u/yusufahmd

Wasn't planning to post about this but it keeps surprising me how well it works so figured I'd write it up.

Started working with a local plumber maybe 3 months ago. Good guy, been doing it like 12 years, runs a small crew. Knows his stuff. Terrible at his phone, but not in a flaky way. The man is literally under a sink with both hands on a wrench for half his day. He'd get back to his truck and there'd be 4, 5 missed calls sitting there. Half the time by the time he called back the person had already booked someone else off Google. He told me he was losing jobs every month. I kinda nodded but I had a feeling it was a lot more than that. Spoiler: it was.

So I built him an AI voice receptionist. Sounds fancier than it is honestly.

What it does is basically:

• picks up every call, doesn't matter if it's 11pm Sunday or the middle of a Tuesday
• talks like an actual person, not one of those "press 1 for emergency" nightmares
• gets the name, number, email, address, what's wrong (clog, leak, no hot water, whatever) and how urgent it is
• books straight into his Google Calendar based on what's actually open
• logs every single call into a Google Sheet
• emails the customer a confirmation
• emails him so he knows what's coming when he finally checks his phone

He doesn't touch any of it. Calls come in, jobs land on the calendar, he shows up.

The results honestly threw me off. He's booking somewhere between 5 and 7 extra jobs a week that would've been straight-up missed before. At his ticket size that's not pocket change. He told me last month was the most he's ever made and he didn't even feel busier. Just less stressed. That's actually the part he keeps mentioning. Not the money. The fact that he stopped lying awake wondering if that one missed call was a $2k water heater install or just somebody's wrong number. Now he just doesn't think about it.

Couple things I figured out along the way that might be useful if you're thinking about doing something similar: Voice quality is THE thing. Not "a thing." THE thing. We went through a few different setups before landing on one that didn't sound too robotic, with human like expressions, voice modulation depicting emotions, and intelligence with a complete knowledge base. Answering FAQs, customer support etc, this technology seems to work like an actual reciptionist, getting better every month and evolving every year. The best part of this AI is that it learns and gets better and better automatically.

The Google Sheet thing was almost an afterthought when I built it but turned out to be one of the most useful parts. He can now see every lead that ever called him, including the ones that didn't book, people who called once and never followed up, people who called outside the area, etc. He's been going back through it and texting old leads and pulling more work out of it. Wasn't expecting that.

Oh and the after-hours calls. Didn't realize how many people call plumbers at like 9pm on a Saturday until I started looking at his data. A real chunk of his extra jobs are coming from calls that hit between 6pm and 8am. Before this they all just went to voicemail and died there. I've started doing the same thing for an HVAC guy and an electrician and the pattern is exactly the same. Tradesmen are bleeding leads through their phone and most of them have no idea how bad it actually is until you put numbers on it.

Anyway. Just thought it was worth sharing. If anyone's running a service business and dealing with the same missed-call thing, the fix is genuinely not that complicated anymore.

Wasn't going to post this but three months in and it's still working better than I expected, so here goes.

Guy I know runs a plumbing operation. Been at it twelve years, small crew, does good work. His one catastrophic flaw as a business owner is that he simply does not answer his phone. And I don't mean he's blowing people off. I mean the man spends half his day physically underneath something. Crawlspaces. Sink cabinets. That weird gap behind a water heater where a normal human cannot fit but apparently plumbers can. He'd climb out, drive back to the truck, and there'd be five missed calls sitting there. By the time he got back to any of them, half those people had already called the next guy on Google and booked.

He told me he thought he was losing maybe a handful of jobs a month. I nodded and figured the real number was worse. It was significantly worse.

So I built him a voice AI that answers his phone.

What it does isn't complicated. It picks up every call doesn't matter if it's 2pm Tuesday or 10:30 on a Sunday night and actually talks to people instead of reading them a menu. Gets their name, address, what's going on (burst pipe, clogged drain, no hot water, whatever), and how fast they need someone. If they're ready to book, it pulls up his Google Calendar and puts something on it. Logs the whole call to a spreadsheet. Sends the customer a confirmation email, sends him a summary so he knows what's waiting when he eventually does look at his phone.

He doesn't do anything. Calls come in, jobs appear on his calendar, he shows up.

The results were genuinely surprising. He's picking up somewhere between five and seven extra jobs a week that would've just evaporated before. At his average ticket size that's a real number. He told me last month was the best month he's had since he started, and here's the part I keep thinking about — he said he didn't even feel busier. He felt less stressed. And when I pushed him on it, the thing he kept coming back to wasn't the money. It was that he'd stopped lying awake at night replaying missed calls, trying to guess whether the voicemail he never listened to was a $2,000 water heater job or just a wrong number. Now he just doesn't think about it. That felt like the actual win.

