AI Receptionist for Furniture Repair & Restoration
Win the Commission Before They Ring the Next Workshop
Restoration enquiries are high-value, one-off commissions, and they rarely leave a voicemail. When the antique dealer or insurance caller rings and your hands are full, DeskCaller's AI answers on the first ring, gathers the photos and detail needed to quote, and books the consultation before they move on to the next workshop. Live the same day.
Why Furniture Restorers Lose Good Work
Restoration is hands-on, quiet, careful work, and the phone never rings at a convenient moment. The enquiries you miss are the ones that go to the next workshop.
You can't answer the phone with glue and polish on your hands
Reupholstering a wing chair, French polishing a table top, or steaming out a dent takes both hands and a clean workbench. The phone rings while you are mid-finish, the caller with a water-damaged antique gets voicemail, and by the time you ring back they have booked the restorer who picked up first.
Quotes need a look at the piece, not a message left in the void
A worn leather sofa, a scratched sideboard, a loose chair joint: customers want to describe the damage and hear whether it can be saved before they commit. Voicemail feels unprofessional for craft work, so they carry on down their list until someone talks them through it properly.
Evening and weekend enquiries are when antiques owners ring round
Collectors and interior designers research restorers after hours, and homeowners who have just knocked a corner off a cabinet call the moment it happens. If nobody answers, the job goes to the next name on the search results, and the workshop misses a booking it never even heard about.
Built for Furniture Restorers
From Antiques to Modern Refinishing
An AI receptionist set up for restoration workshops. It handles assessment booking, damage photos by text, technique qualification, and syncing every enquiry to your calendar and CRM.
Assessment Booking for Repairs and Restoration
The AI books consultations for reupholstery, French polishing, antique restoration, and cabinet repairs straight into your calendar. Customers get an instant text confirmation, so there is no phone tag with people carrying valuable pieces.
Piece and Damage Qualification
It captures what the piece is, its age, and the type of damage, whether that is a loose joint, a deep scratch, water marks, torn upholstery, or lifting veneer. You know what is coming before the appointment is even in the diary.
Photos by Text for Accurate Quotes
For a quick assessment, the AI texts the caller a link to send photos of the damage, the construction, and any maker's marks. You review the images beforehand and give a far more accurate quote first time.
Antiques and Period Furniture Screening
If you specialise in antique and period work, the AI asks about age and construction, books the Victorian, Edwardian, and Georgian pieces you love, and politely refers flatpack repairs elsewhere. Your diary fills with the work that suits your bench.
Water and Damp Damage Triage
Flood-soaked antiques, water-ringed tables, and damp-affected upholstery need looking at quickly before the damage sets. The AI recognises urgent enquiries and flags them to you by text or books a priority slot so the piece can be saved.
Explaining Restoration Techniques
What is French polishing? Can a veneer chip be filled? How long does reupholstery take? The AI answers common questions in plain language so customers arrive with realistic expectations about the craft and the timescales.
Syncs Bookings to Your Calendar and CRM
Customer details, photos, and confirmed assessments flow into your calendar and CRM automatically. No re-keying notes after every call, and every enquiry is logged from first contact through to collection.
Trade and Commercial Enquiry Routing
Hotels, restaurants, and offices needing a batch of chairs refurbished are handled differently from a homeowner with a single heirloom. Configure the AI to prioritise trade contracts or group residential enquiries to suit your workflow.
Recognises Returning Customers
The AI spots repeat clients by their number, so decorators and collectors calling about another piece or a touch-up are looked after straight away, while new enquiries go through full qualification.
Offers Related Restoration Work
Someone booking a dining table refinish? The AI can ask about the matching chairs or sideboard. A reupholstery enquiry? It can mention frame stabilising or a finish touch-up, so a single piece becomes a proper project.
After-Hours Enquiry Capture
The AI answers evenings and weekends when collectors and designers do their research, capturing high-intent enquiries that would otherwise sit in voicemail. You start Monday with assessments already booked.
Flags Specialist Techniques
French polishing, gilding, marquetry, leather repair, and period-correct finish matching all need particular skills. The AI identifies the techniques a job needs so you only quote work that suits your training and materials.
See It In Action
Real call transcript: Victorian Chairs, Reupholstery and Joint Repair Enquiry
Duration: 3 min 40 sec • Outcome: Home assessment booked for Tuesday 2pm, photos requested by text
Works With Your Workshop and Booking Tools
Bookings, customer details, and damage photos flow into the tools you already use, from YourTradebase, Tradify, and Acuity Scheduling to Xero, QuickBooks, and Square. Connect your calendar and CRM, or wire anything else through Zapier, Make, and webhooks.
What Your AI Receptionist Captures on a Restoration Call
Restoration scope varies enormously from one piece to the next, so nothing can be quoted blind. A large share of the work arrives through insurance claims for transit and removal damage, house moves, and probate and estate clearances and valuations, and those callers specifically ask whether you handle insurance work. These are high-value, one-off, considered commissions with long lead times, so the AI gathers the detail you need to quote properly the first time.
- The item type and period: whether it is an antique or a modern piece.
- The materials involved, from fabric or leather upholstery to veneer and solid timber.
- The damage itself: a scratch, water damage, loose joints, a reupholster, or a full re-polish.
- Whether it is a workshop job or on-site work, as French polishing is often done in situ for fixed or large pieces such as staircases, bars, and boardroom tables.
- Whether it is insurance, house-move, or probate and estate work.
- The customer's budget and timeline for the commission.
- A photo follow-up by text, so you can see the piece and quote accurately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the AI receptionist GDPR compliant with customer details and photos?
Can it collect photos of the damage before an assessment?
How does it tell antique restoration apart from modern furniture repair?
What happens with an urgent water-damaged or flood-affected piece?
Does it handle enquiries from interior designers and the trade differently from homeowners?
Can it explain techniques like French polishing or leather repair to customers?
Will it sync bookings with our calendar and CRM?
How quickly can we go live, and how much work is setup?
Stop Losing Restoration Enquiries to Voicemail
Put an AI receptionist on your workshop line and go live the same day. Book assessments while you refinish, take damage photos by text, triage water damage, and keep every enquiry in your calendar.
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