Plumbers and electricians on Messenger: win the local Facebook enquiry while you are on a job

Why local Facebook brings in the work

Local Facebook groups work like a noticeboard that never closes. People ask for recommendations, friends tag the trades they trust, and the person asking then messages two or three of them. Your page might also get messages from people who found you in a search or saw a post about a job you finished.

The trouble is that you cannot reply with wet hands or a live circuit in front of you. By the time you are back in the van, the customer may have booked whoever answered first. An AI agent closes that gap. It replies in moments, asks for the postcode and a photo, offers a slot, and passes you a tidy summary to look at when you stop for lunch.

The line the agent never crosses

The agent never tells anyone how to fix a fault, never says something is safe, and never prices a job it has not seen. It can quote the fixed charges you give it, such as a call-out fee or a standard hourly rate, and it can say "the engineer will confirm the price on site". Anything that sounds dangerous gets your safety wording, word for word, and goes to you at once.

What customers ask on Messenger

• Do you cover my area? I'm in Westfield.
• How much is your call-out charge?
• My boiler has stopped working, can someone come today?
• Can you fit an outside socket, and roughly what would it cost?
• Water is coming through the ceiling, what do I do?
• Do you do landlord safety certificates?
• Are you available on Saturday morning?

An example conversation

This illustration shows a customer who found the business through a local Facebook group. Names and details are examples.

What the agent answers

• Whether you cover a town or postcode, from the list of areas you give it.
• Your fixed charges, such as the call-out fee and hourly rate, with a note that job prices are confirmed on site.
• Collecting the details you always ask for: postcode, a short description, photos and the best time to call.
• Offering slots from your diary and pencilling in a visit for you to confirm.
• What you do and do not do, such as boiler servicing, rewires or landlord certificates.
• Your hours, how emergencies work, and payment methods.

What it always hands to you

• Any mention of gas, burning smells, sparking, scorch marks, shocks or water near electrics: the agent sends your safety wording and hands over at once.
• Requests for a quote on a specific job, which you price after seeing photos or visiting.
• Questions asking how to fix something themselves.
• Complaints about past work, warranty claims and anything about money owed.
• Landlords, letting agents and commercial customers who want an account or regular work.
• Anyone who sounds vulnerable, such as an elderly customer with no heating in winter.

Write your safety wording before anything else

Most enquiries are routine, but a few are not. Write the exact words the agent sends when someone mentions gas, sparking, burning smells or water near electrics, with the right emergency numbers for where you work and your own mobile. Put them in quotation marks in the agent's notes and tell it to send them word for word, then hand the chat to you. It should never shorten them or add a tip of its own.

The Messenger limits that matter here

Like Instagram, Messenger limits messages to people who have not replied, so replies in existing chats work best.

Set it up in an afternoon

1. Write a business note: areas covered, fixed charges, the work you do and do not do, booking rules and your safety wording. There is an example below.
2. Connect your Facebook page in Spaces. You sign in to Facebook through a secure link and approve the connection.
3. Connect an always-on AI agent, such as Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw or Hermes, using the steps for your client on our agents page, so it can answer messages as they arrive (chat apps such as ChatGPT and Claude act only when you ask them in a chat). Give it the note and, if it can reach it, your diary.
4. Decide how you hear about handed-over chats, for example a notification on your phone, and check it at every break.
5. Decide when the agent should answer. If you want it quiet in the evenings, tell it so in its notes, or pause sending when you finish. Scheduled messages and routines can carry working hours of their own.
6. Read every conversation for the first two weeks and tighten the note wherever the agent hesitated or asked you something twice.

A sample business note

Keep it short enough to update from your phone. Here is the shape of one, with example details.

BUSINESS: Dan Hart Plumbing and Electrical. Dan and Kieran.
AREAS: Westfield, Northgate, Ashby and villages within 10 miles.
HOURS: Mon to Fri 8am to 5pm. Saturday mornings by arrangement.

CHARGES (examples): call-out £60 including the first 30 minutes,
then £45 an hour. Parts extra. Job prices confirmed on site.

WE DO: leaks, taps, toilets, radiators, boiler servicing,
sockets, lights, consumer units, landlord certificates.
WE DON'T: new boiler installs, solar panels, commercial kitchens.

ALWAYS ASK FOR: postcode, what's wrong, photos, best time to call.

SAFETY WORDING (send exactly this, then hand over at once):
'Please don't touch it. If you can smell gas, leave the property,
don't use switches and call the gas emergency line straight away.
If anything is sparking, burning or near water, switch off at the
mains only if it is safe to do so and keep clear. I have passed this
to Dan now and he will call you as soon as he can on this number.'

NEVER: explain how to fix something, say it is safe, or price a job.

Check the emergency numbers and the wording with your own trade body's guidance for where you work. The point is that the agent sends words you chose, not its own.

Turning a group recommendation into a booking

When someone messages because a neighbour tagged you, they have usually messaged other trades too. A good first reply does three things: it confirms you cover their area, it asks for the one or two details you need, and it offers a real time. "We cover Westfield, could you send a photo and your postcode? Thursday afternoon is free" beats a long paragraph about your experience.

Tell the agent to keep first replies to two or three short sentences, to ask for photos early, and to offer a slot as soon as it knows the area. You can then confirm the booking with a quick look at the photo.

A second example: something dangerous

This is the message the whole setup is built for. Names and details are examples.

The agent did not say whether the socket was safe and did not suggest a fix. It sent the wording Dan wrote and handed over, so a person took it from there.

Common mistakes trades make

• Letting the agent guess a price for a job. Give it your fixed charges and tell it everything else is confirmed on site.
• Forgetting the safety wording, or letting the agent write its own.
• Messaging everyone who commented in a local group. Reply to people who message your page, and keep it personal.
• Not checking handed-over chats until the evening, when an urgent message needed you hours earlier.

Who you message

In short

For a plumber or electrician, an AI agent on Messenger is a sharp office manager who never leaves the van. It answers the area, the call-out charge and the availability within moments, collects photos and postcodes, and pencils in visits. Quotes, diagnosis and anything dangerous come straight to you, with wording you wrote.

Spaces paces every message and keeps your Facebook account inside safe limits, but no tool can promise Facebook will never restrict an account, so keep the agent to replies to people who message you first.

Pricing

Plans from $19 a month

Can the AI agent give quotes?

It can share the fixed charges you give it, such as a call-out fee or an hourly rate. It should not price a specific job, because that needs your eye. Tell it to collect photos and details and say the engineer will confirm the price.

What if someone messages about a gas leak or sparking?

The agent sends your safety wording, word for word, and hands the chat to you at once. Write that wording yourself, with the right emergency numbers for your area, and never let the agent improvise it.

Can it reply to posts in local Facebook groups?

Spaces is built for messages. Group comments are best left to you, because a personal reply from the owner reads better there. When someone then messages your page, the agent can pick it up.

Will it book jobs straight into my diary?

If your AI agent can reach your diary, it can offer real slots and pencil them in for you to confirm. If not, it can collect the details and suggest times, and you confirm the booking yourself.

Does it work for a page and my personal profile?

Connect the account your customers actually message, which for most trades is the business page. Spaces keeps each connected account inside its own limits.

Can I stop it while I deal with a tricky customer?

Yes. When you take over a chat, the agent stays out of it until you hand it back. You can also pause all sending from Spaces at any time.

Should it say it is an AI?

Many trades do, in the first reply. A short line such as "I'm Dan's AI agent, Dan will confirm your booking" is honest and makes the handover feel natural.