AI Receptionist for Design-Build & Hardscape Contractors | Front Desk AI
AI Receptionist for Design-Build and Hardscape Contractors, With a Built-In Estimator and Dispatch Board
You're on a job, the phone's sitting in the truck, and by the time you check it there's a missed call and no voicemail. That's FDAI's job now. It answers that call in your voice, on your number, qualifies the lead, and hands it to you. Every deployment also ships with the Ops Console at no extra cost: an instant project estimate, a crew schedule that actually understands how a hardscape build gets built, and a follow-up queue for the quotes that went quiet.
Where a design-build contractor's money actually leaks
It's not the pricing. A design-build shop's money leaks out through calls nobody answered, quotes nobody followed up on, and crews sent to jobs that weren't ready. Every one of those is invisible on the day it happens, which is exactly why it can go on for years without anybody noticing.
The missed call. The biggest leak and the most invisible one.
A knock at the door while the leaf blower is running.
You'll say you mostly catch them. You don't, and you can't know that you don't. There's no record of a call that never left a voicemail.
The stalled quote. The one that makes an owner go quiet, because he knows exactly which folder it's sitting in.
A seed you planted and never watered.
The expensive part is already done: the drive out, the measurement, the design, the price. What's left undone is a four-minute follow-up that keeps not happening.
The crew standing around. The smallest dollar figure and the biggest emotional charge, because it feels like the owner's own fault.
A nail gun has a safety not because you're careless, but because the one time it matters, you're tired and it's 4:40.
Demo, dig, base, install, finish. Hardscape runs in order, and one blocked phase at the start slides the whole job, and the one behind it.
What FDAI actually does
FDAI is an AI voice receptionist built for design-build, hardscape and outdoor-living contractors. It answers calls the owner can't get to, qualifies the lead, handles after-hours inquiries the same as a Tuesday morning, and gets the owner the details to close it. It's trained on the contractor's own prices, service area and hours, not a generic script, and when it doesn't know something it takes a message instead of guessing.
The contractor keeps their existing business number. Setup is one carrier forwarding rule, nothing to rip out.
FDAI does not connect to Jobber, Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan, Buildertrend, QuickBooks or an existing calendar. Every caller lands in one place FDAI runs and keeps, so a record exists even if the contractor's own system stays exactly as it is today.
The Ops Console: what ships with every deployment
FDAI answers the phone. The Ops Console is what the owner uses between the calls. It's three tools, included at no extra cost, running from a browser with no login required at the shop.
Estimator
A calculator on the contractor's own site that gives a straight range, not a made-up number. A homeowner picks project type, size, material and timeframe, and the range comes back built from real hardscape inputs: dollars per square foot by material tier, linear-foot wall pricing, per-unit features, base prep and excavation, haul-off, drainage, demo of the existing surface, access difficulty, and grade. It's always a range, and it always says out loud that it isn't a binding quote, because what's under the dirt and how a crew gets into the backyard move a hardscape price more than the material choice does.
Dispatch board
Crew rows, not technician rows. Cards are job phases, not whole projects, because demo, dig, base prep, install and finish are each their own schedulable piece of work. Most dispatch software built for one-visit service calls doesn't model that at all. One gate hard-blocks a phase from starting: the utility locate, the permit, and the HOA approval all have to be marked cleared, with an audit trail behind the clear. Everything else on the board warns and lets the owner decide, which matches how these jobs actually get run.
Lead ops
The stalled-quote queue, ranked by what the job is worth and how long it's been sitting. Opening lines are built from the prospect's own numbers, there's a three-message follow-up sequence with the spacing already worked out, and the whole thing is a 20-minute daily routine instead of a guilty scroll through old estimates. Nothing exports until the owner approves it, and editing the copy after approval breaks the old approval, so a stale draft can't go out the door by accident.
Why not ServiceTitan, Jobber or Housecall Pro
General service-dispatch software is built around a technician showing up once and finishing the job in a visit. That's not what a design-build build looks like, and the gap shows up in a few concrete places:
- Scheduling unit: general tools assign a technician to a timeslot. The Ops Console schedules a crew against a job phase, because a two-week patio build is five or six separate schedulable pieces, not one appointment.
- Permits and locates: general tools don't model a permit, an HOA approval or a utility locate as something that can block work. The Ops Console hard-blocks a phase from starting until all three are cleared, with an audit trail behind the clear.
- Phone estimates: general tools often let a fixed number go out over the phone. The Ops Console always gives a range and always labels it not a binding quote.
- Monthly cost: general dispatch and estimating tools are a separate per-seat software bill. The Ops Console is included with FDAI, not a line item.
What it costs
FDAI runs a one-time install fee of $5,000, then a monthly platform fee after that. The Ops Console, all three modules, ships in the box.
Common questions
Does FDAI replace my CRM or job software?
No. It doesn't connect to Jobber, Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan, Buildertrend, QuickBooks or an existing calendar. Every caller is logged in one place FDAI runs, so a record exists even if the contractor's own system stays exactly as it is.
Does the estimator give homeowners a fixed price?
No, on purpose. It gives an honest range and states plainly that it isn't a binding quote. Ground conditions and site access move a hardscape price more than material choice does, and neither one is knowable over the phone.
How is the dispatch board different from what I'd get with ServiceTitan or Jobber?
Those tools are built around single-visit service calls and generally don't handle multi-day, multi-crew jobs, which is most design-build work. The Ops Console schedules by crew and job phase, and it hard-blocks a phase from starting until the utility locate, permit and HOA approval are cleared.
Is the Ops Console a separate purchase?
No. It ships with every FDAI deployment at no additional cost.
Who is this built for?
Design-build, hardscape and outdoor-living contractors, generally under 20 employees and $500,000 to $5 million in revenue, owner-operated, usually trying to get off the tools without the business falling over. It isn't built for dominant regional players, franchise chains, or maintenance-only lawn care crews.
If design work is most of what you sell rather than maintenance, there is a version of this written for landscape design contractors.
