AI for trades & construction businesses from StartAI: From solo plumbers to 50-person builders, here's what AI is doing for trades businesses right now, so the paperwork doesn't follow you home every night.
Trades & construction
AI for trades & construction businesses
The problem
Same job, two very different days.
Today
- 01A customer emails at 7:30pm
- 02Nobody sees it until the next morning
- 03Someone looks up the customer's history by hand15 mins
- 04The quote gets written from scratch45 mins
- 05The quote goes out the next day, and the follow-up two days later
- 06The customer has already booked someone else
A day or more, and often the job's gone.
With Copilot and AI agents
- A customer emails at 7:30pm
- An agent reads the enquiry and pulls up the customer's history
- The agent drafts a quote from your templates and price list
- You check it on your phone and send it that night
- If there's no reply, a follow-up goes out the next day
Quote out the same night. Job won.
Use cases
Where AI helps in trades & construction
It all runs on Microsoft 365, Copilot, and Copilot Studio, and plugs into the apps you already use.
Copilot Studio
Automated quoting
An agent drafts quotes from the job description and your pricing templates, ready for you to check and send.
Power Automate
Lead follow-up
Never lose a job because you were flat out on site and couldn't call back.
Copilot Studio
Scheduling
Book jobs around where the team is, who has the right skills, and who's free.
Power Automate
Invoice & payment follow-up
Invoices sent, tracked, and chased for you, connected to the accounting app you already use.
Microsoft Copilot
Supplier communication
Order confirmations and delivery arrangements drafted in Outlook in minutes.
Power Automate
Review requests
Ask happy customers for a Google review once the job's done.
Where to start
The services that fit.
Most people start with one, then add the next once the first is paying its way.
- 03AI agents & insightsAn agent that answers enquiries, drafts quotes, and chases follow-ups, plus a Power BI view of your jobs and cash flow.
- 02Training & adoptionGet you and the office using Copilot in Outlook and Teams for emails, quotes, and supplier messages.
- 04Security & data governanceYour inboxes are full of customer details and quotes. We protect them with Microsoft Purview and Microsoft Defender, and help you work towards Essential Eight or SMB1001 as the business grows.