AI receptionist for painters
You’re up a ladder with a roller. The quote enquiry rings out.
Painting is a quoting trade. Nearly every call is someone wanting a price, and nearly every call comes while you’re cutting in and can’t stop. Receptly answers it, gets the scope, and books the quote before they ring the next painter.
1300 556 520Ring it now and ask for a price to paint a three-bedroom house. See what it asks.
The painter’s problem
Every missed call is a quote you never got to give
Painters do not get emergency calls. That sounds like an advantage until you look at what it actually means: there is no urgency forcing the caller back to you. Someone ringing about a repaint has a list of three painters off Google, and they are working down it while they have a spare ten minutes at their desk. Whoever picks up gets the walk-through. The other two get nothing, and never find out why.
The work itself is the problem. You are on a ladder, in a respirator, with a roller in one hand and wet cutting-in you cannot walk away from. There is no version of the day where you answer the phone reliably. So the enquiries land in voicemail, you ring back at six, and half of them have already booked someone else.
What it asks a painting caller
It scopes the job before you drive across town
The receptionist is set up for painting before it takes a call. It knows the difference between a single room and a full exterior, and it asks what you would ask on the phone:
- Interior, exterior, or both? The first fork in every painting quote. It also captures whether ceilings and trim are included, because that is the argument nobody wants later.
- How big is it? Rooms, or which parts of the outside. Single or double storey. Whether there is easy access or scaffold territory.
- What condition are the surfaces in? Peeling, cracking, patching, previous water damage, render or weatherboard. This is what turns a two-day job into a five-day job, and it is the question that most often gets skipped.
- Is it occupied? Lived in, empty, a rental between tenants, or a new build. Changes how you schedule it and what you charge.
- When do they want it? This month, before Christmas, or whenever. Sorts the real jobs from the price-checkers without being rude about it.
- Address and mobile So the quote goes in the diary, not on a scrap of paper.
It lands on your phone as a text with the scope already written down. You ring back knowing whether it is worth the drive, and you turn up to the walk-through already knowing the job.
Bookings
Straight into your job software or calendar
Tell it your working hours, your service area and how long a standard job takes, and it books straight into ServiceM8, simPRO, Fergus, AroFlo or Google Calendar (Tradify on request). The job card has the address, the details, the access notes and the caller’s number. No re-typing from a voicemail.
If you’d rather approve every booking first, it holds the slot and texts you. You reply Y and the customer gets a confirmation.
How it works
You don’t set anything up. We do.
- One call with usWe learn how you run: the jobs you take, the areas you cover, what’s urgent, what gets quoted, who gets called back first.
- Your number stays the sameKeep the number on the van. Calls you don’t pick up in a few rings divert to the receptionist. Nobody notices a change, except that someone answers.
- Live within the weekWe listen to the first month of calls and tune it. Anything it can’t handle, it takes a message and texts you.
Questions painters ask us
Straight answers
Does it sound like a robot?
It sounds like a receptionist with an Australian accent. It tells callers up front that it is an automated receptionist, because the law says it should and because people are fine with it once they know. What they are not fine with is voicemail.
Will it quote a price?
No, and it will not guess at coats, days or litres. It takes the scope and books the walk-through. If you want it to give a starting range or a minimum job size to filter out the single-wall enquiries, you set that and it says exactly what you tell it to.
Can it take photos?
Yes. It asks the caller to text photos of the surfaces to your number while they are still on the phone, which is when they will actually do it. For a lot of repaints that is most of the quote done before you have left the site you are on.
What about lead paint or mould?
If the property is pre-1970 and they mention sanding or stripping, it notes that old paint can contain lead and that it needs handling properly. It does not tell them how to do it themselves. Same with mould: it records it, because painting over mould does not fix it and you will want to know before you quote.
Can it book a walk-through in my diary?
Yes. Tell it your quoting days and how far you will travel, and it books into Google Calendar or your job software directly. Or it holds the slot and texts you to approve.
Pricing
Less than one missed repaint a month
Starts the day it goes live. Nothing charged until it’s answered your calls for a week. Cancel inside the week and you pay nothing, setup included.
Less than one missed repaint a month. A lot less than a receptionist.
No surprise bills: go over two months running and we tell you before we move you up. Full pricing and what’s included.
Book a setup callWork out what missed calls are costing you with the missed call calculator, or see how it works in your city. Other trades: all trades.
Hear it take a painting call
Ring the number and ask for a price to repaint the inside of a house.
1300 556 520