AI phone receptionist for electricians
Quick summary
- Both hands are in a live board in a stair hall. The flat downstairs is dark. That is when the published number rings.
- Wallbox, a single fuse, and no power in the whole flat are three jobs. The first question has to name which one.
- If they said water is in the board, the assistant never tells them to reset the main. That call goes to you.
- A dark flat will not leave a voicemail. They open the building WhatsApp and ring the next electrician.
- It checks your book before it offers a wallbox visit or extra sockets, writes the hour in, and texts the confirmation.
- After a storm, or on a Monday when two boards have tripped, several people ring at once. It answers every line at once.
TL;DR
The board is live. You have both hands in a Greek hallway consumer unit. The flat downstairs is dark. They ask how long. Wallbox, a single fuse, and no power in the whole flat are three different jobs. An assistant answers when you cannot put the tester down. It asks which of those three it is. It never tells anyone to reset a main they said is wet. It does not invent when you will arrive. It books a wallbox visit only if that hour is free, and it puts a dark flat on your phone.
Key takeaways
- Put the assistant on the number on the van and the Google listing, with a forward-on-no-answer rule, so free hands still take the call.
- Teach it the first split: wallbox, one fuse, or no power in the whole flat — and do not let it offer a time before that split.
- Give it the sentence: if they mentioned water, a smell of burning, or sparks, it does not tell them to reset anything.
- Let it book wallbox surveys and extra sockets. A dark flat and a wet board ring a phone you actually hold.
- After a storm, shorten the ring-time before forwarding so the third dark kitchen is not listening to a busy tone.
- Forbid invented arrivals. How long is a question you answer when you know which street and which job.
What an AI phone receptionist does for an electrician
Both hands are in a live consumer unit in a Greek stair hall. The cover is off. The tester is clipped on. The flat downstairs is dark and they have already asked, twice, how long. Your published number rings. You cannot put the tester down. There is no second pair of hands in the van.
You put the assistant on the number already on the side of the van and on the card under the intercom. It answers when you cannot. Then it does one of two things. It puts a dark flat or a wet board on your phone. Or it books a visit that is actually free — a wallbox survey, extra sockets, a spur for a water heater.
The first question is which job this is. No power in the whole flat is not a wallbox. A wallbox is not one kitchen fuse. An assistant that opens with “what time would you like?” will put a dark kitchen into Thursday’s survey hour and leave a wet board with a sentence about resetting the main.
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.
The board is live and the flat is dark
You are already in the board. The main is on. One way is isolated. The person in the flat is holding a torch. That is the room this phone lives in.
The published number still rings. It is a burst after a storm, or a Monday when two RCDs have tripped in the same block, or the afternoon a dealer sent three new-car owners out with your card for a wallbox. A second SIM in the same pocket still leaves the third caller on a busy tone.
The person standing in a dark kitchen will not wait on voicemail. They have your card and two other electricians in the building WhatsApp. They hang up and dial the next name. The person whose board they said is wet will not leave a message either. They want someone who will come, not a beep.
Clients who already have a job in the book — extra sockets next week, a wallbox survey on Thursday — will often wait. A dark flat will not. If that call waits behind the board you are already in, the next van on the list is already in their stair hall.
Whoever takes the dark flat often takes the sockets and the wallbox later. That is why a missed no-power call is not only a missed hour.
Wallbox, one fuse, or no power — then the address
No power. The whole flat is dark, or the shop, or the communal shaft. The assistant asks whether the neighbours still have lights, which rooms are out, and whether they mentioned water, a smell of burning, or sparks. It takes the address and the floor. It does not say you will be there in twenty minutes. It does not tell them to reset the main. If they said the board is wet, or there is a smell, or they saw a spark, that call goes to a phone you hold. If it is a dry dark flat and you are already on a job, it still rings you with the note. It does not book a dark flat into a survey hour.
One fuse. Only the kitchen, only the water heater, only the air-con. The assistant names the circuit in their words, takes the address, and either books a short visit or puts it on your phone, depending on the rule you wrote. It does not tell them which breaker to push. It does not say the water heater is “just the element” from a description of a cold tank.
Wallbox. They want a charger in the garage or in a parking space under the block. The assistant asks whether they already have a spare way, whether the supply is three-phase, and whether the building manager has to approve the run. It books a survey. It does not invent a price from a photo of a white wall. It does not promise a date for the ΔΕΔΔΗΕ paper. Mark how you actually take wallbox work this month. If you have closed new chargers until September, it says so on the first call, from the line you typed in.
People remember the street and the floor. They do not remember the meter number. Ask for the address first. If they offer the meter cupboard floor, take that too. One address is enough to put the note on the right van. None is still a note, not a guess at Patision.
A sentence the assistant is not allowed to say
“Should I just flip the main back on?” is the question on this phone. It comes after a trip, after a leak from upstairs, after a storm, and on a Monday when someone is standing in the dark with a torch.
