AI chat on your website: what it should and shouldn't do for a trades business

What an AI assistant is good at

Customers ask the same handful of questions, at all hours: do you come to my area, roughly what does it cost, can you come this week? An AI assistant trained on your business can answer those straight away, at 10 p.m. or on a Sunday, and then offer a time to book.

The jobs it handles well:

• Common questions, answered from your own service list, service area, hours and FAQs.
• Qualifying, by asking the questions you'd ask: what's the problem, where are you, how urgent is it.
• Booking, by offering real open times from your calendar.
• Collecting details after hours, so your team starts the morning with a full picture.

Where it needs limits

An AI assistant writes fluent, confident answers. That's the risk: it can be confidently wrong. Set clear boundaries before it talks to a single customer.

• Prices. It should give only prices and ranges you've approved, and say so when a job needs a quote. It should never make up a number.
• Promises. No guarantees, warranties or timelines beyond what your written policies say.
• Diagnosis. It can collect symptoms, but it shouldn't tell a customer what's wrong with their furnace.
• Safety. For emergencies, like a smell of gas, it should tell people to leave the building and call 911 or their gas utility right away, and not try to troubleshoot.
• Off-topic questions. It should stay on your business and politely decline the rest.

You're responsible for what it says

A chatbot's answers are your business's answers. In a 2024 decision, British Columbia's Civil Resolution Tribunal held Air Canada responsible for incorrect information its website chatbot gave a customer about a fare policy, and ordered it to pay compensation (Moffatt v. Air Canada, 2024 BCCRT 149). The airline argued the chatbot was responsible for its own words. The tribunal didn't accept that.

For a trades business, the lesson is simple: an assistant should only say what you'd be comfortable putting in writing.

Train it on your business, not the internet

A useful assistant learns from your information, not general web content:

• your services, and what each one includes;
• the towns you serve;
• your hours and how emergencies are handled;
• approved prices or price ranges;
• your warranty, payment terms and cancellation policy;
• answers to the questions customers ask most.

When something changes, such as a new service or a price increase, update its information the same day.

Be upfront that it's an assistant

Don't pretend it's a person. Name it as an assistant, keep the tone friendly and make it easy for a customer to reach a real person. Most people are happy to get a quick answer from an assistant, as long as they don't feel tricked.

Collect only what you need

An assistant that books visits needs a name, a phone number and an address. It doesn't need anything more sensitive. Canada's privacy law for businesses (PIPEDA) expects you to collect only what you need and to explain how you use it, so link to your privacy policy where people chat.

Test it, then keep reading

Before launch, try to break it. Ask awkward questions, ask for prices it shouldn't know and ask about things you don't do. After launch, read a sample of its conversations every week. You'll spot wrong answers, and you'll learn what customers really want to know, which is a list of blog topics in itself.

This article is general information for business owners, not legal advice. Survey figures are US consumer research where noted; we are not aware of equivalent published Canadian surveys and do not present them as Canadian data.