Receptiva for plumbers, HVAC and handymen (early access)

A burst pipe at 10 pm and a furnace that quits on the coldest morning of the year are the calls a home-services business can't afford to miss. Starting today, Avery can answer them. Receptiva's receptionist now works for plumbing, HVAC and handyman businesses, in early access.

What changed#

Avery has a new way of working built for service calls. She takes:

• the problem, in the caller's own words
• the service address, with the ZIP code
• how soon they need someone
• the property type: a house, an apartment or a business, and who owns it if the caller rents
• a preferred time window, as a preference rather than a booking
• the callback number, last

Your emergency rules decide what's urgent. When you have an on-call list, an emergency rings it at any hour; otherwise it rings the office in business hours and takes an urgent message after hours.

Safety comes first. A gas smell, fire, smoke or a carbon-monoxide alarm gets safety instructions first, then a message, not a transfer.

No promises you didn't make. Avery never promises an arrival time or quotes a price.

A job card after every call. The alert email, the Slack alert and the call drawer in your dashboard show the job at a glance: what's wrong, where, how urgent and when the caller would like someone to come.

Why it matters#

Picture a two-truck plumbing company on a Sunday evening. A renter calls about water coming through the kitchen ceiling from the unit upstairs. Avery takes the address and ZIP code, learns it's an apartment and who the landlord is, and hears that the water is still running. That's an emergency under the owner's rules, so she rings the on-call plumber, who's on his way within minutes with everything he needs to know.

An hour later someone calls about a faint gas smell in their basement. Avery tells them to get everyone out and call the gas company from outside, then takes a message for the morning. Nobody gets put through to a plumber while they're standing in a room that smells of gas.

How to turn it on#

Home-services receptionists are switched on by request while we're in early access. On our home page, choose Not a law firm? … get early access, pick your kind of business and leave your email. We'll get in touch when we can set Avery up for you.