Plumbing answering service for after-hours calls
AI employee Mia takes the plumbing details and drafts the job. You approve each booking and message.
14 days on sample data. No credit card. Calls, texts, and email are simulated.
Watch AI employee Mia and AI employee Hank work a plumbing call on their own computer
Every AI employee works inside its own computer window in your workspace. You can watch the intake notes, pause the AI employee to take the helm yourself, or review the approval card before a single text or dispatch page goes out.
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Call lands at 6:40 p.m. ET and AI employee Mia asks your plumbing questions
Rosa Delgado calls (555) 010-0148 about water spraying from a copper pipe behind the laundry room wall at 1418 Alder Street.
- Answers on Fig Tree Plumbing's Twilio number and captures caller phone (555) 010-0148
- Confirms active leak behind laundry wall and main shut-off valve turned at street meter
- Matches "burst pipe" and "active leak" on your emergency rule card and flags first in queue
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Pause the AI employee and take the helm anytime
Watch AI employee Mia and AI employee Hank check the on-call roster on their own computer. Pause and take control whenever you want to call Rosa yourself or change who rolls tonight.
- AI employee Hank checks the on-call schedule and sees Marcus is on call until 10:00 p.m. ET
- Verifies Van 2 carries copper press fittings and moisture meters
- Prepares the on-call page and 7:15 to 7:45 p.m. ET arrival window draft
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Stops at the approval gate with the dispatch page and customer text
Before Marcus is paged or Rosa receives an arrival window, the draft waits for owner Dana to approve, edit, or skip.
Waiting for your approval Sample · Fig Tree PlumbingPage Marcus (on-call) and text Rosa Delgado at (555) 010-0148: "Hi Rosa, this is Fig Tree Plumbing. Marcus is our on-call plumber tonight and can arrive at 1418 Alder Street between 7:15 and 7:45 p.m. ET." -
AI employee Hank logs the job, AI employee Cody prepares follow-up quotes, AI employee Nora drafts the invoice
After Dana approves, the text goes out from the shop's Twilio number and the rest of the team prepares the post-visit paperwork.
- Marcus completes the copper repair at 8:05 p.m. ET and uploads two photos
- AI employee Nora drafts the $385 invoice with a Stripe card payment link for Dana's approval
- Every action, edit, and timestamp is recorded in the workspace log
How many calls hit your plumbing line between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. ET this week, or while you were under a kitchen sink with a wrench in both hands and the water shut off? A plumbing owner checks the voicemail box in the morning and sees only the callers who waited for the beep. The homeowner with water coming through a drywall ceiling at 6:40 p.m. ET or a water heater leaking across the garage floor hangs up at the greeting and calls the next plumber in search results.
A traditional live answering service reads a generic script, records a caller's name with a phone number, and cannot tell a slow bathroom sink drain from a burst copper supply line or check which licensed plumber has the press tool and sewer camera in the van tonight. Voicemail waits until the morning board is already full.
AI employee Mia, the chief of staff and front-desk receptionist in the Home Services workspace, answers your plumbing line on your own business number and texts back missed calls through Twilio (a phone and text carrier you connect in your workspace so calls and texts come from your own business number; carrier phone and text usage is billed by Twilio at their rates; see Pricing and the FAQ Is anything billed on top of the plan?). Working on her own computer in your workspace, AI employee Mia asks your plumbing intake questions, separates active leaks and sewage backups from routine drain or water heater work, and prepares the dispatch page or morning booking for AI employee Hank in operations and dispatch. Wait for your approval is the default before a visit is booked, an on-call plumber is dispatched, or a text goes out. The Pilot plan is $497 a month (see pricing).
What AI employee Mia handles on your plumbing line, call by call
AI employee Mia is the only AI employee on your outside phone line. She answers inbound calls on your own Twilio number and sends missed-call text-backs when a caller hangs up, asking the exact plumbing questions you wrote for your shop.
At night or during the morning rush, a voicemail recording rarely tells you whether the caller has water pouring through a ceiling or a slow bathroom sink drain. Written answers to the same seven intake questions give you a clean job card before you call back or approve a slot:
- Where is the problem in the building, and which fixture or line is involved?
- Is water still running or sewage still backing up right now?
- When did the leak, clog, or loss of hot water start?
