For trades businesses · Electrical · Plumbing & heating · Construction · Automotive
The office eats your evenings. AI gives them back.
Quotes after the site visit, invoices left lying around, calls you cannot take on a roof. All of that can be handed over — to an AI workflow that fits your business, not to expensive software nobody can operate.
AuthorMatthias EgerCertified Manager for Applied AI Transformation (IHK)You know the feeling
The work is done.
The paperwork is still waiting.
Nobody became a tradesman to type quotes in the evening. That is exactly the work — the kind nobody misses — that AI takes off you. You stay the boss who checks and signs.
Quotes get written at the kitchen table in the evening instead of on site. Invoices get put off because the wording is a chore — and cost you cash flow. Calls get lost while your hands are full, and the job goes with them. Measurements and documentation end up on scraps of paper that somebody has to retype later.
Jobs that get done by themselves.
No promise about the future — this runs in real businesses today. The first usable solution is often up within 24 hours.
Photo plus voice note in — draft quote out.
Photograph the measurements, speak into your phone for a moment. The draft with all the line items is waiting for you. You check the prices and sign — instead of typing.
PhotosSite photos caption themselves — and can be found again.
Every photo is automatically described, tagged and filed with the right project. Instead of 4,000 pictures in your phone gallery: "Show me the meter cabinet at the Huber house" — and there it is.
Out & inThe field team and the office work in one database.
The fitter dictates on site, the office sees it straight away — measurements, materials, status. No notes to retype in the evening, no "but I told you". One truth for everyone.
InvoicesNo more dread when it is time to invoice.
The quote plus the hours worked become the draft invoice — cleanly worded, in minutes. You check it and send it out before your cash flow suffers.
CallsA missed call is no longer a lost job.
A phone assistant picks up while you are standing on the roof: it takes the request and sends you the summary — and the customer feels taken seriously.
Know-howYour team learns it in a day — and stays on the right side of the law.
The AI Day in house makes your people able to work and satisfies the training obligation under Article 4 of the EU AI Act. On your real tasks, not on textbook examples.
One database. On site and in the office.
The fitter records on site, the AI turns photo and speech into clean data, everything lands in one place — and the office sees it the same moment. No retyping, no "but I told you".
Often not a big project.
Sometimes €30 a month.
The honest answer first: you rarely need an expensive custom solution. An off-the-shelf tool or a small, properly set-up workflow is usually enough.
Off-the-shelf tool (from around €30 a month): for many tasks an existing tool is enough, set up properly. Your own workflow (often under €1,000 one-off): when it has to fit your business exactly — no forced subscription, everything belongs to you. A larger build: only when it genuinely pays off — with a fixed price per milestone, never open-ended.
Frequently asked questions
What master craftsmen want to know first.
Do I have to be a computer expert for this?
No. You speak or you take a photo — the AI turns that into a draft you check. Anyone who can work a smartphone can work with this. Everything is set up and explained on site.
What does AI in the trades really cost?
Often less than you think: sometimes an off-the-shelf tool for around €30 a month is enough, and setting up a workflow that fits usually comes in under €1,000 as a one-off. Which class fits your business is what the free initial assessment sorts out.
Does my customer data stay safe?
Yes. Where data has to stay in-house, local models run on your own hardware — nothing goes into third-party systems. Where cloud is fine, it is connected in a GDPR-compliant way.
Is it worth it with just three people?
Especially then. The smaller the business, the more expensive the time that goes into the office in the evening. A single workflow brings it back — without hiring anyone new.
From this industry, among others: Elektro- & Informationstechnik Kaudel GmbH · Florian Weiß Elektrotechnik · Lackierfachbetrieb Birkner · Malerbetrieb Skop · BENKISER Armaturenwerk GmbH · Mobiles Sägewerk Rumpler · Der Hochbeetprofi
Tell me what eats your time. I will tell you what AI takes off you.
30 minutes · free · no sales pressure · three starting points in writing