Trades and contractors · Fit Ventures AI · Nottingham
AI set up for Nottingham contractors who want fewer missed calls, quotes sent sooner and less paperwork at night.
You're on a job, the phone rings, and the enquiry goes to someone else. I teach you to set up small fixes, each one drafting a repeat job, following written rules, agreed by you and me, on which customer details can go into AI. I also teach you, or whoever does your admin, to run them. A person in your business checks everything the AI drafts before it goes out.
A fit call is a free 30 minute call to see whether this suits your business. To book one, use any Book my free fit call button to pick a time in my booking calendar. Nothing is sold straight from this page.
Missed call · 11:05
Missed call from a new number, with a voicemail: "Boiler's making a noise, can someone come and look?"
Draft reply, in your wordsReady
Hi, sorry I missed your call, I was on a job. I can come out tomorrow morning. Can you send me your address and the make of the boiler?
- One clear first stepa written plan within 7 days of your start session, a paid first session of about two hours
- Fits your weekI'll work around your day where I can
- Checked by younothing goes out until you, or someone in your business, has read it
01The problem
On the job all day, behind at night.
You're good at the work. The calls, quotes, invoices and paperwork pile up while you're doing it, and you catch up in the evening.
You may have heard AI could help, but you don't know where to start, or whether it is safe with your customers' details.
Sound familiar?
“I miss calls when I'm up a ladder, and I never know if they went to someone else.”
“I don't know where to start with AI, and I don't want to get it wrong.”
- “Quotes wait until the evening, and by then the customer may have moved on.”
- “I forget when certificates and insurance are due until it's nearly too late.”
- “I'm not confident with IT, and I haven't got time to learn it.”
- “Is it safe with my customers' details?”
These are examples of what owners in the trade might say, not quotes from my clients.
If that is your week, the first step is smaller than you think, and you don't have to be technical to take it.
02What I set up
The fixes that suit a trade business.
Each fix is one repeat job that AI drafts for you, such as a reply to an enquiry. Fixes for the same area, such as finance, sit together in one helper. We pick the first one or two together in the start session. Nothing goes out without a person in your business reading it first.
Operations and delivery
Calls and enquiries come in while you're working
- A phone answering service, not offered yetWhen it is offered, it would take messages while you're on a job, sort the urgent from the routine and pass them to you to deal with.
- Replies drafted from your inboxDraft replies to the email enquiries that reach your inbox, for you to check and send.
- A daily team briefIf you have a team: one short note each morning of who is where and what needs doing.
Finance
Invoices wait
- Overdue invoice remindersPolite reminders drafted in your voice, for you to check and send.
Compliance
Renewals slip
- A weekly deadline listEach week, your helper drafts a short list of the renewals coming up, such as your certificates, registrations and insurance, from the dates you keep in your own list. You stay in charge of what your trade requires; I don't give legal or safety advice.
Marketing
Past customers forget you
- A monthly newsletter, drafted from your inboxYour helper drafts a monthly newsletter for you to check and send, only to contacts you may lawfully email. You check consent (their permission to be emailed) and your opt out list (people who asked you to stop); I show you how.
Before any customer details are used, I check with you which tools will see them, who can log in, and how each tool stores data.
03Your numbers
What the repeat jobs cost your business
Move the sliders to match a normal week. They start at five people doing four hours each, plus four hours of your own evenings; set them to your own business and your own rates.
At your hourly cost, your team’s repeat jobs are worth about £14,400 a year. On top of that, your evenings are worth about £5,760, a cost that rarely shows in your accounts. In your start session, you and I count where those hours go and agree which jobs are worth fixing first.
These are your own numbers, worked out over 48 working weeks. Nothing here is a promise of time saved; your start session looks at your real week properly.
Thinking of hiring instead? A new person usually costs more than their salary: employer National Insurance at 15% on pay above £5,000 a year (some employers can claim the Employment Allowance against it), a workplace pension for most staff, and sick pay from the first day off sick.
04What changes
Jobs are bundles of tasks. AI can help with some of them.
Anthropic, the company behind Claude, looks at work this way: every job is a bundle of tasks. Here is an example for a small contracting firm. Each square is one task; bigger squares take more time. Press After AI to see which tasks stay with people, which AI helps with, which AI drafts for a person to check and send, and the new tasks it creates.
