AI phone receptionist for roofers
Quick summary
- You are already on another roof. A tile is off across town and the bedroom drips. That is when the number on the van rings.
- After a storm the first job is the address and whether anyone is under the drip. It never tells them to go up on the roof.
- Roof, terrace, gutter, a full re-roof — those are four visits, not one free morning.
- Someone with water in the bedroom will not wait on voicemail. They ring the next roofer.
- It checks the book you already use before it offers a morning, writes the visit in, and texts the window.
- After a storm, several people ring at once. It answers every line at once.
TL;DR
You are on a clay-tile roof in a Greek block after a night of wind. The phone in your pocket rings. Across town a tile is off and water is dripping into a bedroom. They want to know if they should go up and look, or put a sheet on. They will not leave a message. They will ring the next roofer on the listing. An assistant answers in the caller's language, asks whether this is a roof, a terrace, a gutter or a full re-roof, takes the address, and never tells them to go up. It does not invent a cause from a drip. It does not promise you will be there in twenty minutes. After a storm it takes several conversations at once. The look is yours. The roof stays yours.
Key takeaways
- Put the assistant on the number on the van and the card, with a forward-on-no-answer rule, so a free pair of hands on the ground still takes the call.
- Teach it the first split: storm drip, gutter, full re-roof, terrace, or a move of a visit already in the book.
- Give it the sentence verbatim: do not go up on the roof. Someone from the crew will look.
- Let it book looks. Keep the cause, a temporary cover, and the figure as a callback or a second booking after you have been on the tiles.
- After a storm, shorten the ring-time so the third drip is not listening to a busy tone.
- Mark two kinds of visit: a storm look that needs you on the roof, and a re-roof week that needs a dry window and a signed offer.
What an AI phone receptionist does for a roofing crew
You are on a clay-tile roof in a Greek apartment block after a night of wind. Both hands are on a tile. The phone in your pocket rings. Across town a tile is off and water is dripping onto a bed. There is no third pair of hands at the phone on the van dash.
You put the assistant on the number already on the van and on the card you leave with the manager. It answers when you cannot. Then it does one of two things. It takes a storm note and puts it in front of you. Or it books a look that is actually free.
The first question is not “what morning would you like?”. The first question is what kind of visit this is — and whether they are about to go up. A drip in a bedroom is not a re-roof quote. A gutter is not a terrace. A photo of a ceiling stain is not a tile. An assistant that opens with a free hour will put a re-roof into a storm morning and leave the person under the drip without a note. An assistant that asks them to go up and send a photo has already done the wrong thing.
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.
Already on a roof, and the phone still ringing
One of you is on tiles. The other is at a gutter. The published number still rings.
It is a burst. The morning after a storm. The week a building manager sends the whole block out with your card because three ceilings marked. A second line with the same two hands still leaves the third caller on a busy tone.
The person with water on the bed will not wait on voicemail. They have your number and two other roofers in the same search. They hang up and dial the next one. If the next one tells them to go up, they go up.
People whose roof you already started will often wait. A person under a drip will not. If that call waits behind the tiles you are already on, the new job is gone, and someone who should have stayed on the ground is on a wet roof — or the next crew has already taken the address.
Whoever takes the storm look often takes the repair. That is why a missed drip is not only a missed note.
Storm drip, gutter, re-roof, terrace — then the address
Storm drip. A tile off, water in a room, after wind or rain. The assistant asks which room, which floor, whether water is still coming in, and the address. It does not tell them to go up. It does not describe a sheet, a brick, or a way onto the tiles. If water is still coming in, that is a flagged note or a transfer. If it has stopped, it books a look only if that morning is free.
Gutter. Overflowed, downpipe off, leaves. A gutter look is not a roof. The assistant takes the building and which face. It does not say the tiles are fine from a description of the gutter.
Re-roof. They want the whole roof done. Photos of tiles, a holiday flat, a manager with a block. The assistant books a look. It does not invent a figure from a picture of the eaves. It does not put a week in the book because they are in a hurry after one storm.
Terrace. Often confused with the roof on a Greek block. The assistant asks roof or terrace. It does not diagnose a ceiling stain as one or the other. If you do not do terraces, it says so from the line you typed in.
People remember the bedroom. They do not remember whether the wet is from the roof or the terrace above. Ask which room first. Then roof, terrace or gutter. Then the address. One place is enough to put the visit on the right tiles. None is still a request, not a guess from a drip.
A sentence the assistant is not allowed to say
“Should I go up and look?” is the question on this phone. It comes after a storm. It comes from a holiday flat. It comes from a manager who wants a photo of the ridge before they will let you on the block.
