An AI receptionist for water damage restoration that answers the 2 am call and gets your crew moving
In restoration, the first company to answer usually gets the job, and the calls come when nobody is at a desk: a burst supply line at 2 am, a sump pump that quit in a storm. Here's how the AI handles those calls, and what it deliberately leaves to your crew.
Ballpark prices by phone and text, and the Quick Quote page, work when you turn on the estimator in Settings (included on Elite, a $20/month add-on on Basic and Pro). With it off, Alex books the visit instead of giving a price.
Where water damage restoration companies actually lose the job
Restoration jobs are big and they're won in minutes. Angi puts the typical water damage restoration job at $1,383 to $6,369 in 2026, and some run well past that (Angi, "How Much Does Water Damage Restoration Cost? [2026 Data]"). The homeowner standing in an inch of water is calling down the search results, and whoever answers and sounds like they're on it gets the job, and often the rebuild after it.
The trouble is when the calls come: overnight, weekends, and all at once in a storm. An answering service takes a message it can't act on. The on-call tech can't answer while he's already setting fans in someone else's basement. And a per-minute AI with a small allowance charges you the most in exactly the week the phone never stops.
What the AI does on a water damage restoration company call
The AI answers as your company, in about two rings, on every call at once. It asks the questions you'd want answered before rolling a truck: what happened and where, whether water is still coming in, whether they've shut off the main or know where it is, how many rooms or floors, whether it's clean water, a dishwasher or washing machine line, or a sewage backup, how long it's been wet, and the address. If you want it to, it asks whether they're filing an insurance claim and with which carrier, and whether they own or rent.
What happens next follows your rules. Active water, sewage, or anything else you define as an emergency goes to your on-call phones. Alex doesn't ask the caller whether it's an emergency; it decides from what they describe, and if it's unclear it asks one question built from your list, such as whether water is still coming in. It tells the caller it's connecting them. The first on-call phone gets a text briefing (caller, address, what's happening, a link to the customer card), then rings; your tech hears the briefing and presses 1 to take the call. No answer, it rings the next phone, up to three in order, and your supervisor gets a text saying who took it. If nobody answers, the caller leaves a message, and every on-call phone and the supervisor get a MISSED EMERGENCY text and then the transcript within about a minute. Alex never promises an arrival time. You decide what the AI tells callers while they wait, for example to shut off the main if it's safe, or to stay out of a room where the ceiling is sagging. Beyond what you've written, it gives no advice. Non-urgent calls (an old stain on the ceiling, a musty basement, a mold concern) get an inspection booked into open time on your Google Calendar. With more than one crew, bookings can be assigned automatically.
Emergencies don't only come in by phone. An emergency text or website chat alerts the same on-call phones and supervisor with what the customer wrote, and follow-ups in the next 30 minutes are forwarded. Your tech can reply CALL, and the system calls him and connects him to the customer from your business number. Homeowners can also text photos of the damage. Alex saves each one to the customer card, forwards an emergency photo to your on-call phones with the photo attached, and offers an inspection for anything else. It can't watch videos, so it asks them to describe what's in one.
Alex doesn't quote job prices. Restoration is priced after the inspection, and usually through the insurance claim. When a caller asks whether you work with insurance claims, Alex answers from your own yes or no and one line, never says a claim will be covered, and books the inspection.
What happens after the call
Every call lands in the dashboard with the recording, a transcript and the answers on it, so the tech who calls back has the whole story. Missed calls get a text back within seconds. Inspections get a reminder. If the homeowner doesn't book after an inspection or a quote (the rebuild, a mold remediation), follow-up texts go out at 24 hours, 3, 5 and 10 days and stop when they reply.
Every number you publish is tracked as its own lead source, so you can see which one produced booked jobs: LSA, Google, the plumber who refers you, or the property managers you work with. That matters in a trade where one referral partner can be worth more than your whole ad budget. On Elite, every Google review gets a reply drafted, and outbound campaigns can check in with the property managers and agents who send you work.
What it doesn't do: document the loss, work with adjusters, or bill insurance. Those stay with your team and your restoration software.
A week on the phone, water damage restoration company edition
This is an example of how the system handles a week, not a customer's results.
Sunday, 2:10 am. A homeowner's water heater let go in the basement. The water is still coming and she doesn't know where the main is. That's an emergency under your rules. The AI tells her what you've told it to say about the shutoff, then tells her it's connecting her. Your on-call tech gets a text briefing (address, water heater, still running, finished basement, filing a claim with her carrier), his phone rings, and he presses 1 to take the call. Two minutes later a second caller has a leak under the kitchen sink that's stopped; the AI books an inspection for 8 am.
Tuesday, a thunderstorm. Fourteen calls in three hours, all answered. Six active basements go to your on-call phones, five get morning inspections, and three are callers outside your area, told politely. The owner reads the summary on his phone instead of listening to voicemail.
What AI Front Desk Helper does besides answer the phone
Answering the phone is the entry point, not the product. Here is the rest of what runs once a contractor is on AI Front Desk Helper:
- Booking that respects your calendar. Alex checks your own Google Calendar and offers real open times, so it never books a slot you're already on a job for. Jobs per time slot, arrival windows, appointment length, same-day booking and service days by ZIP code are all settings. Reschedules and cancellations move or remove the event.
- Crews, not just one calendar. Optional auto-assign books each job to a free crew member in turn, using their own calendar and work days, and adds them to the event. Repeating visits (weekly, every two weeks, monthly) can be paused for one customer or for the season.
