Field notes

Straight talk on AI for your business.

What to automate, what to leave alone, and how to tell the difference. Written by the person who builds and runs the systems. Every number has a source. Every post ends with something you can do this week.

October 9, 2026 · 9 min

Why electrician quotes don't convert after the site visit

Electrical quotes rarely die on price. They die late, bare or stuck. The three causes, and a 20-minute routine for sending the quote from the van.

October 9, 2026 · 5 min

How a small local business shows up in Google's AI Overview

Google's AI Overview quotes pages it has already indexed. What got my one-person business named in it within a day, what Google says matters, and what to skip.

October 8, 2026 · 9 min

Hire a receptionist or AI? A plumbing shop decision table

Hire for a seat, automate a gap. A decision table for plumbing, HVAC and electrical shops under 10 trucks, with the one-week count that decides it.

October 7, 2026 · 10 min

Why my AI receptionist doesn't book HVAC appointments

It can book, and the agents built into your software do. Why mine hands off instead, the four-yes test for when booking is safe, and what a wrong slot costs.

October 5, 2026 · 9 min

AI receptionist disclosure: should it say it's an AI?

Yes, in the first sentence and every time a caller asks. What the 2026 rules in the US, UK and EU say, what callers do, and the four moments that matter.

October 2, 2026 · 10 min

AI receptionist voice and accent: what keeps callers on

Which accent, voice and name an AI receptionist should have, the greeting that keeps callers talking, and the five settings that matter more than the voice.

September 30, 2026 · 9 min

Electrician admin automation: EICRs, certificates, evenings

What an electrician should automate first: certificates sent the day you test, invoices chased on set days, EICRs flagged before they're due. Codes stay yours.

September 28, 2026 · 9 min

HVAC Google review request automation: two texts, no begging

Send every HVAC customer the same two texts: a Google review link within the hour, one reminder on day three, then stop. What to say and what Google bans.

September 25, 2026 · 8 min

Plumbing office manager cost vs AI receptionist: the maths

An office person costs a plumbing shop about $68,000 a year all in. An AI receptionist costs far less and does far less. The maths for 3 to 8 vans.

September 24, 2026 · 9 min

TCPA and text messages: a small business plumber's guide

Texting customers under the TCPA comes down to three lanes: replies, job texts and sales texts. What each needs, how STOP works, and what 10DLC costs a small shop.

September 23, 2026 · 11 min

AI answering service for UK plumbers: what changes vs the US

An AI answering service works the same for UK and US plumbers. The recording notice, texting rules, trade words, gas emergency line and price do not.

September 15, 2026 · 10 min

AI receptionist integration: ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Jobber

What an AI receptionist can and can't write into ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro and Jobber, the plan each needs, and why mine stops at the inbox, not the board.

September 13, 2026 · 7 min

AI voice-agent testing checklist before launch

Use this AI voice-agent testing checklist to assess caller experience, corrections, handoffs and system actions, with a practical test record and launch review.

September 13, 2026 · 7 min

AI voice-agent evaluation: my work with Acolad

My AI voice-agent evaluation work for Acolad in aviation and healthcare: hands-on testing, conversation analysis and practical recommendations for improvement.

September 11, 2026 · 11 min

AI receptionist for UK electricians: Checkatrade to the job

How an AI receptionist catches the Checkatrade and word-of-mouth calls a UK electrician misses on the tools, what it costs in pounds, and when to skip it.

September 10, 2026 · 11 min

Emergency electrician answering service with no night shift

How to take emergency electrical calls 24/7 without a night shift: a safety line for fire, shock and fallen cables, a catch-and-qualify layer, and one handoff rule.

September 10, 2026 · 8 min

Claude Fable 5.1 vs GPT‑6 Astra for business

Compare Claude Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra on API pricing, context, benchmarks and business workflows, with a practical test for choosing the right model.

September 10, 2026 · 8 min

AI assessments: find what is worth automating

An AI assessment should reveal what to automate, what the work costs and how to test the payoff. See the deliverables, a savings example and a free starting point.

