AI Front Office for Construction. An AI receptionist for contractors that books the site visit
Zanus AI is an AI receptionist for contractors that answers the office line while your estimators and supers are on site. General contractors, remodelers, homebuilders and specialty trades get every caller answered, the site visit booked, the bid invitation logged and engineering or safety questions passed to the right person.
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7 days free · per company, never per seat · nothing to install
Easy setup
Answers & books
Sells
You talk. Lisa sets it up.
You“After hours, a gas smell, an injury or a utility strike goes straight to the on-call super.”
Lisa“After hours, those calls now hear your emergency script first, then ring the on-call superintendent's mobile. Apply?”
Any setting, in any module · applied only on your yes
Start with the one thing you need. Add more anytime by asking Lisa.
The whole Front Office › · All industries ›
Who reaches you
Who the AI answers for Construction
- Homeowners asking for an estimate on a kitchen, a roof or an addition
- Owners, developers and architects sending a bid invitation or a scope change
- General contractors asking a sub for a number, a crew date or an insurance certificate
- Subs and suppliers calling about a pour, a delivery window or a payment
- Homebuyers asking about model-home hours, floor plans and open homesites
- Neighbors calling about dust, noise or a truck across the driveway
What it does
What an AI receptionist for contractors does all day
One front office answers the phone, the website chat, the inbox and the estimate forms for your company, from the information you approve.
Answers the office line
An AI voice picks up every call on the first ring, day and night, in the caller's language, and takes calls while your estimators walk roofs and your supers run crews.
Books the site visit
With AI Booking, appointment scheduling happens on the call: the estimate visit, the pre-bid walk or the model-home tour goes into a free slot, with the job address asked first and drive time kept.
Logs the bid invitation
An owner's or a GC's invitation that arrives by e-mail lands on the estimating desk with a one-line summary and a draft acknowledgement waiting for approval.
Answers the website
The chat answers by text or by voice from your own pages: the counties you cover, the trades you self-perform, how a remodel runs with you.
Opens warranty requests
A homeowner's crack, leak or sticking door becomes a request with the whole conversation on it, held for your warranty desk when the AI is not sure.
Writes it all down
Each call, chat, e-mail and form lands on one record per client, every phone call with its transcript and an AI call summary, so the next person who calls back reads the story instead of asking again.
The day
From the 6 AM crew call to the Friday bid deadline
6:15 AM, before mobilizing
A framing sub asks whether the lumber drop is still set for today. The AI answers from the schedule note you approved and offers to take a message for the super.
Noon, at the kitchen table
A homeowner on her lunch break asks for an estimate on a basement finish. The AI asks your intake questions, the address, the size and the timeline, then books Thursday's visit.
4:55 PM on a Friday
An owner's rep e-mails a bid package for a clinic renovation. It reaches the estimating desk with its summary before anyone leaves for the weekend.
9 PM, after the storm
A homeowner reports shingles in the yard and water inside. The AI follows your urgent-call script, rings the on-call service lead and writes the call down.
Real screens
The screens behind a contractor's front office
Real Zanus AI screens with demo data, framed for this page: the calls with their call summaries, the visit rules, the screened forms, the quotes and the requests held for a person.
Compared
AI virtual receptionist for contractors versus the usual options
What happens to five ordinary moments of a construction office with each way of covering the phone and the inbox.
| What the office needs | Voicemail | A message-taking service | The office manager alone | Zanus AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A homeowner calls at 7 PM about a kitchen | Heard the next morning, if she left one | A message passed on by e-mail | Nobody there after five | Answered and booked:: the visit lands in the estimator's free time |
| A sub asks if Wednesday's pour still stands | A call back after lunch | A message with no schedule behind it | Answered if she is free | Answered from your schedule note:: before the crew drives out |
| A neighbor reports a gas smell at night | A recording nobody hears until morning | Relayed to whoever is listed | Home for the night | Your emergency script, then the on-call super:: rung with the reason told first |
| A GC's bid invitation at 4:55 on Friday | Not a phone matter | Not a phone matter | Found on Monday | Logged on the estimating desk:: with a summary and a draft reply |
| The record of the call | A recording only | A typed message | Notes if there was time | Transcript and summary:: on the client's record for the next call |
Guardrails
What the AI leaves to your estimator, PM and super
A construction office carries safety, structural and money questions, so call handling follows what you approve and hands the rest to a person.
Engineering and code
Load paths, code interpretation, permit requirements and means and methods are never improvised. The call goes to your engineer, estimator or PM with the reason told first.
Jobsite emergencies
A gas smell, an injury, structural movement or a utility strike hears your approved emergency script first, then rings the on-call superintendent on his mobile.
Schedules and pour dates
The AI reads the schedule note you publish and changes nothing in it. A request to move a date goes to the PM with what the caller said.
Prices and bids
Only the standard work priced on your rate card is quoted, and every quote waits for your yes. Custom scope, alternates and negotiations stay with the estimator.
Pay, retainage and lien waivers
A sub asking about his check, his retainage or a lien waiver is passed to the office manager or the controller, or a message is taken for them.
