Multilingual phone reception for renovation crews
Quick summary
- A published Greek number already takes English, German and Albanian in the same week, often from an owner who lives abroad.
- The assistant hears the language on the first sentence and continues in it. It covers 70+ languages, and it can switch if they mix.
- Kitchen, bathroom or whole flat is still the first question. A name in English does not tell you which rooms it is.
- An offer from photos in German is still an offer from photos. Fluency does not let it invent a figure.
- The spoken rule does not change: the offer comes after the visit. Dust in a lived-in flat is yours, not a promise.
- The confirmation SMS goes out in the language of the call, with who should be there for that visit.
TL;DR
You are in a lived-in kitchen when an owner rings in English from abroad, or a tenant rings in German with photos of a bathroom. They want an offer, or a morning for a look. They will not wait for the colleague who is comfortable in English to come out of the dust. An assistant answers in the language it hears — 70+ languages, and it can switch if they mix Greek and English on the same call. It asks kitchen, bathroom or whole flat first, then occupied or vacant, takes the address, and refuses anything that sounds like a figure from pictures, a start from a box of tiles, or a permit. It will not read a Greek floor plan aloud and tell them what it means.
Key takeaways
- Leave language detection on. Pinning the line to Greek is how the 09:40 English owner call never reaches you.
- Put the kitchen-bathroom-flat question in every language you actually hear, not only the two you staff.
- Write the callback sentence once and never vary it: the offer comes after the visit. Photos are not a figure.
- Do not let it explain a permit, name a start, or say the dust is fine because they asked in English.
- Send the SMS in the language of the conversation, with who should be there for that type.
- Read the first multilingual transcripts with the crew. That is where a soft offer sentence creeps in.
The first word is not Greek
An owner says “do you speak English?” You are in a lived-in kitchen. The person who would have taken the English call is halfway through stripping a bathroom. You cannot pick up. They will not wait.
The number they dialled is the one on the van, the card in the block, and the Google listing an agency forwarded. Those pages are in Greek. The caller is not. In a Greek crew that is English, German and Albanian in the same week — owners abroad, tenants, holiday-flat buyers.
Thirty seconds of hold, or a promise that someone who speaks English will ring back, is enough. They hang up and dial the next crew. An owner who sent photos this morning and wants a kitchen before they fly will not wait. A tenant standing in a bathroom with photos open will not wait either.
You put the assistant on that published number. It hears the language on the first sentence and continues in it. It covers 70+ languages. If they start in English and drop into Greek for the street, it can switch. Then it asks kitchen, bathroom or whole flat, then occupied or vacant, writes the note or books a morning that is free, and puts a sentence in front of you: the offer comes after the visit. Photos are not a figure.
See pricing for how a call you pick up is treated against a call the assistant answers.
Kitchen or bathroom, in the language they opened
Once it is in their language, the first question is still which rooms, then whether they still live there. Those are two different jobs if one is occupied and one is vacant. A caller who is both still gets two notes. The call being in English is not a reason to squeeze a kitchen look and a demolition week into twenty minutes.
“I sent photos of the bathroom” is a site visit, in any language. “We still live there” is an occupation note. “Can you start Monday, the tiles are here?” cannot be finished on the phone. “How much from the pictures?” cannot. The assistant says so in the first reply, in the language it heard.
It checks the book before it offers a morning. It never offers a start week you have not signed. It confirms by SMS in the language of the conversation, with who should be there. You get the transcript in the caller’s words, and a note of the language, so the callback is not working from a Greek paraphrase of an English question.
An offer travels. Fluency does not answer it.
In Greek, someone on the ground sometimes recognises the building and already knows the rooms. In English, or German, that recognition is gone. If the assistant skips the split because the call is slow, it will attach a start note to a visit, or book one morning for two jobs.
Configure the split before you turn anything else on. Collect a name, a number, the rooms if they offer them, occupied or vacant, and the topic in their words. It does not ask them to dictate a figure, confirm a start, or spell every Greek line they cannot read on a permit paper.
The usual extra is kindness. They cannot read the paper. They ask what it means. If the assistant summarises it, it has already said whether this is a permit, an exclusion, or nothing they need. You read the paper. The assistant does not.
The reply is short. I cannot interpret the paper. Send it or bring it. I can book a morning, or I can flag this for a call back today.
An owner abroad, a tenant, a holiday-flat buyer — those stay in their words on the note. The assistant does not recast them as an offer, and it does not say the dust will be fine.