A few things I learned while building it that might be useful if you're thinking about doing this for someone:

The voice quality is not a minor detail. It's basically the whole thing. We went through a couple of setups that were just slightly too robotic and people were hanging up. Once we got it to something that sounds like an actual person natural pacing, not over-polished the hang-up rate dropped and people actually stayed on long enough to book. Customers can tell instantly when something sounds off, even if they can't articulate what bothered them.

The call log spreadsheet was almost an accident, I threw it in mostly for my own reference and didn't think much of it. Turns out it's been one of the more useful parts. He can see every lead that ever called him going back to when I set this up, including the ones who called and didn't book, people who were outside his service area, people who called at a weird hour and never left a voicemail. He's been going back through old entries, texting people, and pulling actual jobs out of calls that happened weeks ago. Didn't build it expecting that.

The after-hours volume also caught me off guard. I knew some people would call late, but when you actually look at the data, a meaningful chunk of his extra bookings are coming from calls that hit between 6pm and 8am. Before this, every single one of those went to voicemail and never got followed up on. I've since built the same setup for an HVAC contractor and an electrician and I'm seeing the exact same pattern. These guys are losing a lot more through missed calls than they realize, and they don't know how much until you can actually show them the number.

Wasn't planning to post about this but it keeps surprising me how well it works so figured I'd write it up.

Started working with a local plumber maybe 3 months ago. Good guy, been doing it like 12 years, runs a small crew. Knows his stuff. Terrible at his phone, but not in a flaky way. The man is literally under a sink with both hands on a wrench for half his day. He'd get back to his truck and there'd be 4, 5 missed calls sitting there. Half the time by the time he called back the person had already booked someone else off Google. He told me he was losing jobs every month. I kinda nodded but I had a feeling it was a lot more than that. Spoiler: it was.

So I built him an AI voice receptionist. Sounds fancier than it is honestly.

What it does is basically:

• picks up every call, doesn't matter if it's 11pm Sunday or the middle of a Tuesday
• talks like an actual person, not one of those "press 1 for emergency" nightmares
• gets the name, number, email, address, what's wrong (clog, leak, no hot water, whatever) and how urgent it is
• books straight into his Google Calendar based on what's actually open
• logs every single call into a Google Sheet
• emails the customer a confirmation
• emails him so he knows what's coming when he finally checks his phone

He doesn't touch any of it. Calls come in, jobs land on the calendar, he shows up.

The results honestly threw me off. He's booking somewhere between 5 and 7 extra jobs a week that would've been straight-up missed before. At his ticket size that's not pocket change. He told me last month was the most he's ever made and he didn't even feel busier. Just less stressed. That's actually the part he keeps mentioning. Not the money. The fact that he stopped lying awake wondering if that one missed call was a $2k water heater install or just somebody's wrong number. Now he just doesn't think about it.

Couple things I figured out along the way that might be useful if you're thinking about doing something similar: Voice quality is THE thing. Not "a thing." THE thing. We went through a few different setups before landing on one that didn't sound too robotic, with human like expressions, voice modulation depicting emotions, and intelligence with a complete knowledge base. Answering FAQs, customer support etc, this technology seems to work like an actual reciptionist, getting better every month and evolving every year. The best part of this AI is that it learns and gets better and better automatically.

The Google Sheet thing was almost an afterthought when I built it but turned out to be one of the most useful parts. He can now see every lead that ever called him, including the ones that didn't book, people who called once and never followed up, people who called outside the area, etc. He's been going back through it and texting old leads and pulling more work out of it. Wasn't expecting that.

Oh and the after-hours calls. Didn't realize how many people call plumbers at like 9pm on a Saturday until I started looking at his data. A real chunk of his extra jobs are coming from calls that hit between 6pm and 8am. Before this they all just went to voicemail and died there. I've started doing the same thing for an HVAC guy and an electrician and the pattern is exactly the same. Tradesmen are bleeding leads through their phone and most of them have no idea how bad it actually is until you put numbers on it.

Anyway. Just thought it was worth sharing. If anyone's running a service business and dealing with the same missed-call thing, the fix is genuinely not that complicated anymore.

Wasn't planning to post about this but it keeps surprising me how well it works so figured I'd write it up.

Started working with a local plumber maybe 3 months ago. Good guy, been doing it like 12 years, runs a small crew. Knows his stuff. Terrible at his phone, but not in a flaky way. The man is literally under a sink with both hands on a wrench for half his day. He'd get back to his truck and there'd be 4, 5 missed calls sitting there. Half the time by the time he called back the person had already booked someone else off Google. He told me he was losing jobs every month. I kinda nodded but I had a feeling it was a lot more than that. Spoiler: it was.

