Painting
Painters spend the day with a brush or a roller in hand, often up a ladder or on a plank, and nobody climbs down to answer an unknown number with a wet edge going. The calls keep coming anyway: a homeowner who wants the outside done before the weather turns, a landlord with a unit to freshen up between tenants, someone asking whether you paint kitchen cabinets.
Your receptionist takes those calls. It tells callers it's an AI, asks what they'd like painted, inside or out, and takes down their name, number and address, along with when they'd like someone to come by for an estimate. Each one comes to you as a text. Painting takes no emergency calls, so every call is taken as a message and nobody is put through. A caller with something that can't wait is marked URGENT, so it stands out.
You keep your own number. The calls you don't answer forward to your receptionist, and you can read every message and transcript in your portal, then call back once you're off the ladder.
Most painting can wait for a call back, so every call is taken as a message and texted to you. If some of your calls can't wait, you can list your own emergencies in your profile.
Whatever your trade, a caller who mentions a gas smell or a carbon monoxide alarm is told to get out and call the gas company or 911 from outside. Smoke or fire, an electrical shock or someone hurt means calling 911 now. Either way, you get a SAFETY text right away.
Pricing
Starter
Plus tax. 400 minutes a month. Extra minutes are $0.25 each, or calls go to voicemail, as you choose.
About 130 calls at 3 minutes each
Standard
Plus tax. 800 minutes a month. Extra minutes are $0.25 each, or calls go to voicemail, as you choose.
About 270 calls at 3 minutes each
Pro
Plus tax. 1,200 minutes a month. Extra minutes are $0.25 each, or calls go to voicemail, as you choose.
About 400 calls at 3 minutes each
14 days free; you're only billed if your receptionist is live by then.
It takes the request. It asks what they'd like painted and when they'd like someone to come by, and that goes in your text as a line: "Wants a visit". You confirm the time when you call back, so it never books you into a day you're already working.
Painting takes no emergency calls, so nobody is put through. A caller who needs something soon is taken as an urgent message, and your text starts with URGENT. If there's a kind of call you'd want treated as an emergency, you can add it to your list in the portal.
Only with what you write for it. Add answers about the paints you use, colour consultations or how you price a job, and it gives them. Anything else, it takes a message so you can answer it yourself.
Back to work
Plans from $99 CAD a month plus tax. 14 days free; you're only billed if your receptionist is live by then.