The phone rings. You're on the water. An AI receptionist answers in a natural Australian voice, books the job, sends the confirmation and texts you what happened.
Line open
- Dale, ReservoirBooked Tue 7:30am · SMS sent · job created
- Unknown numberAnswered from your hours · address sent
- Priya, NorthcoteQuote resent · flagged for you
- WithheldEnded · not logged
- Mark, PrestonRescheduled · calendar updated · 2 SMS
- Sam, ThornburyQuoted from price list · booked Wed
Every missed call is a job someone else got.
Tradies miss calls because they're on the tools. Clinics and salons miss them because the desk is busy. Most people don't leave a voicemail, they ring the next name on the list. An AI receptionist picks up every time, in your business's name, and does the thing the caller actually rang for.
It isn't a phone tree and it isn't a chatbot bolted to a phone line. It's a receptionist that knows your hours, your service area, your price list and your calendar, holds a normal conversation, and hands you the outcome.
What it does on a call.
Answers
First ring, every time, in a natural Australian voice. "Hi, you've called Dawson Plumbing, how can I help?"
Books
Finds the next slot that fits your rules, books it into your calendar or job software, and confirms by text.
Quotes
Gives call-out fees and standard prices from your list. Anything custom, it takes the details and tells them when you'll call back.
Reschedules
Moves the job, updates the calendar, texts both sides. No back and forth.
Screens
Sales calls get a polite no. Existing customers get recognised. Urgent ones get put through to you.
Reports
Every call logged with a one-line summary and a recording. A text after each one, a digest at the end of the day.
How it's set up.
One call with us, where you tell us how you'd want the phone answered. We build it in a week: your greeting, your hours, your services and prices, your calendar, what counts as urgent, who it transfers to. Your existing number forwards to it, so nothing changes for your customers.
The first week it drafts every booking for you to approve from your phone. Once it's getting them right, it runs on its own and you go back to work. We stay on and keep it tuned. If it books something wrong, that's ours to fix, not yours.
It's built for the business you're in. Plumbers, electricians and builders (more on AI for tradies), clinics and allied health, salons, real estate, small agencies, and anyone whose phone rings more than they can answer it. If you're weighing this up against the rest of the admin, the invoicing is usually next.
Questions people ask.
Will callers know they're talking to an AI?
If they ask, it tells them. Most don't ask. It answers in a natural Australian voice, uses your business name, knows your hours, your prices and your calendar, and it doesn't make people press 1 for anything.
Do I need a new phone number?
No. Your existing number forwards to the receptionist, either always, only when you don't pick up, or only outside hours. You choose, and you can change it from your phone.
What happens when it can't help?
It takes a message, tells the caller when they'll hear back, and texts you the summary straight away. For anything you flag as urgent, like a burst pipe or a medical question, it transfers the call to you or whoever's on.
What does it plug into?
Your calendar (Google, Outlook), job software (ServiceM8, Tradify, Simpro, Jobber, Fergus), Xero or MYOB for quotes and invoices, and SMS. If you use something else, we wire it in as part of the build.
Does it work after hours and on weekends?
Yes, that's most of the point. It answers at 6am and 11pm the same way it answers at 10am, and every call is logged so you see what happened while you weren't there.
What does an AI receptionist cost in Australia?
Ours is a fixed monthly price agreed before we start, with the setup done in the first week. It's less than a part-time receptionist and it never calls in sick. Book a call and you'll have the number in writing.
Photo to come: Cal.
Calum Buchanan.
Melbourne. Ran the systems behind a services business, the phones, the invoices, the marketing, the reporting, and spent the last few years handing them to AI that works. This is that, for yours.