How contractors and trades should choose an AI receptionist (Canada)
Ten criteria that matter when the phone rings on a job site, five calls to test during the trial, and how Zenvox, an AI receptionist at $39 a month, meets each one.
Guide published by Zenvox · Who builds Zenvox, and how
What should a contractor look for in an AI receptionist?
Ten things, in this order: both languages, English and French; sorting an emergency from a quote request; the address, the problem and photos by text; booking into your real availability; a text summary; a local number, while you keep yours; a monthly price with calls included and no setup fee; no contract; your records in Canada, with the truth about where the voice is processed; and a setup you do yourself, without a consultant.
Zenvox is an AI receptionist for contractors and trades across Canada, built around those ten criteria. The Trades & maintenance base is $39 a month, with 50 Standard calls and one local number included, no setup fee and no contract. Free trial: 7 days, up to 20 answered calls, no card.
The test that matters is yours: call it yourself with the five typical calls of your trade before you pay anything.
Where you probably are
You are on a roof, in a crawl space or at the wheel, and the phone rings. Your business number is often your own cell, the one on your truck and your Google profile. Picking up means stopping what you are doing, and sometimes you cannot pick up at all.
The caller has a list of three businesses. They hit your voicemail and dial the next number. A roof leak does not wait for your end-of-day callback, and a quote often goes to whoever answered first with a visit date. This guide does not compare brands: it gives you the criteria, their order, and a way to test them yourself.
Criteria 1 to 5: what happens during the call
1. Both languages. The same receptionist follows the caller's language, mid-conversation if needed, with no “press 1” menu and no second line. In Ottawa, New Brunswick or eastern Ontario, that often sets you apart; in Quebec, it is the baseline.
2. Sorting an emergency from a quote. This criterion weighs the heaviest. Water still running, a sewer backup, a burning smell at the panel, no heat in deep cold: that has to reach you right away. A roof to redo next year can wait for your evening summary. Ask which questions it asks to sort calls, and whether you can write your own urgency rule.
3. The address, the problem and photos. Name and callback number first, in case the line drops; then the address with the postal code, the kind of work, what the caller sees, owner or tenant. A photo beats three questions: the receptionist asks the caller to text it and files it with the request, without using it to diagnose.
4. Booking into your real availability. A visit offered for “Tuesday morning” is worth nothing if Tuesday morning is taken. Check that it reads your actual calendar, respects the length of each kind of visit and your service area, and says clearly whether an appointment is confirmed or only requested.
5. A text summary. Not a recording to listen to: a few lines you read between two jobs — who, where, which problem, how urgent.
Criteria 6 to 10: what you are really buying
6. A local number, and you keep yours. Your number is on your truck and your Google reviews: changing it costs calls for months. Call forwarding solves that, for every call or only the ones you miss. An extra local number serves an ad or a second city.
7. A monthly price, calls included, no setup fee. Vendors bill per call, per minute, per credit or per session, and two identical prices can cover very different volumes. Ask in writing how many calls are included, what counts as a call and what happens past them.
8. No contract. A month-to-month subscription you stop when you want: a slow season should not cost you twelve months of a receptionist you no longer use.
9. Your data in Canada, and the truth about the voice. Ask where call records, transcripts and recordings are kept, and where the voice is processed during the call: it is not necessarily the same place. The law depends on your province: Law 25 in Quebec, a similar provincial law in Alberta and British Columbia, the federal PIPEDA elsewhere. The call opens with a clear announcement: a virtual assistant is answering, and the call is recorded.
10. A setup you do yourself, in minutes, without a consultant. Your email, your website if you have one, your services, your service area, your urgency rule. If a vendor requires a discovery meeting, an integrator or setup fees before a first call, you are not buying a receptionist: you are buying a project.
What to test during the trial: five calls from your trade
A demo prepared by the vendor tells you nothing. Connect the trial to your business, then call it yourself, or have someone around you call, with the five calls that keep coming back in your trade.
The emergency. “Water is coming through the ceiling” for a roofer, “it is still leaking under the sink” for a plumber, “the panel smells burnt” for an electrician. You should get an immediate alert with the name, number and address, and the caller should hear that you will call back, not that a technician is on the way.
The quote. A roof replacement, a kitchen, a complete paint job. It notes the scope of work, the address and the timeline, asks for photos and offers an estimate visit in a slot you set aside.
The price shopper. “Roughly how much?” It does not invent a price: it explains that the job is priced on site, and takes the request anyway.