- Does the caller know where the main water shut-off valve or fixture stop is located?
- Is the issue affecting a single fixture or the whole house?
- For a water heater call, is the unit a tank or tankless model, is the fuel source gas or electric, and roughly how many years old is it?
- What is the street address, callback number, and preferred arrival window?
These questions are for your intake records only. AI employee Mia gives no repair or safety instructions and does not diagnose plumbing or gas faults over the phone or by text. Once the caller replies, AI employee Mia classifies the thread using your rules and hands the internal draft to the specialist AI employee in your Home Services workspace.
| What the caller reports | Where it goes under your rules | What AI employee Mia, AI employee Hank, or AI employee Cody prepares | What waits for your approval |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water coming through the kitchen ceiling or a burst pipe running now | Emergency queue and your on-call plumber | Flags the thread first in your queue, points the caller to your on-call number, and prepares the on-call dispatch note for AI employee Hank | Paging or dispatching the on-call plumber and confirming any arrival time |
| Bathroom sink draining slowly or a running guest toilet | Routine morning list | AI employee Mia drafts a reply with the next open morning window and a job card for AI employee Hank to place by plumber skill and drive time | Sending the window text and booking the visit on the calendar |
| Water heater not heating, no water on the floor | Same-day or next-day rule (your choice) | Captures tank vs. tankless, gas vs. electric, and unit age; AI employee Hank matches a plumber licensed for gas or electric water heaters | Approving the plumber assignment and sending the arrival window |
| New tankless water heater or whole-house copper repipe quote | Estimate visit and price-book follow-up | AI employee Mia drafts a site-visit booking; after the visit, AI employee Cody drafts a Good, Better, Best estimate from your price book and schedules follow-up drafts | Sending the estimate, changing any price, and sending each follow-up message |
| Warranty callback, commercial property account, or out-of-area caller | Owner review queue | Attaches prior job history for warranty or commercial accounts; drafts a polite out-of-area reply when the address falls outside your zip codes | Every reply or callback decision |
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AI employee Mia
Chief of staff and front desk
Answers inbound calls on your Twilio number, sends missed-call text-backs, asks your seven plumbing questions, flags emergency words first, and drafts routine booking replies for your approval.
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AI employee Hank
Operations and dispatch
Reads your rule card, plumber licenses, drive times, and van equipment to propose morning job assignments, on-call options, and sick-day board reshuffles. See dispatch and scheduling.
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AI employee Cody
Sales and estimates
Drafts Good, Better, Best estimates for water heaters, repipes, and sewer line jobs from your price book after the technician's notes, and prepares estimate follow-up messages until you mark the quote won or lost.
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AI employee Nora
Billing and finance
Prepares invoices with Stripe card payment links once a job is marked complete, drafts overdue invoice reminders at the interval you set, syncs approved billing to QuickBooks, and compiles your weekly revenue brief.
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AI employee Reggie
Marketing and reviews
Drafts review requests after completed plumbing jobs, writes replies to customer reviews for your approval, and prepares seasonal freeze-prep or water heater flush outreach to opted-in past customers.
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AI employee Olivia and AI employee Sam
Office records and compliance
AI employee Olivia organizes customer, property, and vendor records. We set up tracking and expiry alerts for plumber trade licenses, gas endorsements, backflow certifications, and insurance renewals.
Custom workflows are scoped through Custom Build or Enterprise. Nothing is sent without your approval.
Which plumbing calls page the on-call plumber
You write your shop's definition of a plumbing emergency in your own words on your rule card. AI employee Mia uses that exact list on every after-hours call and missed-call text thread.
A typical plumbing emergency list has four items: water coming through a ceiling or wall, a burst or leaking pipe that is still running, sewage backing up into the home, and no water at all to the property. When a caller reports a burst pipe or a sewage backup, AI employee Mia flags the thread as an emergency at the top of your queue so a person can act right away, points the caller to your on-call number, and prepares the on-call dispatch note for AI employee Hank.
Routine work sits on a second list: a slow bathroom drain, a dripping faucet, a running toilet tank, or a garbage disposal hum with no leak. Those callers do not need anyone woken up at 11:30 p.m. ET. AI employee Mia collects the fixture details, address, and callback number, and drafts a reply offering the next open morning window so the draft is waiting in your morning list at 6:30 a.m. ET.