An illustration, not a finding. Square sizes are examples until your start session counts your real week.
What could change: you keep the site work, the pricing and the customer relationships. Quotes, updates and chasers could arrive as drafts, and checking and sending them would become part of the job.
05How it works
Three steps, and you stay in charge of each one.
I teach you to set it up yourself, so you understand what is running in your business. The work starts with a paid start session, which you can only buy after a call with me, never straight from this page.
It follows the CALMER Method™: Count where your hours go, Agree the fixes and Lock down the rules for your customers' details in the start session; Make each helper in your own words and Equip your team to run it as each helper is set up; then Review what is working and what needs changing at the review call, and each month if you choose monthly support.
What is included
- 1. The start sessionCount, Agree, Lock down. About two hours, then your plan within 7 days
We choose the first fixes together, agree the rules for your customers' details, and you see your first fix working before the session ends. Within 7 days of the session you receive a written plan and ready made instructions.
- 2. Your helpersMake, Equip. One for each area you choose, 90 minutes each
A helper is AI set up for one area of your business, such as finance; a skill is one repeat job it does. We set up each helper together, with its first skill, using examples of your own writing. Between sessions you use it in your real week, and I answer your questions by email.
- 3. The reviewReview. A 30 minute call for each helper, or one 2 hour visit if you buy everything at once (the full package)
We check what is working, improve what is not, and decide what comes next. Add another skill or helper later, only if you want to.
Included, yours to keep
- The Safe to Paste desk card
The worry it answers: "Is it safe with my customers' details?" A one page card showing what can go into AI and what never does, so everyone follows the same rules without asking.
- The Voice Library
The worry it answers: "It'll make us sound robotic." A set of instructions for the AI that I write for your business and tune to your own tone, so drafts sound like you. You check every draft before it goes out.
- Your AI setup board
The worry it answers: "I'll forget how it all works." A board in your own account on Notion, an online notes app (its free plan is enough), that holds your plan, your rules for customer details, each helper and its instructions, and what's next. We fill it in together at each session, and you keep it in your account afterwards.
06Is it for you?
Who this is for, and who it is not for.
This is for you if
- You run a contracting business within about an hour of Nottingham. Travel beyond 30 miles of Nottingham is quoted before booking.
- You miss calls or enquiries while you're on a job.
- You don't know where to start with AI, or you've tried and stalled.
- You want a person to check everything before it goes out.
- You, or whoever does your admin, can give about two hours at the start and two at the review.
This is not for you if
- You want AI to send messages to customers with no one checking.
- You want something built for you with nothing for you to do.
- You need a promised number of hours saved before we've started.
07Questions
The honest answers.
The things people worry about before they say yes, in plain words.
Questions owners ask
Do I need an office person to do this?
No. You, or whoever does your admin, can run it. I show you step by step, and I'll fit the sessions around your working day where I can.
What will the phone service do?
It isn't offered yet. If I offer it later, it would take messages and pass them to you, and I'd only set it up once we'd agreed what it says, when it sends a call or message through to you, and how your customers' details are handled.
Is it safe with my customers' details?
Data handling comes first. Before anything is set up, we agree in writing what can go into AI and what never does. You get a one page desk card, and a person checks every message before it goes out. No setup can guarantee security, so I assess each tool and its settings with you.
What does it cost?
The start session is £350 for up to 10 people and £497 for 11 to 50. Each helper is £350 with its first skill, and each further skill is £250. Everything at once is £1,500, or £1,650 for 11 to 50 people. Monthly support after setup is optional, at £350 a month; a new helper is priced separately. [to confirm]
How long does it take?
The start session is about two hours, and your written plan follows within 7 days. Each helper is then set up with you in a 90 minute session. If you choose everything at once, the review visit is within 3 months of the start session.
Start with a short fit call.
Tell me how your week runs. If we're a good fit, you can start with the start session, from £350. I take on three new businesses a month.
If your written plan does not give you at least three fixes you would use for the needs we agreed, tell me within 14 days of receiving it and I will refund the start session fee in full within 14 days of hearing from you.