The assistant does not answer with a way up. Not “take a photo from the roof”. Not “put a sheet on with a brick”. Not “just look from the skylight hatch”. After a storm the tiles are wet and loose. A person who does not do this work stays on the ground.
The line you give it is short: please stay off the roof. Someone from the crew will look.
“Which tile is it?”, “is it the flashing?”, and “can you do the whole roof from these photos?” are still cause and price questions. The assistant names the topic so the callback is useful, and refuses the cause, the figure, and the climb.
Do not put a “how to cover it yourself” line in the notes. It will read the line out.
After a storm, and everyone at once
Wind in the night. By eight, people have started ringing about drips. You are already on a roof. The pad is already a list of addresses.
A building-manager morning is three flats in the same block, all wanting a look at the communal roof, all expecting a cause from the same photo of a landing ceiling.
The assistant has to treat that burst as several conversations, not as a queue behind your tiles. A storm drip in that hour is a flagged phone or a look. A re-roof call is a different visit. If the assistant parks the person with water on the bed behind the tenth photo-quote, that person rings the next roofer — or goes up.
Shorten the ring-time before forwarding on those mornings. After a storm the third caller should not hear a busy tone. A Tuesday in August is people asking about holiday-flat roofs, and one person left on tiles that cannot take more wind.
A cause nobody can give from a drip
When someone describes a mark on the phone — dripping onto the bed, they think a tile, they sent a picture of the ceiling — the tempting answer is a tile number. The assistant does not give one.
Where the wet is, whether a skylight flashing has lifted, a gutter that overflowed, a terrace next to the roof — all of those change the work. A cause named before anyone has been on the tiles is a cause you then spend the look taking back.
It can repeat a published visit fee you typed in and marked as speakable. Unseen re-roofs, a communal block, a skylight — those do not get a figure on this call. The assistant takes the request and books the look. Last year’s neighbour is not this drip. The assistant does not quote it.
If they press — “just tell me if I should go up, I have a sheet” — the assistant still refuses. Stay off the roof. Book them as soon as a morning is free, or flag a phone if water is still coming in.
Water on the bed, and they want you now
Some of these callers have a bucket under a drip, or they are standing in a wet room, with the manager waiting. They want to know whether you can come now, whether a temporary cover will do, whether they should go up until you arrive.
The assistant is not on that roof. It cannot see the tiles. It cannot decide a cover.
What it can take: the address, which room, whether water is still coming in, and whether anyone is in that room. What it can repeat, if you typed the line in: please stay off the roof. Someone from the crew will call back as soon as they can see the van. Come-now or this afternoon is yours, after you know where the crew is.
If water is on a bed, or they say a ceiling is coming down, that is a transfer. You give the assistant a short list: drip onto a bed, water still coming, top floor. It collects a name and a number while it is connecting. It does not tell them to go up. It does not tell them to open a hatch.
A caller who is already dry, with a photo of an old stain, is a look request and, if a morning is free, a time. Still no climb.
Gutters, re-roofs, and “can you do it Thursday?”
Gutter. Overflowed after rain, downpipe off. The assistant takes the face of the building. It does not say the roof is sound from a gutter description. It does not tell them to get a ladder out.
Re-roof Thursday. They have already had a look, or they think they have. The assistant does not put a week in the book because someone is in a hurry after one storm. If a signed offer exists, that is a different visit type, from a list you control. If it does not, this is still a look.
Roof or terrace. A ceiling stain on a Greek block is often the terrace, not the tiles. The assistant asks which. It does not pick. If you do not do terraces, it says so.
Building manager. Communal roof, three ceilings, keys, a ladder the residents must not use. The assistant takes the building and who will be there. It does not invent a communal price from a landing photo. It does not ask the manager to go up.
August needs its own dates. Do not let the assistant book a re-roof into a week of storms, or a look into a week when the crew is dark.
How CITT handles it
- Your number stays on the van and on the card. A forwarding rule sends what you do not answer. Calls the crew picks up never leave, and are never charged.
- Every line is answered at once. A morning after a storm is several conversations, not a stack of busy tones.
- It knows the crew you described. Roofs only or gutters as well, whether you take terraces, whether you take communal work, who is out on Monday.
- It asks storm drip, gutter, re-roof or terrace first, then which room and the address, and only then looks at the book.
- It takes a drip as a note or a look, never as a cause, and never as an instruction to go up.
- It checks the real book before it offers a morning, and writes the visit into the same calendar the crew already uses. It does not offer a roof day you have closed because of wind.
- It confirms by SMS, in the language of the call — 70+ languages — and can remind them to stay off the roof and leave access.
