For drainage engineers
An AI receptionist for drainage engineers
When you're up to your elbows in a blocked drain, it answers, spots the urgent calls and texts you the details.
Read the video transcript
- On screen
- Your phone's ringing, and you're up a ladder. A missed call.
- Voiceover
- Your phone's ringing, and you're up a ladder. That's a job gone. Unless your phone answers itself.
- On screen
- What your callers hear.
- AI receptionist
- Hi, you've reached Dave's Plumbing. I'm Dave's AI assistant, and this call is transcribed. How can I help?
- Caller
- My boiler's packed in. No hot water.
- AI receptionist
- Oh, sorry to hear that. What's the postcode there?
- Caller
- BS3.
- AI receptionist
- Got it. I've pencilled you in for Tuesday at ten. Dave will confirm by text.
- On screen
- A text arrives: New enquiry. Boiler not working, no hot water. BS3. Pencilled in for Tuesday at 10am. Tap to confirm.
- Voiceover
- You get the details. Straight away.
- Voiceover
- It asks your questions, books your calendar, handles emergencies, even asks for photos of the job.
- On screen
- And it's not just a voicemail. Asks your questions, one at a time, in plain English. Emergency? Safety advice first, and you get an instant alert. Says it's an AI, every call. Never pretends to be a person.
- Voiceover
- And every Monday, you see what it caught.
- On screen
- An example weekly summary: calls the AI answered, jobs pencilled in, photos received and emergencies flagged.
- Voiceover
- Try it free for 14 days.
- On screen
- Try it free for 14 days. Card required. Nothing to pay today. Cancel any time. Set up for you. Keep your own number. Plans from £24/month + VAT. arcscribe.co.uk/receptionist. Set up for you. Anywhere in the UK.
- Set up for you
- Keep your existing number: we forward the calls you miss
- Says it's an AI on every call
- Cancel any time
What your callers hear
Your phone rings first. If you can't get to it, the AI receptionist answers, says it's an AI, and asks what you'd ask. Here's an example call to Gareth's Drainage.
Hear an example call
Dramatised example using synthetic voices. On a real call, the AI uses your business name and the questions you approve.
Read the transcript
Phone rings twice
AI: Hi, you've reached Dave's Plumbing. I'm Dave's AI assistant, and this call is transcribed. How can I help?
Caller: My boiler's packed in. No hot water.
AI: Oh, sorry to hear that. What's the postcode there?
Caller: BS3.
AI: Got it. I've pencilled you in for Tuesday at ten. Dave will confirm by text.
Pencilling in jobs is on Receptionist and Pro. On Catch, the AI takes a message and texts you.
AI receptionist
Hi, you've reached Gareth's Drainage. Gareth's out on a job right now. I'm an AI assistant and this call is transcribed so I can pass on your message. How can I help?
Caller
Hi. Our downstairs toilet's blocked and the manhole outside is starting to overflow.
AI receptionist
Sorry to hear that. Is the water in the manhole still rising, or has it stopped?
Caller
It's still rising. It's nearly at the top.
AI receptionist
Thanks. I'm flagging this as urgent so Gareth sees it straight away. Is the drain shared with your neighbours?
Caller
I think so. We're in a terrace.
AI receptionist
That's helpful. Can I take your name?
Caller
It's Tom.
AI receptionist
Thanks, Tom. What's the postcode area?
Caller
EH6.
AI receptionist
Let me read that back: E H 6. Is that right?
Caller
Yes.
AI receptionist
I'll text you a link for a photo of the manhole. Please only lift the lid if it's safe to do so. Gareth has 4pm free today. Would that suit you?
Caller
Yes please.
AI receptionist
You're pencilled in for 4pm today, and Gareth will confirm by text. Until then, please keep children and pets away from the manhole.
Built around how drainage engineers work
Blockages and backups come first
If a caller says a manhole is overflowing, sewage is backing up or the only toilet is blocked, it flags the call as urgent and alerts you straight away, so you can ring back first. It also asks them to keep children and pets clear.
The questions you'd ask
Inside or outside, one fixture or several, shared with the neighbours, is the water still rising. You know the size of the job before you ring back.
