Most chatbot software is built for software companies. It assumes a logged-in user with an account problem. A trades business has none of that.
A trades enquiry has three properties that change everything: it is often urgent, it is always local, and it needs specifics before anyone can price it.
What to look for
Postcode screening, early. The single most valuable behaviour. A bot that establishes location in the first two exchanges, checks it against your published service area, and says plainly when someone is outside it, saves you the most expensive mistake in the trade: the wasted drive.
Urgency triage. "Water coming through the ceiling" and "thinking about a new bathroom" should not land in the same inbox with the same priority. The bot should ask what is actually happening and flag the real emergencies.
Job-specific follow-ups. An EICR needs bedroom count. An EV charger needs off-street parking and distance from the consumer unit. A re-roof needs the roof age. Generic software asks generic questions and produces enquiries you still have to ring back about.
Credential reassurance. Registration body, insurance, guarantees, certificates. Homeowners ask this before booking, every time, and it is already on your website.
Refusing to diagnose. Any tool willing to talk a homeowner through an electrical fault is a liability. The correct behaviour is to stop and get a qualified person, which is you.
What it will not do
It will not price a bespoke job, and you should be suspicious of anything claiming otherwise. Pricing a rewire or a re-roof needs a survey. What it can do is make sure the survey is worth attending.
The out-of-hours case
Emergency work arrives at 11pm and on Sundays. It goes to whoever answers first, which is rarely the firm whose website has a contact form and a voicemail.
You cannot answer the phone with your hands inside a boiler. That is the gap, and it is where the return comes from.
The only test that matters
Every product in this category demos well on its own website. Point one at your site and ask it the three questions your customers actually ask. You will know within a minute.
Build one from your URL free — no signup, and it deletes itself afterwards.
Industry guides: plumbers · electricians · roofing · HVAC · landscaping.