You can't answer the phone with both hands in a switchboard.

• Plumbers

  Burst mains, no hot water, blocked drains and the tenant ringing at 10pm. Your after-hours call-out rate, read out the way you'd say it.

  AI receptionist for plumbers

• Electricians

  Tripping RCDs, power out on a Saturday, heat pump and EV charger quotes. On Simpro, booked against your schedule.

  AI receptionist for electricians

• After hours

  Nights, weekends and public holidays. Urgent calls reach your on-call; everything else is logged for the morning.

  After-hours call answering

• Your job software

  Fergus, Simpro, Tradify and iTrade for jobs, Xero for who owes what. What the agent can do in each.

  See the integrations

• Urgent triage

  Leaks, flooding, no water, a gas smell or an electrical hazard get flagged urgent. Every call is graded emergency, urgent or routine, by your rules.

• Nights, weekends, Christmas

  It answers at 6am, on Sundays and over the Christmas break, when tradie calls actually come in. You choose the hours it covers.

• Writes the job

  Jobs in Fergus, Simpro and iTrade, quotes in Fergus and Simpro, enquiries in Tradify. A real entry, not a note saying someone rang.

• Text and email summaries

  A text for the urgent ones, a written summary of everything in your inbox. You pick what goes in the text, and whether it's only sent when a call is urgent.

• Puts people through

  Urgent jobs go to your on-call number once they're logged, as a transfer or a call-back. Asked for someone by name, it says what you've told it to.

• Remembers regulars

  It recognises a caller's number in your job software and greets them by name, and remembers their last three calls over 90 days unless you change that.

1. 01

   The AI receptionist answers

   Your number rings first. If nobody picks up, or it's after hours, the agent answers in your business name instead of sending the caller to voicemail.

2. 02

   It works out who's calling

   It looks the number up in Fergus. A new caller is asked their name, and the name is read back and confirmed before a customer is created.

3. 03

   It finds the site and checks for open jobs

   Street number and street name, matched against the sites you already have. If there's an open job for that customer, it adds to it rather than doubling up.

4. 04

   The job is in Fergus

   Written with the caller's description and who's on site, ready to schedule and quote. You get the summary by email and a text for anything urgent.

1. 01

   Tell us your rates and rules

   Business hours, after-hours call-out fees, travel charges, your service area, the work you do and don't take on, and who gets the urgent calls.

2. 02

   Keep your existing number

   We port your landline, 0800 or mobile number across, so vans, signage and your Google listing stay as they are. A port needs two business days' notice.

3. 03

   Your phone rings first

   During the hours you choose you get first go. If you don't pick up, or it's after hours, the agent answers.

4. 04

   Job in the system, summary in your inbox

   Details logged to your job software, the summary emailed, a text for anything urgent, and the full transcript if you want to check what was said.

Prices are monthly, excl. GST, from our price list. The sum assumes every missed call would have been answered; you know your trade better than a calculator does.

Can the AI handle after-hours emergency calls?

Yes. It asks whether the call is urgent, logs the job, then puts the caller through to your on-call number or tells them they'll get a call back. You get a text. It doesn't give advice on isolating water, gas or power, and it isn't a 111 service.

Does it tell callers my call-out rates?

If you want it to. Standard and after-hours rates with your travel fee, after-hours only, or none at all, read out exactly as you gave them, excl. GST. It never prices the job itself.

Will it book jobs into Fergus or Simpro?

Yes. It writes jobs into Fergus, Simpro and iTrade, and quotes into Fergus and Simpro. Tradify gets an enquiry for the office to convert. On Simpro it can also book against your schedule.

Can I keep my existing business number?

Yes. We port it across, so the number on your van, your invoices and your Google listing stays the same. A port needs two business days' notice.

What does it cost?

H3llo AI 60 is $75/month, excl. GST. It answers, takes messages and emails them to you. To have it text you the urgent ones and write jobs into Fergus, Simpro, Tradify or iTrade, it's H3llo AI 200 at $300/month, with 5 concurrent calls. Over your minutes, it's $1 per additional minute. No lock-in contract, no termination fee.

What happens if the caller needs to speak to me?

Urgent jobs go to your on-call number once they're logged. Asked for someone by name, it says what you've told it to say. Set your phone to ring first during the day and most callers get you anyway.