From Germany, with bathroom photos
An owner whose own language is German will search in German, land on a Greek listing, and ring anyway. Often from another country. Often about a bathroom they want done before they arrive. Often in the same hour you are in a kitchen.
Take it as a site visit: name, number, the rooms they mean if they have them, occupied or vacant, a preferred language. Do not invent a figure because they asked in German. Stack, fall, how they live around the dust — all change the work. A number said before anyone has walked the rooms is a number you then spend the visit taking back.
If they press — “just a round figure, I sent the photos” — the assistant still refuses. Book them as soon as a morning is free. Flag it if they arrive this week. It does not say the rooms will be finished before that flight.
If they ask whether you work in English or German, the assistant answers from what you entered. It does not quote a starting figure you did not mark as speakable. It does not promise you can take them on if you have closed occupied work this month. It does not promise the visit itself will be in German unless you have marked a person who can do that.
A permit they photograph in Greek
They greet in English, give the street in Greek, and ask the permit question in English again. The assistant can switch. The rooms question and the callback sentence stay in force in both languages.
Holiday flat. They arrive in August. The assistant takes the rooms and the dates, and books a visit if a morning is free. It does not say the kitchen will be done before they arrive. Mark how many weeks you need after an offer is signed.
Occupied dust. They still sleep there. The assistant notes that. It does not say they can work from the sofa. Dust in a lived-in flat is yours after you have seen how they live.
They photograph the Greek paper. They want the assistant to say whether they need a permit. If the assistant reads the paper, it has already given a permit answer. The crew reads the paper. The assistant does not.
The reply stays short, in the language they opened with. I cannot interpret the paper. Send it or bring it. I can take the rooms, or I can book a site visit.
A photograph of last year’s kitchen is not this stack. A photograph of a bathtub is not this fall. The assistant does not quote either.
If they say the tenants are still in and they want a start next week, stop the paper. That call goes to a phone you actually hold. Collect a name and a number while it connects.
What it will not do, even in English
It will not read a Greek permit paper aloud and tell them what it means. Explaining what a paper “means” is a permit answer.
It will not answer “how much from the photos?”, “can we live there?”, or “can you start Monday?” because the caller is grateful you speak English.
It will not invent a figure from a description of a kitchen, in any language.
It will not promise a bilingual visit you do not have. Reception in 70+ languages is not an offer conversation in 70+ languages.
It will not name a start because they asked in German and the tiles are in a photo.
The SMS and who should be there
A confirmation in the wrong language is how a first site visit misses the morning and decides the crew cannot handle them. The SMS goes out in the language of the conversation. That is a setting, not a hope. Test it.
The text carries who should be there for that type. A site visit is not the same list as a start week, and an occupied start is not the same list as a vacant walk. An owner who spoke English should not receive a Greek list of δικαιολογητικά just because that is the crew default.
A site visit is you and the rooms. A start week is a crew and dust. The language of the booking does not change the length of the visit. Turn on the SMS before you turn on anything clever.
The visit language is not the call language
Answering in English gets them to a morning. It is not a promise that the visit will be in English.
If only one person can take a site visit in English, the assistant offers times from that person’s book. If that person is in a kitchen on Thursday, Thursday is not offered as an English visit. If nobody can, the assistant books a morning and notes the request. It does not sound more bilingual than the crew.
Do not ask it to choose a foreman from an accent. Matching language ability you actually have is configuration. Guessing from the way someone speaks is how a bathroom lands on the person who only does kitchens.
Do not ask it to produce a written translation of the call as a file note. The transcript is for the crew, not a certified translation. You already have the caller’s words, a summary, and the language. If they ask for an offer in English, that is a note for you. The assistant does not draft it.
March, August, and a call from another time zone
Owners abroad ring from another time zone, often in the evening, often about a holiday flat or a kitchen they want before August. Tenants ring once they have opened a Greek paper. March is when the same caller is also competing with every Greek client who is reporting a kitchen before Easter.
Shorten the ring-time before forwarding, so overflow is caught and you stay in the dust. Keep site visits bookable and offers as a callback. Route an occupied start this week, a manager with keys, and a flight this week to a phone, in whatever language arrived.
August needs its own dates. Some of you stop for two weeks. The published number still rings. The one person who could have taken the English visit is often the person on leave. Set the closure dates, set who is on the phone, and set the sentence for new kitchens. Do not let the assistant book an English site visit into a week when that person is not in the room.
A Sunday call about tenants still in a “vacant” flat is a flag to whoever is on the same-day list, with a name and a number collected while it connects. It is not an offer walkthrough in English at 22:00.
