BackOnTools

ServiceM8 Integration · Built for AU Tradies

The AI Receptionist That
Books Jobs Straight Into ServiceM8

You already know how good it feels when a job lands in ServiceM8 without you touching it. The address is right. The job type is right. The client’s number is sitting there ready to go. You wrap up what you’re doing, open the app, and the day is already mapped out.

Now imagine that happening for every call that comes in while you’re under a sink, on a roof, or pulling cable through a ceiling.

It’s 2pm. You’re three metres up replacing a flashing in Penrith and your phone rings. You can’t answer. Normally that’s a lost job — 62% of callers never leave a voicemail, and the next bloke they ring usually wins it. But your AI receptionist picks up on the second ring, in your business name, in a voice that sounds like a real person. It asks the right questions, then books the job directly into ServiceM8 — client name, suburb, full scope, your standard callout already attached.

You finish the flashing, climb down, open ServiceM8, and there it is.

📞 Hear it for yourself

Call +61 468 096 380 — our live AI demo line. Or book a 20-minute walkthrough where we demo the ServiceM8 integration live.

Book a 20-min demo →Call the AI now ▶ +61 468 096 380

What the integration actually does

Let’s walk through it with Dave. Dave’s a plumber out of Parramatta, runs a two-van operation, has been on ServiceM8 for four years and reckons he couldn’t run the business without it.

A call comes in at 7:42pm — well after Dave’s knocked off. The AI answers in Dave’s business name. The caller’s a homeowner in Westmead with a hot water system that’s stopped working. The AI asks the right questions: is the water cold or just lukewarm? Is it a gas or electric unit? Roughly how old? Any leaks around the base?

“By the time the call ends, 90 seconds later, ServiceM8 has a new job. The client’s name and mobile are in there. The site address is geocoded. The job description reads: Electric HWS, approx 8 years old, no hot water at any tap, no visible leak, customer happy to wait until tomorrow morning.Dave’s standard hot water callout fee is already attached, and the AI has quoted a likely range of $180–$450.”

Dave sees it when he opens the app over his coffee. He confirms the time slot, fires off a “see you at 9” SMS from inside ServiceM8, and that’s the entire admin overhead — about eleven seconds.

That’s the integration. Not a message. Not an email summary. A real, properly populated job sitting in ServiceM8 ready to dispatch.

Why most AI services don’t actually connect to ServiceM8

Here’s the honest truth about most “AI receptionist” services on the market — including the offshore call answering services dressed up with new branding, and most of the generic chatbot companies out of the US.

They take a message. They email it to you.And then you have to open ServiceM8, click new job, type in the client’s name, copy the address, paste the description, set the job type, attach the callout fee, and schedule it.

That’s 3 to 5 minutes per call. On a busy day with twelve calls coming in, that’s an hour of admin you’ve just downloaded from one inbox to another. The AI hasn’t actually saved you anything — it’s just shuffled the work.

BackOnTools writes directly to ServiceM8 through the official API. The job is created the moment the call ends. No copy and paste. No double handling.

If your AI receptionist isn’t writing into ServiceM8, it’s just a fancy answering machine.

What gets set up on your ServiceM8

When you come on to the Pro plan, ServiceM8 setup is included. This isn’t a five-minute onboarding video and a hope-for-the-best. This is real configuration work, done by us, before your AI takes its first live call.

✓

Job templates for your most common work types

For a plumber: blocked drains, hot water repair, burst pipes, leaking taps, toilet repairs, gas fitting. For a sparky: switchboard upgrades, power point installs, lighting, fault finding, safety switches. Each template carries the right job category, description shell, and default duration.

✓

Your callout fees and pricing baked in

When a caller asks 'roughly how much?' the answer matches what you'd actually charge. The AI quotes your real rates — not guesses.

✓

Your service area defined to the suburb

If someone calls from outside your area, the AI politely declines instead of booking a job you'd have to ring back and cancel.

✓

Scheduling preferences and buffer times

How far out to book, what buffer time you need between jobs, whether you take after-hours work and what the loading is.

✓

Auto-invoicing and payment reminders

Invoice templates trigger on job completion. Overdue reminders go out at the intervals you choose. Done for you, done properly.

