ServiceM8 AI Receptionist Setup: From Call to Job Card

A ServiceM8 AI receptionist is a voice agent that answers your business line and creates the resulting job directly in ServiceM8 through its API, with the customer's name, address and a summary of the problem already filled in. Setting one up takes four things: a ServiceM8 connection, a written call playbook, call forwarding from your existing number, and a round of test calls before real customers hit it. This guide walks through each step using Fixa, the ServiceM8 AI receptionist we build at Langoedge, as the worked example.

Key facts

• The job is created in ServiceM8 while the call is happening, so nobody re-types it from a voicemail or an email later.
• You keep your existing phone number. Calls reach the AI receptionist through conditional call forwarding (no answer, busy, after hours).
• Fixa's ServiceM8 job creation is included from the Starter plan ($49 AUD a month ex GST, 60 calls) up to Enterprise ($299, 600 calls), with a 14-day free trial and no lock-in contract.
• Carrier costs are passed through at wholesale rates, roughly 1 to 2.5 cents a minute for voice, which works out to a few dollars a month for a typical trade business.

Why the job card is the part that matters

Most trades businesses already know they miss calls. Sydney startup Chime Labs, when it raised A$900,000 in April 2026, estimated Australian tradies miss around 270,000 calls a day, working from roughly 300,000 trade businesses, five calls each and an 18% miss rate. That's the company's own back-of-envelope maths, not an audited figure, but nobody who has tried to reach a plumber on a weekday afternoon will argue with the direction of it.

Answering those calls is only half the fix. If the call ends as a transcript in your inbox, someone still has to open ServiceM8 at 7pm and type the job in. We've written separately about why "message taken" and "job booked" are different products. This post is about the practical side: what has to be configured so the call really does finish as a job card.

A ServiceM8 AI receptionist sits between call forwarding and your job list. The customer dials the same number they always have.

Step 1: Connect ServiceM8

Fixa connects to ServiceM8 from our servers using a private application key. The key never goes to a browser, and it is scoped to your account. Once connected, a qualified call can create a job with the customer name, site address and a call summary.

The detail most people skip is the job template. ServiceM8 lets you set up a template so new jobs pick up your usual defaults: job category, tasks, custom fields, badges. Point the AI receptionist at that template and every job it creates looks like one your office would have created, instead of a bare record your team has to tidy.

If the caller is already a customer, Fixa tries to recognise them so the job lands against the right client record rather than creating a duplicate.

Step 2: Write the call playbook

The playbook is the set of rules the AI receptionist follows. It's the difference between a receptionist who sounds like your business and one who sounds like a generic call centre. Ours asks for:

• Service area. The suburbs or postcodes you cover. Out-of-area callers get told politely, not booked.
• Job categories. What you do and don't do. A sparky who won't touch solar should say so on the first call.
• What counts as urgent. A burst pipe, no power to the whole house, a gas smell. You define it. Fixa doesn't invent safety advice or make commitments outside what you've approved.
• Hand-off rules. When the caller should be transferred to a person, and who that person is at 7am versus 9pm.
• Business hours and common questions. Callout fee, whether you quote over the phone, how soon you can usually attend.

Spend real time on the urgent-call rules. On a quiet week they rarely fire. In a storm-season surge they decide which of thirty callers gets a truck first.

Step 3: Forward your calls

You don't port your number or print new business cards. You set conditional call forwarding on your existing line so that calls you don't pick up go to your Fixa number. Most setups use three conditions:

1. No answer after a set number of rings, for when you're on the tools.
2. Busy, for when you're already on another call.
3. After hours, either a scheduled divert or a rule in your phone system.

Starting with after-hours only is a sensible first week. Once you trust the job cards it produces, add no-answer and busy forwarding for the working day.

Step 4: Test it with five calls before going live

Call it yourself, from a mobile that isn't in ServiceM8 as a client, and run these five scripts:

1. A routine booking: "Can someone look at a leaking tap next week?"
2. An emergency under your playbook's definition.
3. An existing customer calling about an old job.
4. An out-of-area caller.
5. A sales call, to check it gets filtered rather than turned into a job.

After each one, open ServiceM8 and check the job card: right client, right address, a description a tech could act on without ringing the customer back. If the description is vague, the fix is almost always in the playbook, not the AI.

Step 5: Go live, then review the first fortnight

For the first two weeks, read every job Fixa creates. You're looking for patterns: a question it keeps failing to ask, a job category it keeps getting wrong, a suburb that should be in or out. Adjust the playbook and the problems stop recurring.

One setting stays off until later on purpose: direct scheduling onto a technician's diary. Fixa can capture a preferred time from day one, but it should only allocate jobs to a tech once your ServiceM8 allocation rules and availability are configured and tested. Booking a tech who's on leave is worse than leaving the job unscheduled.

What it costs to run

The ServiceM8 job creation this guide describes starts on Starter, which also includes setup done by Langoedge. Solo is a self-serve plan that sends enquiries to your calendar and inbox instead.

Telephony runs through wholesale carriers such as Telnyx at pass-through cost: about 1 to 2.5 cents a minute for calls and 2.5 to 4 cents per SMS. For a typical trade business that's around $3.50 to $5.50 a month in carrier charges on top of the plan. Data is hosted on Australian infrastructure and encrypted in transit and at rest.

If you already pay for ServiceM8's own Phone Agent, read how it compares with a dedicated AI receptionist first. And if you're wondering where ServiceM8's new Office Agent fits, it starts working after the job exists, which is exactly where this setup hands over.

FAQ

What is a ServiceM8 AI receptionist?

A ServiceM8 AI receptionist is voice software that answers a trade business's phone calls and creates the job directly in ServiceM8 through the ServiceM8 API, including the customer's name, site address and a summary of the problem. It differs from an answering service, which takes a message for someone to enter by hand later.

Do I need a new phone number?

No. You keep your existing number and set conditional call forwarding (no answer, busy, after hours) to send unanswered calls to the AI receptionist. Customers keep dialling the number they already have.

How long does setup take?

The ServiceM8 connection takes minutes. Writing a good playbook (service area, job types, urgent-call rules, hand-off contacts) and running five test calls is the real work, and most businesses get through it in an afternoon. On Fixa's Starter plan, Langoedge does the setup with you.

Can the AI receptionist book a technician straight into the diary?

It can capture the caller's preferred time from the start. Allocating the job to a specific technician should only be switched on once your ServiceM8 allocation rules and technician availability have been set up and tested, to avoid booking someone who isn't available.

What does a ServiceM8 AI receptionist cost in Australia?

Fixa costs $29 to $299 AUD a month ex GST for 25 to 600 included calls, with ServiceM8 job creation from the $49 Starter plan up, extra calls at $0.40 to $0.55 each and carrier charges passed through at roughly 1 to 2.5 cents a minute. There is a 14-day free trial and no lock-in contract.

Sources

• Forbes Australia, "This ex-Google duo just raised $900k to build an AI receptionist for Aussie tradies" (April 2026)
• Startup Daily, "Tradie AI receptionist startup banks $900,000 in pre-Seed"
• ServiceM8, September 2026 update (ServiceM8 15)

About the author. Arnab Chakraborty is the founder of Langoedge, the Melbourne company that builds Fixa, an AI receptionist for ServiceM8 trade businesses. He works on how the product handles real calls and what ends up on the job card. Disclosure: this article describes our own product alongside competitors.