The existing customer. They want to move Thursday's visit. It finds the appointment, moves it into a real opening, and tells you.
The call in French, in the evening. Switch languages mid-sentence, call after hours, hang up before the end. You get the summary, and the caller who hung up gets a text offering a next step. A call that fails during the trial will fail with a real customer: that is the only ranking that counts.
The questions people ask before buying
Is there an AI receptionist for my trade? Yes, if it knows your trade's questions: a roofer does not qualify a call the way an electrician does. Zenvox has a page and qualification questions for construction and maintenance trades, which you adjust.
How much does an AI receptionist cost in Canada? Published prices do not compare directly, because the billed unit changes from one vendor to the next. Compare the monthly price, the included volume, the setup fee and the commitment.
Can I keep my number? Yes: you forward your line with your carrier, permanently or only when you do not answer, and remove the forward whenever you want.
Is it legal to record calls? A business is expected to tell the caller at the start of the call and say why it records. Every Zenvox call opens with that announcement.
AI receptionist, answering service, hiring, or voicemail? Voicemail qualifies nothing, an answering service takes messages, a hire costs a salary and does not answer at night; an AI receptionist answers around the clock, qualifies by your rules and books, for a monthly price.
Does it answer evenings and weekends? Yes. A call at 11 p.m. is handled like the one at 10 a.m., and a call that does not connect gets a text offering a next step.
Does it answer in French too? Yes: it answers in English and French and follows the caller's language; French-speaking callers hear a natural Quebec accent, with several voices and styles to choose from.
What is the best AI receptionist in Canada? The one that passes your five trial calls, at a price you understand, with no contract. No ranking replaces that test on your own line.
How do I know a vendor is serious? It publishes its price, what is included, where your data goes and how you cancel, and it lets you try without a card.
How Zenvox meets the ten criteria
During the call. Your receptionist answers in English and French, following the caller, takes the name and callback number first, then the problem, the address and how urgent it is. An emergency under your rule alerts you immediately; the rest waits for the summary. In Quebec, when asked about your RBQ licence, it reads the number in your profile instead of improvising; in other provinces, it gives the licence or registration you entered.
After the call. A written summary reaches you by text. It books into the Zenvox calendar, or your connected Google or Microsoft calendar, against real availability, then sends the confirmation and a reminder before the visit. With the text channel, an add-on, the caller sends photos to the same number and they are filed with the request.
What you pay. The Trades & maintenance base is $39 a month, with 50 Standard calls and one local number included, no setup fee and no contract. You keep your number by forwarding it. Add-ons, such as Assisted estimates or Dispatch and field work, are added one at a time.
Your data. Zenvox is built for Quebec's Law 25, with a database in Canada; live voice processing runs through a US-based subprocessor, as the Security and data handling page explains. You start with your email, with no card, no consultant and no technical prompt to write.
The features named in this guide
Each one has its own page, saying what it does and what stays your decision.
Frequently asked questions
Can an AI receptionist tell an emergency from a quote request?
Yes, if it asks the right questions. It asks what the caller can see — water running, a burning smell, no heat — and applies your rule: an immediate alert for the emergency, a written summary for the quote. An alert is not a confirmed visit: you are the one who calls back.
Can it take a job address and ask for photos?
Yes. It takes the address with the postal code, the kind of work and what the caller notices. With the text channel, the caller sends photos to the same number, and they are filed with the request, not used as a diagnosis.
Does it work with my field-service software?
Yes. If your software already holds your customers and appointments, it stays the reference and Zenvox works with it, action by action; an action it does not offer becomes a complete request handed to your team. With no software, the Zenvox calendar is enough to start.
How do I forward my line while I am on a job?
With conditional forwarding: your phone rings as usual, and the call moves to your receptionist if it goes unanswered, is busy or is out of coverage. With many carriers, you set it by dialling a short code on your phone, and remove it the same way.
How much does Zenvox cost for a contractor?
$39 a month for the Trades & maintenance base, with 50 Standard calls and one local number included, no setup fee and no contract. One answered conversation counts as one call, however long it runs. Free trial: 7 days, up to 20 answered calls, no card.
Do I have to talk to a salesperson or a consultant to start?
No. You start with your email, confirm your services and your urgency rule, and test a first request yourself. Nobody bills you for setting it up.
What does the receptionist say when someone asks for a price?
It gives neither a firm price nor a ballpark: the estimate happens on site. If you have approved a base rate for one specific service, it uses it when the request matches; otherwise, it takes the request.