Every software company is now an "AI company." But if you're a plumber, electrician, or builder, what AI tools actually save you time and money in 2026? Here's an honest breakdown — what works, what's hype, and what's coming next.
AI That's Genuinely Useful Right Now
1. Document Generation
This is the biggest win. AI can generate RAMS, method statements, safety policies, and compliance documents in minutes instead of hours. The quality is good enough that you review and adjust rather than write from scratch.
Time saved: 30–60 minutes per document. If you produce 5 RAMS a week, that's 2.5–5 hours back.
2. Quote Generation
AI that reads a job description and generates an itemised quote with realistic pricing for your area. Not perfect — you'll always want to adjust — but it gives you an 80% complete starting point.
Time saved: 15–20 minutes per quote on complex jobs.
3. AI Receptionist
Phone calls that come in when you're on a job get answered by an AI that sounds like a real person. It captures the caller's name, issue, address, and urgency, then creates a lead in your system. No more missed calls becoming missed revenue.
Revenue impact: Most trade businesses miss 30–40% of incoming calls. Capturing even half of those converts to an extra 1–2 jobs per week.
4. Invoice Chasing
AI that sends polite follow-ups when invoices are overdue, escalating in tone as the days tick by. You set the schedule and it handles the awkward conversations.
Impact: Average days-to-payment drops by 8–12 days.
5. Bid Writing
For businesses that tender for commercial or public sector work, AI can draft response sections using your actual company data — certifications, past projects, team qualifications. What took a day of writing takes an hour of reviewing.
AI That's Overhyped (For Now)
Fully Autonomous Scheduling
The idea that AI can look at your calendar, traffic, team skills, and customer preferences, then perfectly schedule every job — it's not there yet. The variables are too complex and trade-specific. AI can suggest, but a human dispatcher still needs to make final calls.
AI-Generated Marketing Content
AI can write blog posts and social media content, but generic AI content is obvious and doesn't build trust with trade customers. "10 Tips for Choosing a Plumber" written by ChatGPT isn't winning anyone's business.
Chatbots on Trade Websites
Most trade customers want to call, not chat. A chatbot on a plumber's website feels like a barrier, not a feature. The exception is complex commercial enquiries where a form with AI pre-qualification actually helps.
What's Coming in Late 2026
AI Job Costing
Feed in photos of a site and AI estimates materials, quantities, and labour time. Early versions exist for roofing (aerial/drone photos → roof area calculation) and are expanding to other trades.
Voice-to-Job
Dictate a job description while driving and AI creates a structured job record with title, description, trade type, estimated duration, and materials list. This is close — the voice recognition is accurate enough now, but the trade-specific understanding needs work.
Predictive Maintenance Alerts
For businesses with recurring service contracts (HVAC, fire safety), AI that predicts equipment failures before they happen based on service history, age, and usage patterns.
How Gaffer Uses AI
Gaffer's AI platform is built into every layer of the product, not bolted on:
- Gaffer Brain: An AI agent with access to 37 tools that can look up job details, check schedules, find customer history, and take actions on your behalf
- RAMS & Document Generation: AI writes site-specific RAMS, method statements, and safety policies using your job data
- Quote Generation: Reads job descriptions and produces itemised quotes with trade-specific pricing
- AI Receptionist: Answers calls, captures leads, routes to the right person (£150/month add-on)
- AI Bid Writer: Drafts tender responses using your real company data (£99/month add-on, included on Scale)
- Invoice Chasing: Automated, escalating follow-ups on overdue invoices
Every plan includes AI credits — 1,000 on Starter, 3,000 on Growth, 10,000 on Scale. Each document generation uses roughly 1 credit.
The key difference: Gaffer's AI has context. It knows your jobs, your team, your customers, your certifications. Generic AI tools don't.
The Bottom Line
AI saves real time on document generation, call handling, and invoice chasing. It's genuinely useful for bid writing if you do commercial work. It's not yet ready to replace human scheduling or customer relationship management.
Start with the high-value, low-risk applications — RAMS generation and invoice chasing — and expand from there.