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AI Receptionist for Builders

A builder's phone rings less than a plumber's. That is exactly what makes missing one so expensive.

Low volume, high stakes

You might take a handful of genuine enquiries in a week. One of them is a loft conversion, one is a rear extension, one is somebody who wants a wall knocked through and has not thought it past that. The arithmetic is brutal and simple: a plumber who misses a call loses a call-out, and you lose a project.

Worse, those callers do not chase. Someone planning an extension is emailing and ringing three or four builders in an afternoon, comparing who seemed organised. Not answering, and then not ringing back for two days because you were on site in a dust mask, reads as a preview of how the whole job will go.

What Aria gets out of an enquiry

Enough that when you ring back you are having a real conversation instead of starting from nothing:

• What the work actually is — extension, loft, garage conversion, knock-through, new build, refurbishment — described the way the customer describes it.
• How far along they are. Idea, drawings done, planning submitted, planning granted, or ready to start. This one question tells you more about whether it is real than anything else on the call.
• Whether there are drawings or a planning reference, and whether an architect or structural engineer is already involved.
• When they want it done, which is how you tell a spring start from a someday.
• Site address and postcode, so you can see straight away whether it is in your patch.
• Name, number and the best time to call back, read back on the call.

It arrives as a text on Starter, or in your calendar on Pro. Either way you read it in the van at four o'clock and know which one to ring first.

The question that sorts a project from a daydream

Every builder has had the same afternoon: three callbacks, two of which were never going to happen, and the one that was real had already given the job to whoever rang back first. The thing that separates them is not enthusiasm on the phone — it is how far along the paperwork is.

What Aria asks is tuned to the trade, and for a builder's caller that includes whether planning has gone through. So the text you get does not say "wants an extension"; it tells you whether there are drawings, whether planning is submitted or granted, and when they want to start. That is the difference between a callback list you work through in order and one you work through in priority order.

You answer a plumber's volume of calls, but each one is a project

A plumber who misses a call loses a call-out. On a handful of genuine enquiries a week, one missed call is a loft conversion that went to someone else, and you will never know it happened — builders' callers do not leave voicemails and they do not chase. They work down a shortlist in an afternoon, comparing who seemed organised, and silence reads as a preview of how the whole job will go.

She answers on the first ring, 24 hours a day, on every plan, including the evenings and weekends when homeowners actually do their ringing. And she takes calls in parallel rather than one after another, so there is no queue and no hold music — two enquiries arriving in the same minute both get answered.

What she will not do

On a project-sized job the limits matter more than the capability, because a receptionist who oversteps on a quote or a date costs you more than one that does too little.

• She will not quote. No price, no day rate, no ballpark, no guessing at a budget or a rate per square metre. She gathers what you need to price it yourself.
• She will not commit you to a start date you have not agreed. On Pro she books only into slots you have actually left free. On Starter she does not touch the diary.
• She will not pretend to be a person. She says she is an AI in the greeting, on every plan.

What the three plans actually change

The answering is not the thing held back. All three plans answer every call 24/7 and all three tell the caller she is an AI. What changes as you go up is what happens in the minute after the call ends.

Full detail is on the Aria pricing page. No setup fee and no minimum term on any of them, and every plan starts with 14 days free before the first payment.

Decide it with a number, not a feeling

On a handful of calls a week, whether this is worth £59 a month is a genuinely open question, and we would rather you answered it with evidence than with our sales copy. Two things cost nothing.

The demo line at the bottom of this page is the live system, so you can put an extension enquiry to her and judge what comes back. And the free missed-call check rings your mobile and texts you back exactly what happened to the call — no card, no sales call. Set your own missed-call figure against the margin on one project; the arithmetic is set out in what a missed call actually costs.

Questions builders actually ask us

Can she filter out the tyre-kickers?

She does not judge anyone, but she asks the questions that let you judge in ten seconds. "Planning granted, wants a May start, has drawings" and "thinking about maybe doing something to the back" come through in the caller's own words, and you can tell them apart instantly.

Does she ask whether planning has gone through?

Yes. What she asks is tuned to the trade, and for a builder's caller that includes whether planning has gone through. It is the single question that tells you most about whether an enquiry is real, and it is the one you would otherwise spend the first two minutes of a callback establishing.

Will Aria price or quote my job?

No, and you would not want her to. Not a price, not a day rate, not a ballpark, and no guessing at budgets or rates per square metre. She finds out what the job is and who is asking, and hands it to you to price.

Will she commit me to a start date?

Not one you have not agreed. On Starter she does not touch your diary at all — she texts you the details and you decide. On Pro she books only into slots you have actually left free in your own calendar.

Does Aria tell the caller she is an AI?

Yes, in the greeting, on every plan. She says she is an AI assistant answering for your business. Someone comparing four builders on who seemed straight with them is exactly the caller you do not want discovering it halfway through.

What exactly gets sent to me after a call?

The caller's name, their number, the postcode, what the job is and how urgent it sounded. You read it in the van at four o'clock and know which one to ring back first, instead of starting the callback from nothing.

Does she read the callback number back to the caller?

Yes — name, number and address, out loud, on the call. It takes about fifteen seconds. On a low-volume, high-value enquiry a single transposed digit is a lost project rather than a lost call-out.

Does the customer get anything in writing?

Yes, the customer gets a text after the call. Your name is in their phone and the enquiry is written down, which is most of what stops them carrying on through the other three builders they were going to ring that afternoon.

Does she answer out of hours?

Yes, 24 hours a day on every plan, including nights, weekends and bank holidays. Homeowners planning an extension do their ringing in the evening and at weekends, because they are at work in the day the same as you are.

What if two enquiries come in at the same time?

Both get answered. She takes calls in parallel rather than one after another, so there is no queue and no hold music — ten callers ringing at the same moment are all answered at the same moment.

Is £59 a month worth it for a handful of calls?

That is the right question and the answer is arithmetic, which is why we would rather you did not take it on faith. Get a free missed-call check first: we ring your mobile and text you back what actually happened to the call. No card and no sales call. Then you are deciding with your own number rather than our opinion.

Is there a setup fee, a contract or a minimum term?

None of the three. No setup fee, no minimum term and no contract — it is monthly and you cancel when you like. No installation, no engineer visit and nobody coming out to see you.

What does it cost?

Starter is £59 a month, Pro is £250 a month and Multi-Site is £449 a month, as listed on the Aria pricing page. All three answer 24/7 and all three start with 14 days free before the first payment.

Can I hear her before I pay anything?

Yes. Ring the demo line on this page and put a rear-extension enquiry to her the way a homeowner would — it is the live system, not a recording. After that it is 14 days free before the first payment.