AI phone receptionist for carpenters
Quick summary
- You have the tape on a wardrobe opening. Both hands are in the hallway. That is when the number on the van rings.
- A photo of a kitchen is not a quote. The assistant books a measure-up. It does not invent a figure from the picture.
- A wardrobe, a door leaf that binds in summer, a fitted kitchen — those are different visits, not one free morning.
- Someone who wants a kitchen this week will not wait on voicemail. They ring the next workshop.
- It checks the book you already use before it offers a morning, writes the visit in, and texts the window.
- It answers every line at once. A June week of doors that will not close is several conversations, not a busy tone.
TL;DR
You are in a hallway of a Greek flat with the tape on a wardrobe opening. The phone in your pocket rings. Someone has sent a photo of a fitted kitchen and wants a number today. Someone else has a door leaf that was planed in March and now binds because the wood has moved in the heat. They will not leave a message. They will ring the next workshop. An assistant answers in the caller's language, asks whether this is a wardrobe, a door, a kitchen or a summer bind, takes the address and the piece they named, and books a visit only if that morning is free. It does not invent a price from a photo. It does not promise a door will stay shut through August. The quote is yours, after the tape.
Key takeaways
- Put the assistant on the number on the van and the workshop door, with a forward-on-no-answer rule, so a free pair of hands still takes the call.
- Teach it the first split: wardrobe, door leaf, fitted kitchen, summer bind, or a move of a visit already in the book.
- Give it the sentence verbatim: it cannot give a price from a photo. The tape has to go on the opening, and wood moves in summer.
- Let it book measure-ups and short door looks. Keep the quote, the timber, and whether a door needs a plane or a new leaf as a callback after the tape.
- In June, and in the week after a kitchen fitter has left a run open, shorten the ring-time so the third caller is not listening to a busy tone.
- Mark two kinds of visit: a measure-up that needs you in the opening, and a short look at a door that binds that does not.
What an AI phone receptionist does in a carpentry shop
You are in a hallway of a Greek apartment. The tape is on a wardrobe opening. The left wall is out of square. Both hands are on the tape. The phone in your pocket rings. Across town the other person is hanging a door leaf. There is no third pair of hands at the workshop phone.
You put the assistant on the number already on the van and on the workshop door. It answers when you cannot. Then it does one of two things. It books a measure-up that is actually free. Or it takes a request you will price after the tape has been on the opening.
The first question is not “what morning would you like?”. The first question is what kind of visit this is. A photo of a kitchen is not a quote. A built-in wardrobe is not a door leaf. A door that binds in June is not a new kitchen. An assistant that opens with a free hour will put a photo-price into a measure-up morning and leave the person whose bedroom door will not close without a note.
A caller who rang in English gets the confirmation in English. A caller who rang in Greek gets it in Greek. The assistant works in 70+ languages. The SMS follows the language of the call.
In a hallway with the tape, and the phone still ringing
One of you has the tape on an opening. The other is hanging a leaf. The published number still rings.
It is a burst. June, when last winter’s doors start to bind. The week a kitchen fitter has left a run open. The morning a holiday house is opened after months shut. A second line with the same two hands still leaves the third caller on a busy tone.
The person who sent a photo of a kitchen this afternoon will not wait on voicemail. They have your workshop and two others in the same search. They hang up and dial the next one. The person whose door will not close in the heat will not leave a message either.
People whose wardrobes you already cut will often wait. A person who cannot get a measure-up, and a person who cannot get a door looked at, will not. If those two wait behind the opening you are already measuring, the new kitchen is gone, and the door arrives as an angry visit at five — or the next shop has already put a tape on that run.
Whoever takes the measure-up often takes the order. That is why a missed photo-call is not only a missed note.
Wardrobe, door leaf, kitchen, summer bind — then the address
Wardrobe. Built-in, hallway or bedroom, the opening is never as square as the photo. The assistant asks which room, which floor, and the address. It books a visit only if that morning is free. It does not invent a figure from a photo, a description, or “it is about two metres, white, like IKEA but fitted”. It does not promise a fit day. The quote is yours, after the tape.
