How to brief an AI specialist for your trade business

What makes a trade brief different

Trade businesses have constraints that generic automation often ignores. Some enquiries are emergencies. Some suburbs are outside your area. Some jobs can be priced on the phone and others need a site visit. A specialist needs to know these rules before suggesting anything that talks to customers.

The brief does not need to be long. One or two pages is plenty, as long as it answers the questions below.

• Service area: which suburbs or regions you cover, and what happens to enquiries outside them
• Urgent enquiries: what counts as urgent (for example no hot water, a gas smell or no power) and who must be told straight away
• Pricing rules: which jobs have fixed prices, which need a site visit, and who is allowed to quote
• Software: your job management, accounting, phone and email systems, and who holds the admin logins
• Hours: business hours, after-hours arrangements and on-call rosters

A brief template you can copy

Copy the headings below into a document and fill them in. Short answers are fine. If you do not know something, write that down; it is useful information too.

Separate the three kinds of cost

When you compare options, ask for costs in three separate parts. Mixing them makes quotes hard to compare and hides ongoing commitments.

Custom work is not automatically better. business.gov.au notes that custom AI solutions tend to cost more and have ongoing support and maintenance costs (opens in a new tab), while off-the-shelf tools are usually quicker to implement. A good specialist will tell you when an existing feature is enough.

Agree acceptance criteria before work starts

Acceptance criteria are the checks that show the work is finished and does what was agreed. Writing them down protects both you and the specialist.

• Every test scenario runs correctly, including urgent jobs and out-of-area enquiries
• Stop rules work: replies, accepted quotes and opt-outs end message sequences
• Messages show your business name and correct contact details
• A named person can pause or switch off each automation
• No customer data is sent to tools that were not agreed in writing

Ask about handover

Before signing off, make sure you will not depend on one person forever. Ask for simple written instructions, a list of every account and connection created, and confirmation that admin access sits with your business.

If the work handles customer information, ask where it is stored and who can see it. The OAIC's guidance on commercially available AI products (opens in a new tab) suggests considering human oversight, privacy and security risks, and who can access personal information. Our checklist for AI and privacy in Australian businesses explains the basics.

It is also worth checking whether the Privacy Act applies to you; the OAIC's small business guidance (opens in a new tab) explains the turnover threshold and its exceptions.

What to expect from a free 15-minute consultation

Fifteen minutes is enough to explain the problem, share your brief and hear whether the specialist thinks they can help. It is not enough for a full design, a fixed quote or a live demo built on your systems.

A realistic outcome is a shared understanding of the problem and an agreed next step, such as a written proposal. Sending a request does not book a time automatically: the specialist suggests times and you confirm one that suits.

Ready to find a specialist?

With your brief ready, find AI specialists for trade businesses and request a free 15-minute consultation, or browse the specialist directory to compare profiles. If you are unsure who fits, tell us what you need and we can help you choose.

Still deciding on a first project? Go back to choosing where to start or the quote follow-up workflow.