AI receptionist · Heating and plumbing company

Live

AI receptionist for HVAC and plumbing companies

No-heat, no-cooling and leak enquiries answered on your web chat and email while the techs are out. Safety first, your diagnostic fee only, and a person confirms every arrival window.

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Runs on the Heating, cooling and plumbing job description of the AI inbound sales manager. Web chat and email today; phone is planned.

Unistaff · HVAC

Dispatch

Job descriptionHeating, cooling & plumbing

ChannelsWeb chat / Email

PriceDiagnostic fee only

WindowConfirmed by a person

StatusLive · free 30-day pilot

In one paragraph

What does an AI receptionist do at a heating and plumbing company?

An AI receptionist for an HVAC or plumbing company answers no-heat, no-cooling, leak and maintenance enquiries on your web chat and email, day and night. It gives the safety instruction first when gas or sparks come up, asks five questions about the fault, names only the diagnostic fee you approved, offers two arrival windows and records the visit for a person to confirm. The pilot is free for 30 days.

How much does it cost?

The first 30 days are a free pilot: one AI inbound sales manager for one company on web chat and email, no payment and no card, stop at any time. After it, one flat monthly fee per AI employee is agreed on the pilot review. Messages and minutes are unmetered, and no list price is published.

Start a free pilot Pricing

The path of one enquiry

Five steps from a message on your site to a confirmed booking. The AI works the first four; a person owns the last one and anything handed over on the way.

01
Message arrives
Web chat on your site or the email address set up for the pilot
02
Safety check
Gas smell, CO alarm, sparks or water above outlets: leave the house, call the utility line or 911
03
Five questions
What is wrong, since when, how old the equipment is, where it sits, how many systems
04
Visit requested
Diagnostic fee from your list, two arrival windows, phone read back digit by digit
05
Dispatch confirms
A person confirms the window; the technician diagnoses and quotes

Never by itself

Naming a repair or replacement price before diagnosis, guessing the cause, promising an exact arrival time or a same-day fix, giving repair instructions for gas, electrical or refrigerant work, joking in an emergency.

A Trainee’s reply waits for the owner’s approval; after 3 minutes without an answer the customer gets a holding line and the conversation is escalated. A Junior sends on its own from the price list.

What arrives at a heating and plumbing company desk

The mix below is an illustration of this kind of desk. The timing column shows why replies slip: a lot of it lands while the room is busy or after everyone has gone home.

No heat on a cold night

Evenings, weekends

The AC stopped during a heat wave

Summer afternoons

A water heater leaking into the basement

Mornings

A quote to replace a furnace or add a heat pump

Weekends

Maintenance before the season

Spring and fall

Maintenance plan and membership questions

Anytime

“I smell gas” or a CO alarm going off

Anytime

A tenant asking who books and who pays

Weekdays

What it takes on, what stays with a person

Read the person column as the job that remains, and staff for that job rather than for the whole desk. Every row follows the heating, cooling and plumbing job description as it runs today.

Task	AI receptionist	Person
A “no heat” or “no cooling” message	AI receptionistChecks for gas smell, CO alarm, sparks or water near outlets first, then shows empathy and asks what is wrong and since when	PersonReads the summary on the lead
The fault in five questions	AI receptionistWhat is wrong, since when, how old the equipment is, where it sits, how many systems; owner or tenant and who decides	PersonSees the answers before the truck rolls
Priority	AI receptionistFlags no heat or cooling on equipment over ten years old, a baby or an elderly person at home, or a leak that is still running	PersonDecides who goes first
A price question	AI receptionistNames only the diagnostic fee you approved and what it covers, then moves to booking; a repair or replacement number is stopped before sending	PersonThe technician quotes after diagnosis
Booking the visit	AI receptionistOffers two arrival windows, reads the phone number back digit by digit, recaps address, window, job and fee	PersonConfirms the window
Gas smell, CO alarm, sparks, smoke	AI receptionistTells the customer to leave the house and call the gas utility emergency line or 911 before anything else, then hands over	PersonYour on-call person follows up
A complaint or “can I talk to someone”	AI receptionistHands it to a person at once with a summary; it lands in the cabinet with an email copy	PersonAnswers it personally

Where it hands over

Any safety mention after the instruction is given, complaints, a request for a person, repair and replacement prices, warranty and insurance disputes, and every arrival window until dispatch confirms it.

What the owner keeps

The diagnosis, the repair quote and the dispatch board.

Safety before the booking question

The job description reads every message for danger words before it asks anything about the fault. A match sends the safety instruction first; the booking waits.