Everything between the two lists belongs to your shop's policy. Many plumbing companies treat a water heater that is not heating (with a dry pan and no active leak) as a first-slot morning job rather than a midnight roll, while a leaking tank in an upstairs utility closet goes straight to the emergency queue. Septic and sewer shops apply the same split: sewage backing up inside the house is flagged as an emergency, while routine tank pumping and camera inspections go on the calendar with gate codes and tank-lid access notes attached.
Plumbing call volume also shifts with the weather and the calendar. Before a winter hard freeze arrives, you can add words like "frozen pipe" and "no water at the kitchen tap" to your emergency list and verify who is on the on-call roster. Around Thanksgiving and December houseguests, kitchen sink backups spike alongside garbage disposal jams; spring rain brings sump pump failures; summer brings outdoor hose bib and irrigation main leaks. Updating your rule card takes a minute in the plumbing emergency calls workflow.
How a routine 9:40 p.m. ET slow-drain text waits for the morning list
Elena Brooks calls at 9:40 p.m. ET and hangs up before voicemail. After your approval, AI employee Mia texts back from Fig Tree Plumbing's Twilio number and asks your intake questions. Elena replies that the upstairs bathroom sink drains slowly and there is no water on the floor. Because your rule card marks a slow drain as routine, no one is paged at night. At 6:30 a.m. ET, this approval card is waiting for you:
"Hi Elena, this is Fig Tree Plumbing. Thanks for the details last night. We can have a plumber look at the upstairs bathroom sink today between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. ET. Does that window work for you?"
Why AI employee Mia drafted this: Elena texted back at 9:40 p.m. ET that the bathroom sink drains slowly with no active leak. Your rules classify a slow drain as routine and hold it for the morning list.
What a missed plumbing call costs on your own numbers
You do not need industry averages or made-up benchmarks to see what unanswered calls cost your shop. Use the count from your own phone log over the last seven days.
Take the number of inbound calls that went unanswered after hours or while your plumbers were on a job this week. Multiply that by the share of callers who were calling about a real repair or replacement (excluding robocalls, parts houses, and callers outside your service area), and multiply by your shop's average completed ticket across drain calls, leak repairs, and water heater replacements.
The Pilot plan is $497 a month with AI usage included. Enter your own shop's numbers below to see the weekly and monthly revenue at stake:
Work it out on your shop's own numbers
Fields start blank so you can plug in the real counts from your phone carrier log and price book. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
How it fits next to Jobber or Housecall Pro
Plumbing shops come to Omni Studio in two ways: either they want AI employee Mia and AI employee Hank to answer calls and run dispatch alongside their existing field service app, or they want one workspace where AI employees and the job board live together.
Inside the Home Services workspace, Omni Studio includes its own customer records, job board, dispatch schedule, Good, Better, Best estimates, and Stripe-linked invoices. If you are moving off a spreadsheet, whiteboard, or a field service subscription, your existing records from Jobber, Housecall Pro, or ServiceTitan (customers, leads, jobs, invoices, team members, services, and your price book) move into your workspace by CSV import.
If you also connect external software, we connect your Jobber and ServiceTitan accounts through Composio during setup, alongside Twilio for phone and SMS on your own business number, Google Calendar, Stripe for card payment links, and QuickBooks for accounting. We scope record syncing with your Jobber, Housecall Pro, or ServiceTitan account during setup; records come across by CSV import, and connected actions run through your workspace approval queue.
- Twilio (your business phone and SMS)
- CSV import (Jobber, Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan records)
- Composio (we connect your tools, including Jobber and ServiceTitan)
- Google Calendar (schedule windows)
- Stripe (invoice card payment links)
- QuickBooks (approved billing sync)
Compared with Jobber
See what stays in Jobber, what moves into your workspace via CSV import, and how AI employee Mia and AI employee Hank work missed calls and dispatch with an approval gate.
Compared with Housecall Pro
Compare per-user field service tiers against a workspace where AI employee Mia, AI employee Hank, AI employee Cody, and AI employee Nora prepare the phone intake, schedule, estimates, and invoices for your approval.
Compared with ServiceTitan
For 1 to 15-truck plumbing shops that want emergency call triage, license-aware dispatch, and price-book estimate follow-up without a multi-month enterprise rollout.
