Trades businesses lose money in the office, not on the job site. The quote that went out late, the follow-up that never happened, the invoice sitting unsent for three weeks because everyone was on a roof. AI agents take the office work: quotes chased, jobs scheduled, invoices out the door, reviews requested, while your crew does the work that actually bills.
This guide is part of our complete guide to business agents.
What AI agents do for a trades business
Leads, answered fast. The homeowner who filled out your form at 9pm gets a response at 9:05, with your questions asked and the site visit offered. Speed wins trades work more than price does, and written lead response is an agent's home turf. The pattern: AI sales agents.
Quotes, followed up. Every estimate that goes out gets its follow-up at day 3 and day 10. Most contractors never follow up once; the ones who do win the quiet majority of jobs that just needed a nudge.
Jobs, scheduled. Site visits booked, crews' calendars kept straight, the customer reminded the day before so the crew is not standing at a locked door. See AI scheduling agents.
Invoices, out and chased. The invoice goes out when the job closes, not at month-end, and it gets chased on schedule until paid. For a trades business this is the single fastest cash flow fix there is: AI invoice agents.
Supplier orders, tracked. Materials ordered against the job, confirmations checked, the backorder that would stall Thursday's install flagged on Monday.
Reviews, requested. The happy customer gets the review ask the day the job wraps, with the link, while the goodwill is hot. Twenty five-star reviews is a different business than four.
The crew bills the hours. The office loses them.
What agents do not do for a trades business
They do not answer your phone, quote a job sight unseen, or make the call on change-order pricing. Estimates and anything touching safety or code stay with the humans who hold the license. The agent's job is that nothing administrative sits still: every lead answered, every quote chased, every invoice out.
How this works in Dock
In Dock you hire named agents with jobs: one on leads and quotes, one on invoices and suppliers. The job pipeline lives in a shared table, leads through quotes through scheduled through paid, visible from the truck. They remember the customer, the house, and the quote history, and the judgment calls, a discount request, an angry email, a weird payment, come to you with context.
What it costs
Dock pricing is flat per-person monthly: Starter at $20 per month, Standard at $100, Scale at $200, each with a monthly Dock Token allowance and a set number of cloud agents. One recovered quote pays for the year.
Go deeper
Start with Business agents: the complete guide. The jobs that matter most here: invoices, scheduling, and sales follow-up.