AI and automation for trades
A missed call is a missed job, and most trades miss them daily because the phone rings while they are on the tools. This is the one sector where automation has a euro figure attached from day one: catch the enquiry, send the quote you promised from the van, chase the invoice politely. You stay the one who sets prices and signs certs.
Book the free AI consultationAstraeus builds this for Irish trades and field-service firms: electricians, plumbers, heating and renewables installers, property maintenance, landscaping and security installers. Most of the work is not AI at all; it is reliable automation that answers within a minute, follows up on schedule and never forgets a quote. AI earns its place only where wording helps: drafting the quote text from your site notes, or the awkward payment chase in a civil tone.
The boundaries are the point. Nothing sends a price without your approval, because a wrong price on a job is real money. And nothing safety-critical is automated: cert sign-off and compliance declarations stay entirely with the qualified person, always.
Workflow catalogue
Each row is a pattern to assess, not a claim that every business should implement it.
Before
The phone rings while you are mid-job; the caller tries the next name on the list.
After
A missed call gets a text back within a minute, web enquiries land in the same single list, and every enquiry gets an acknowledgement.
Human checkpoint
You decide what gets quoted; nothing is promised to a customer automatically.
Before
Quotes promised from the van, drafted late or never, and rarely chased.
After
Quote templates fill from your job photos and notes, and follow-up nudges go out on schedule until the customer answers.
Human checkpoint
You approve every price before anything sends.
Before
The day is arranged by phone calls, texts and memory.
After
Booking confirmations, reminders and on-my-way messages go out automatically.
Human checkpoint
Schedule changes are decided by a person, not a rule.
Before
Invoices go out weeks after the job, and chasing feels awkward so it happens late or never.
After
The invoice generates when the job completes, and polite escalating reminders run on schedule.
Human checkpoint
Final notices and write-offs stay your decision.
Before
Photos live in a phone gallery and paperwork lives in the van.
After
Each job gets a record: photos, documents and certs filed as the job progresses, with a drafted job summary.
Human checkpoint
Certs are signed only by the qualified person. That is never automated.
Most sectors buy automation to save hours. Trades buy it to stop losing jobs.
Count last month’s ring-outs and multiply by your average job. That number is what the current setup costs, and it is usually the whole business case on its own.
A quote sent the same evening with a follow-up three days later wins work a scribbled promise never does. Speed and persistence are the advantage, and both automate cleanly.
The alternative to this build is often a part-time office hire. The automation costs a fraction of a salary and never takes a day off; where you do have someone in the office, it makes their day about customers instead of chasing.
The first step is a free 45-minute consultation, not a project.
We walk through how a job actually flows: where enquiries arrive, what happens when you cannot answer, how quotes get out, and how money comes in.
Within 48 hours you get a one-page note with one recommended next step and its price. If the honest answer is to spend nothing yet, the note says that.
The usual first win is missed-call capture plus the enquiry list, because you see caught jobs inside the first week.
The honest boundary
Automation cannot fix pricing that is too low, work that is late, or a diary that is genuinely full. If your problem is too much work rather than lost work, the findings note will say the fix is different. And if what you mainly need is a credible website first, that is a separate, smaller engagement and we will say so.
Direct answers
It runs itself. You look at one enquiry list and tap approve on quotes and invoices. Setup, configuration and adoption are part of the engagement, and the handover assumes no technical background.
Calls stay first-class. The system catches the calls you miss, texts the caller back within a minute, and holds the enquiry until you are off the tools. Nothing forces a customer online.
No. Quotes draft automatically from your notes and photos, but nothing with a price on it leaves without your approval. A wrong price on a job is real money, so this is a hard rule, not a setting.
Filed and organised automatically, signed only by the qualified person. Nothing safety-critical is automated, and that boundary is stated in the build documentation.
Then the build makes them more effective rather than replacing them: the enquiry list, reminders and payment chasing stop eating their day, and they handle the exceptions that need a person.
The consultation is free. Every engagement after that is a fixed, quoted price agreed before work starts. One saved job a month typically covers a first build; count last month’s missed calls before deciding.
If you run an Irish trades or field-service firm with 5 to 30 staff and the phone rings out while you work, book the free 45-minute consultation. You get a one-page findings note and one priced recommendation, implemented by Astraeus.
Book the free AI consultation