Answer the shop phone without lifting your hood.
A homeowner with a cracked gate, a GC who needs stair steel by Friday, and a farmer whose baler is down all call the same line, usually while you are mid-bead with a grinder running. Your AI receptionist picks up, finds out whether the piece is coming to the shop or the truck is going out, and gets you the material, the size, and the photos you need to price it.
An AI receptionist for welding and fabrication shops answers around the clock in English and Spanish, sorts a shop drop-off from a mobile call-out, captures the material, rough dimensions, and what broke or is being built, texts a secure link for photos (Basic and up), books the job or the measure, and pages you when equipment is down.
What a missed call costs you.
- 01You are under a hood or running a grinder when the phone rings, so the call goes to voicemail and the caller tries the next shop.
- 02A machine down in a field or on a job site is the most profitable call of the week, and it goes to whoever answers first.
- 03Without the material, the thickness, and a photo, you cannot quote anything, so every message turns into a callback before the real conversation starts.
What a missed call could be worth
Run your own numbers. Drag the sliders to match your shop, and the figure at the bottom updates as you go.
This is an estimate built from your own inputs, not a quote. Nobody can say a given missed call was a real customer, so read the result as a possibility, not a bill.
Many calls to small businesses go unanswered, and most callers never leave a message.
Not every missed call is a sale: some are spam, wrong numbers, or people you already serve. Your honest guess.
Phone callers are high-intent and convert better than a web form. The starting number is an illustrative default, not a benchmark. Your own close rate on the leads you actually reach.
For most service businesses, a single job runs a few hundred dollars. Count repeat work and referrals and a customer's lifetime value reaches several thousand. Use the number that fits you.
You can't know any single missed call was a real customer; some are wrong numbers or sales calls. But across a month, if even 30% of the would-be customers who reached your voicemail would have booked, that works out to about $2,160.
And the fix scales with the math: even Standard, our $399-a-month plan, runs about 18% of that estimate, roughly $21,132 a year below it.
First AI Employee's Essential plan is $99 a month. The question isn't whether every missed call is a lost job; it's whether catching them clears $99.
Start a 7-day free trial →An estimate from your own inputs, not a quote. The default customer value above is just a starting estimate; set it to your own.
Sources: Invoca's home-services call benchmarks on how often calls go unanswered (a home-services benchmark; the defaults here are illustrative and fully adjustable); CRM Magazine on voicemail behavior; Invoca's call-conversion benchmarks on how well phone leads convert.
On the call, it handles all of it.
Shop or mobile, sorted first
Asks whether the piece can come to you or the work has to happen on site, then takes the site address, access, and who will be there.
Repair and fabrication intake
Captures whether it is broken or being built, the material (steel, stainless, aluminum, cast iron), rough dimensions and thickness, quantity, and the finish they want.
Photos by secure link
Texts a secure upload link (Basic and up) to callers who have opted in to texts, so a photo of the crack or the sketch of the gate is waiting for you before you quote.
Answers day and night, in English or Spanish
Books the job or the measure on your calendar, pages you when equipment is down, and can transfer a live caller straight to you. Every call is recorded and transcribed, with a notice to the caller up front.
In your callers' own words.
- “
The hinge tore off my driveway gate and it won’t close.
- “
Our skid steer bucket cracked and we’re dead in the field. Can you come out?
- “
I need a price on a handrail for six steps, painted black.
Job Briefs & Client Intake: built in for welding & fabrication.
A photo of the job site turns a vague “what’ll it run me” into a real estimate before you ever leave the shop.
How Job Briefs & Client Intake works →Add-ons, rated for welding & fabrication.
We rate every add-on for how much it actually earns its keep in your trade: the must-haves and the ones you can skip. Honest stars, not a sales pitch.
Stop sending welding & fabrication callers to voicemail.
Your AI receptionist answers 24/7, qualifies the caller, and books the work, so more of your calls turn into customers instead of a competitor's.
Not for: healthcare or anyone handling protected health information. We are not HIPAA-compliant and don't sign BAAs.