Warranty coverage
Whether an item is covered is your warranty desk's decision. The AI opens the request with the homeowner's words and holds it for a person.
Set-up
Set up a 24/7 AI receptionist for contractors in 2 minutes
Forward the office line
Forward the business number on your trucks and job signs to your Front Office phone number. The AI answers from the next call on, without porting or a new phone system.
Tell Lisa the work you take
Say the trades, the project sizes and the counties you cover. Lisa reads your website and asks the few questions it does not answer.
Name who covers what
Tell Lisa who owns each project, who estimates residential and commercial work, and who is on call tonight, so calls are handled your way. She shows each change before and after.
Hear it answer
Call your own line and hear the AI book a site visit. Run the 7-day free trial with no credit card, and read every call it took.
Questions & answers
Questions contractors ask about an AI receptionist
Is there an AI receptionist for contractors?
Yes. Zanus AI is an AI receptionist for building contractors, remodelers and specialty trades: it answers the office line, website chat, inbox and estimate forms from the information you approve. It books site visits into your estimators' free time, takes messages with the callback number read back, logs bid invitations and hands engineering, safety and money questions to the right person.
What does an AI receptionist for contractors answer?
The questions your office manager hears fifty times a week: the counties you work in, whether you take additions or tenant improvements, how to get on your bid list, model-home hours, whether Wednesday's pour still stands. Anything outside what you approved is passed to a person or taken as a message.
How much should an AI receptionist cost a construction company?
Zanus AI is priced per company, never per seat, so the office, the estimators and the supers share one subscription. You pick the modules you need and add others later. The plans are on the pricing page, and you can run it free for 7 days on your own calls with no credit card.
Is an answering service worth it for a contractor?
A missed call is often a missed job, because a homeowner who reaches voicemail calls the next contractor on her list. Answering services that only take messages still leave the callback for later. An AI answering service for contractors answers, books the visit and writes the call down, so missed calls stop turning into lost work while your people stay on the job.
Is AI replacing the receptionist at a construction office?
No. AI receptionists take the calls nobody can pick up: before seven, at lunch, while the office manager is on another line and outside business hours. When call volume jumps after a storm, nobody waits in a hold queue. Each department can be set to AI first, your people first or AI only, so your office manager answers when she can.
Does the AI give engineering, code or permit advice?
No. Structural questions, code interpretation, permit requirements and means and methods are answered only from the information you publish, and otherwise go to your engineer, estimator or PM. The AI tells your colleague who is calling and why before the call connects, so nobody starts from zero.
What happens when someone calls about a jobsite emergency?
The AI follows the urgent-call script you approved, with the emergency number first, then rings the on-call superintendent or PM right away. A gas smell, an injury, structural movement, an active leak or a utility strike is never left with the AI alone, and the call is written down for the morning.
Can the AI change a schedule or promise a pour date?
No. It answers schedule questions only from the schedule note you publish to it, such as whether the drywall delivery is still Tuesday. A request to move a date goes to the PM with the caller's own words, and the AI commits to nothing beyond what you wrote.
Will the AI price a job or negotiate a bid?
It quotes only the standard work that carries a price on your rate card, and every quote waits for your yes. It reads no drawings and does no takeoffs. Custom scope, alternates and negotiations stay with your estimator, who types the lines and approves the estimate before it leaves.
How fast can a contractor's office get the AI answering?
In 2 minutes. You forward the office line, tell Lisa the work you take, your service area, who owns each active project and who is on call tonight, and the AI starts answering the phone. Your project management and estimating tools stay as they are.
Can the AI talk with Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking crews and subs?
Yes. It answers in the caller's language, so a foreman calling in Spanish or Portuguese hears the site access note and the delivery window in his own words. His call is written down on his record with its transcript, like every other call the AI takes.
Does Zanus AI replace our project management or estimating software?
No. It is the front office: the calls, chats, e-mails, forms, site visits, quotes and requests before and around the job. Drawings, submittals, takeoffs and schedules stay in the tools your project team already uses, and nothing there has to change.
How do we pick the best AI receptionist for contractors like us?
Judge it by what happens after hello: the site visit booked into the estimator's free time, a bid invitation logged on the estimating desk, engineering and safety calls handed to a person with the reason told first, and every call written down. Zanus AI does each of these on the number you already have.
Does an AI receptionist for owner operator contractors make sense when the owner is on the tools?
That is when it helps most. While you are on a roof or in a crawl space, the AI answers the business line, books the estimate visit into your free time and takes the message with the callback number read back, so you read the summaries at lunch instead of returning every call.
Award-winning AI
Winner at CES 2026, ISE 2026 and TMCnet Enterprise AI Product of the Year.
REAL AI - the whole Front Office is AI, not old software with an AI button.
Awards & trade shows ›
Give Lisa your website.
She sets up your business in 2 minutes.
Other software makes you learn it. Zanus AI learns your business.
Try it free on your own business — no credit card, per company, never per seat.
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Or call +1 (954) 736-3939 — the AI answers.