The problem
Many plumbers finish the day and then do the write-ups: what was found, what was done, what to watch. At 8 jobs a week and 10 minutes each, that's 80 minutes a week, about 5.7 hours a month, and it's usually done in the evening.
What the AI does
You type or dictate a few rough lines after each job. An AI assistant turns them into a short, plain-English summary for the customer and a clear description for the invoice. You read it, correct anything wrong and send it. Each write-up drops from about 10 minutes to 2.
A worked example
A plumber in Norwich does 8 jobs a week. After each one he pastes his phone notes into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini with a standing instruction to write a friendly two-paragraph summary and a one-line invoice description.
Before
About 80 minutes a week writing up jobs, usually in the evening
After
About 16 minutes a week, mostly checking the drafts
What it's worth
About 4.6 hours a month saved (64 minutes a week), worth around £184 if your time is worth £40 an hour.
How to set it up
- Pick an assistant: ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini all have free plans, and paid plans run up to about £20 a month. Start free.
- Write one standing instruction: your name, trading name, a friendly but brief tone, and what a write-up should include.
- After each job, paste your rough notes and ask for a customer summary and an invoice line.
- Read it against what you actually did, fix errors, and send it.
- Save the instruction in the assistant's saved-instructions or project feature, if your plan has one, so you don't retype it.
What goes wrong
- It only knows what you tell it. If your notes leave out the cause of the fault, the write-up will be vague or guess.
- Never paste customer phone numbers or full addresses you don't need to; keep notes to the work done.
- Don't let it add safety claims or guarantees you haven't given. Check every sentence before it goes out.