Measure-up and timber-arrival chase for carpenters
Quick summary
- You are in a hallway with the tape. The kitchen list and the timber that has not arrived still have to be chased.
- The list is a named address, a measure-up reminder, or a fit that cannot go because the old cabinets are in. Not a second quote.
- Every call starts with the address or the name on the file. If they do not recognise them, the call stops.
- It does not say the door will stay shut. Missing timber is a yes or no. What that means for Thursday is a callback.
- If they ask for a price or a fit, the assistant writes the question down and says someone will call back after the tape.
- SMS does the first reminder. The voice call is for the morning that is still unconfirmed the day before.
TL;DR
You are in a hallway with the tape. Seven kitchen measure-ups are still unconfirmed and Wednesday's timber never arrived. Nobody is going to spend the afternoon ringing. An assistant works the list you give it: address or name on the file, one purpose. It asks whether the old kitchen will be out. It does not say what the run costs, whether a fit can go, or whether a door will stay shut through August. If they ask, it writes the question down and says someone will call back. It can move a morning if that morning is free. It will not ring a neighbour's mobile about someone else's wardrobe.
Key takeaways
- Build each list from your own files: address or name, the number on the file, and one purpose.
- Do not put a personal mobile on a chase unless that number is the number on the file.
- Write the purpose as a reminder or a chase, not as a question about a price or wood movement.
- If the client asks whether the door will stay shut, the assistant ends the call and flags you to call back.
- Check the book before you speak a morning. Do not read Thursday off last week's pad.
- Keep metre rates and last year's neighbour off the script. The quote is after the tape.
In a hallway, and the list still sitting
One of you is on the tape. The other is hanging a leaf. Seven kitchens are unconfirmed. Wednesday’s timber did not come. The fitter named Thursday and left the cabinets in.
Nobody is going to spend the afternoon ringing. The list sits. Thursday arrives empty, or it arrives with a run you cannot tape.
An assistant works the list you give it. One purpose each. Address or name on the file first. If the person on the line does not recognise them, the call stops. That is how a neighbour does not hear about a wardrobe.
The purpose is a reminder or a chase: will the old kitchen be out, has the timber arrived, can we keep Thursday, do we move because the cabinets stayed. It is not a second quote. It is not an August promise.
If they ask what it costs, or whether the door will stay shut, or whether you can fit without seeing the opening, the assistant writes the question down, says someone will call back, and ends the chase. A chase that becomes a price has no one attached to the sentence.
One purpose. One number. The book.
Build the list from your files. Not from a notebook in the workshop that still has last June’s numbers.
Each line: address or name, the number on the file, one purpose. Measure-up reminder. Timber-arrival chase. Old-kitchen-still-in move. Fit confirmation after a quote you have already given. Not “see if they want the wardrobe too” on the same call.
SMS does the first reminder. The voice call is for the morning that is still unconfirmed the day before, or for the timber that has not moved in two days.
Before it speaks a morning, it checks the book you already use. Last week’s pad is how Thursday gets offered twice.
It confirms the move by SMS, in the language of the original booking — 70+ languages — with what to leave clear.
What it will not say on a chase
It will not name a price to hurry them. It will not say the door will stay shut so they keep Thursday. It will not invent a fit because the fitter said so. It will not tell them to plane the leaf themselves. It will not ring a number that is not on the file.
A street door that will not latch, heard on a chase, is a transfer. It collects a name and a number while it is connecting. It does not tell them to take the leaf off.
What you set first
Export the list with one purpose each. Mark who may be rung. Write the sentences that forbid price, fit-before-tape and August promises. Check the book before any morning is spoken. Read the first chase transcripts. That is where a soft “we can fit Thursday” creeps in.
Rates live on the pricing section of the home page. They are not repeated here.
A fitter’s week is a list, not a mood
After a fitter has left three runs, or said they would and did not, the pad is a list of kitchens that may or may not be yours on Thursday. Someone has to ask. If nobody asks, you drive to a run that still has cabinets, or you sit in the van while a clear opening waits for a shop that never confirmed.