So I built him an AI voice receptionist. Sounds fancier than it is honestly.

What it does is basically:

• picks up every call, doesn't matter if it's 11pm Sunday or the middle of a Tuesday
• talks like an actual person, not one of those "press 1 for emergency" nightmares
• gets the name, number, email, address, what's wrong (clog, leak, no hot water, whatever) and how urgent it is
• books straight into his Google Calendar based on what's actually open
• logs every single call into a Google Sheet
• emails the customer a confirmation
• emails him so he knows what's coming when he finally checks his phone

He doesn't touch any of it. Calls come in, jobs land on the calendar, he shows up.

The results honestly threw me off. He's booking somewhere between 5 and 7 extra jobs a week that would've been straight-up missed before. At his ticket size that's not pocket change. He told me last month was the most he's ever made and he didn't even feel busier. Just less stressed. That's actually the part he keeps mentioning. Not the money. The fact that he stopped lying awake wondering if that one missed call was a $2k water heater install or just somebody's wrong number. Now he just doesn't think about it.

Couple things I figured out along the way that might be useful if you're thinking about doing something similar: Voice quality is THE thing. Not "a thing." THE thing. We went through a few different setups before landing on one that didn't sound too robotic, with human like expressions, voice modulation depicting emotions, and intelligence with a complete knowledge base. Answering FAQs, customer support etc, this technology seems to work like an actual reciptionist, getting better every month and evolving every year. The best part of this AI is that it learns and gets better and better automatically.

The Google Sheet thing was almost an afterthought when I built it but turned out to be one of the most useful parts. He can now see every lead that ever called him, including the ones that didn't book, people who called once and never followed up, people who called outside the area, etc. He's been going back through it and texting old leads and pulling more work out of it. Wasn't expecting that.

Oh and the after-hours calls. Didn't realize how many people call plumbers at like 9pm on a Saturday until I started looking at his data. A real chunk of his extra jobs are coming from calls that hit between 6pm and 8am. Before this they all just went to voicemail and died there. I've started doing the same thing for an HVAC guy and an electrician and the pattern is exactly the same. Tradesmen are bleeding leads through their phone and most of them have no idea how bad it actually is until you put numbers on it.

Anyway. Just thought it was worth sharing. If anyone's running a service business and dealing with the same missed-call thing, the fix is genuinely not that complicated anymore.

Wasn't planning to post about this but it keeps surprising me how well it works so figured I'd write it up.

Started working with a local plumber maybe 3 months ago. Good guy, been doing it like 12 years, runs a small crew. Knows his stuff. Terrible at his phone, but not in a flaky way. The man is literally under a sink with both hands on a wrench for half his day. He'd get back to his truck and there'd be 4, 5 missed calls sitting there. Half the time by the time he called back the person had already booked someone else off Google. He told me he was losing jobs every month. I kinda nodded but I had a feeling it was a lot more than that. Spoiler: it was.

So I built him an AI voice receptionist. Sounds fancier than it is honestly.

What it does is basically:

• picks up every call, doesn't matter if it's 11pm Sunday or the middle of a Tuesday
• talks like an actual person, not one of those "press 1 for emergency" nightmares
• gets the name, number, email, address, what's wrong (clog, leak, no hot water, whatever) and how urgent it is
• books straight into his Google Calendar based on what's actually open
• logs every single call into a Google Sheet
• emails the customer a confirmation
• emails him so he knows what's coming when he finally checks his phone

He doesn't touch any of it. Calls come in, jobs land on the calendar, he shows up.

The results honestly threw me off. He's booking somewhere between 5 and 7 extra jobs a week that would've been straight-up missed before. At his ticket size that's not pocket change. He told me last month was the most he's ever made and he didn't even feel busier. Just less stressed. That's actually the part he keeps mentioning. Not the money. The fact that he stopped lying awake wondering if that one missed call was a $2k water heater install or just somebody's wrong number. Now he just doesn't think about it.

Couple things I figured out along the way that might be useful if you're thinking about doing something similar: Voice quality is THE thing. Not "a thing." THE thing. We went through a few different setups before landing on one that didn't sound too robotic, with human like expressions, voice modulation depicting emotions, and intelligence with a complete knowledge base. Answering FAQs, customer support etc, this technology seems to work like an actual reciptionist, getting better every month and evolving every year. The best part of this AI is that it learns and gets better and better automatically.