Door leaf. They want a new leaf, or they want this one hung, or they want it planed. A door is not a wardrobe. Solid is not hollow. The assistant takes which door and whether they already have a leaf. It does not say a hollow door is fine. It does not say the frame will take this leaf. You see the rebate.
Fitted kitchen. A run, a tall unit, a gap the last fitter left. The assistant takes the room and books a measure-up. It does not invent a kitchen price from a photo of someone else’s cabinets. It does not promise Thursday’s install before the tape has been on the walls.
Summer bind. The door was right in March. In June it will not close. Wood movement in a Greek summer is the job. The assistant takes which door and the address. It does not say the timber was wrong. It does not say a plane will fix it. It does not promise the leaf will stay shut through August. You see whether it is a plane, a hinge, or a new leaf.
People remember the kitchen. They do not remember whether they want a wardrobe or a run of cabinets. Ask which piece first. Then the floor. Then the address. One opening is enough to put the visit on the right wall. None is still a request, not a guess at four metres from a picture.
A sentence the assistant is not allowed to say
“How much for this kitchen if I send a photo?” is the question on this phone. It comes in April when people start looking at old cabinets. It comes in August from a holiday house. It comes on a Tuesday from a couple who photographed a showroom.
The assistant does not answer it. Not with a range. Not with “a run is usually this”. Not with “white four-metre is around…”. A number said before the tape has been on the opening is a number the shop then has to take back when the walls are out of square, the services are in the wrong place, or they want solid timber they did not mention.
The line you give it is short: the quote comes after the measure-up. A photo does not show the opening. Wood moves in summer.
“Can you do it cheaper than the other shop?”, “will this door stay shut in August?”, and “is veneer as good as solid?” are still price and timber questions. The assistant names the topic so the callback is useful, and refuses the figure and the promise.
Do not put a price list in the notes. It will read the list out.
June doors, a fitter’s week, and everyone at once
June is doors. By nine, people have started ringing about leaves that will not close. You are already in a hallway. The pad is already a list of openings.
A fitter’s week is kitchens. The cabinets are in, or the old ones are still in. Three flats expect a measure-up because the fitter said Thursday.
A holiday-house morning is a house that was shut all winter. None of the doors close. The owner is here for a week.
The assistant has to treat that burst as several conversations, not as a queue behind your tape. A kitchen measure-up in that hour is a morning in the book. A door that binds is a shorter look. If the assistant parks the person who wants a new kitchen behind the tenth binding door, that person rings the next workshop.
Shorten the ring-time before forwarding on those mornings. In June the third caller should not hear a busy tone. A Tuesday in August is people asking for holiday-house doors, and one person left in the shop.
A price nobody can give from a photo
When someone describes a kitchen on the phone — white, they think four metres, tall unit at the end, they sent a picture from the balcony door — the tempting answer is a number. The assistant does not give one.
Width, walls out of square, services, solid or veneer, which floor the units have to come up — all of those change the work. A number quoted before anyone has put a tape on the opening is a number you then spend the measure-up taking back.
It can repeat a published call-out or a visit fee you typed in and marked as speakable. Unseen kitchens, a full set of built-ins, a holiday house — those do not get a number on this call. The assistant takes the request and books the measure-up. Last year’s wardrobe for the neighbour is not this opening. The assistant does not quote it.
If they press — “just a round figure, I have the other shop on the other line” — the assistant still refuses. Book them as soon as a morning is free. Flag it if none of the doors in the house close.
A door that will not close in the heat
Some of these callers are standing at a bedroom door that binds, or in a holiday house they have just opened, with guests arriving tonight. They want to know whether you can come now, whether a plane will do, whether the timber was wrong.
The assistant is not in that hallway. It cannot see the leaf. It cannot decide plane or new leaf.