September 9, 2026 · 10 min

HVAC summer call volume: the three-line phone for July

What summer does to HVAC call volume, with the data, and the three-line phone setup (office, overflow, on-call) so no July caller hears voicemail.

September 9, 2026 · 7 min

GPT-6 Astra for small business: what is worth trying?

GPT-6 Astra can take on more complex work. Here is how to choose a useful business task, test the output and decide whether an automation is worth building.

September 8, 2026 · 10 min

Renewal automation: a 90-day follow-up workflow

A renewal workflow for expiring agreements, illustrated with HVAC maintenance contracts. Industry-specific contract rules stay tied to that example.

September 7, 2026 · 9 min

Emergency plumbing call script: the five questions to ask

The five questions an emergency plumbing call has to answer, in order: what, stopped, where, tonight, who. With the gas and water safety lines and the maths.

September 5, 2026 · 9 min

Water heater quote follow-up: closing 'let me think'

A water heater quote is decided in about 48 hours. Text the same evening, call on day 1, text on days 3 and 7, then stop. Copy-paste templates and the maths.

September 5, 2026 · 9 min

A twice-daily Slack and email digest, with links back

How I'm building a 09:00 and 14:00 digest of Slack mentions and Gmail for a team lead at Chimpy: the trigger, polling, links back, and why LinkedIn is out.

September 5, 2026 · 9 min

Speed to lead: why response time matters

Research on lead response time, a worked example and practical ways to respond faster. Plumbing is the example, not the audience requirement.

September 5, 2026 · 5 min

From Wispr Flow to Slack: a recap workflow for Chimpy

How Chimpy turns a dictated recap into text in Jari’s preferred format and automatically pastes it into Slack, without the manual copy-and-paste routine.

September 5, 2026 · 9 min

The four automations a small team should build first

Start with the four copy-paste leaks: recaps nobody shares, inbox checking, invoice downloads, messages typed twice. The test, the order, what stays human.

September 5, 2026 · 9 min

Drain cleaning after hours: the calls worth answering

After-hours drain calls are plumbing's best-paid work and land on dates you can predict. The drain calendar, the three questions, and how not to miss them.

September 5, 2026 · 8 min

Clean up Wispr Flow dictation in one click

Wispr Flow transcribes but does not tighten. One hotkey sends the text to a model with your style guide, shows the result, and pastes it back on a second key.

September 5, 2026 · 9 min

Five workflow automations delivered for Chimpy

Five completed workflows for Chimpy: Slack recaps, message digests, invoice filing, dictation cleanup and a Friday summary. Time savings remain estimates.

September 5, 2026 · 9 min

Auto-save invoice PDFs to Google Drive from email and apps

How a workflow spots invoice PDFs in email and apps, names them by date, vendor and amount, and files them in one Google Drive folder. Never pays or deletes.

September 5, 2026 · 9 min

What does an AI receptionist cost?

Compare platform fees, subscriptions and a managed build, using a plumbing-company example with explicit assumptions.

September 4, 2026 · 9 min

How to estimate the cost of missed enquiries

A worked missed-call calculation, how to count your own enquiries and how to decide whether a change is worth making.

September 4, 2026 · 10 min

A four-step quote follow-up sequence that closes the loop

Messages for days 0, 3, 7 and 12, when to stop and what to automate. Electrical quotes provide the worked examples.

September 4, 2026 · 8 min

Do customers like AI answering services? What homeowners say

Homeowners accept an AI answering the phone if it's fast, says it's an AI, gets the job right and a human calls back in minutes. Here's what makes them hang up.

September 4, 2026 · 9 min

AI vs human answering services: cost and capacity

Compare answering-service costs, peak demand and human handoffs, with HVAC as a worked example rather than a universal workload.

September 4, 2026 · 8 min

AI receptionists: scope, cost and when to use one

What an AI receptionist can handle, where a person takes over and how to assess cost, illustrated with a plumbing-company workflow.

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