The Google Sheet thing was almost an afterthought when I built it but turned out to be one of the most useful parts. He can now see every lead that ever called him, including the ones that didn't book, people who called once and never followed up, people who called outside the area, etc. He's been going back through it and texting old leads and pulling more work out of it. Wasn't expecting that.

Oh and the after-hours calls. Didn't realize how many people call plumbers at like 9pm on a Saturday until I started looking at his data. A real chunk of his extra jobs are coming from calls that hit between 6pm and 8am. Before this they all just went to voicemail and died there. I've started doing the same thing for an HVAC guy and an electrician and the pattern is exactly the same. Tradesmen are bleeding leads through their phone and most of them have no idea how bad it actually is until you put numbers on it.

Anyway. Just thought it was worth sharing. If anyone's running a service business and dealing with the same missed-call thing, the fix is genuinely not that complicated anymore.

Wanted to share this because honestly I didn't expect it to work this well.

About three months ago I started working with a local plumbing company owner. Good dude, runs a small crew, been doing this for over a decade. Solid plumber. Awful at answering his phone. And not because he didn't care. The guy is literally under a sink half the day with both hands on a wrench. He'd get back to his truck and see 4 or 5 missed calls. By the time he called people back, most of them had already moved on to the next plumber on Google. He told me he figured he was losing "a few jobs a month" to this. I had a feeling the real number was way higher.

So I built him an AI voice receptionist.

Here's basically what it does:

• Picks up every single call. 24/7. Doesn't matter if it's 2pm on a Tuesday or 11pm on a Sunday night.
• Talks to the customer in a natural, friendly voice. Sounds like a real receptionist, not one of those dial-1-for-this nightmares.
• Collects all the info — name, phone, email, address, what's going on (clog, leak, water heater, whatever), and how urgent it is.
• Books the appointment straight into his Google Calendar based on what slots he actually has open.
• Drops every lead into a Google Sheet so he's got a running log of every single call that came in.
• Fires off a confirmation email to the customer with the appointment details.
• Sends HIM a heads-up email too so he knows what's on his plate when he gets a second to look at his phone.

All of this happens with zero human involvement. He doesn't touch a thing. The results have been kinda wild. He's booking 5 to 7 extra jobs a week that he would have flat-out missed before. At his average ticket size, that's real money. Like, actual mortgage money. The other thing he keeps telling me is that he sleeps better now. He's not stressing about that one missed call that could've been a $2k water heater install. The AI just handles it. He shows up, does the work, gets paid.

Wanted to share this because honestly I didn't expect it to work this well.

About three months ago I started working with a local plumbing company owner. Good dude, runs a small crew, been doing this for over a decade. Solid plumber. Awful at answering his phone. And not because he didn't care. The guy is literally under a sink half the day with both hands on a wrench. He'd get back to his truck and see 4 or 5 missed calls. By the time he called people back, most of them had already moved on to the next plumber on Google. He told me he figured he was losing "a few jobs a month" to this. I had a feeling the real number was way higher.

So I built him an AI voice receptionist.

Here's basically what it does:

• Picks up every single call. 24/7. Doesn't matter if it's 2pm on a Tuesday or 11pm on a Sunday night.
• Talks to the customer in a natural, friendly voice. Sounds like a real receptionist, not one of those dial-1-for-this nightmares.
• Collects all the info — name, phone, email, address, what's going on (clog, leak, water heater, whatever), and how urgent it is.
• Books the appointment straight into his Google Calendar based on what slots he actually has open.
• Drops every lead into a Google Sheet so he's got a running log of every single call that came in.
• Fires off a confirmation email to the customer with the appointment details.
• Sends HIM a heads-up email too so he knows what's on his plate when he gets a second to look at his phone.

All of this happens with zero human involvement. He doesn't touch a thing. The results have been kinda wild. He's booking 5 to 7 extra jobs a week that he would have flat-out missed before. At his average ticket size, that's real money. Like, actual mortgage money. The other thing he keeps telling me is that he sleeps better now. He's not stressing about that one missed call that could've been a $2k water heater install. The AI just handles it. He shows up, does the work, gets paid.

Few things I learned along the way:

The voice quality matters more than anything else. People hang up on robotic voices in like 3 seconds. We tried a handful of setups before we landed on one that sounded natural enough that callers just talked to it like a person. The Google Sheet log was the sleeper feature. He can now see every single lead that ever called, even the ones that didn't book. Goldmine for follow-ups.

I'm now setting these up for a few other home service guys — an HVAC company, an electrician, a garage door repair shop. Same playbook works pretty much anywhere you've got a tradesman whose hands are too dirty to grab a phone.

