Trades
The AI receptionist for tradesmen and tradeswomen.
When it is one person, the work and the phone compete for the same hands. Whichever wins, the other one loses. ORLA takes the phone so the work can have both hands.
Hear it before you read another word. Ring 020 4538 1650, describe your problem the way one of your customers would, and try to catch it out. That is a working line answered by the same system a client’s callers reach.
The call tradespeople lose
Almost any of them. Roofers on a roof, joiners with a saw running, gas engineers under a boiler, groundworkers in a trench, glaziers with glass in their arms. The thing that stops you answering is the thing you are being paid for.
What it costs when it goes
For a sole trader the missed call is not an inconvenience, it is the pipeline. Three unanswered calls in a week is most of a week's work, and the caller has no loyalty yet — they are just working down a list of names that all look the same to them.
What ORLA does with it instead
Answers in your business name, says it is an AI receptionist, and asks the questions you would ask: what the job is, where it is, when they need it, and how to reach them. Inside your rules it books; outside them — wrong area, wrong trade, wrong hours — it says so and takes a callback. Then you get the whole thing in writing while you are still on the job.
What ORLA asks on the call
These are the questions ORLA is set up to ask tradespeople. They are yours to change — this is the starting point, not the ceiling.
- What the job actually is, in the caller's own words, kept in their words.
- The postcode, so you know before you read further whether it is even yours.
- How urgent it is, judged against the rules you set rather than the caller's adrenaline.
- Whether it is domestic, commercial, insurance or a landlord — four different jobs wearing the same description.
- A number, and the honest answer to when they are at the property.
When the calls actually arrive
The pattern is almost universal across trades: a spike between 07:30 and 08:30 while you are loading up, a long flat middle where you are on site, and a second spike from 16:00 to 19:00 when customers finish work. The middle is where the quiet losses happen, because those callers never even leave a voicemail.
What ORLA will not do for tradespeople
This part matters more than the list above. A receptionist you cannot predict is worse than a voicemail, so here are the refusals that bite hardest in your trade. The full list is on its own page.
It will not price a job it has not seen
ORLA quotes only from the price book you give it. Everything else is "someone will confirm". No trade has ever been helped by a phone system inventing a day rate.
It will not take work outside your area
You set the travel radius and the trades you take. ORLA declines the rest politely, on the call, and takes a message — instead of you spending Saturday ringing people back to say no.
It will not chase anybody
ORLA answers. It does not make outbound sales calls, it does not cold call, and there is no setting that turns that on. If you want a receptionist that hunts, this is the wrong product and we would rather say so here.
What it costs
Starter, £69 a month — 150 answered minutes included. Pro, £129 a month — 400 minutes. Front Desk, £349 a month — 1,500 minutes, managed for you, with a £299 setup fee that applies to that plan only. No VAT is added to any of them, so the number you see is the number you pay. No minimum contract. A 7-day free trial runs before anything is charged.
The full breakdown, including what happens if you go over your minutes, is on the pricing page, and the market context — what everyone else charges, and what a human receptionist really costs — is in our guide to what an AI receptionist costs in the UK.
Questions tradespeople ask
I am one person with a mobile. Is this overkill?
It is aimed at exactly that. One person cannot be under a floor and on the phone, and a voicemail box is not an answer — most people simply hang up. Starter is £69 a month, there is no setup fee on it and no minimum contract, so it is a small test rather than a commitment.
Does it work with my existing mobile number?
Yes. You keep your number and divert it — always, on busy, or on no-answer. Nothing on your van or your website has to change.
What if it gets something wrong?
It will mishear sometimes, like every phone line does. That is why every answered call sends you a summary and a transcript before anything is acted on, and why anything ORLA is unsure of is flagged for a callback rather than guessed at. We would rather tell you that plainly than claim it is perfect.
Can I hear it before I buy anything?
Ring 020 4538 1650. That is a working line answered by the same system a customer's callers reach. Describe a job the way an awkward customer would and try to catch it out — that is the fastest honest test there is.