It will invent a price
Ask a general chatbot to price a bathroom and it will produce a tidy number. It has not seen the pipework, your merchant account, the parking, or the fact you lost half a day on the last one like it. That number can be dangerously plausible.
Your rate still has to cover the van, the unpaid hours, and what you need to live on. If a tool does not know those, it is not quoting. It is guessing in a professional font.
Tone, regs, and the site
- Customers can hear a template. “I hope this email finds you well” on WhatsApp is how you lose a job to someone who just said “Thursday after two.”
- Building regs, Part P, Gas Safe, asbestos, party walls: the model does not carry your ticket. If you are not sure, the answer is not a paragraph from a chat box.
- It cannot smell damp or see that the consumer unit is a mess. Photos help. They are not a site visit.
Where the customer’s details go
A lead is a name, an address, photos of their house, and when they are home. Pasting that into a random chatbot because you were sat in the van is a sloppy way to keep someone else’s house. Use a tool you would be happy to explain to the customer.
The other quiet risk is your own time. If “using AI” means another app you have to feed every evening, you have added admin, not removed it.
Part of the guide on how UK trades can use AI.
FAQ
- Can I trust an AI quote?
- Not on its own. Use it to shape the quote from your notes and prices. The number still has to be one you can do the job for.
- What should I never hand over?
- Do not let a tool decide compliance, a price you have not checked, or a visit on a day you cannot attend. Those stay with you.