- It escalates water still coming in, a request to go up, and a re-roof price from photos as a tagged note or a transfer.
- You get the transcript, the summary, the address, and which room they said is wet.
What it will not do
It will not tell them to go up on the roof. It will not describe a sheet, a brick, a hatch, or a way onto the tiles. It will not diagnose a drip from a ceiling photo. It will not invent a re-roof price from a picture of the eaves. It will not promise you will be there in twenty minutes. It will not treat a storm look, a gutter and a re-roof week as the same morning. It will not book a terrace as if it were tiles if you do not do terraces.
What these calls sound like
The order is the split, then stay off the roof, then the address, then a morning the book can honour or a flag to a phone, then the refusal said out loud. There is no “go up and send a photo”. There is no round figure over a roof nobody has walked. There is no “twenty minutes” to a bedroom with a bucket.
If the assistant is friendly and still tells them to climb, you own that sentence. Put the person who rang about the drip at 11:10 on a storm note, not on a wet roof.
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 on the ground still takes the call. Then the drip-gutter-reroof-terrace split, which room, and the sentence that forbids going up.
Write down what you actually take and whether you do terraces this month. Give it the fields you want on every note: address, floor, which room is wet, whether water is still coming in, whether they asked to go up, whether they sent a photo. Mark two kinds of visit: a storm look that needs you on the tiles, and a re-roof week that needs a dry window and a signed offer.
Give it the same-day phone list: drip onto a bed, water still coming in, a manager waiting, anyone who said they were going up. Do not give it a “cover it yourself” line. Write one line that forbids climbs, drip-diagnoses, and re-roof prices from photos. Add opening hours, who is out on Monday, August dates, the storm days you already closed.
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 you are already on another roof | Always | Only if they can come down | Yes |
| Several callers after a storm | Every line at once | One, then a busy tone | Depends who was rostered |
| Asks roof, terrace, gutter or re-roof first | Yes — before it looks at the book | Yes, if they heard the start | Often jumps to what morning |
| Tells them to go up and look | Never | Never, if they know the job | A risk if the script wants a photo |
| Invents a cause from a bedroom drip | Never — books the look | After they have been on the tiles | Often names a tile |
| Speaks the caller's language | 70+ languages | One or two | Whoever is on that shift |
| What it will not do | Send them up, or price a re-roof from a drip | Can go on the roof | Reads whatever is on the sheet |
What one unanswered morning after a storm costs a two-person roofing crew
Worked from these assumptions — change any of them and the answer changes:
- Two people, the morning after a night of wind. One of you is already on a roof. The other is on a ladder at a gutter.
- About 16 inbound calls that morning. Six arrive while both pairs of hands are off the ground.
- Of those six, 3 are new drips that want a look. 1 is a gutter. 1 is a full re-roof they had already been thinking about. 1 is someone asking if they should go up.
- A storm look that becomes a repair is worth about €650 here — put your own average ticket in first. This is the number to change.
- This example assumes 2 of the 3 drip callers do not leave a message and ring the next roofer on the listing.
- 3 new drip requests reach nobody on a morning after a storm.
- 2 of them do not call back.
- 2 × €650 = €1,300 of work that morning that never reached the book.
- A morning like that after storms, six such weeks a year — 6 × €1,300.
About €7,800 a year on those assumptions, before any re-roof that started as a drip. Change the ticket and how often a storm 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 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.
They ask if they should go up and look. Can it tell them how?
It must not. After a storm the roof is wet, tiles are loose, and a person who does not do this work should stay on the ground. The assistant takes the address, whether water is coming into a room, and whether anyone is under the drip. It says do not go up. Someone from the crew will look. It does not describe a way onto the tiles, a sheet, or a brick on a ridge.
Can it say which tile is off from a photo of the ceiling?
It must not. A drip in a bedroom does not show the tile. A photo of a stain does not show the flashing. It books a look if that morning is free, or it flags a phone if water is still coming in. You name the cause after you have been on the roof.
What is a storm look, and what is a re-roof?
A storm look is you, the tiles, the drip. A re-roof is a week, scaffolding, a dry window, and a signed offer. The assistant books the first. It does not put a full re-roof in the book because someone has a bucket in the bedroom. After you have seen it, you — or the assistant, from a list you gave it — book the days.
Water is dripping onto a bed. 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 drip onto a bed is a flagged note or a transfer, not a guessed arrival. You decide whether to leave the roof you are already on. It still does not tell them to go up.
What do we actually see afterwards?
A transcript, a short summary, whether this was a storm drip, a gutter, a re-roof, a terrace or a move, the address and which room is wet, and whatever was booked or left for you. Confirmations go out by SMS in the language of the call.
