An AI phone assistant that answers when you're on a ladder

By the Hewer team · · 2 min read

Hewer's AI phone assistant settings: how it answers (greeting and name, voice, pronunciation, when it answers, languages) and what it knows (services and area, pricing, FAQs, your rules for calls).
The assistant's settings: how it answers, and what it knows about your company.

Every missed call is a job someone else might get. But you can't answer the phone with a nail gun in your hand, and a full-time receptionist is a big cost for a small crew. Hewer's AI phone assistant answers the calls you can't, books site visits, and hands you the details.

What it does on a call

  • Answers your business number and says it's an assistant for your company.
  • Tells callers what work you do and where, from the services and area you set.
  • Takes the caller's name, address and what they need, and creates the lead.
  • Books a site visit on your calendar, or holds it for you to review first.
  • Puts the caller through to a person whenever they ask for one.
  • Takes a message when that's what the caller wants.

You decide what it knows

In Settings, you give the assistant your services and service area, answers to common questions, and your own rules for calls. You choose whether it ever talks about price: many contractors set it to never quote, and to book a visit instead. A starter set of answers for your trade fills in the first draft for you to edit.

You decide when it answers

It can answer every call, or only after hours. You can have callers press 1 before they reach it, which screens out robocalls so they don't use your minutes. It speaks many languages, and you pick the voice and how it pronounces your company and street names.

After the call

Each call shows up in Calls with the transcript, a short summary and anything it booked. Calls where something was promised are flagged as follow-ups. A morning review lists what came in overnight.

The Hewer Calls list: recent incoming calls, each with its length and a one-line summary of what the caller wanted.
Every call it takes lands in Calls with a summary.

Honest with callers

The assistant tells callers it's an AI and that calls are recorded. It doesn't pretend to be a person, and it never blocks a caller from reaching one.

What it costs

The assistant is the one optional add-on to Hewer. It's $49/month, 150 minutes included each billing period, then $0.25 a minute, and you can add or remove it any time from Settings. See the pricing page.

Leads it books go straight into the same list as every other lead. See Leads and estimates and Customer messages and calls, or start a trial.

Questions

Will callers know they're talking to an AI?

Yes. The assistant says it's an AI assistant for your company, and it tells callers the call is recorded.

Can a caller reach a real person?

Yes. A caller who asks for a person is put through to you right away.

Does it quote prices?

Only if you want it to. You can set it to never quote prices and book a site visit instead, or to give starting prices you set.

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