- After-hours emergencies. You write what counts as an emergency and list up to three on-call phones. Alex rings them in order with a text briefing, and the tech presses 1 to take the call. Emergency texts and website chats alert the same phones, and a tech can reply CALL to be connected.
- Photos by text. Customers can text a photo to your number. Alex saves it to their card, forwards an emergency photo to the on-call phones, sends your Quick Quote link for a job it can price, and offers a visit for anything else.
- Straight answers on price. With the estimator turned on, for junk removal, window cleaning, pressure washing, house cleaning, pest control, garage doors, pool service, flooring, concrete, window installation, stump grinding and lawn care, Alex gives a ballpark from your own price sheet and says the crew confirms on site. Trades that price on site can set a service call fee, and Alex answers financing and insurance questions from what you set. No number you didn't give it.
- Instant online quotes. A branded quote-and-book page for your business (yours looks like quote.yourcompany.com) where customers get a ballpark and pick a time, day or night. Built in for painting, roofing, siding, fencing, gutters and the twelve trades above, and switched on with the estimator (included on Elite, a $20/month add-on on Basic and Pro).
- Estimate follow-up that doesn't quit. Text sequences at 24 hours, 3, 5 and 10 days on every quote that hasn't closed, written like a contractor, stopping the moment the customer replies.
- Objection detection. "Too expensive" or "need to think about it" triggers a recovery script instead of a polite goodbye.
- Outbound campaigns. AI calls and texts to your past-customer list for seasonal reactivation, win-backs and referral asks. You set the campaign; it dials.
- Google Business Profile, handled. Every new review gets an owner reply drafted for you; profile posts can be drafted, approved and scheduled weeks ahead; a profile health audit shows how you stack up against nearby competitors.
- Revenue coaching by lead source. Every phone number is tied to where it came from (Angi, LSA, Facebook, referral, yard sign), so the dashboard shows which marketing produces booked revenue and which to cut.
- Customer DISC profiles. Every caller and texter gets a buying-style read (D, I, S or C) from what they actually said, with a confidence flag, so you walk into the estimate knowing how to sell to them.
- Franchise HQ. One rollup across every location for multi-unit operators.
- Reseller program. Agencies can offer the whole system under their own brand. How it works.
- Optional add-on: AI Rep Coach. Records in-home estimates and coaches the people who sell, with manager review and team analytics. Sold separately, per seat.
Setup for a water damage restoration company
In Settings, pick Water Damage Restoration as your trade. On one onboarding call we load your services (water extraction and drying, sewage cleanup, mold, rebuild if you do it), the questions you want asked, what counts as an emergency, your on-call phones (up to three, in order) and a supervisor if you want one, your insurance-claims answer, what to tell callers while they wait, your service area and your calendar. Forward your existing number or port it. Most companies are live within the week.
A straight answer about where this comes from: AI Front Desk Helper was built and tested inside my painting company. Restoration runs on the same setup as our HVAC, plumbing and electrical customers: your rules for what's urgent, calendar booking, follow-up and lead tracking. There's no price sheet for this trade; Alex books the inspection instead of guessing at a price. We don't have results from restoration companies to publish yet, and we won't make them up.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $297/mo | 24/7 AI call answering, missed-call text-back, lead capture and CRM sync, call transcripts. |
| Pro | $497/mo | Everything in Basic plus Google Calendar booking with free/busy checks, SMS follow-up sequences (24h / 3d / 5d / 10d), website AI chat widget, appointment reminders, Facebook Messenger. |
| Elite | $997/mo | Everything in Pro plus outbound AI campaigns (win-backs, seasonal reactivation, referral asks), AI revenue coaching by lead source, Google review response writer, objection detection, referral autopilot, franchise HQ rollup. |
Annual billing is two months free. Call minutes included every month: 500 on Basic, 1,200 on Pro, 3,000 on Elite (extra minutes $0.30). No setup fee, month to month.
Which plan for a water damage restoration company
Pro fits most restoration companies: inspection booking, reminders and follow-up all live there. If you run storm surges or several crews, look at Elite for the 3,000 minutes, referral-partner campaigns, review replies and revenue by lead source. Basic answers every call and captures the lead, and in restoration that alone is worth it after hours.
Questions water damage restoration companies ask
Can it send emergencies straight to my on-call tech?
Yes. You list what counts in your own words (active water, sewage, a ceiling coming down) and up to three on-call phones in order. The first phone gets a text briefing, then rings, and your tech presses 1 to take the call. No answer, it rings the next one. If nobody answers, the caller leaves a message and every on-call phone gets the transcript by text within about a minute.
Will it tell callers what to do while they wait?
Only what you tell it to say, such as shutting off the main if it's safe. It doesn't give any other advice.
Does it take insurance information?
It asks the questions you give it, like whether they're filing a claim and the carrier, and puts the answers on the lead. If a caller asks whether you work with insurance claims, Alex answers from the yes or no and one line you wrote, and never says a claim will be covered. It doesn't file claims or talk to adjusters.
What happens in a storm when twenty people call at once?
It answers all of them at the same time. Calls are sorted by your rules, so the active ones reach your crew first.
Will it give a price?
No. Restoration is priced after inspection, usually through the claim. Alex books the inspection or connects the emergency.
Can customers text photos of the damage?
Yes. Alex looks at each photo and saves it to the customer card. A photo of an emergency goes to your on-call phones with the photo attached; anything else gets an inspection offered. Alex can't watch videos, so it asks the customer to describe what's in one.
Fifteen minutes. We call your business line, run a real water damage restoration company call, and show you what happens after it. You decide.
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