AI receptionist for contractors

New inquiries start with the address, because out of area should end the call before a long project story. If the address is inside the area, the assistant asks which work, using the trades you actually bid, such as roofing, a kitchen, an addition, concrete, or paint. Timeline and whether the home is occupied help the estimator plan the visit. They are not a price.

Existing jobs are a status problem, not a lead. The assistant identifies the site by the service address and asks what the caller needs to know. If the board shows a stage a person marked, such as scheduled or waiting on materials, the assistant may read that stage and the date attached to it. If the stage is blank, it does not invent an arrival, and a coordinator calls back.

The word emergency is not a sorting tool by itself. An active leak into the living space, a tree on the structure, or a downed line near the work can be a transfer when someone is on call. A deadline built around a family event is still an estimate, even when the caller is upset. Write that difference down so a sales visit is not booked as a night dispatch.

After the address clears the service area, the assistant asks the caller to text photos to a number you control. Wide shots, the damage, and the access path are enough for a first look. The assistant does not interpret the pictures and does not stay on the line pretending to see them. The estimator opens the thread later, or books a site-visit window if the caller cannot text.

The price refusal is a complete sentence. The estimator prices the job after seeing it. If you charge a trip fee for the visit, the assistant may say that fee and must say it is not the project price. It does not offer a range you once sketched and never published, and it does not confirm or beat a number the caller heard from another company.

Site visits get a window, not a folklore arrival. Morning or afternoon on a day the estimator holds for bids is enough. The assistant does not say the owner will be there at a precise minute. A confirmation text, when the caller has agreed to texts, repeats the window and the address and does not add a price.

• Service address checked before the project story runs long
• Trade limited to the work you bid
• Photo request to your number, reviewed by the estimator
• Trip fee spoken only when you charge one, and labelled as a trip fee
• Site-visit window from the hours the estimator actually holds
• Existing jobs identified by address, then read only from a marked stage

No project price, no casual range, and no claim that a roof, remodel, or repair will land near a figure. A change order on work already underway is the project manager conversation. The assistant can note that the caller wants one and who should call them. It cannot approve the extra work or quote it.

Insurance is a trap on this phone. The assistant does not say the carrier will pay, does not tell the caller how to file, and does not interpret a deductible. It can mark that the caller mentioned a claim so the estimator is not surprised. Permit and code conclusions stay with the estimator, who can discuss whether a scope usually needs a permit, rather than with a ruling from the phone.

Storm weeks invite lines that age badly. The assistant does not tell anyone to sign today, does not invent a materials shortage to create urgency, and does not insult crews the caller met in a parking lot. If your company does not take storm work, it says that. If it does, it schedules inspections in the order the office sets and does not predict what the carrier will do.

• Any project price or unpublished range
• Approval or pricing of a change order
• A prediction that insurance will cover the loss
• Permit or code rulings
• Sign-today pressure or a made-up materials scare
• A crew time nobody on the board has set

License and insurance questions are answered from a list a person at the company updates. The list can hold the license number, the classification, the state, and the email where a certificate should be requested. If an item is missing, the assistant takes a message instead of reciting a number from an old truck magnet. When the license renews, the list changes first and the phone changes with it.

Storm-chaser honesty is operational. After hail or wind, many callers have already talked to two out-of-town crews. The script can explain that an estimate requires a look, that you do not ask for a contract on the first call, and that you do not know what their carrier will do. Offer the next inspection window you actually have, and decline scopes you do not bid, such as interior rebuilds when you only roof.

Subcontracted trades need a plain sentence. If a plumber or an electrician you hire performs part of a remodel, the assistant should not describe that person as your employee or offer their license as yours. Say that the estimator will name who does that scope. Warranties you do not underwrite should not be promised on the phone, and the website service list should match this script.

The week after weather, below, is an example of intake rules. It is not a report of jobs won, and it names no client. Picture a roofing and exterior company that looks at storm damage and does not bid interior rebuilds. One estimator runs site visits in the afternoons, and an on-call lead handles active leaks.

Monday brings hail calls. The assistant checks each address, asks for photos by text, offers open inspection windows, and refuses prices, including one caller who also wants interior drywall the company does not bid. Tuesday an existing customer asks why the crew did not arrive. The board has no stage marked, so the assistant flags the coordinator instead of inventing a day.

Wednesday night a caller reports water coming through a ceiling, so the call transfers to the on-call lead and is not booked as a Thursday estimate. Thursday someone asks for the license number, and the assistant reads it from the maintained list and gives the certificate email. Friday the estimator sees photo threads, declines, one status flag, and one night transfer. The queue is an example of sorting, not a close rate.