Who it is for / Plasterers
Plaster will not wait while you take a call. While You Work answers the calls you miss in your business name, finds out what the plastering job is, where and when, and sends you the details a minute later.
The first 50 UK businesses get Pro for £49 a month plus VAT for their first 12 months, then £69. Plans start at £39. Your line switches on as soon as you finish the set-up form, with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
On every call
Urgent jobs
On Pro and Business, urgent calls are texted to you straight away, and every call is emailed to you.
An example week
Plastering is on the critical path of every renovation, so most calls come from people who need a date, not a chat.
The maths
Say you miss 3 calls a week and two in five of those callers would have booked a room skim worth about £500.
3 calls × 40% × £500 = £600 a week. × 52 weeks ÷ 12 = £2,600 a month of work going to someone else. An example: put your own numbers into the missed-call calculator.
Builders book the plasterer who answers. The second call goes to the next name in their phone, and that name gets the whole job.
Setting your own prices? See what plasterers charge in the UK, with rates and job prices from published price guides.
Timing
Early mornings when builders plan the week, and the weeks after Christmas when renovations restart. Skimming a ceiling is the one job you cannot pause to pick up.
What callers hear
The receptionist asks one thing at a time, checks the number back and never makes up a price. The details reach you by email a minute after the call, and by text straight away when it is urgent.
Texted to you straight away
URGENT. Craig, 07700 900626, S11 Ecclesall. Part of the bedroom ceiling down after a leak.
Receptionist: Hi, you’re through to Smooth Finish Plastering. Dan is out on a job, so I’m the automated assistant taking the details for a call back. Calls are recorded so nothing gets missed. What’s your name?
Caller: Hi, it’s Craig. Part of our bedroom ceiling has come down after a leak.
Receptionist: Thanks, Craig. I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll mark this as urgent so Dan sees it first. What’s your postcode?
Caller: S11, in Ecclesall.
Receptionist: And what’s the best number for Dan to ring you on?
Caller: 07700 900 626.
Receptionist: So that’s 07700 900 626. Is that right?
Caller: Yes, that’s right.
Receptionist: Thanks, Craig. Dan will ring you back as soon as he can, and I’m sending you a text now to confirm.
Set up
A short form made for plasterers:
One code on your mobile sends calls you do not answer within 20 seconds to your While You Work line. Turn it off whenever you like.
Every caller is greeted in your business name. You get the details a minute later, and the caller gets a text saying you will ring back.
Questions
Yes. Put it in the anything else box on the set-up form and the receptionist tells callers who ask, then still takes their details so you can decide.
Yes, on the Business plan. It offers the caller your real free times, books the job and texts them a confirmation, with your deposit link if you take deposits. On Pro it can text the caller your booking link instead, and on Starter it takes the details and tells the caller you will ring back.
Starter is £39, Pro £69 and Business £129 a month + VAT, for 50, 150 or 400 calls a month. The first 50 UK businesses get Pro for £49 a month + VAT for their first 12 months. There is no contract, and if you cancel within 14 days of your line going live you get a full refund.
Yes. It asks who is calling and what the job is, and the message says whether it came from a builder, a homeowner or a letting agent, so you can ring the trade calls first.
If you put that in the set-up form it tells callers exactly that, so your callback does not start with a job that is not ready.
More detail: what to charge as a plasterer, what a missed call costs, UK call answering prices and how we compare.
If you also take on carpentry or joinery, see our AI receptionist for carpenters.
Source: Fix Radio survey of more than 220 UK tradespeople, reported by PHAM News, October 2022.
Starter £39, Pro £69 and Business £129 a month, plus VAT. The first 50 UK businesses get Pro for £49 plus VAT for their first 12 months. No contract, and cancel within 14 days of your line going live for a full refund.
Also set up for handymen and property maintenance, pest control, window cleaners, removal companies, mechanics and garages, plumbers and heating engineers, and for every other kind of business.