What runs alone, what waits for your approval, and what it never does
Plumbing owners hesitate to put software on the phone line for two reasons: a bot might promise a 30-minute arrival window when every van is across town, or it might tell a homeowner with a gas water heater leak how to fix it themselves. Omni Studio draws a hard line between preparation and action.
Runs on its own
AI employee Mia answers your Twilio line, sends missed-call text-backs, asks your seven plumbing intake questions, checks the caller's words against your emergency and routine lists, and logs the transcript. AI employee Hank reads your plumber schedule, trade licenses, drive times, and van equipment to prepare a draft board.
Waits for your approval
Sending an arrival-window text to a customer, booking or moving a job on the board, paging the on-call plumber, sending a Good, Better, Best estimate from your price book, issuing an invoice with a payment link, and posting a public review reply all wait for your yes by default.
You stay at the helm
Approve, edit, or skip any draft from your phone or desktop. Pause any AI employee on its own computer to take over the screen yourself, and later allow a narrow routine step to run on its own per job if you choose. Every decision is logged with who approved it and when.
Hard limits
- Never promises an arrival time you have not confirmed
- Never quotes a price before the plumber sees the job
- Never dispatches the on-call plumber without your approval
- Never gives repair or safety instructions on a gas or water emergency
- Never sends an estimate, invoice, or refund on its own
- Never publishes a review reply without your approval
How a burst pipe call at 6:40 p.m. ET runs from first ring to dispatch
Here is how an after-hours plumbing emergency travels from the first ring on your Twilio number to a paid invoice without a single unapproved promise to the homeowner.
Walk-through from first ring at 6:40 p.m. ET to paid invoice at 8:11 p.m. ET
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Inbound call on the shop's Twilio line. Rosa Delgado calls (555) 010-0148 from 1418 Alder Street. Water is spraying from a split half-inch copper line behind the laundry room wall. AI employee Mia answers, asks your emergency triage questions, notes that Rosa's husband just turned off the street shut-off valve, and flags the thread at the top of owner Dana's queue because "burst pipe" and "active leak" match the emergency rule card.
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AI employee Hank checks the on-call roster and van stock. AI employee Hank reads the on-call schedule, confirms journeyman plumber Marcus is on call tonight with copper press fittings in Van 2, checks the 18-minute drive time to 1418 Alder Street, and drafts both the dispatch page for Marcus and the arrival-window text (7:15 to 7:45 p.m. ET) for Rosa. Both drafts wait for Dana.
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Owner Dana approves from her phone. Dana reviews the job card and taps Approve and send. Marcus receives the dispatch page with the address, callback number, and shut-off status; Rosa receives the confirmation text from Fig Tree Plumbing's Twilio number.
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Repair completed and logged. Marcus presses in a new copper section, tests the line under pressure, uploads two photos, and marks the $385 emergency repair complete. Because the house has older galvanized branch lines in the basement, Marcus adds a note for AI employee Cody to prepare a Good, Better, Best repipe estimate for the following morning.
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AI employee Nora drafts the invoice and records payment. AI employee Nora prepares the $385 invoice with a Stripe card payment link. Dana approves the invoice at 8:08 p.m. ET, Rosa pays by card at 8:11 p.m. ET, and AI employee Nora logs the paid invoice for QuickBooks and queues a review request with AI employee Reggie for the next afternoon.
Read the full step-by-step story on the 6:40 p.m. burst-pipe call story or explore the plumbing emergency calls use case.
Rebuilding tomorrow's board after a technician calls in sick
Answering the phone is only half of the front-desk bottleneck. When a senior plumber texts in sick at 6:10 a.m. ET with four jobs on the board, a generic scheduler does not know which van carries the sewer camera or which plumber holds a gas endorsement.
In our 6:10 a.m. sick-call story and the AI dispatcher for plumbers walk-through, AI employee Mia logs the sick text from your plumber and marks the four jobs open. AI employee Hank immediately reads four records on his own computer: your shop's licensing rule card (for example, gas water heater work only by licensed journeymen or masters, and apprentices riding with a journeyman), each plumber's current board, drive times across your service area, the equipment assigned to each van (such as the sewer camera sitting in the sick plumber's truck), and special job notes (such as a sewer inspection tied to a real estate closing deadline).
