FAQ

The questions tradespeople
actually ask us.

How much an AI receptionist costs in the UK, how it compares with a human answering service, and what a missed enquiry is worth: the short answers are below, in the same words we’d use across a table. If yours isn’t here, ask it directlyand you’ll get the same treatment.

Updated October 2026

For context before the questions: Shoogly, the Glasgow studio behind this site, builds premium websites and an enquiry system for UK trades and home service businesses. Text and voice agents trained on your firm reply to every enquiry within minutes, find out what the job is, where and when, ask for photos, and pass it to your phone qualified and ready to book. Every door lands in one inbox: your website form, missed calls texted back, texts, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, web chat, and the calls you can’t take. The app on your phone is HighLevel, set up and run by Shoogly. The longer pages are how much an AI receptionist costs in the UK, a human answering service versus AI and the cost per enquiry calculator.

Trusting the AI

I tried ChatGPT and it was rubbish. Why would this be different?

Because out-of-the-box ChatGPT knows nothing about your business. Ask it about a boiler swap in Paisley and it answers like a general-knowledge quiz. This system is built around your firm specifically: your trade, your patch, your services, the way you talk to customers. It's the difference between a random person answering your phone and someone who's worked in your office for a year. The demo runs on your own real enquiries, so you don't have to take that on faith.

Will it sound like a robot and embarrass me?

This is the fear that matters most, so it gets the most care. The replies are trained on how you actually speak to customers; we take samples of your real messages and the system writes the way you do. You approve the voice before anything goes live, and you'll see real replies in the demo first. If a reply would make you cringe reading it aloud, it doesn't ship.

What if it says something wrong to a customer?

It's guard-railed against exactly that. It only gathers job type, location, timing and photos; it never quotes prices, never promises availability, and never gives technical advice. Anything unusual or sensitive gets flagged to you instead of guessed at. And behind all of it sits a 60-day money-back guarantee on the build, so the risk of trying it sits with us.

I don't trust AI companies with my customers' data.

Fair, and worth asking every provider you talk to. The agents run inside HighLevel, the platform behind the app on your phone, and your enquiries and conversations live in your own account there: held for you, never sold or shared, and deletable whenever you ask. The privacy page names every processor. It's your customers' data, kept for your use only.

The personal touch

My customers like dealing with me, not a machine.

Good, and that's the thing we protect rather than replace. The system only handles the front door: the first reply, the details-gathering, the sorting, so nobody sits unanswered while you're on the tools. Every real conversation, every relationship, every decision stays yours. Think of it as making sure the customer hears from you faster, not making sure they never hear from you.

My trade's different. This won't work for how my jobs come in.

Every owner says this, and every owner is partly right, which is why nothing here is off-the-shelf. The system is built around your firm: your job types, your patch, the questions you'd ask. Then the demo runs on your own enquiries before you commit a penny. If your work genuinely arrives in a way it can't help with, that shows up in the demo, and we'll be the first to say so.

Compared to what you already use

I already use ServiceM8. Doesn't that cover this?

ServiceM8 is good at what it's for: managing jobs you've already won: scheduling, quotes, invoices. But an enquiry sitting in your website form at 9pm isn't a job yet, and ServiceM8 doesn't answer it. Its AI phone agent add-on handles calls only, needs your number moved onto their phone system, and the app is iPhone-only. The two work fine together: this system wins the enquiry and hands it over; ServiceM8 runs the job.

I pay Checkatrade / MyBuilder for leads. Why add this?

Because directory leads are shared: the same enquiry typically goes to several firms, and the job usually goes to whoever answers first. Checkatrade's own advice to members is to respond before leads go cold. So you're paying for a race and then running it from up a ladder. An instant-response system is what makes directory spend work harder: same leads, answered first, in your voice, while your competitors are still on the tools. This isn't either-or; it's making the leads you already buy stop leaking.

AI vs a human answering service for tradesmen: what's the difference?

A human answering service puts a person on your calls who takes a message and passes it to you. That's a real service. The message still needs you, the person taking it doesn't know your trade, and your website enquiries never reach them. This system replies in your voice, has the back and forth, and passes the enquiry to you qualified. Humans still win on a difficult phone call. The longer comparison is on the AI versus human answering page.

