Soft boards underfoot, about 600mm off the ground, attached to the house, roughly 20 years old.
You cannot stop a cut to take a call
A carpenter answering service that works out how big the job is before it books anything, so a half day goes in the diary as a half day.
9:41
Monday, 31 August9:41
Thursday 8am, in your diary with the address on it. Not priced over the phone.
Nearly every carpentry call is a quote you have not won yet
There is no burst pipe in carpentry. Nothing forces the caller to wait for you, so a call that rings out is a job that went to the next name on the list, quietly, and you never find out it happened.
The big one
The deck that has gone soft
Boards giving underfoot and an owner who does not know whether it is a repair or a rebuild. It is asked how big, how high off the ground, whether it is attached to the house and roughly how old, and then a look is booked. It does not price a deck it has not stood on.
The door that will not shut
An hour of work and the kind of job that fills a Friday afternoon nicely. The fault, the address and whether anything else in the house has moved get taken, and it lands in a gap rather than becoming a missed call and a lost customer.
The fit-out with a date on it
Shelving and a counter, and the shop opens in three weeks. The drawings, the deadline and who is paying are all taken, the site measure is booked, and the brief is texted to you so you can say yes or no properly.
Six answers, and you know whether the job is worth the drive
A message gives you a name and the word "deck". This gives you enough to decide from the ute without ringing anybody back.
9:41
Monday, 31 August9:41
Deck repair or rebuild, roughly 5m by 4m, 600mm off the ground, attached to the house.
Wants treated pine, happy to wait four weeks. Truck can get to the back section.
Site look booked Thursday 8am. No price was given.
What and how big
A deck, a wall, a set of stairs, a run of shelving, and roughly the dimensions. Carpentry quotes live or die on the size, and it is the first thing that goes missing off a message pad.
New or repair
Building something that is not there yet, or fixing something that has failed. They are different days, different tools and often different money.
Getting on site
The address, whether the truck can get near it, and whether there is somewhere to cut. A back section down a right of way is worth knowing about before you turn up with a trailer.
Timber and finish
What they have in mind, whether it is being painted or stained, and whether anybody has already picked the materials. It stops the quote being three quotes.
When by
A date they need it finished, or nothing in particular. Somebody with a deadline is a different customer to somebody who has been thinking about it for a year.
Where they are
You give it the suburbs and towns you cover. Anything outside them is declined politely on the call, with an offer to text them a name you trust, rather than becoming a wasted hour in the truck.
What it will not do
It does not quote carpentry down the phone unless you have given it a price for that exact job. It does not guess at whether something is structural, and it does not commit you to a date you have not agreed. It is reception, not a chippie.
The enquiry is written up, not scribbled down
Most answering services stop at the message. The point is the enquiry being open on the right customer when you put the tools down, with nothing left for you to re-key.
Fergus
The enquiry is written into Fergus against the customer, with the site address, the sizes, the materials and the call notes already on it. The customer is matched to your existing Fergus contacts or created if they are new, and where you have asked us to, the diary is read before a time is offered so a measure is never double booked by your own phone.
Tradify
One way, by email. The enquiry lands in your Tradify enquiries inbox with the name, the number, the address and what they want built, ready for you to turn into a job. It cannot recognise your Tradify customers on the phone and it cannot read or book your Tradify diary, because Tradify does not make that available to anyone. Anybody telling you otherwise is selling you something.
Google Calendar
If your week lives in a shared Google Calendar, that is the diary it reads and writes. Measures and small jobs are written into the real diary at the next free slot, sized against how long you said that kind of work takes, with the address in the entry. Never a guess at whether you are free.
Xero
Your Xero contacts are the phonebook. The builder who subcontracts you three times a year is known by name the moment he rings, and the job goes on his account without anyone looking it up.
Running something else? Tell us what you use and we will quote the integration work.
One person cannot cut and answer at the same time
A one or two person carpentry business is exactly who this is for. The calls you miss are not the difficult customers. They are whoever happened to ring while the saw was running.
You can have it on all day, or only when your own phone gives up because you are already talking to somebody. Most start with the second one, because that is where the work was going nowhere.
It answers in your business name, in a New Zealand or Australian voice, and it says it is an assistant if anybody asks. You hear yours and sign it off before it answers a single customer.
The evening callback list
The real cost of missed calls is not the lost job. It is the hour after dinner spent ringing four people back, three of whom have already booked somebody else. That hour is what this removes.
Get set up
Give us the number and the areas you cover. We do the rest and ring you before it answers anything.
Your number
You keep it. You divert your existing number to us and you can turn that divert off from your own handset whenever you want.
Set up
Your account opens straight away. Your agent is built and trained within 24 hours, and we walk you through it first.
Your area
Tell us the suburbs and towns you will drive to. Anything outside them gets a polite no rather than a wasted morning.
Not a chippie
Builders
Site, stage, timing and who else is pricing it, taken on the first call.
Handyman
Nine little jobs on one list, sized into a half day rather than an hour.
Roofers
Eleven calls in the storm hour, every one of them answered at once.
Every trade is along the top of the page, and why us is the short version of what makes this different from the rest of them.
Stop losing the job to whoever picked up
Your account opens straight away and your agent is built within 24 hours. No card, and nothing answers your phone until you have heard it and said yes.