AI in Home Services — What’s Actually Working for You?
I’ve been testing a few tools in my tree care business and wanted to get real feedback from others in the field. Recently switched from Ooma Office to Quo (formerly OpenPhone), and one feature that’s been working well is automatic text follow-up when a call is missed. Instead of voicemail, it asks for the address and service needed. It’s helped keep leads engaged and reduced missed opportunities. Also using different call flows based on business hours, which has improved response consistency. That said, AI voice receptionists still don’t feel fully there yet. Most customers can tell, and in this industry people usually expect to speak with a real person—especially for larger or safety-related jobs. Curious to hear from others: What AI tools are you actually using in your business? What have you stopped using? What are the top 3 reasons you’ve kept a tool long-term? Looking for real-world experience, not hype.I built an AI assistant that runs my office
A few weeks ago I shared how I built a one-step enrollment system for my lawn care program — client enters their info, credit card goes on file, and they're enrolled. No quote approval, no back-and-forth. Automated sequences handle the welcome email, welcome text, and contact setup. One step, done. Coming from a background as an electrician, I tend to look at everything as a circuit. If there’s a break in communication or a 'loose wire' in my lead flow, the whole system fails. I decided to stop fighting the mess and started 'wiring' my office the same way I would a complex panel. I built an AI operations system that runs alongside Jobber. Every text, phone call, email, voicemail, missed call, and website form submission automatically gets logged to a centralized database through a series of Zaps. Every client has one record, one timeline, and one clear next action at all times. Every morning before I head out, I run a 5-minute briefing with an AI assistant. It reads the full client database through an MCP server — which basically means the AI has live access to every client interaction in real time. It tells me who contacted me overnight, who's waiting on a response, who's going cold, and what I should do next for each person. It drafts the messages. I review, edit if needed, and send. I also set up an AI receptionist on my business phone line. It answers calls, can answer common questions about services and pricing, takes client information, and transfers calls when needed. It can also send texts to the caller during or after the call — like a direct link to the enrollment page or the resources section on my website. It handles multiple calls at the same time. No more missed calls going to voicemail. The tools: Jobber for jobs, scheduling, and service history. An MCP-connected database for the client timeline. Zapier to connect everything. An AI assistant for daily briefings and client communication. An AI receptionist for inbound calls. Jobber stays at the center — it's my source of truth for every job, every visit, every quote. The AI layer sits on top and makes sure nothing falls through the cracks between Jobber and everything else. I'm planning my first hire this season. Not because I'm behind — because the systems are handling the admin load well enough that I can focus on growing. The AI doesn't replace a person. It replaced the office work I used to do at 10 PM after a full day in the field. If anyone's curious about how any of this works, happy to answer questions. I'm not selling anything — just sharing what I've built because this community helped me think through a lot of it.What Should Home Service Businesses Automate First to Save Time?
Small manual tasks start stacking up, catching up on follow-ups, re-adjusting scheduling, invoicing, review requests, the list goes on and on. Sound familiar? What’s one task you’re still doing manually that you know could be automated? What’s stopping you from setting it up?How Fast Do You Pick Up a Phone Call or Call Someone Back After a Missed Call?
Curious how everyone here handles this, because a new Jobber survey of recent homebuyers turned up a stat that stuck with me: 15% had to follow up repeatedly just to get a response from a contractor 9% never heard back at all Losing potential business due to something that is not a pricing problem or a skill problem should be a wake up call. In a world where 75% of new homeowners hire a pro within their first two years of buying, being the one who calls back first might be the easiest job you win all week! So, what's your business standard? Do you answer within a certain time frame or let it go to voicemail and call back same day? Are there systems set up so nothing slips through the cracks? 👉 Recent Homebuyer Report: It's got homeowner quotes on what made them trust (or ditch) a contractor, plus a breakdown of how each generation actually finds a pro.How Do You Roll Back a Major Change?
Have you guys ever made a major organizational change then needed to go back? This last year I tried to help buy back some of my time and created a Project/ Operations manager position so I could focus on sales and marketing. It's been a bumpy road to say the least. I first tried to hire two guys from outside the organization, I really thought I did my due diligence but it didn't work out with either of those guys. One guy I learned after a week (lol) the other took me a month and a half. On our third guy, I promoted from within and it seemed like it was working but here we are almost two full quarters in and we have less capacity because I haven't been successful in finding a replacement for him in the field, and we are making less money on jobs because ... well it's a combination of things but he might not be a fit for the position. I'm thinking I need a more decentralized approach since essentially we are at the same revenue number as last year when we didn't have his big overhead position. So the question is - how do you roll that back? Is it possible to make a change like that without alienating the person I'm demoting? Would it be easier to demote if I'm citing financial and structural changes for the company? What's ya'll take on that.Are You Building a Business or Just Creating Yourself Another Job?
It’s easy as a small business owner to get caught up doing everything yourself. At what point do you start delegating, hiring, or putting systems in place so the business can operate without you being involved in every job? I’d love to hear how other owners are making that transition while still keeping quality and customer service high.
💡FEATURE REQUEST: Price Increases in Products & Services List
Do you increase prices for ongoing customers? Do you know how long it takes me to increase my prices for 700 ongoing clients in my cleaning business? Whether you increase your prices on an annual basis or just as needed in these unpredictable times, it would be easier to make these changes en masse in the Products and Services tab! How would it work? When editing a product or service line item in the Products & Services List, there should be an option to carry that modification over to any existing Jobs that have that line item on it. Currently, this would only update for new jobs created, but I'd love to see a little pop-up that says, "Would you like to change the price for existing Jobs with this line item? Yes/No" Use Case Example: Because I am in the cleaning industry, it will be my primary use case. Let's say you have a minimum price that every client's rate will be at or above. When you create a new job for a recurring customer, you add a line item titled "Minimum Rate + current year," like for 2020: "Minimum Rate 2020," which is $150. You also add another line item based on how your pricing model is set up - in this case, I will use a simple one: "Small House" for $10 "Medium House" for $30 "Large House" for $50 When it's time for your prices to increase, consider the following options: you could decide to raise prices only for people with large houses and keep your minimum rate the same, or you may want to increase the cost for clients who have been with you for more than 5 years. Instead of making this change one client at a time and trying to sort through who the change applies to, I could go to the Products and Services List and find the specific line item I want to modify. Then, I could edit the price in there! Ta Da! You've raised your prices! Why should Jobber care? This would be huge for any business industry that has recurring clients. ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, and other competitors already have this feature. I have found other threads that mention something like this or frustrations with how to go about raising prices. This would allow businesses that only see customers once or twice a year to set up their customers as recurring with one Job, saving them a lot of time and effort as well. You'd have at least one very loyal customer in me! I've spoken to two support agents who thought this was a simple but fantastic idea! My next price increase is in June, and I'd love you guys if you saved me weeks worth of work in a single click 🤞🙏 QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, FEEDBACK, AND MORE USE CASES WELCOME!!
Marketing for a Growing Landscaping Company (When You’re Still Wearing All the Hats)
For those running small-to-mid size landscaping companies (especially maintenance-heavy businesses), how are you handling marketing as you grow? I’ve been managing ours in-house due to my convenient design background, but between operations and crew management it’s becoming unsustainable—especially when it comes to SEO and lead generation for higher-value projects (which I have less experience with) Are you outsourcing to a freelancer/agency, or hiring in-house? And at what point did that investment start to make sense for you? Do you have any recommendations for Canadian companies?
