AI agent for a plumber: automated quotes
A tradesperson who answers a request or walks out of a site visit gets a priced quote, ready to review, before getting home. Nothing goes out without their approval.
- A 40-second voice note leaving the site is enough to start the quote
- No quote goes out without the tradesperson reviewing and approving it
Before and after
The starting point
A self-employed plumber prices his quotes in the evening, after ten hours on site. He digs out his notes, looks for his prices in an old quote, copies the lines, works out the VAT. One quote takes him thirty minutes to an hour.
So he puts them off. The quote promised for Monday goes out on Thursday. In between, the customer has called someone else.
The problem is not knowing how to price. He does that better than anyone. The problem is the delay between the moment he knows what to charge and the moment the customer gets the paperwork.
"I have the pricing in my head when I leave the customer’s place. Formatting it is what takes my evening. And when I’m tired, I put it off until tomorrow."
What the agent does
The agent does not set prices. It works from the tradesperson’s price list: their line items, rates, travel fees, margins on supplies. It formats, it does not decide.
Two ways in, one single flow. The quote lands in the same place, in the same format, whichever way it came in.
Way in 1: a request comes in
The customer writes on WhatsApp or fills in the website form, often with a photo of the water heater or the leak. The agent reads the request, works out what is missing to price it, and asks the remaining questions. Three questions, rarely more: how old the installation is, access, availability.
When it has enough to price, it builds the quote. When it does not, it says so and passes the request on as is rather than making things up.
Way in 2: the tradesperson leaves a visit
In the van, the tradesperson records a forty-second voice note: what he saw, what needs replacing, the quantities. He adds two photos if he wants. The agent breaks the voice note into line items, applies the prices from the list, and drafts the quote.
Then: approval, always
The quote reaches the tradesperson’s phone as a draft. He reviews it, fixes a quantity if needed, approves. Only then does the PDF go to the customer, with the legal notices and payment terms already in place.
You stay in controlA quote he does not approve never goes out. That is the rule, with no exception.
What it changes day to day
The customer gets the quote on the day of the request, not three days later. In a market where three tradespeople are asked to quote, the first to answer gets an edge that price does not always make up for.
The tradesperson gets his evenings back. Pricing still happens in his head, on site, where he is good. Formatting no longer costs him an evening a week.
And since every price comes from the same list, two quotes for the same job come out at the same price. Tiredness gaps and forgotten lines disappear.
What it takes to set up
Three things, and none of them is technical.
- A price list written once: the tradesperson’s usual line items with their rates. It is the only real upfront work, usually half a day for two people.
- A compliant quote template: legal notices, payment terms, insurance. The tradesperson often already has one; it just needs to be reused.
- An inbound channel already in use: WhatsApp Business, an inbox, the website form. The agent plugs into it. No new tool, no new account, nothing to relearn.