Within minutes, AI employee Hank prepares a draft board that moves the gas water heater swap to a plumber with a gas endorsement, groups the afternoon drain calls by neighborhood, holds the sewer camera inspection for tomorrow because the camera is locked in the absent plumber's van, and drafts personal call notes for the owner instead of sending an automatic text to the home-sale customer. If a new emergency leak call lands at 7:31 a.m. ET before you approve the board, AI employee Mia captures the emergency and AI employee Hank marks the earlier draft out of date, presenting two clear options so a person decides which routine customer moves to a later window.
| Test scenario to run on sample data | What a clipboard call center or voicemail does | What AI employee Mia, AI employee Hank, and AI employee Cody do in Omni Studio |
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| 1. Burst pipe call at 6:40 p.m. ET with active water | Takes a name and number or plays a beep; caller dials the next plumber in search results | AI employee Mia asks your shut-off and fixture questions, flags the emergency first in your queue, and AI employee Hank drafts the on-call page for your approval |
| 2. Slow bathroom sink drain text at 9:40 p.m. ET | Either wakes the on-call plumber for a non-emergency or leaves an unstructured message | AI employee Mia classifies it as routine under your rule card and holds a drafted morning window reply in your 6:30 a.m. ET approval list |
| 3. Plumber calls in sick at 6:10 a.m. ET with 4 jobs | Has no view of plumber gas licenses, van tools, or drive times; owner rebuilds the board by hand | AI employee Hank reads your rule card, van equipment, and job notes to propose a reassigned board and customer texts that wait for your yes |
| 4. Tankless water heater or repipe estimate sitting 5 days | No connection to your price book or open quotes after the first call ends | AI employee Cody drafts a Good, Better, Best estimate from your price book after the visit and prepares follow-up texts at your chosen interval |
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Free 14-day workspace
Free no credit card
Preloaded with plumbing sample data so you can test emergency triage, morning dispatch, and approval gates before connecting your own line.
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Pilot
$497 a month
One AI employee with one skill turned on, with setup help. Setup and CSV import help. Connections to your tools, where they apply. A regular review with the Omni team. Approvals and an activity log.
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Custom Build
From $4,500 a month
For multi-crew plumbing and mechanical contractors that want hands-on workflow configuration, custom rule cards, and dedicated onboarding.
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Enterprise
Talk to a person
For multi-location home services groups with custom security, volume, and operational requirements. Contact our team.
Answering service, AI receptionist, or a hire for a plumbing company
Most plumbing shops choose between a live-agent answering service, an AI receptionist for plumbing, and an office hire. Here is how the three compare on the points that decide an after-hours call.
| What decides the call | Live-agent answering service | Omni AI receptionist (AI employee Mia) | In-house hire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who picks up | A live agent working from a script | Mia, an AI employee, on your own business number | A dispatcher or office hire on your payroll |
| Nights and weekends | Covered by the provider's staffing; hold times vary | AI employee Mia answers and texts back missed calls when your shop is closed; how many calls ring at once depends on your Twilio line | Only the hours that person works, so nights need an on-call rota |
| What it knows about the caller | Usually a name and callback number unless it is integrated | Customer record and job history from your workspace after we set up your import | Whatever the person remembers or finds in your software |
| Burst pipe or sewage backup | Takes a message or follows a call tree you supply | Flags it at the top of your queue, points the caller to your on-call number, and prepares the dispatch note for your approval | Depends on who is on shift |
| Acts on its own | Depends on the provider | No. Every text, booking, and dispatch note waits for your approval | Yes, on the person's judgment |
| What it costs | Set by the provider, often by minute or call volume, so check the rate card | Pilot $497 a month, Custom Build from $4,500 a month, Enterprise by quote. Twilio bills calls and texts separately. | Wages, payroll taxes, and training |
A live agent can talk a caller through an unusual situation in real time. AI employee Mia works from the rules you write and hands anything unclear to a person. Pick the option that matches how your shop handles an emergency night.
Frequently asked questions
Direct answers on how AI employee Mia answers your plumbing line, how emergencies reach your on-call plumber, and what stays under your approval.
What is an answering service for plumbers, and does Omni's answer after hours?
