Quick answer
An AI chatbot that qualifies and books enquiries starts from around $2,500 to build plus hosting. Most Melbourne service businesses lose enquiries between 6pm and 8am, and a chatbot that answers, qualifies and books is usually the fastest-returning automation available to them.
Every service business loses some enquiries simply because nobody was available the moment someone reached out. Here's where those enquiries actually leak, what we build to catch them, and what we're honest about it not being able to do.
- After hours — evenings, weekends, and the early morning before anyone's at a desk
- On-site — a tradesperson mid-job can't stop to answer a form or a call
- During a job — while your team is heads-down delivering, new enquiries pile up unanswered
We build chatbots trained on your specific services and pricing logic — not a generic script bolted onto your website. It asks the qualifying questions your team would ask, gives accurate answers about what you offer, and knows when a question is beyond it and needs to escalate to a real person rather than guessing.
Not every enquiry is worth the same follow-up. A chatbot can ask the questions that sort a genuine, ready-to-book customer from someone just browsing, and route the qualified ones straight to whoever on your team should see them first.
Beyond answering questions, automation can generate an initial quote from your pricing logic and book a job directly into your calendar or job management system, so a lead captured at 11pm is already in your pipeline by the time you open up in the morning.
We connect chatbots and automations to the systems you already run — booking software, CRMs, job management tools — so a qualified enquiry lands where your team already works instead of creating one more inbox to check.
Putting customer conversations through an AI system is a genuine concern worth taking seriously, not glossing over. Everything we build is hosted on Australian infrastructure, access to conversation data is limited, and we'll tell you plainly what's stored and where before you commit to anything.
Separate from chatbots on your own site, there's a growing question of whether AI tools and chat assistants surface your business correctly when people search. Australian commentary has flagged AI and LLM discoverability as a market-wide gap most agencies still overlook. We handle this as part of SEO services, not as a bolt-on afterthought.
It won't handle a genuinely unusual or sensitive enquiry as well as an experienced staff member, and it's not a substitute for a properly staffed team during business hours. It closes a specific, well-defined gap — the hours nobody's watching — and we'd rather say that plainly than oversell it as more than it is.
| Price | |
|---|---|
| Chatbot build | From $2,500 |
| Hosting & upkeep | Billed monthly, scoped per project |
| Integrations | Quoted based on systems connected |
A chatbot that qualifies and books enquiries starts from around $2,500 to build, plus ongoing hosting. Cost scales with how many services it needs to know, how complex your pricing logic is, and what systems it needs to talk to.
A focused chatbot handling enquiry qualification and booking typically takes three to six weeks, including training it on your services and testing it against real customer questions before launch.
It hands off to a human — by email, SMS notification or a direct message to your team — rather than guessing or giving a wrong answer. Knowing when to escalate is as important as what it can answer.
Everything is built and hosted on Australian infrastructure. We treat customer conversations as sensitive data by default — access is limited, and we're upfront about exactly what's stored and where.
Yes — booking systems, CRMs and job management tools are common integrations, so a qualified enquiry lands directly where your team already works instead of creating another inbox to check.
No — it removes the after-hours gap, not your team. Most Melbourne service businesses lose enquiries between 6pm and 8am simply because nobody's there to answer. A chatbot fills that specific gap; it doesn't run your business.
Hosting and upkeep, typically billed monthly, covering the AI service costs and any updates as your services or pricing change.
Yes — it's trained on your actual services, pricing logic and qualifying questions, not a generic script that could belong to any business.
It's a related but separate discipline — AEO, making sure AI tools and chat assistants surface your business correctly when people search. We handle both under one roof; see our SEO services for more.
It can't fully replace judgement on complex or unusual enquiries, and it isn't a substitute for a properly staffed team during business hours. We're upfront about where it helps and where it doesn't, rather than overselling it.
Ready to start?
Book a free thirty-minute call. We'll look at your current site and top competitors, tell you which package actually fits, and send a fixed-price quote within two business days.