The assistant can ask whether the old kitchen is out. It can ask whether the timber is in. It can offer a move if Thursday is dead. It cannot turn those answers into a fit.
A summer bind on the same list is a different purpose. Do not chase a door that binds with the same script you use for a kitchen measure-up. The reminder that names the leaf is how it is still on its hinges when you arrive, instead of stacked in the yard.
August still needs its own dates. Do not let a chase confirm a morning in a week the shop is dark.
What these chase calls sound like
The order is the shop name, the address, the purpose, then a yes or no, then a morning the book can honour if one is needed, then the refusal if they ask for a price. There is no “it will stay shut in August” to keep them on Thursday. There is no neighbour’s mobile.
If the assistant is friendly and still names a fit, you own that morning. Put the Glyfada kitchen on a moved measure-up, not on a fit the units cannot support.
AI receptionist, in-house staff, or a call centre
| CITT | In-house | Call centre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timber-arrival chase after a fitter delay | Yes, from your list | When someone has time | If you write a script |
| Measure-up and fit reminders | Yes | Yes | Sometimes |
| Starts with the address or the name | Yes | Yes | If you insist |
| Names a price to hurry the kitchen | Never — the quote is after the tape | The shop does, after the opening | A risk if the script drifts |
| Answers whether the door will stay shut in August | No — flags the shop | After they have seen the leaf | Must not; sometimes does |
| Offers a fit the book does not have | No — checks the book, or takes a callback | If they check | Often from last week's pad |
| Rings a neighbour about someone else's wardrobe | No — only the number on the file | Only if you said so | A risk if the list was not read |
What unchased kitchen measure-ups cost one week
Worked from these assumptions — change any of them and the answer changes:
- Two people, 14 open kitchens and wardrobes after a fitter week, each waiting on a clear run or timber.
- This example treats 6 of those 14 as still missing two days later.
- A morning that sits empty, or is pulled when the old cabinets are still in at four, wastes about €200 of reserved time — put your own figure in, not ours.
- A two-day outbound chase recovers half of those missing mornings. Challenge this first; shops vary.
- 6 mornings still open on paper, two days out.
- Half recovered — 3 mornings that move on the kitchen they needed.
- 3 × €200 = €600 of reserved time protected, in one week.
- Several such weeks a year — this example counts four.
About €2,400 a year of shop time, from calls that only ask whether the old kitchen is out or the timber has arrived.
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
Can it tell them which timber is missing?
It can name the line you put on the list — the tall-unit run, the door leaf. It should not rebuild the quote on the call, and it should not decide that a particular delivery means Thursday's fit is on. If they ask whether the door will stay shut, that is a callback. Someone has to see the leaf.
What if they ask for a fit date on the chase call?
The assistant does not answer with a fit. It says someone will call back after the tape, takes the question in the client's words, and ends the chase if it has become a quote. A chase that becomes a price conversation has no reviewer and no shop attached. The transcript still helps — you return a real question rather than “they rang”.
Can it offer a new morning to measure?
Yes, if you allow that purpose and if it checks the book before it offers a morning. It still does not tell them what the run will cost beyond the visit type you entered. A reminder that starts pricing a kitchen has stopped being a reminder.
Does it still ask for the address when we ring?
Yes. The call opens with the shop name, the address or the name on the file, and it stops if the person on the line does not recognise them. That is how you avoid briefing a neighbour about a wardrobe, or a spouse about a kitchen they do not know is being done.
Can it chase a fit from an existing client?
As a reminder, yes: we have a morning this week, can you leave the old kitchen out, here is what to have ready. Not as a sentence that the door will stay shut, and not as a price. “We still have Thursday 09:00 to 13:00 for the kitchen measure-up” is reception. “We can fit Thursday” is a fit you have not agreed.
Who decides who is on the list?
The shop. The assistant does not invent people to ring. You export or tick the files that need a reminder or a chase, with one purpose each. A list that mixes “has the timber arrived” with “see if they want the wardrobe too” is two jobs, and only the first one belongs here.
