Industry playbooks · 2 min
AI for plumbers and trades: the honest playbook.
Your work happens under floors and up ladders — the admin happens in the van, at 9pm, and in the calls you physically can't take. That second list is what AI eats.
Industry playbooks · Updated 24 September 2026
The trades admin week, typically
In trades businesses, a pattern repeats. Calls come in while you're busy, so they go to voicemail and pile up. Quotes get written after dinner, if at all, and unanswered ones aren't chased. Chasing feels like begging, and there's no polite system to do it for you. Reviews go unanswered. The same two questions get asked forty times a month. Paperwork looms over Sunday evening. None of this is the trade itself, but all of it affects how much you get paid.
The three highest-value AI jobs
Quoting from the van
Speak a voice note — job, rough materials, date — and a tidy quote in your format and your prices appears for approval. The evening quote pile becomes minutes of approving, and quoting same-day measurably beats quoting Thursday.
The after-hours front door
An assistant on your website (and behind your missed calls) that answers the standard questions — do you do X, roughly what does Y cost, when can you come — captures the details, and books the callback. Emergency enquiries at 9pm currently go to whoever answers; that can be you without it being you.
Polite, automatic quote chasing
Every quote gets a follow-up at the interval you set, in your voice, stopping the leak that comes purely from forgetting. This one is barely even AI — it's automation — which is why it's often the cheapest and first.
What NOT to automate
Pricing judgement on non-standard work
The machine drafts; the number for a weird job is yours.
The reassurance call
A flooded kitchen wants a human voice saying when you'll arrive. Let AI catch the details, not do the comfort.
Site assessments, obviously — and complaint handling, where a template reads as an insult.
What it costs, honestly
Chasing quotes can mostly be automated. It's often just setting up tools you already have. A customised assistant can answer, quote, and book jobs. Tell me about your needs in the chat, and I'll give you an honest estimate. Costs depend on what it handles and are detailed in the quote. The £24.95 membership lets you test the waters. It includes monthly score monitoring, review checks, uptime tracking, and a marketing plan. The free tier is truly free. Check your score below to find leaks before spending. If you're a one-van operation with a full diary and word of mouth, you might not need this yet. I'll tell you if that's the case.
Free tool · runs right here
Free Business Score
See how your business looks online — findability, website health, reviews and more — with the few fixes worth doing first.
No sign-up · instant · it’s me that runs it — the same tool, live on this site.
See how your business looks from the outside — website, register, reviews — and where AI would genuinely pay for itself first.
Score my business free →Prefer to just ask? Chat with Katalis · More from the blog