What it can take: the address, which door, whether it still latches, and whether the house was shut. What it can repeat, if you typed the line in: someone from the shop will call back as soon as they can see the van. Come-now or this-afternoon is yours, after you know where the other person is.
It does not tell them to plane the leaf themselves. It does not tell them to take the door off. It does not tell them the timber was cheap.
If they say the street door will not close and the flat is open, that is a transfer. You give the assistant a short list: street door, will not latch, flat open. It collects a name and a number while it is connecting.
A caller who is already home, with a photo of a kitchen on their phone, is a measure-up request and, if a morning is free, a time.
Wardrobes, kitchens, and “can you fit it Thursday?”
Built-in wardrobe. Hallway, bedroom, the opening is never square. The assistant takes the room and books a measure-up if that is a type you marked. It does not say the photo is enough. It does not put a kitchen into a wardrobe morning.
Fitted kitchen. A run, a gap at the tall unit, the old cabinets still in. The assistant takes the room. It does not invent a price. It does not put Thursday in the book because the fitter said so. If the old kitchen is still in, that is a move, not a guess that you can measure around it.
New leaf. Solid, not hollow. The assistant takes which door. It does not say hollow is fine. If you do not hang cheap doors, it says so from the line you typed in.
Fit Thursday. They have already had a quote, or they think they have. The assistant does not put a fit in the book because someone is in a hurry. If a signed quote exists, that is a different visit type, from a list you control. If it does not, this is still a measure-up.
August needs its own dates. Do not let the assistant book a measure-up into a week when the shop is dark.
How CITT handles it
- Your number stays on the van and on the workshop door. A forwarding rule sends what you do not answer. Calls you pick up never leave, and are never charged.
- Every line is answered at once. A June week of binding doors is several conversations, not a stack of busy tones.
- It knows the shop you described. What you build, whether you hang doors, whether you do kitchens, who is out on Monday.
- It asks wardrobe, door, kitchen or summer bind first, then the piece and the address, and only then looks at the book.
- It takes a photo-price as a measure-up request, never as a figure said out loud.
- It checks the real book before it offers a morning, and writes the visit into the same calendar the shop already uses.
- It confirms by SMS, in the language of the call — 70+ languages — and can remind them to leave the opening clear of hanging clothes and boxes.
- It escalates a street door that will not latch, a price question, and a fit-before-the-tape as a tagged note or a transfer.
- You get the transcript, the summary, the address, and the piece the caller named.
What it will not do
It will not invent a price from a photo, a description, or last year’s neighbour. It will not promise Thursday’s fit before the tape has been on the opening. It will not say a door will stay shut through August. It will not tell them to plane a leaf themselves. It will not say veneer is as good as solid. It will not treat a wardrobe measure-up, a door look and a kitchen as the same morning. It will not hang a hollow door if you do not hang them.
What these calls sound like
The order is the split, then the piece, then the address, then a morning the book can honour, then the refusal said out loud. There is no round figure over a kitchen nobody has measured. There is no “it will stay shut in August” to a person whose leaf has already moved. There is no “twenty minutes” to a holiday house full of doors.
If the assistant is friendly and still answers the price question, you own that number. Put the person who rang about the kitchen at 11:10 on a measure-up, not on the next shop’s pad.
What you set up first
Put the assistant on the number on the van with a forward-on-no-answer rule, so a free pair of hands in the shop still takes the call. Then the four-way split, the piece question, and the sentence that forbids a price from a photo.
Write down what you actually build and whether you hang doors and do kitchens this month. Give it the fields you want on every note: address, floor, which piece, wardrobe or door or kitchen, whether they sent a photo, whether the leaf still latches. Mark two kinds of visit: a measure-up that needs you in the opening, and a short look at a door that binds.
Give it the same-day phone list: street door will not latch, flat open, holiday house none of the doors close. Do not give it a metre tariff it would read out. Write one line that forbids photo-prices, fit days before the tape, and “it will not move” sentences. Add opening hours, who is out on Monday, August dates, where the van may wait.