Plans that include ServiceM8

To be straight with you: the ServiceM8 integration sits on the Pro plan ($297/month) and the Premium plan ($497/month). It’s not on the Starter.

Starter

$197/mo

Every call answered in your business name, caller details captured and texted to you. For a sole trader who already has a system and just wants to stop missing calls — this is a very good $197.

Pro

$297/mo

Everything in Starter plus full ServiceM8 integration, job booking, standard quote delivery, automated invoicing, and SMS follow-ups. If you're spending 30–60 minutes a day on admin, the extra hundred a month pays for itself before the end of week one.

Premium

$497/mo

Everything in Pro plus custom voice cloning, monthly tuning calls (we listen to 20 real calls and refine the AI), and same-day priority support for teams running multiple service lines.

Built for the trades ServiceM8 is built for

ServiceM8 was built for the trades, and so was BackOnTools. The integration is tuned for the work you actually do.

🔧 Plumbers

The AI knows to ask whether it's hot or cold water, whether it's a burst, a drip, or a complete no-flow, and whether the customer has isolated the supply — then logs it correctly so you're not turning up to a "leak" that's actually a slab job.

⚡ Electricians

It asks about safety switches tripping, whether power's out to one circuit or the whole property, and flags anything that smells like a genuine emergency versus a tomorrow job.

❄️ HVAC and air con

It captures the unit type, age, error codes if the customer can read them off the controller, and whether it's a no-cool, a leak, or a service — so the right tech with the right parts shows up.

🏗️ Builders and carpenters

It qualifies scope properly — repair versus renovation versus new build — so a five-minute door rehang doesn't get booked into a half-day slot.

🌿 Landscapers

It pulls property size, frequency (one-off versus regular), and access notes straight into the job description so your quote visits are never wasted.

Frequently asked questions

Does BackOnTools have official ServiceM8 partnership status?+

We integrate through ServiceM8's official API the same way other approved third-party tools do. Your data flows through the proper authenticated channels — nothing scraped, nothing hacked together. You connect your ServiceM8 account via standard OAuth login and can revoke access from inside ServiceM8 any time you like.

What ServiceM8 plan do I need for this to work?+

Any active ServiceM8 subscription will work — Starter, Growing, Premium, all of them. We recommend Growing or above because the API call limits are more comfortable for high call volumes, but Starter works fine for moderate volumes.

Can the AI see my existing jobs and avoid double-booking?+

Yes. The AI reads your live ServiceM8 calendar before quoting any time slot to a caller. If you've got a job booked at 10am Tuesday, it won't offer that window to anyone else. It respects your buffer times, travel zones, and any blocks you've put on the calendar.

What happens if the AI can't complete a booking?+

The AI knows what it doesn't know. If a caller describes something outside your standard work, it takes their details, logs a 'review needed' job in ServiceM8 flagged for your attention, and tells the caller you'll personally ring them back. No fake quotes, no booked jobs you can't service.

Does it work with ServiceM8's online booking form too?+

Yes. The AI handles the voice channel; ServiceM8's online booking form keeps working on your website. Both create jobs into the same ServiceM8 instance. We can also feed missed-call SMS callbacks through the booking form flow if you'd prefer that pattern.

How long does ServiceM8 setup take?+

Seven days, end to end. We collect your job types, pricing, service area, and scheduling rules, configure ServiceM8 and the AI in parallel, run a test call session to tune the voice and questions, and go live. Your existing ServiceM8 data stays exactly where it is.

Can I customise the job templates the AI uses?+

Absolutely. Onboarding starts with us mapping your top 8–10 job types. After go-live, you can request changes any time — new template, different question flow, updated pricing. We make changes within 24 hours on Pro and same-day on Premium.

If you’re already on ServiceM8, you’re halfway there

You’ve already done the hard work — you’ve got the system, you know how it runs, your jobs flow through it cleanly. The last piece is the front door: making sure every call that comes in actually makes it into ServiceM8 without you touching a thing.

Book my demo →Call the AI ▶ +61 468 096 380

Seven days to set up · Cancel any time · ServiceM8 setup included on Pro