Answering service
Answering service or AI receptionist: which fits a trade business?
Updated November 6, 2026
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Already started? Return to your saved setupA traditional answering service takes a message, often billed by the minute. An AI receptionist answers with software and can book the job while the caller is on the line. Cedri is an AI phone receptionist for small businesses in Canada. It answers the business line in English and French, books the appointment during the call, and texts the details to the owner and to the customer. It costs $18.99 CAD a month, 30 answered calls included.
What each one does with a call
For a trade business, the question is what happens after the call: a message waits for someone to call back, a booking is already in your calendar. Three things answer the phone when nobody in the office can:
- An answering service: people who answer for many businesses. A traditional one takes a message, often billed by the minute. Some also book appointments: ask how, in which calendar, and what a booked call costs.
- Voicemail: a recording. The caller leaves a message, or calls the next company on the list.
- An AI receptionist: software that holds the conversation, asks your questions, and books into your calendar during the call. Cedri also texts you a summary after every answered call.
What Cedri asks a caller before it books, by trade
A booked job is only worth having with the details. These are the questions each trade’s line asks, as the trade pages print them:
- HVAC: Before it books, Cedri asks for the service address, whether it is the heating or the cooling, the make and age of the unit, and whether the house is cold right now.
- Electrical: Before it books, Cedri asks for the service address, what is not working, whether anything is sparking or smells hot, and whether it is a house, a condo or a business.
- Plumbing: Before it books, Cedri asks for the service address, what is wrong, and whether it is urgent or can wait.
- Landscaping: Before it books, Cedri asks for the address, what the caller wants done, roughly how big the yard is, and whether it is a one-time job or for the season.
- Pest Control: Before it books, Cedri asks for the address, what the caller is seeing and where, how long it has been going on, and whether it is a house, an apartment or a business.
- Roofing: Before it books, Cedri asks for the address, whether the roof is leaking right now, the type of roof (shingles or flat), and whether it is a house or a building.
- General Contracting: Before it books, Cedri asks for the address, what the project is, whether the caller has plans or drawings, and when they are hoping to start.
Emergencies, and when a person is better
On the HVAC, electrical, plumbing, pest control and roofing lines, when a caller describes an emergency, Cedri puts them through to the number you set, or takes an urgent message if you have not set one. It does not diagnose the problem, and it says a price only when it finds one in your service list, your answers or your website. When the call is a judgment on site, like whether a furnace is safe to restart or a panel needs a licensed electrician tonight, that call is yours: set your own phone as the transfer number.
How the two are billed
Answering services often bill by the minute or by the call, so compare the plan’s allowance with how long your calls run. Cedri is one plan: $18.99 CAD a month or $189.99 a year, with 30 answered calls a month and no per-minute charge. Calls under 10 seconds do not count, and past 30 the line keeps answering: extra calls come in packs on the web, 10 for $12.99, 25 for $29.99 or 50 for $49.99. AI receptionist prices in Canada.
The number on your truck stays the same
The number painted on your truck and printed on your quotes does not change. Your phone company forwards its calls to Cedri, every call or only the ones you miss, so jobs you cannot pick up on a roof or under a sink are still answered. Call forwarding steps by phone company.
Your bookings and customer records live in Canada. Your call audio and its transcript pass through the United States. Security.
Questions
What is an answering service for contractors?
A service that answers a contractor’s calls when nobody in the office can. A traditional one is people who take a message; an AI one, like Cedri, is software that asks the job’s questions and books the visit during the call.
Does Cedri book the job, or take a message?
It books. Cedri checks your openings, offers a time and confirms it on the call, then texts the details to you and to the customer. How booking by phone works.
Is Cedri billed by the minute?
No. It is $18.99 CAD a month with 30 answered calls included, and calls under 10 seconds do not count.
A customer calls in French about a leak. What happens?
Cedri carries on in French on the same call, asks the same questions it asks in English, and the summary you get says what the job is. Bilingual AI receptionist.
Can I hear a trade call before I pay?
Yes. The demo page has recorded calls with their full transcripts, so you can hear how Cedri asks the questions and books the visit before you choose a plan.
Cedri at a glance
Price: $18.99 CAD a month, or $189.99 a year. One plan, no contract. You pay when your line goes live.
Calls: 30 answered calls a month included. Calls under 10 seconds don’t count. Past 30, Cedri keeps answering, and extra calls come in packs on the web: 10 for $12.99, 25 for $29.99 or 50 for $49.99.
Languages: English and French on the same line. Apps for iPhone and Android.
On the phone: Cedri says it is an AI assistant and that the call may be recorded.
Your number: keep it. Forward it to your Cedri line.
How call forwarding worksTry it: call the demo line at (437) 475-4321.
Brand line: Canada's Bilingual AI Receptionist
Cedri (cedri.ca) is made by Cedri Inc. It is not a product of Zen Solutions or CliniCall, and it has no link to the US EPA's CEDRI reporting system or to the CeDRI research centre in Portugal.
$18.99 CAD a month, 30 answered calls included.
To sign up: go to cedri.ca/signup or use the iPhone or Android app. Setup takes about five minutes, and you pay when your line goes live.
One plan, $18.99 a month with 30 answered calls. See what’s included
Hear it answer: call the demo line at (437) 475-4321. It is a demo, not a support line.
Get the app on iPhone and Android.