The assistant does not answer it with a reset. Not if they mentioned water. Not if they mentioned a smell of burning. Not if they mentioned sparks or a cover that is warm. A sentence that sounds like reset advice, said on the recorded line, is a sentence the van now owns, and the assistant cannot see the board, the moisture, or which way is still live.
The line you give it is short: do not reset anything if the board is wet or if there is a smell. The electrician will look at the board. This call takes the address and puts you through.
“Can I dry it with a towel?”, “is it safe to open the cover?”, “the RCD keeps jumping, shall I hold it?”, and “the neighbours said to just push it back” are still reset questions. The assistant names the topic so the callback is useful, and refuses the instruction.
Do not put a reset sequence in the notes. It will read the sequence out.
After a storm, and everyone at once
A storm in the night. By eight, people have started ringing about dark kitchens and tripped RCDs. You are already in the first board. The pad is already a list of streets.
Monday is a smaller version of the same hour. Weekend trips. Someone who ran a heater all Sunday. A shop that opened and found the three-phase down.
The assistant has to treat that burst as several conversations, not as a queue behind the board you are already in. A dark flat in that hour is a note and a ring to you. A wallbox in the same hour is a survey or a callback. If the assistant parks the person who wants a charger behind the tenth no-power report, that person rings the next electrician.
Shorten the ring-time before forwarding on those mornings. After a storm the third kitchen should not hear a busy tone. A Tuesday in August is people asking for sockets, and one person left in the van.
A price nobody can give from a photo of the garage
When someone sends a photo of a garage wall and asks what a wallbox costs, the tempting answer is a number. The assistant does not give one.
Spare ways, three-phase or single-phase, the length of the run, whether the building manager will allow a chase through the shaft, and what the supply company will accept all change the work. A number quoted before anyone has opened that board is a number you then spend the survey taking back.
It can repeat a published starting figure you typed in and marked as speakable. Unseen three-phase work, a communal run, a board that is already full — those do not get a number on this call. The assistant takes the request and books the survey. A neighbour’s price from last year is not this year’s price. The assistant does not quote it.
If they press — “just a round figure, I am buying the car this afternoon” — the assistant still refuses. Book them as soon as a survey hour is free. Flag it if they need the charger before a delivery date they already named.
Wet board, burning smell, sparks
Some of these callers are in the hall with the cover already half off. They want to know whether to dry it, whether to push the RCD, whether the smell is “just dust”.
The assistant is not in the hall. It cannot see the moisture. It cannot see which way is live.
What it can take: the address, the floor, whether anyone is in the flat, whether they said water, smell, or sparks, and a number. What it must not say: reset the main, open the cover, hold the RCD, dry it, wait until morning. Those are yours, after you have seen the board.
If they also say water is still coming from upstairs, that is still your call. The assistant does not send them to open a stopcock, and it does not diagnose the leak. It puts the electrical side on your phone.
A caller who is already home, with one kitchen socket dead and a dry board, is a short visit or a note, depending on the rule you wrote.
Shaft lights, meters, and “is it the supply company?”
Communal shaft. The building manager wants the stair lights back, or a way in the shaft board. The assistant takes the building address and who is calling — manager, resident, or contractor. It does not quote communal work from a description of “a few lamps”. It books a look or puts it on your phone. Access to the shaft is a question for the manager, not a promise on this call.
Meter cupboard. They think the supply is out. The assistant asks whether the neighbours have power. If the whole street is dark, it does not invent a ΔΕΔΔΗΕ arrival and it does not tell them to open the company seal. It takes the address and flags you. If only their flat is dark, that is a board job, not a supply job.
“Is it the supply company?” is a diagnosis. The assistant does not make it. Neighbours yes or no, whole flat or one circuit, water or not — those are facts for you. The company name does not get said as a conclusion.
August needs its own dates. Do not let the assistant book a wallbox survey into a week when the van is on the island.
How CITT handles it
- Your number stays on the van and under the intercom. A forwarding rule sends what you do not answer. Calls you pick up never leave the van.
- Every line is answered at once. A storm morning is several conversations, not a stack of busy tones.
- It knows the van you described. What you take, whether you do wallbox this month, how a wet board should be handled, who is on Monday.
- It asks wallbox, one fuse, or no-power first, then the address, and only then looks at the book.
- It takes a dark flat as a note and a ring to you, never as a reset sentence.
- It checks the real book before it offers a survey, and writes the visit into the same calendar the van already uses.
- It confirms by SMS, in the language of the call — 70+ languages — and can remind them what to leave free in the garage.
- It escalates water, burning smell, sparks, and “how long” as a tagged note or a transfer.
- You get the transcript, the summary, the address, and what the caller asked for.