Mixed Greek and English on the same call
They greet in English, give the street in Greek, and ask the offer question in English again. The assistant can switch. The rooms question and the callback sentence stay in force in both languages.
If they remember the crew name and none of the rooms, the assistant still asks kitchen or bathroom. It does not guess from the name. An owner who says “the bathroom, and also the kitchen” still gets two notes. Mixing languages does not merge the two jobs.
Do not put a price list in the notes. It will read the list out, in whichever language it heard. Do not put last year’s kitchen figure in the notes. It will read it as this flat.
What you configure first
- Do not pin the line to Greek. Detection is the default. Turning it off to keep things simple is how the English call at 09:40 never reaches you.
- What you offer, and whether you take occupied flats this month — said in the language that arrived.
- The kitchen-bathroom-flat question, as a required step, then occupied or vacant.
- The callback sentence, verbatim: the offer comes after the visit. Photos are not a figure.
- Site visit, occupied start, vacant start and snagging as types, with who you actually want at the door.
- Which people can take a visit in which languages. This is not the assistant inventing a bilingual service you do not have.
- Which demolition weeks are closed and must not be offered as start mornings.
- The same-day phone list — occupied start this week, manager with keys, they arrive this week.
- SMS language = conversation language. Test it.
Then sit with the crew and read the first twenty calls that were not in Greek. You are listening for the moment it almost named a figure, almost named a start, almost said the dust was fine, or almost treated a kitchen and a bathroom as the same booking. A soft “a bathroom is usually this” in fluent English is a worse error than a slightly stiff refusal.
AI receptionist, in-house staff, or a call centre
| CITT | In-house | Call centre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers in the caller's language | 70+ languages, heard on the line | One or two | Whatever was staffed |
| Switches mid-call | Yes | Rarely | Transfer, if someone exists |
| Asks kitchen, bathroom or whole flat first | Same question in every language | If they remember | Often jumps to what morning |
| Prices photos because they asked in English | Never — the offer is after the visit | Tempted to | Tempted to |
| SMS in the language of the call | Yes | If they type it | Sometimes |
| Transcript the crew can use | Caller's words, language noted | A paraphrase | A short note, often in Greek |
What a month of unanswered English owner calls costs a small crew
Worked from these assumptions — change any of them and the answer changes:
- About 70 inbound calls a month, two people.
- This example treats 10 of those as callers who open in a language nobody on the ground speaks in that hour.
- Of those 10, 5 hang up, or ask to be called back by someone who speaks English and then do not answer.
- 3 of the 5 were new kitchens — an owner abroad, or a tenant who sent photos.
- A kitchen gut that becomes work is worth about €8,500 — put your own figure in, not ours.
- 3 new kitchens never reach the crew, because the first half-minute had no shared language.
- 3 × €8,500 = €25,500 of work in one month.
- Over 11 working months — this example counts that month six times a year.
About €153,000 a year, from the first sentence of the call. Change how often those months happen.
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 we have to set up each language ourselves?
No. The assistant recognises the language from the first sentence and continues in it, including switching mid-call if the caller changes. What you set are the facts of the crew — kitchen or bathroom, occupied or vacant, the callback sentence, who should be there — so those facts are there whatever language arrived.
Can it explain a Greek permit paper to someone who does not read Greek?
No, and you should refuse any system that will try. Explaining what a paper “means” is a permit answer, even when the motive is kindness. It records that the caller has a paper, books a visit or flags a callback, and tells them to send or bring it. The crew reads it.
What if the caller mixes Greek and another language?
That is common on this line, especially with addresses and room names. The assistant can switch mid-call. The rooms question and the callback sentence stay in force in both languages. A mixed call is not a reason to drop the rule.
Will the SMS go out in Greek to someone who spoke English?
It should go out in the language of the conversation. That is a setting, not a hope. A visit confirmation in the wrong language is how a first kitchen misses the morning and decides the crew cannot handle them.
Does an answer in English mean the visit will be in English?
No. Reception in 70+ languages is not an offer conversation in 70+ languages, and it is not a promise that the visit itself will be in English unless you have marked a person who can do that. It gets the caller to a morning they can book. The visit is still yours. If only one person can take it in English, the assistant offers times from that person's book.
Is the transcript usable if the call was not in Greek?
You get the caller's words, a summary, and a note of the language. That is more usable than a Greek paraphrase written from memory between two other jobs. A crew that needs a full written translation of a long call still commissions one. They are not starting from nothing.
