For electrical, plumbing, heating and solar businesses
Rote is the frontier deployer of AI for South African trades and home services businesses.
We make sure the quotes, invoices and enquiries never get missed in the background, while you and your team are on site.
One process at a time. Fixed price. Live in 30 days.
The work isn't what slips. The paperwork after it is.
None of it is hard. It just never gets done on time, because you've been on site all week.
- Quotes. You quote, the customer goes quiet, and nobody follows up.
- Invoices. The job is finished, and the invoice waits until you're back at the desk. Sometimes it never goes at all.
- Overdue payments. You mean to chase them, but chasing always comes after the next job.
- Enquiries. One arrives at ten in the morning and gets answered at eight that night. By then they've phoned someone else.
Built and tested on a demonstration business
Each of these runs on an invented business with invented customers and fictional prices. They show exactly how the system behaves. They are not results from a real business.
Quote and payment chaser
- Follows up every quote up to three times, politely, then reminds you to call once and close it.
- Chases every unpaid invoice: a heads-up before it's due, friendly reminders after, then a reminder for you to phone.
- Spots finished jobs that were never invoiced and tells you the same day.
- Listens before it chases. "Paying Friday" means no reminder till Friday. "Already paid" means a note for you to check the bank. "Went with someone else" stops the follow-ups.
- One email a day per customer, at most. Two unpaid invoices go in one email with the total.
- Asks a customer for a review once, two days after they've paid.
Enquiry responder
- Replies within about a minute with a short message you write once: thanks, we've got it, here's when we'll be back to you.
- Spots possible emergencies (sparks, a burning smell, no power) and alerts you to phone straight away.
- Drafts a proper reply from your own price list and answers to common questions, with your booking link if they're in your area. You tick it, it sends.
- Follows up once if someone goes quiet after your reply, and stops as soon as they write back.
- Clears out spam and repeat submissions.
These two are where most businesses start
Rote builds the system your business actually needs, from scratch where it has to be: job scheduling, compliance certificate paperwork, supplier orders, or anything else that follows a pattern. Quoted after the audit. Custom builds start from R25 000.
It follows up, reminds and drafts. You decide.
- Emergencies go to you, not to a draft. It alerts you to phone. It is not an emergency service and never tells anyone what to do about a fault.
- It never makes up a price or promises a time. A draft with a number that isn't in your own price notes, or a promise like "tomorrow", is stopped for you to check.
- It never sends bank details, so it can't be used for invoice fraud. A draft that mentions account numbers or "new bank details" is blocked.
- It never threatens. No interest, no debt collectors, no legal action. Reminders stay friendly.
- Nothing goes out without your tick. The one exception is your own fixed "we've got your message" reply, which you write and approve once. It promises a reply and nothing else.
- Personal messages stay with you. Anything about someone's health, a death or personal circumstances is never sent to AI.
No new app for you or your customers
The system runs in your own email and your own Google Sheets, alongside whatever you already quote and invoice in. Your customers get an ordinary email from your business. You keep working the way you work now.
Customer data stays with you. Rote does not store or copy it.
Less goes to AI. It sees first names, references, amounts and dates. Never addresses, phone numbers or bank details.
It's yours. If you stop working with Rote, the system keeps running.
Every build is designed in line with POPIA.
Work out your hours
How many hours would come back to you each month?
Type in your own figures. Every number already filled in is an assumption to get you started, not a fact about your business. Change any of them.
This counts hours, not money saved. The point is time back for paid work. The Audit measures your real figures before you commit to anything.
Audit, first build, care
1
Audit
R2 500
One week mapping where your hours go.
- A written report: what to automate, what not to
- A fixed quote for the first system
The full R2 500 comes off your build if you go ahead within 30 days.
2
First build
R15 000
One system from Rote's library, adapted to your services, your prices and your wording.
- Live in 30 days, or you don't pay the balance
- Half up front, half when it goes live
3
Care
FromR2 500a month
Monitoring, fixes and a monthly health note with running costs.
- Essential: one live system, R2 500 a month
- Plus: up to three, R4 500 a month
- Practice: four or more, R7 500 a month
Running costs (the automation platform and AI usage) are paid by you, in your own accounts, at cost. Rote is not VAT registered, so no VAT is added. See full pricing
Questions
Do I have to be at a computer to approve things?
You tick drafts in a sheet, which works on your phone. Emergencies come to you as an alert to phone, not as something to approve.
Has Rote done this for a trades business before?
Not yet. Both systems are built and tested on an invented business. The Audit is where we test the fit with yours, for R2 500, before you commit to a build.
We use Outlook, not Gmail. Does it still work?
The demonstrations run on Google Workspace. If you run on Microsoft 365, tell us on the call and we'll say plainly what changes.
What if it gets something wrong?
Nothing goes to a customer without a tick, apart from your own fixed acknowledgement, and every run is logged. If something fails, you're told what and why.
How many quotes are sitting unanswered this month?
Twenty minutes, no preparation needed. If it isn't worth automating, we'll say so.
Book a 20-minute call