You can't take a call halfway up a ladder or with a grinder in your hand. The person on the other end doesn't wait: they ring the next name on the list. An AI receptionist picks up every call, gets the job details, books it into a slot you've already approved, and texts you the lot. Nothing gets booked outside your rules.
FROM A$1,290 SETUP · A$290 / MONTH · ANSWERS 24/7 · REPLY WITHIN 2 BUSINESS DAYS
A missed call doesn't feel like a lost job. It feels like a number in your call log you'll get to at smoko. But someone with water through the ceiling, or a switchboard that keeps tripping, isn't waiting for smoko. If nobody answers, they try the next tradie, and by the time you call back the job's gone. You never hear about it, so it never feels like money.
Voicemail doesn't fix this. Plenty of callers hang up rather than leave a message, and the ones who do leave one still need you to stop work and ring back.
Before you spend a dollar on this, find out whether you have the problem. It takes ten minutes:
If the answer is one or two calls a fortnight, a quick-callback habit is cheaper than any service, including ours. If it's one or two a day, keep reading.
Which days and hours it can book, how far you'll travel, which job types it can take on its own and which always come to you. Plain English. We set it up.
Day or night, in a natural voice. It gets the caller's name, number, address and what's wrong, and asks the questions you'd ask.
If the job fits, it's booked into a slot you've already approved. If it doesn't, it takes the details and the decision comes to you.
A transcript and summary land as a text after every call, so you know what came in before you've put the tools down.
Every system we build has the same rule: anything that commits your business waits for a person. For a phone assistant, that means the rules you set are the only bookings it makes. Everything else is a job summary on your phone, waiting for you.
| OPTION | TYPICAL COST | WHAT THE CALLER GETS | WHAT YOU GET |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voicemail | Included with your phone plan | A beep. Many hang up and ring someone else. | Messages to listen to, and every callback is on you. |
| Human message-taking service | A monthly minimum plus a fee per call. One national provider lists 25 calls for a A$69 minimum, with extra calls at around A$2.60–A$2.75 each (ex GST). | A person, usually during set hours or at an after-hours premium. | A message. You still ring back to book the job. |
| Our AI Phone Assistant | From A$1,290 setup + A$290/month, the same whether you get 5 calls or 50. | An answer at any hour, and a booking if the job fits your rules. | A booked job or a ready-to-decide summary, plus the transcript. |
Message-service pricing from Vodafone Business Answering's published Starter plans, checked October 2026. Prices change, so check current rates.
Low call volume: if you only miss a few calls a week, a message service or a disciplined callback habit is the cheaper answer. We'll tell you that if it's true.
Steady volume, mostly bookable work: quotes, service calls and maintenance jobs with predictable slots are where an AI receptionist earns its keep. It costs the same at fifty calls as at five, and it books the job rather than just taking a message.
Mostly emergencies: it can take the details and get them to you instantly, but you decide which emergencies it books and which ring through to you.
Plenty of tradie leads never ring at all: they fill in a form at 9pm, or they look you up, find only a Facebook page, and move on. If you don't have a site yet, our Website Build (from A$1,490, five pages, yours outright) drafts a reply to every enquiry and holds it for your tap, the same rule as the phone assistant. If you have a site and nobody finds it, start with a Site Rescue.
Want to see one we've built? Thorr Masonry are Sydney brick and blocklayers with 22 years on the tools and no website until we built one from their own Instagram posts.
It answers every call to your business number, day or night, in a natural voice. It gets the caller's name, number, address and what the job is, books it into a slot that fits the calendar rules you've set, and texts you a transcript and summary after every call. Anything outside your rules comes to you instead of being booked.
Only inside rules you approve up front, such as which days, which hours, how far you travel and which job types it may book. If a call falls outside those rules, it takes the details and the job comes to you to decide.
Setup is from A$1,290 and it runs from A$290 a month. You get a fixed price for your setup before anything starts.
It depends on your calls. A human message-taking service is cheap at low volume and good with upset or complicated callers. An AI receptionist costs the same whether you get five calls or fifty, answers instantly at any hour, and can book the job rather than just take a message.
Email [email protected] with what you do, roughly how many calls you get, and which jobs you'd want booked automatically. There's no sales call. We reply within two business days with a fixed price.
One email: what you do, roughly how many calls you miss, and which jobs you'd want booked without you. Fixed price back within two business days.
No obligation. If voicemail and a callback habit would serve you better, we'll say so.