Use this in 15 minutes
- Minutes 1-4: name coverage hours, primary and backup contacts, and the record location.
- Minutes 5-8: agree the immediate-danger, urgent-review and routine routes.
- Minutes 9-12: rehearse a fictional missed call and an unanswered primary alert.
- Minutes 13-15: assign a weekly reviewer and choose a review time. Use the blank record for each enquiry.
This is an intake and handoff checklist, not technical diagnosis or emergency advice. In an emergency needing police, fire or ambulance, call Triple Zero (000). Do not delay an emergency call while completing a form or waiting for a trade callback.
Write in the fields or print and complete on paper. This page has no submission or save function. Keep personal or confidential details in your approved record system.
1. Agree coverage and the people responsible
2. Capture the essentials on every call
Keep the caller's own description. Confirm uncertain details by reading them back, rather than filling gaps with a guess. If the caller describes immediate danger, use the emergency route first. Collect only information needed for the enquiry.
Do not ask for payment-card details, passwords, alarm codes or identity documents for basic intake. Keep access instructions in an approved restricted record if they are needed. Have the business owner decide whether recording or transcription is appropriate and which notice, consent, privacy and retention requirements apply before switching it on.
3. Route urgency without making a diagnosis
| Route | Example of what the caller reports | What intake does |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate danger | A serious injury, fire or immediate threat to life or property requiring police, fire or ambulance. | Direct the caller to 000 now. Do not keep them in an intake queue or promise that a trade callback will make the situation safe. Alert your person without delaying the emergency call. |
| Urgent human review | An active leak, wastewater overflow, loss of an essential service, a reported safety concern or uncertainty about urgency. | Record the description and essential contact/location details, then alert the named on-call person. A qualified person assesses the situation and decides the response. |
| Routine follow-up | A quote, planned maintenance, booking change or non-urgent question. | Record the request and preferred contact time. Route to the next monitored work queue and explain the approved callback window. |
A reported gas smell or electrical hazard goes straight to a person under your approved safety procedure. Intake must not invent fault-finding, isolation or repair instructions. Where immediate danger requires emergency services, use 000. If urgency is unclear, request human review and retain the caller's words.
4. Set targets and a failed-handoff fallback
Choose the timings yourself after checking actual coverage. Leave a target blank until an owner agrees it. Do not publish or quote it to callers as an assured response. The emergency route always takes priority over callback targets.
| Working target | Your agreed rule |
|---|---|
| Urgent acknowledgement | Primary person to acknowledge within ___ while on call. If no acknowledgement, alert ___ by ___ method. |
| Urgent callback decision | Named person decides callback/attendance priority by ___ and updates the record. Never promise an arrival before confirmation. |
| Routine missed calls | Reviewed by ___ at ___; aim to call back within ___ during monitored hours. |
| Coverage unavailable | Approved honest message to caller: ___; backup or alternative contact information approved by owner: ___ |
| Unable to reach caller | Attempts at ___; approved message ___; owner and next review ___ |
Example only: a business with a staffed evening roster might set a 5-minute alert-acknowledgement target and escalate to its backup if it is missed. Another business might offer next-business-day routine callbacks. These are illustrative choices, not standards, safety advice or promises from AI Plumb.
5. Complete the handoff to a person
Suggested message after an alert has actually been sent: "I have recorded your details and alerted the on-call person. A person will confirm whether we can help and what happens next. This does not confirm a booking or arrival time." Adapt it to the actual status.
6. Where a person must decide
A qualified trade professional makes technical assessments and gives technical advice. An authorised dispatcher follows the business's approved triage and escalation procedure and confirms availability only within their authority. A person with the relevant authority decides scope, service-area exceptions, price and attendance. Automation may capture, flag and route an enquiry; it must not diagnose, approve work or invent a callback, quote or arrival commitment.
7. Review the missed calls every week
Choose a short weekly check with the owner and the people who answer calls. Compare completed handoffs with the agreed rules. A large call count alone does not show that customers received a response.
| Review item | This week |
|---|---|
| Period and reviewer | ________ |
| Missed enquiries checked | Total ___; records missing a callback number or location ___ |
| Urgent alerts | Sent ___; acknowledged ___; backup used ___; unresolved ___ |
| Callbacks | Completed ___; missed internal target ___; unable to reach ___ |
| Promises and errors | Any unsupported diagnosis, incorrect booking or unapproved time/price promise? ___ |
| One improvement | Change ___; owner ___; due ___; test call completed ___ |
Illustrative worked example
Illustrative worked example, using fictional details
Illustrative only. This fictional example is a discussion aid, not a client result.
At 6.10 pm a caller says, "Water is coming through the laundry ceiling." The receptionist confirms the callback number and a fictional Brisbane address, captures the words without diagnosis and flags urgent human review.
The business has chosen a 5-minute acknowledgement target for its staffed evening roster. The primary plumber does not acknowledge, so the receptionist contacts the named backup at 6.15 pm. The backup acknowledges at 6.17 pm and takes ownership of the callback. These timings illustrate a chosen internal rule, not an emergency response commitment.
The receptionist tells the caller only that the details were recorded and the on-call person alerted. The plumber then assesses the reported situation, decides the next step and confirms any attendance directly. The record includes the callback outcome and owner. If the caller instead reports immediate danger requiring police, fire or ambulance, the emergency-services route takes priority and the caller is directed to 000 without waiting for this sequence.
At the weekly review, the owner checks why the primary alert went unanswered and retests the roster. The checklist works with a paper diary or voicemail as well as a call-intake system.
Where a person must decide
- A qualified trade professional makes technical assessments and gives technical advice. An authorised dispatcher follows approved triage and escalation rules and confirms availability within their authority.
- A person approves prices, service-area exceptions, attendance and any booking or callback commitment.
- Unclear, distressed or sensitive conversations transfer to a person. Intake captures and routes facts without diagnosis.
Sources and licence
Official guidance checked on 28 October 2026. Follow the current guidance and the requirements that apply to your work.
- ACMA: Emergency callsOfficial guidance on using Triple Zero for urgent police, fire or ambulance help. A trade callback is not an emergency-services response.
- OAIC: APP 3, collection of solicited personal informationGuidance for entities covered by the Privacy Act on necessary and proportionate collection. Check which privacy and recording obligations apply to your business.
Free to use and adapt
Free to use and adapt. Please credit AI Plumb by Flowtivity. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). You may share and adapt it, including commercially. Retain attribution, link to the licence and indicate changes.
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
The licence covers the original template text, not logos, third-party material or linked sources.
Keep a useful copy
Want help putting this in place?
Use this checklist with your existing phone and diary. If you want help testing call intake, roster alerts and human approval, book a free 1-hour consult with AJ. Bring a fictional enquiry and your handoff rules.
Book a free consultation