01
The danger words: a gas smell or rotten eggs, hissing, a carbon monoxide alarm, dizziness, sparks, a burning smell, smoke, water above the outlets.
02
Any one of them gets the same first reply: leave the house now and call the gas utility emergency line or 911 from outside.
03
Empathy comes before logistics, and there are no jokes in an emergency. The conversation goes to a person.
04
It never gives repair instructions for gas, electrical or refrigerant work, and never guesses the cause.
05
Priority triage comes next on a normal call: no heat or cooling on equipment over ten years old, a baby or an elderly person at home, a leak still running.

How the rules are held in code on every reply

Text-first: what about phone calls?

The AI receptionist plans compared on the pricing page (Dialzara, Rosie, Goodcall, Smith.ai) answer the phone first. This one is text-first: it works on the web chat on your site and on email to a dedicated address, both set up with you for the pilot. Phone and SMS are planned as a separate desk.

The practical read: if a good share of your enquiries already arrive in writing, a text-first desk covers them today. If the desk lives on the phone, keep calls with a person or an answering service, and point the repeat questions to the chat on your site.

Web chat on your site

Live

The widget goes on your site with you or your webmaster during pilot setup. Replies come in the customer's language, and the chat keeps an AI badge.

Email to a dedicated address

Live

Set up for your pilot. Answered from the same knowledge folder, with the same price check and handover rules as the chat.

Handover alerts

Live

Each handover lands in the cabinet with a summary, and an email copy goes to the handover contact agreed for the pilot.

Leads as CSV

Live

Leads carry the qualification answers and what is still missing. If you stop, the leads and the knowledge folder stay with you.

Phone answering and SMS

Planned

Planned as a separate desk. Until then, phone enquiries stay with a person or your answering service.

Calendar booking

Planned

Until a calendar is connected, a booking is a request with the details written down, and a person confirms the time.

Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram

Planned

On the roadmap. A link from your profile to the page that carries the web chat is the bridge until then.

Every connection with its status: integrations

What the written enquiries cost you now

The table is the site’s cost model run on this desk. Twelve hours a week stands for the chat-and-inbox share of a small shop's office work. The 60% leaves room for the safety cases, replacement quotes and complaints that always end with a person.

Read it as hours. The share left over carries judgement — the exception, the upset customer, the decision — and it still needs a person, who now spends the shift on those hours instead of retyping the same answers.

Run your own numbers How pricing works

Enquiry hours on the desk12 per week

Loaded hourly cost$35

Share the AI answers (assumption)60%

Hours those enquiries take7 per week

Cost of those hours, per month$1,061

Unistaff pilot, first 30 days$0

Model: hours and share are assumptions, $35/h sits near the BLS median total compensation (March 2026)

C$3,870

In-house receptionist in Ottawa, per month, before benefits

Job Bank Canada, NOC 14101: median $20/h plus CPP, EI and vacation pay

$29–800

AI receptionist plans for small business, per month, most with minute or call caps

Dialzara, Rosie, Goodcall and Smith.ai price pages, USD, checked 2026-10-31

The Unistaff pilot, 30 days

One AI inbound sales manager, web chat and email, no card

What you write before it starts

The Unistaff team reads your website into a five-section knowledge folder draft. You add the lines below, approve it with your price list, hours, contacts and “never” rules, and the AI reads that folder on every reply.

The diagnostic fee, what it covers and whether it is credited to the repair.

Service area by city or postal code, and the arrival windows you actually run.

Brands and systems you service, and the ones you send elsewhere.

Maintenance plan terms and prices, if you sell one.

The on-call contact for safety cases and the handover contact for complaints.

Before release it sits an exam of twelve cases from the trade, each run three times, then works 30 days of probation as a Trainee whose replies you approve. Every sitting of the demo employees is in the exam log.

AI receptionist for a heating and plumbing company: questions

It records the visit request: the fault, the equipment, the address, a phone number read back digit by digit and two arrival windows. A person confirms the window. Calendar and dispatch-software connections are planned; until then nothing is confirmed by the AI alone.

It tells them to leave the house and call the gas utility emergency line or 911 before anything else, and the conversation goes to a person. The same applies to a carbon monoxide alarm, sparks, smoke or water above the outlets.

Only the diagnostic fee you approved and what it covers. Repair and replacement prices come from the technician after diagnosis, and any number outside your approved list is stopped before the reply goes out.

Phone and SMS are planned as a separate desk. Today it works on the web chat on your site and on email, so emergency calls stay with your on-call line or answering service.

The job description is written for heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical service visits: leaks, water heaters, no heat, no cooling, maintenance and replacement quotes. A contractor whose work is mostly renovation estimates should bring a few real enquiries to the first call, so the fit is checked on them.

It sits an exam of twelve heating-and-cooling cases, each run three times. The Dream HVAC sample company passed 10 of 12 on October 9 and graduated on October 10 with 11 of 12. Then it works 30 days of probation as a Trainee whose replies you approve.