What it will not do
It will not tell them to reset a wet board. It will not walk them through a main switch, an RCD, or a cover they said is damp. It will not invent when you will arrive. It will not invent a wallbox price from a photo. It will not say the supply company is coming. It will not treat a dark flat, a single fuse and a wallbox survey as the same visit. It will not diagnose a leak, and it will not send them to open a gas valve that is not yours.
What these calls sound like
The order is the split, then the address, then the note or the survey, then the refusal said out loud. There is no “just flip the main”. There is no round figure over a garage nobody has stood in. There is no “twenty minutes” from a van that is still in a live board on the other side of the city.
If the assistant is friendly and still answers the reset question, you own that sentence. Put the person who rang about the dark kitchen at 11:10 on your phone, not on the next van’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 still takes the call. Then the three-way split, the address question, and the sentence that forbids a reset on a wet board.
Write down what you actually take and whether you are doing wallbox this month. Give it the fields you want on every no-power note: address, floor, whole flat or one circuit, neighbours on or off, water / smell / sparks, a number. Mark two kinds of visit: a survey that needs you, and a short fuse visit.
Give it the same-day phone list: wet board, burning smell, sparks, whole flat dark, someone still in a dark shop. Do not give it a wallbox tariff it would read out. Write one line that forbids reset advice and invented arrivals. Add the hours you actually run, who is on Monday, August dates, and how a building manager should identify themselves.
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 both hands are in a live board | Always | Only if they can let go | Yes |
| Several dark flats after a storm | Every line at once | One, then a busy tone | Depends on the roster |
| Asks wallbox, fuse or no-power first | Yes — before it looks at the book | Yes, if they heard the start | Often jumps to what time |
| Tells them to reset a wet board | Never — puts that call on your phone | Not if they heard water | Must not; a script sometimes does |
| Invents when you will arrive | Never | Sometimes, to get off the call | Risk, if the sheet wants a time |
| Quotes a wallbox from a photo of a garage | Never — books a survey | Prices after they have seen the feed | May read a list figure |
| Speaks the caller's language | 70+ languages | One or two | Whoever is on that shift |
| What it will not do | Reset advice, arrival, or a price it cannot see | Can look at the board | Reads whatever is on the sheet |
What one unanswered Monday costs a one-van electrician
Worked from these assumptions — change any of them and the answer changes:
- One van, a Monday after a weekend storm, roughly 28 inbound calls before early afternoon.
- About a third arrive while both hands are in a live board or on a ladder under a ceiling rose.
- Of the calls nobody reaches, 6 are dark flats or a first wallbox enquiry.
- A first job that stays — a no-power call-out or a wallbox survey that turns into work — is worth about €220 to the van. Put your own figure in.
- This example assumes 4 of the 6 never leave a message and ring the next name on the building WhatsApp.
- 6 dark-flat or wallbox calls reach nobody on a normal storm Monday.
- 4 of them do not call back.
- 4 × €220 = €880 of first work, that Monday.
- Storm Mondays and ordinary no-power mornings, over a 44-week year — this example counts 18 such windows.
About €15,840 a year, from the same unanswered window repeating. Put your own weeks in.
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 give up the van number?
No. You keep the number on the side of the van, the card under the building intercom and the Google listing. You set one forwarding rule — every call, or only the ones still ringing after the seconds you choose. If you pick up with a free hand, the call never leaves the van and is never charged.
Can it tell them to flip the main back on?
Not if they mentioned water, a smell of burning, sparks, or a board that is warm. Those calls go to a phone you hold. On a dry board with no smell, the assistant still does not walk them through a reset. It takes the address, which circuits are dark, and whether the neighbours have power, and it puts that on your phone. A sentence that sounds like reset advice, said on the recorded line, is a sentence the van now owns.
Can it quote a wallbox from a photo of the garage?
No. A photo does not show the feed, the spare ways in the board, three-phase or not, or how far the trench would run. A number said before anyone has stood in that garage is a number you then spend the visit taking back. It books a survey. If a starting figure must not be said until you have seen the board, do not give the assistant that figure.
What if I am already in a live board?
That is the usual hour. The assistant answers the overflow. A dark flat becomes a note with the address and which rooms are out, and it rings you. A wallbox becomes a survey on a time that is actually free, or a callback. After a storm, shorten the ring-time so the third kitchen is not listening to a busy tone.
Someone says the board is wet from the upstairs leak. What then?
That is a transfer. The assistant does not tell them to dry anything, to open the cover, or to push a breaker back in. It takes the address, whether anyone is in the flat, and a number, and it puts the call on a phone you hold. If they also have water on the floor, that is still your call, not a booking, and not a sentence about the plumber's stopcock.
What do we actually see afterwards?
A transcript, a short summary, whether this was no-power, one fuse, or a wallbox, the address and floor if they gave them, and whatever was booked or left for you. Confirmations go out by SMS in the language of the call.
