Tile
Tile work doesn't pause for the phone. Once the thinset is mixed, it has to go on before it sets, and you can't answer with your hands covered or the wet saw running. So calls about a shower, a backsplash or a heated floor go to voicemail, and a homeowner planning a bathroom renovation may simply call the next installer on their list.
Your receptionist answers instead. It tells callers it's an AI, asks what they're planning and where, and takes down their name, number and address, along with when they'd like someone to come see the space. A regrout or a cracked floor tile is taken down the same way. Tile work takes no emergency calls, so every call becomes a message and nobody is put through; anything that can't wait is marked URGENT in your text.
You keep your own number. Only the calls you miss forward to your receptionist, and the message and transcript of each one are in your portal when you've washed up.
Most tile work 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.
If plumbing fixtures aren't your work, mark them as work you don't do when you sign up. The receptionist then tells those callers it's not work you take on, and offers to take a message in case you can help anyway.
Tile work takes no emergency calls, so it's taken as a message. If it's happening now, like water getting in behind a shower wall, your text is marked URGENT so you can decide how soon to call back.
It asks when the caller would like someone to come see the space and passes that on as a request in your text. It never promises the time: you confirm it when you call back.
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.