Photos of the manhole
It texts a link for photos of the manhole and the affected fixture, and reminds callers to lift the lid only if it's safe.
Surveys and planned work
CCTV surveys, jetting, descaling and relining get pencilled into your calendar. You confirm each one by text.
How calls go for a drainage engineer
Urgent calls and planned work
Most drainage calls fall into two groups. The urgent ones: a blocked toilet in a house with one bathroom, a manhole overflowing in the garden, sewage coming back up through a shower tray. And the planned ones: a CCTV survey for a house purchase, a report for an insurer, descaling, root cutting, or relining a pitch fibre pipe that's started to fail.
The receptionist treats them differently. When a caller says water is rising, sewage is backing up or the only toilet won't flush, it flags the call as urgent and alerts you straight away, so you can ring back first. It also asks them to keep children and pets clear. Planned work is taken down and pencilled into your calendar for you to confirm by text.
The details that matter
You know the questions that tell you what you're walking into. Is it inside, outside or both? Is it one fixture or everything at once? Is the drain shared with the neighbours? Is the water still rising? The receptionist asks the questions you approve, in plain words, and writes the answers into the summary it texts you.
It also asks whether the caller owns the property or rents it. For rented homes, it takes the landlord's or agent's details and notes who's paying, so you're not chasing that on the day. It doesn't tell anyone who's responsible for a shared drain. It asks and passes on, and you explain the rest.
Photos before you load the van
A photo of the manhole tells you a lot. The receptionist can text the caller a link to send one, along with the affected fixture and anywhere water is pooling. It asks them to lift the lid only if it's safe, and to keep children and pets away from an open chamber. If you'd rather callers didn't lift it at all, you set that in your approved answers.
Surveys, buyers and insurers
Survey calls come with deadlines. House buyers want a report before exchange, and insurers want one before they'll look at a claim. The receptionist asks what the survey is for, the type of property and any date they're working to. If you've added your survey price or turnaround to your approved answers, it can tell callers. Anything you haven't approved, it says you'll confirm.
On the Receptionist and Pro plans, returning callers are recognised, so a buyer ringing back about their report doesn't have to start from the beginning.
Questions it can ask
You choose and approve the questions. A few that work well for drainage engineers:
- Is the problem inside the house, outside, or both?
- Is it one sink or toilet, or several fixtures at once?
- Is the drain shared with your neighbours?
- Is the water still rising, or has it stopped?
- Do you own the property, or rent it?
- Is this for a CCTV survey, like a house purchase or an insurance claim?
Photos it asks for
Callers get a text with a link to send pictures, and they land in Keystone with the call.
The manhole
With the lid lifted, but only if it's safe to do so.
The fixture
The toilet, sink or gully that's blocked or backing up.
Outside
Gullies, downpipes and anywhere water is pooling.
Questions from drainage engineers
It asks whether water is rising, whether sewage is backing up and how many fixtures are affected. Calls like that are flagged as urgent and you're alerted straight away. Survey and planned work enquiries are taken down and pencilled in as normal.
It asks whether the drain is shared with neighbours and whether the caller owns or rents, and passes that on. It doesn't tell callers who's responsible. That's for you to explain.
Yes. It asks what the survey is for, the type of property and any date they're working to, like an exchange date. If you add your survey price to your approved answers, it can tell callers.
No. It asks the questions you've approved and passes on the answers. It doesn't diagnose anything. You decide what the job needs once you've spoken to them.
It takes the agent's details as well as the tenant's, notes who's paying and who to contact for access, and texts you the lot.
A person at Arcscribe sets it up for you: we get your new number, register it with the phone regulator and test it. While you wait, you can set up your greeting, your services and your calendar in Keystone.
Yes. Keep your existing number: we forward the calls you miss. You turn on call forwarding on your phone, so missed calls go to your Arcscribe number, and we give you a simple guide for it. Moving your number over to us completely (porting) isn't offered yet.
It depends on the plan: the pricing page has the current prices. We'll email you 3 days before your trial ends. If you don't cancel, we'll charge your first month + VAT when the trial ends.
Yes, any time, in Keystone. Cancel during the trial and you won't pay anything. On a paid plan, your plan runs to the end of the month you've paid for.