Demo: carpentry and concreting
What AI automation looks like for carpenters and concreters
Quote-heavy trades lose hours to site measures, follow-ups, weather and supplier bookings. Here’s how an example business handles the week with automation.
Westside Concrete and Carpentry is an example business used for illustration.
Meet the example business
Owner plus 3 on site
Owner-operator Matt, two tradespeople and an apprentice. No office staff.
Driveways, slabs, decks
Concrete driveways and paths, house slabs, decks and pergolas across Melbourne’s west.
Weather-dependent
One rainy forecast can move a week of pours, pump bookings and customers.
A normal week, before automation
- Enquiries arrive by phone, text, Facebook and the website, usually with no photos or measurements.
- Matt drives out to measure jobs that were never going to go ahead.
- Quotes are written at night and then not followed up.
- A rainy forecast means a dozen phone calls to move the pour, the pump and the customer.
- Variations are agreed verbally on site, then argued about at invoice time.
- Deposits and progress payments are chased by hand.
The same week, with automation
Same crew, same customers. The phone calls, chasing and re-typing now happen in the background.
Monday 7:10 am
New enquiries, already qualified
- Calls, texts, Facebook messages and web forms all land in one list.
- Customers are asked for photos, rough measurements (for example, a 45 m² driveway), access and timing.
- Jobs outside the area or budget are politely declined or referred.
- Good leads are offered a site measure time from Matt’s calendar.
Tuesday
Quotes followed up, deposits collected
- Every quote gets a follow-up at 2 and 7 days.
- When a quote is accepted, the deposit invoice goes out automatically and the job is pencilled in.
- The customer gets a “what happens next” email, such as clearing the area and moving cars off the driveway.
Wednesday
Weather watch on Friday’s pour
- 48 hours before every scheduled pour, the forecast is checked automatically.
- If rain is likely, Matt gets an alert: “Rain risk Friday for the Werribee driveway. Move to Monday?”
- One tap sends the new date to the customer, the concrete plant and the pump hire, and updates the calendar.
Thursday
Supplier orders written for you
- The concrete order is prepared from the job: volume in m³, strength (for example 25 or 32 MPa), slump, delivery time and site address.
- Pump bookings get a confirmation reminder the day before.
- Timber and hardware orders for decks are drafted from the quote’s materials list.
Friday
Progress updates and variations
- Photos taken on site are sent to the customer as a short progress update.
- Variations are captured on Matt’s phone, sent for written approval and added to the final invoice.
- Progress claims for builder clients are prepared on schedule.
After the job
Paid, reviewed, looked after
- Final invoice sent, with payment reminders until it’s paid.
- Care instructions go out automatically, for example keeping cars off new concrete for 7 days.
- A review request with photos of the finished job.
Example: a rain-affected pour, handled by text
Westside Concrete: Hi Sarah, Friday’s forecast shows heavy rain, which isn’t good for a fresh driveway pour. We’d like to move your pour to Monday at 7 am. Reply YES to confirm, or CALL and we’ll ring you.
Sarah: YES
Westside Concrete: Thanks Sarah, Monday 7 am is locked in. Please keep the driveway clear from Sunday night.
Behind the scenes
- Calendar moved to Monday
- Concrete plant and pump hire sent the new date
- Matt gets one message: “Werribee pour moved to Monday 7 am. All confirmed.”
Example messages. Your rules decide what is automatic and what needs your OK first.
What we’d measure with you
- Time from enquiry to quote
- Quotes accepted after follow-up
- Hours spent on admin and phone calls each week
- Time spent rescheduling weather-affected jobs
We agree targets with you up front. We don’t promise savings before we’ve looked at your business.
Where carpenters and concreters usually start
- Enquiry capture with photos and measurements
- Quote follow-up and automatic deposit invoices
- Weather watch and supplier confirmations
Start with one. See the results. Then build from there.
Want to see this for your business?
In a free 30-minute assessment we’ll look at how your enquiries, quotes and scheduling work today, and show you where automation would help most.
No obligation. Max Growth Business Automation is a business name of Max Growth Services Pty Ltd, ABN 87 610 686 318.