An answering service for plumbers picks up your line when you are under a sink. Omni's is an AI receptionist: AI employee Mia answers on your own business number after hours, including nights and weekends, asks where the water is and whether it is still running, and puts burst pipes and sewage backups at the top of your queue. Nothing is sent, booked, or dispatched until you approve it.
How does AI employee Mia tell a burst pipe emergency from a slow drain?
You write your shop's emergency and routine lists in your own words on your rule card. A typical plumbing emergency list includes water coming through a ceiling or wall, a burst or leaking pipe that is still running, sewage backing up into the home, and no water at all. AI employee Mia asks every caller the same intake questions (where the problem is, whether water is still running or sewage is backing up right now, when it started, whether they know where the shut-off valve is, whether it affects a single fixture or the whole house, and the street address and callback number). When a caller's words match your emergency list, AI employee Mia flags the thread first in your queue so a person can act right away, points the caller to your on-call number, and prepares the on-call dispatch note for AI employee Hank. Routine requests like a slow bathroom sink drain or a dripping faucet get a drafted reply with your next open morning window that waits in your morning list.
Does AI employee Mia dispatch the on-call plumber or promise an arrival window on her own?
No. Waiting for your approval is the default for every customer message, booking, and dispatch action. AI employee Mia and AI employee Hank prepare the job write-up, check who is on the on-call roster, and draft the dispatch page and arrival-window text, then stop at the approval gate. Nothing is promised to the homeowner and no plumber is dispatched until you tap approve. AI employee Mia also never quotes a price before a plumber sees the job and never gives repair or safety instructions on a gas or water emergency.
How does phone answering work on our existing plumbing number, and is anything billed on top of the plan?
AI employee Mia answers calls and texts back missed calls on your own business phone number through Twilio, a phone and text carrier you connect in your workspace. AI employee usage is included in your Omni Studio plan ($497 a month on Pilot). When you connect your own phone line or third-party accounts such as Twilio for phone and SMS or Stripe for card payments, carrier phone and text usage is billed directly by Twilio at their standard rates, and card processing is billed by Stripe.
Can I use Omni Studio if my shop runs on Jobber, Housecall Pro, or ServiceTitan?
Yes. Omni Studio has its own jobs, dispatch board, estimates, and invoices inside the Home Services workspace. Your existing customers, leads, jobs, invoices, team members, services, and price book from Jobber, Housecall Pro, or ServiceTitan move into your workspace via CSV import. We check the apps, permissions, and records your workflow needs during setup. 1,500+ apps are available through Composio; a listed app does not confirm every action or a working connection for your account. We scope record syncing with you during setup, and record changes wait for your approval.
What happens when a caller asks for a water heater replacement or repipe quote?
A whole-house repipe or water heater replacement cannot be priced sight unseen from a phone call. AI employee Mia collects the unit details (whether it is a tank or tankless model, whether the fuel source is gas or electric, the approximate age, and the location) and drafts a booking for an on-site estimate visit for your approval. After your plumber visits and logs notes, AI employee Cody, who handles sales and estimates, drafts a Good, Better, Best estimate from your price book. Sending the estimate or changing a price waits for your approval, and AI employee Cody prepares follow-up messages at the interval you set until you mark the quote won or lost.
What happens when a plumber calls in sick at 6 a.m. with a full board?
AI employee Mia logs the sick-day text and marks that plumber's jobs open. In operations and dispatch, AI employee Hank reads your shop's rule card (such as which plumbers hold gas endorsements or master licenses), each plumber's current board, drive times, the equipment in each van (such as which truck carries the sewer camera), and job notes. AI employee Hank drafts a reassigned board, prepares new arrival-window texts for routine customers, and writes call notes for any job tied to a strict deadline like a home sale. Moving jobs and sending customer texts wait for your approval.
How much does Omni Studio cost for a plumbing company?
You can start with a free 14-day workspace on sample data with no credit card required. The Pilot plan is $497 a month with AI usage included, one AI employee, and one skill turned on. Custom Build starts from $4,500 a month for multi-crew shops that want custom setup, and Enterprise pricing is available by talking to a person.
Try AI employee Mia and AI employee Hank on sample plumbing calls for 14 days
Set your emergency and routine lists, test a 6:40 p.m. ET burst pipe call, and approve the first draft yourself.