Indiana auction work.
The same intelligence behind Button Block's content architecture and Cloud Radix's high-performing web systems is now being applied to a complex auction business:
Auction listings and auction-detail experience
Bidder education and the BidMetzger bridge
Team pages and staff authority
Reviews and trust signals
Real estate, appraisal, property management, and auction service pages
A Resources library built into an authority hub
Internal linking and answer-focused content strategy
Strong local and auction-domain entity clarity
Ongoing Gavel-assisted content and site improvements
Gavel at work
An employee inside the business — not a concept on a slide.
Gavel is actively working inside Metzger Auction today. Not "drafting listings" as a demo — reading, writing, coding, testing, verifying, remembering the rules, and helping make decisions, every day.
Reads and audits the site
Reads website pages, spots inconsistencies, and fixes copy, tone, internal links, service positioning, and trust signals.
Builds Resources content
Writes and improves the Resources library based on direct feedback from Ken and the Metzger team.
Runs build & deploy checks
Runs build checks and Vercel route verification before anything ships — then supports the deployment workflow itself.
Keeps project memory
Tracks standing editorial rules, project decisions, and business context so nothing gets relearned twice.
Evaluates rollout and risk
Helps assess what is ready for pilot, what needs hardening, and what should wait — including the phased online-bidding rollout.
Works with Ken in real time
Drafts emails and planning briefs, and collaborates with Ken through Telegram as the work happens — like any other member of the team.
Where the build stands
Built. Testing. Planned. Live.
Real businesses do not flip a switch. Here is exactly where each piece of the Metzger build stands — what is live, what is in pilot, and what comes next.
New Website
Live on VercelBuilt and deployed. The site is already serving the new public experience on the Vercel domain, with public-domain cutover planned for July 2026 after DNS and launch approval.
Gavel Platform
Active build & pilotCRM, CMS, auction listings, staff workflows, and lot management are in active build with real Metzger workflows being implemented and used.
Timed Online Auctions
Built · in pilot testingThe engine is built and tested against the live database. It is moving through pilot testing, staff training, operational hardening, and bidder-flow review before a phased public rollout in August 2026.
Live, Simulcast & Settlement
Planned phasesLive auction clerking, simulcast bidding, and full settlement operations are planned later phases — built on the same platform and the same data.
Why this matters
Most AI demos are toy workflows. Metzger is the opposite.
Real customers, real property, real bidders, real money, real staff, real risk, and real operational complexity. That is why Gavel matters. This is not a chatbot answering questions about a business — it is an AI Employee helping modernize a complicated, 50-year-old operating model without pretending the business is simple.
With Gavel, Metzger Auction gets one platform, one source of truth, and one AI Employee that helped build the system and works inside it every day — watching every lead, every lot, every auction, every settlement, and getting sharper every week. That is the difference between automating an auction company and reinventing one.
Run an operation that needs an AI Employee like Gavel?
Cloud Radix builds custom AI Employees that run entire operations — not chatbots bolted onto existing software, but the software itself, with the AI sitting inside it. If you run a business with the kind of complexity Metzger Auction has, let's talk about what Cloud Radix can build for you.