How is this different from an answering service like Moneypenny?

A human answering service puts a person on your calls who takes a message and passes it to you. That's a real service, but the message still lands on your phone needing action, the person taking it doesn't know your trade, and your website enquiries never touch them. This system actually handles the enquiry: replies in your voice, has the back and forth, finds out what the job is, where and when, and passes it to you qualified so you know which ones to ring first. We've written an honest side-by-side comparison, including where the human services genuinely win, on our AI vs human answering page.

What about the missed-call text-back apps?

A missed-call text is a holding message: 'sorry we missed you, what do you need?'. Better than silence, but it doesn't answer anything, and standalone versions get resold for £100+ a month when the automation underneath costs pennies. Ours texts back in seconds from a background number, so your own number stays on the van, and the customer's reply goes to the same text agent as everything else: answered and qualified, not just acknowledged. It's one door of the system, not a separate product.

Why you over a more established name?

A few honest reasons, and one honest trade-off. The reasons: almost everything established in this market answers the phone only, while our system treats written enquiries, which is where more and more work arrives, as the main event. You deal directly with the person who built the system, not an account manager. And there's no long contract: a three-month minimum, then 30 days' notice, and money-back on the build. The trade-off: we're young and we're not pretending otherwise, which is exactly why the first few firms get generous terms and the guarantee exists. The demo on your own enquiries is how we ask to be judged.

How much an AI receptionist costs

How much does an AI receptionist cost in the UK?

Shoogly's own price is a one-off build plus a flat monthly figure, agreed on a call once we've seen how your enquiries come in. We don't publish that number. Across the wider market, trades-focused AI receptionists publish £39 to £99 a month, with some tiers at £199 and above, and human answering services publish £45 to £400 a month plus call charges. Those are August 2026, ex-VAT, from the vendors' own pages, written up in the pricing guide. No long contract on our side: a three-month minimum on the monthly, then 30 days' notice, and a 60-day money-back guarantee on the build.

It sounds expensive for a small firm.

The honest way to judge it is against what slow replies already cost you, not against zero. One decent job covers months of it; our calculator will show you the leak in your own numbers, in pounds and in jobs. And if your enquiry volume is genuinely tiny, we'd rather say 'this is overkill for you just now' than take your money. That's not a line; qualifying out is cheaper than an unhappy client.

What if it doesn't work for me?

Not happy in the first 60 days after go-live? You get back everything you've paid and you're free to go, no questions; the three-month minimum doesn't apply. The monthly doesn't start until the system is live and has handled a real enquiry. And for your first 90 days, if an enquiry reaches the system and isn't on your phone, qualified, with a reply ready, inside five minutes, tell us and that month is free. We can carry that risk because the demo on your own enquiries means nobody signs up guessing.

Getting set up

I've no time to set up or learn new software.

The setting up is our job, not yours, and the only new thing is one app on your phone for the inbox, the job board and the diary, which we walk you through. We build the system around what you've already got: your website or a new one, your number, your tone. You'll need to give us samples of how you talk to customers and answer some questions about how the work comes in; that's the extent of your homework. From there, enquiries just start arriving on your phone qualified. The target is live in around a fortnight.

What's actually built today, and what's still coming?

Built and working: every door into one inbox (website form with photos, missed calls texted back in seconds, texts, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, web chat), the text agent that replies within minutes and qualifies the enquiry, the job board from new enquiry to job complete, bookings into your diary, the review and referral asks, and the dashboard. The voice agent for the calls you can't take is being set up as part of the same package. The system has run for a real Glasgow firm since summer 2026. Which doors we switch on for your firm depends on how your work comes in, and we tell you exactly what's on before you pay. If someone selling you AI won't, that's your answer about them.

Who am I actually dealing with?

Jamie Sim, the founder, based in Glasgow. He builds the systems, runs the onboarding, and picks up the phone when something needs sorting. No account managers, no ticket queue, no offshore help desk. Small enough to care, close enough to shout at, which is roughly how most of our clients would describe their own firms too.

Keep reading

Still weighing it up? Watch it work.

Fifteen minutes, your own enquiries, no commitment. You’ll see the replies and what lands on your phone, then make your own mind up.

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Built in Glasgow.For home service businesses.