AI receptionist for plumbers

Start with what the water is doing, not with the word emergency. A supply line pouring, sewage in a tub or a floor drain, a water heater leaking near electrical equipment, or no water to the whole house can belong on an on-call rule you write. A dripping faucet, a running toilet the household can live with, or a fixture they want replaced next week belongs on the schedule. Calling the job an emergency does not override that card.

Shutoff help is optional and has to be your sentence, word for word. Some companies want one line about the angle stop under a sink, and others want no mechanical advice at all. We use the sentence you approve and nothing past it. The assistant does not talk anyone through a main shutoff in a crawl space, a cleanout cap, or a water-heater drain.

Scheduled work has names and durations: a faucet, a disposal, a water heater replacement, a camera inspection, or a repipe conversation. Offer those only if you perform them, and only in openings the board exposes. A camera visit is an appointment to look, not a sewer diagnosis delivered by phone. If the board cannot be seen, the assistant collects the address, the fixture, and a window, and a dispatcher confirms before anyone is told a technician is coming.

After hours is a fee and a person, or it is a message until morning. If you publish an after-hours fee, the assistant says it before the transfer so the caller can choose. If you do not roll at night, the assistant says the morning window and does not hint that someone might come anyway. A transfer rings the technician who is actually on rotation, and if that phone is off the script admits it.

The dispatch zone is the zip or city list your plumbers will drive, which is often smaller than a directory listing implies. Check it before you collect a history of every clog in the house, and decline addresses outside the list. A neighboring county you cover only on weekdays should be described that way. Booking a night call you will not run is the mistake the list exists to prevent.

On-call criteria should fit on a card the owner can read in a minute. Water that will not stop, sewage in the living space, and no water to the house are a common version, and a water heater that is out but not leaking may be on or off that card depending on how you staff it. The assistant pages when the card matches and writes a morning ticket when it does not. It does not upgrade a call because the person is angry.

• On-call criteria written by the company, not by the caller wording
• After-hours fee stated before transfer when you charge one
• Zone check by zip or city before a long troubleshooting talk
• Weekday-only towns described as weekday-only
• Transfer only to the technician who is on rotation
• A morning ticket when the call can wait

The assistant does not diagnose. Saying it is the main, the slab is leaking, the house needs a repipe, or the water heater is finished are technician conclusions after a look. A caller can report a smell, a sound, or a wet ceiling, and the note keeps those words. The assistant does not translate them into a scope of work, a wall to open, or a code violation.

Arrival talk stays tied to a truck. A promise to be there in a set number of minutes is allowed only after dispatch assigns that truck. Otherwise the assistant offers the on-call transfer or the next scheduled window. It does not tell the caller to open a wall, cut a ceiling, or pull a toilet, and any safety line about nearby power has to be a sentence you already approved.

Price-shopping pressure does not loosen the refusal. A caller holding three other quotes still does not get a repair number for unseen work. The assistant does not disparage those companies and does not claim you are the fastest in the city. If the job needs a license you do not hold, such as gas work, the assistant says so instead of booking it.

Plumbers are asked for flat numbers all day: clear a kitchen drain, replace a flange, swap a water heater. If you publish a diagnostic fee, a dispatch fee, or a defined price for a standard replacement, the assistant may read that figure and the exclusions beside it. A standard water heater price that excludes a new vent, a move, or a code upgrade has to be read with those exclusions. The fee is not a promise the repair will match it.

When there is no published number, the sentence stays short. The technician prices the repair after finding the cause, and the assistant can offer the next diagnostic visit inside the zone. It should not invent a range to keep the caller from hanging up. People who are only collecting prices may leave, which is a better outcome than a number your tech has to walk back in the driveway.

A drain plan, if you sell one, is a lookup rather than a guess. The assistant can confirm the plan only when your system shows it on the address, and it can book a covered visit only into the slots that plan allows. It cannot decide that a plan covers a sewer replacement or a water heater. Commercial kitchens and house calls should be separated early when they go to different technicians.

• Published diagnostic or dispatch fees, with the exclusions on the card
• A standard replacement price only when you printed one, exclusions included
• A clear refusal when the repair has no published number
• Drain-plan coverage read from the account, not assumed
• Financing described only as the next step you actually offer
• Commercial jobs routed only if that crew exists

This week is an example on a dispatch board. It is not a case study, not a client, and not a tally of trucks rolled. Picture a residential plumber with a tight zip list, a published diagnostic fee, and one technician on call for active leaks and sewage backups. Water heater swaps are scheduled appointments rather than night calls.

Sunday night a caller has a burst supply under a kitchen sink at an address inside the zone. The assistant states the after-hours fee, uses only the shutoff sentence the owner approved, and transfers to the on-call technician without naming a part. Monday morning two people ask what it costs to clear a drain and hear the diagnostic fee plus the line that the repair price follows the finding. A third books a Wednesday water heater into a real slot, with the published standard price and its exclusions, and an address outside the zips is declined.

Tuesday a caller is sure the problem is the main because a neighbor said so, so the assistant records the symptom, refuses the conclusion, and offers a camera appointment instead of a replacement price. Wednesday a drain-plan member asks for a visit, the account shows the plan, and the assistant books a covered slot without promising the plan covers a dig. Thursday the dispatcher reviews transfers, fee quotes, one install, one decline, and one refused diagnosis. The review is an example of the rules, not a revenue figure.