Rates live on the pricing section of the home page. They are not repeated here.
AI receptionist, in-house staff, or a call centre
| CITT | In-house | Call centre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers while the tape is on a wardrobe opening | Always | Only if they can let go of the tape | Yes |
| Several callers in a June week of binding doors | Every line at once | One, then a busy tone | Depends who was rostered |
| Asks wardrobe, door or kitchen first | Yes — before it looks at the book | Yes, if they heard the start | Often jumps to what morning |
| Invents a kitchen price from a photo | Never — books the measure-up | Can refuse until they have seen the run | Often reads a range |
| Promises a door will not move in August | Never | Explains movement after they have seen the leaf | Tempted, if the script wants a yes |
| Speaks the caller's language | 70+ languages | One or two | Whoever is on that shift |
| What it will not do | Price unseen work, or promise wood will not move | Can look at the opening | Reads whatever is on the sheet |
What one unanswered weekday morning costs a two-person carpentry shop
Worked from these assumptions — change any of them and the answer changes:
- Two people, a normal weekday in June. One of you is measuring a wardrobe. The other is hanging a door leaf across town.
- About 11 inbound calls that morning. Four arrive while both pairs of hands are on timber.
- Of those four, 2 are new fitted-kitchen measure-ups. 1 is a built-in wardrobe. 1 is a door that binds in the heat.
- A fitted kitchen that becomes an order is worth about €3,200 of work here — put your own average ticket in first. This is the number to change.
- This example assumes 1 of the 2 kitchen callers does not leave a message and rings the next workshop on the listing.
- 2 new kitchen measure-up requests reach nobody on a normal Tuesday morning.
- 1 of them does not call back.
- 1 × €3,200 = €3,200 of work that morning that never reached the book.
- A morning like that once a week, 40 weeks — 40 × €3,200.
About €128,000 a year on those assumptions. Change the ticket, the conversion, and how often a morning like that happens.
What it costs
CITT is pay as you go: no packages, no minimum, no contract. The current rates — the monthly fee per number and the per-minute rate — are on the pricing section of the home page, which is the only place they are published.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to change the number on the van?
No. The number on the van, the workshop door, the cards, and the Google listing stays yours. You add one forwarding rule — every call, or only the ones still ringing after the seconds you choose. If you pick up, the call never leaves and is never charged.
Can it give a price if they send a photo of the kitchen?
It must not. A photo does not show the run, whether the walls are square, the services, or whether they want a built-in or a run of cabinets. It takes the address and the room they named, and books a measure-up if that morning is free. You price what the tape has been on. If a starting figure must not be said until you have seen the opening, do not give the assistant that figure.
The door was planed in March and now it will not close. Can it say why?
No. Wood moves in a Greek summer. A leaf that was right in March can bind in June. The assistant takes the address and which door, and books a look. It does not say the timber was wrong. It does not say a plane will fix it. It does not promise the door will stay shut through August. You see the leaf. You decide plane or new leaf.
We make built-ins. We do not hang cheap hollow doors. What then?
Say so in the notes. A caller who wants a hollow leaf hung this afternoon gets a clear no, and, if you want, a name you actually send people to. Do not let it book a hanging job onto a shop that only builds wardrobes and kitchens. The same if you do not do outdoor shutters.
The holiday house was shut all winter and none of the doors close. Can it send you now?
It can put the call in front of a human who can see where the van is. It will not invent “we will be there in twenty minutes”. A house full of binding doors is a flagged note or a transfer, not a guessed arrival. You decide whether to leave the wardrobe you are already measuring.
What do we actually see afterwards?
A transcript, a short summary, whether this was a wardrobe, a door, a kitchen, a summer bind or a move, the address and the piece they named, and whatever was booked or left for you. Confirmations go out by SMS in the language of the call.
