Sticking door, tap washer, two shelves, gate dragging, curtain rail, three flat pack units. Materials on site.
Nine little jobs is a half day, not an hour
A handyman answering service that takes the whole list, works out how long it really is, and books it against a slot that fits.
9:41
Monday, 31 August9:41
Thursday morning, not a one hour slot that was never going to be enough.
Small jobs, lots of them, and a phone that never stops
Handyman work is the trade with the highest call count and the lowest value per call, which is exactly why an unanswered phone hurts here more than anywhere. Nobody rings back about a sticking door.
The list
Nine things, and none of them big
A sticking door, a tap washer, two shelves, a gate that drags. They are taken one by one rather than written down as "odd jobs", and they are added up into something that actually fits the diary.
The rental changeover
A property manager needs a handful of repairs done before a tenant moves in on Friday. The address, the list, who holds the keys and the deadline are all taken, so you load the van once.
The repeat customer
The person who has had you three times already gets recognised by name rather than treated like a cold enquiry, and their job lands on their existing record.
Six answers, and the slot in the diary is the right size
Getting the length wrong is the expensive mistake in this trade. Arrive with an hour booked for a half day of work and you have lost the rest of the afternoon as well.
9:41
Monday, 31 August9:41
Nine items, listed one by one. Materials already on site except the door hardware.
Tenanted. Property manager holds the keys and authorises the spend.
Half day booked Thursday. Invoice goes to the agency, not the tenant.
Item by item
Every job on the list, taken separately and written down separately. A caller who says "a few bits and pieces" is asked to go through them, because that is where a half day hides.
How long
What the caller thinks it will take, then sized against your own rules. Anything it is unsure of is held as an enquiry with the whole list written down, so you decide rather than arriving short of time.
Parts on site
Whether the materials, the hardware and the paint are already there, or whether you are stopping at a trade counter on the way. It changes the start time and the price.
Getting in
The address, whether somebody will be home, and where the key is if not. A locked house is a wasted drive you still paid for.
Who is paying
Home, rental or business. If it is a rental, the property manager and the agency the invoice goes to are taken there and then, not chased two days later.
How soon
A tenancy starting on Friday, a business that cannot open, or whenever suits. It sets the order of your week without you having to work it out from a list of numbers.
It says no to the work you cannot sign off
Somebody rings about rewiring a kitchen or moving a gas hob. That is a registered trade, not a handyman job, and taking the booking is the expensive kind of yes.
You tell it what you will not touch and it declines those politely on the call, with an offer to text the caller a name you would use yourself. You keep the goodwill, they get sorted, and you do not end up on a job you cannot certify.
The same rule handles distance. Give it the suburbs and towns you cover and anything outside them gets a straight answer instead of a booking you would have had to ring back and cancel.
What it will not do
It does not quote work it has not seen unless you have given it a price for that exact job. It does not give trade advice down the phone, and it does not promise a time you have not agreed to. It is reception, not a tradesperson.
The list turns up where you already keep the work
Nothing to install and no new system to learn. Whatever the jobs live in, that is where the call ends up.
Fergus
Each job is written into Fergus against the customer and the property with the whole list attached, the site address on it and the access notes in the notes. Existing contacts are matched rather than duplicated, and where you have asked us to, the diary is read before a time is offered.
Tradify
One way, by email. The enquiry lands in your Tradify enquiries inbox with the name, the number, the address and the list of jobs, ready to turn into work. It cannot look a caller up in your Tradify customers and it cannot read or book your Tradify diary, because Tradify does not open that up to anybody.
Google Calendar
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. It books into the diary you actually look at, so it is never a guess at whether you are free.
Xero
Property managers and repeat customers are recognised from your Xero contacts the moment they ring, and the job goes on the right account without anyone looking it up. Account questions get a straight answer instead of a message taken.
Running something else? Tell us what you use and we will quote the integration work.
Get set up
Give us the number, the areas you cover and the work you will not touch. 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 sizing
Tell us what an hour job looks like and what a half day looks like, and it books to your rules rather than to a guess.
Something more specialised
Carpenters
Decks, doors and fit-outs, sized on the call rather than priced blind.
Electricians
The work you have just declined, handled properly by somebody registered.
Landscapers
Eleven calls on the first warm Saturday, and a maintenance round that repeats.
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.
Fill the gaps instead of ringing people back
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.