Why tradies specifically
Generic AI receptionists are designed for offices — a polite greeting, a 10-second hold, a handover to voicemail. None of that works for a tradie. Customers ringing a tradie are usually in some state of inconvenience: water on the floor, no power, kids stuck outside, hot water out the day before a long weekend. They want a real conversation in seconds, not a phone tree.
Sanby is tuned for that. We started with hundreds of hours of real-world tradie call recordings (with permission), learned the shape of how customers actually phrase a job, and built the system around three things tradies told us were non-negotiable:
Speed, because they're panicking
A 1.5-second pause feels like the bot crashed. Sanby answers in about 331 ms — faster than a stressed customer notices.
Local voice, because they hate call centres
Nine real Australian voices that pronounce Australian suburbs, streets, and names properly — not a US-accented voice retrained to say “mate”.
Job capture, not just messages
Sanby asks for the address, the issue, urgency, and the best callback number — then SMSes you the lot. You decide whether you're on it or not.
Stays on Australian soil
Self-hosted in Sydney. Call recordings, customer details, and addresses never leave the country. Privacy Act-friendly by default.
Built for these trades
We're launching with deep tuning for the trades below. If yours isn't listed yet, the underlying system still works fine — the tuning gives the bot trade-specific scripts (e.g. recognising a “burst pipe” vs a “slow drain” differently for plumbers, or distinguishing a fault call from a new quote for sparkies).
Plumbers
Burst pipes, blocked drains, hot water failures, leaking taps. Emergency triage tuned for the way Australians describe plumbing trouble on the phone.
For plumbers →Electricians
Power out, switchboard tripping, smoking outlets, urgent rewires. Compliance-aware scripts and clear urgency classification before escalation.
For electricians →HVAC technicians
Aircon down in 38° heat, ducted heating cutting out, commercial fridge alarms. Seasonal-spike-ready and good with brand and model questions.
For HVAC techs →Locksmiths
Lockouts, broken keys in the cylinder, post-burglary rekeys. Captures location precisely and confirms ID-style details for emergency calls.
For locksmiths →More trades land regularly — carpenters, tilers, glaziers, landscapers, concreters, plasterers, pest control, garage doors, pool & spa, appliance repair. If you're in one of those, the trade-agnostic version of Sanby works today. Tell us your trade when you join the waitlist and we'll prioritise tuning around yours.
What a Sanby call actually sounds like
We don't want you to guess. The home page has a live demo, but here's a representative transcript of an emergency-style after-hours call. The latency numbers are real — measured end-to-end, including network.
That whole exchange takes about 28 seconds. The customer hangs up knowing the job is booked, you wake up to an SMS with the details, and nobody's rung your competitor in the meantime.
How it compares
Most tradies looking at AI receptionists are weighing up Sophiie, Johnni, and traditional offshore answering services. The short version: Sanby is faster, distinctly Australian, and keeps your data in Australia. The full breakdowns are linked from the comparison hub. We're not the right fit for everyone — we're the right fit if speed, voice quality, and data sovereignty matter to you.
Why we started with tradies
I'm Tyson, the founder. I built Sanby after the third tradie I knew told me they'd lost a $4,000 callout because they missed the call. Tradies were the obvious starting point — high-value jobs, urgent customers, and almost no good options on the market. Allied health is next. If your trade isn't represented yet, drop a line: hello@sanby.com.au.
Frequently asked questions
Why does an AI receptionist make sense for a tradie?
Because every missed call is a job your competitor wins. Most tradies can't take a call while they're under a sink, on a switchboard, or up on a roof — and the customer who can't reach you usually rings the next number on the list within 60 seconds. An AI receptionist picks up every call, captures the job details, and books it straight into your calendar. Sanby starts at $149/month — about a fifth of one missed callout job.
Will my customer know it's not a real person?
Some will, some won't. Sanby's response time (about 331 ms on average) is faster than most humans, and the voices are nine real Australian accents with regional awareness — so the conversation flows naturally. We don't pretend the AI is human, but we also don't put a robotic voice on the line. Most callers who notice it's AI tell us they preferred it because there was no hold, no background noise, and the bot actually listened.
What happens with emergency calls?
Sanby is trained to spot urgency signals — burst pipes, no power, lockouts, gas smells, anything safety-related — and escalate immediately. The default behaviour is to take the address, give a clear ETA, and SMS you the details flagged URGENT. You can configure how aggressive the escalation is per trade and per business hours.
Does Sanby integrate with the tools I already use?
Google Calendar booking is included on Professional and Growth plans. ServiceM8, Tradify, AroFlo, and Simpro integrations are on the integrations roadmap and will follow shortly after launch. Until those land, Sanby sends call summaries to your email and SMS so you can paste the details into whatever tool you currently use.
Is my customer data safe?
Yes. Sanby is self-hosted in Sydney on Australian-owned cloud infrastructure. Call recordings, transcripts, and customer details never leave Australia. That's important for Privacy Act compliance and worth a lot for any work involving sensitive sites or customer addresses.
Stop missing jobs.
Join the waitlist and we'll let you know the moment your trade goes live. 14-day free trial, no setup fee, plans from $149 per month.
Join the waitlist