Wanted to share this because honestly I didn't expect it to work this well.

About three months ago I started working with a local plumbing company owner. Good dude, runs a small crew, been doing this for over a decade. Solid plumber. Awful at answering his phone.

And not because he didn't care. The guy is literally under a sink half the day with both hands on a wrench. He'd get back to his truck and see 4 or 5 missed calls. By the time he called people back, most of them had already moved on to the next plumber on Google.

He told me he figured he was losing "a few jobs a month" to this. I had a feeling the real number was way higher.

So I built him an AI voice receptionist.

Here's basically what it does:

• Picks up every single call. 24/7. Doesn't matter if it's 2pm on a Tuesday or 11pm on a Sunday night.
• Talks to the customer in a natural, friendly voice. Sounds like a real receptionist, not one of those dial-1-for-this nightmares.
• Collects all the info — name, phone, email, address, what's going on (clog, leak, water heater, whatever), and how urgent it is.
• Books the appointment straight into his Google Calendar based on what slots he actually has open.
• Drops every lead into a Google Sheet so he's got a running log of every single call that came in.
• Fires off a confirmation email to the customer with the appointment details.
• Sends HIM a heads-up email too so he knows what's on his plate when he gets a second to look at his phone.

All of this happens with zero human involvement. He doesn't touch a thing.The results have been kinda wild. He's booking 5 to 7 extra jobs a week that he would have flat-out missed before. At his average ticket size, that's real money. Like, actual mortgage money. The other thing he keeps telling me is that he sleeps better now. He's not stressing about that one missed call that could've been a $2k water heater install. The AI just handles it. He shows up, does the work, gets paid

Few things I learned along the way:

The voice quality matters more than anything else. People hang up on robotic voices in like 3 seconds. We tried a handful of setups before we landed on one that sounded natural enough that callers just talked to it like a person.

The Google Sheet log was the sleeper feature. He can now see every single lead that ever called, even the ones that didn't book. Goldmine for follow-ups.

I'm now setting these up for a few other home service guys an HVAC company, an electrician, a garage door repair shop. Same playbook works pretty much anywhere you've got a tradesman whose hands are too dirty to grab a phone.

Wanted to share this because honestly I didn't expect it to work this well.

About three months ago I started working with a local plumbing company owner. Good dude, runs a small crew, been doing this for over a decade. Solid plumber. Awful at answering his phone.

And not because he didn't care. The guy is literally under a sink half the day with both hands on a wrench. He'd get back to his truck and see 4 or 5 missed calls. By the time he called people back, most of them had already moved on to the next plumber on Google.

He told me he figured he was losing "a few jobs a month" to this. I had a feeling the real number was way higher.

So I built him an AI voice receptionist.

Here's basically what it does:

• Picks up every single call. 24/7. Doesn't matter if it's 2pm on a Tuesday or 11pm on a Sunday night.
• Talks to the customer in a natural, friendly voice. Sounds like a real receptionist, not one of those dial-1-for-this nightmares.
• Collects all the info — name, phone, email, address, what's going on (clog, leak, water heater, whatever), and how urgent it is.
• Books the appointment straight into his Google Calendar based on what slots he actually has open.
• Drops every lead into a Google Sheet so he's got a running log of every single call that came in.
• Fires off a confirmation email to the customer with the appointment details.
• Sends HIM a heads-up email too so he knows what's on his plate when he gets a second to look at his phone.

All of this happens with zero human involvement. He doesn't touch a thing.

The results have been kinda wild. He's booking 5 to 7 extra jobs a week that he would have flat-out missed before. At his average ticket size, that's real money. Like, actual mortgage money.

The other thing he keeps telling me is that he sleeps better now. He's not stressing about that one missed call that could've been a $2k water heater install. The AI just handles it. He shows up, does the work, gets paid.

Few things I learned along the way:

The voice quality matters more than anything else. People hang up on robotic voices in like 3 seconds. We tried a handful of setups before we landed on one that sounded natural enough that callers just talked to it like a person.

Don't try to make it do too much on the call. Get the info, lock the appointment, end the call. Nobody wants to chat with an AI for 8 minutes.

The Google Sheet log was the sleeper feature. He can now see every single lead that ever called, even the ones that didn't book. Goldmine for follow-ups.

I'm now setting these up for a few other home service guys — an HVAC company, an electrician, a garage door repair shop. Same playbook works pretty much anywhere you've got a tradesman whose hands are too dirty to grab a phone.

Not selling anything with this post, just thought it was a cool result worth sharing. Happy to answer questions about the build or the stack if anyone's curious.