Industries Electricians
Business texting and a shared inbox for electricians
When you are shoulder-deep in a roof cavity pulling cable with the power isolated, the phone in your pocket does not exist. The switchboard-upgrade enquiry that just rang out does not leave a voicemail. They message the next sparky and book them instead. HiveThread catches those enquiries as texts in one shared inbox, so the office or your offsider replies while you finish terminating the circuit, and the job stays on your board.
Electrical work lives and dies on the quote follow-up. You price a rewire or a switchboard upgrade, send it, and then it sits. The customer got three quotes and is waiting to be reminded. Meanwhile new leads trickle in through your website chat, a Facebook message about downlights, a text asking if you do EV chargers. HiveThread keeps every one of those threads in a single inbox, drafts the reply in your voice, and lets you nudge the quiet quotes without it turning into a spreadsheet you never open.
Sound familiar?
The job site is a dead zone for the phone
Up a ladder, in a ceiling space, or with the mains off during a board changeover, you are not answering calls for hours at a stretch. Every rung out of reach is a lead that rings out and calls someone else. Texts do not need you free at that exact second: "do you install three-phase for a workshop?" waits in the inbox and gets a proper answer at smoko instead of dying the moment you cannot pick up.
Quotes go out and then go silent
A switchboard upgrade or a full rewire is a considered purchase: the customer collects a few quotes and then stalls. Without a nudge, your number sits at the bottom of their inbox and the job leaks to whoever followed up. A written thread lets you send a friendly "still keen to sort that switchboard? happy to lock in a date" days later, from the same conversation, so the quote gets a decision instead of gathering dust.
Leads scatter across channels nobody watches on site
A downlight enquiry hits Facebook, an EV-charger question lands on the website widget, a repeat commercial client texts your mobile about a fault. When those live in three apps on a phone that is buried in a tool bag all day, the fast reply that wins the job never happens. One inbox means the office can answer every channel while the crew stays on the tools.
A day with HiveThread
Monday, 10:15am: switchboard upgrade in Coburg
Sam has the main switch off and both hands on a new load centre, terminating circuits one by one. His phone buzzes twice in the tool bag and he ignores it. You do not walk away from a live changeover. An hour later he checks HiveThread: a website-widget enquiry asking for a quote to add a second-storey circuit and power points, and a text from a builder chasing a rough-in date for a new townhouse.
Back at the office, the same inbox is open. The AI has drafted a reply to the second-storey enquiry in the business voice: a note that a site visit is needed for a firm price, a ballpark range, and a couple of times this week. The office adds "mention we can do the data cabling at the same time" and sends. The builder's rough-in question gets assigned to Sam with a private note holding the site supervisor's number.
That afternoon, HiveThread surfaces three quotes sent last week with no reply. Sam scheduled a follow-up message on Friday for each one: "just checking in on the switchboard quote, we can fit you in next Tuesday if you are ready." One books on the spot. None of it needed a call he did not have time to make, and none of the leads slipped because he was up a ladder when they first came in.
How electrical business use HiveThread
Follow up quiet quotes without the phone tag
Switchboard upgrades, rewires and solar-ready jobs rarely get a yes on the first quote. Schedule a follow-up message a few days out ("still keen to lock that in?") so the quote gets a decision instead of going cold at the bottom of an inbox. Because it is all one written thread, you can see exactly what you quoted and when, and the customer can reply the second they are ready without playing phone tag with a sparky who is up a ladder.
Catch leads while the crew is on the tools
The website widget turns "how much for downlights through the whole house?" into an SMS conversation that follows the visitor onto their phone. Facebook and Instagram messages about EV chargers, ceiling fans and safety switches land in the same inbox. The office answers every channel and books the site visit while the electricians stay on the job, so a fast reply wins the work instead of a rung-out call losing it.
Coordinate rough-ins and site visits with builders
Commercial and new-build work runs on tight timing with builders and other trades. Keep the whole thread (rough-in dates, fit-off windows, variations) in one place, assign it to the electrician on that site, and attach a private note with the supervisor's number and gate code. Everyone can see what was agreed, so a missed date or a crossed wire between the office and the site does not cost you the next job on the estate.
Answer safety and compliance questions consistently
Safety switches, smoke alarms, meter box access, certificate of compliance: the same technical questions come in every week and the answer has to be right every time. Saved replies keep those answers consistent across your team, and the AI drafts responses from your own information, so an apprentice on the office phone answers a switchboard question exactly like the licensed electrician would.
The features doing the work
One inbox for the office, the site and the boss
Texts, website chat, Facebook and Instagram messages all land in a single shared inbox. The office answers while the crew is on the tools, so no lead sits unseen on a phone buried in a tool bag all day.
Quote follow-ups that send themselves
Line up a "still keen to book that switchboard upgrade?" message to go out a few days after the quote. The nudge that wins the job happens on time, even when you are flat out on site and would never remember to make the call.
Replies drafted in your voice from the ladder
The AI learns your services, your area and your FAQs from your website, then drafts answers about downlights, EV chargers and switchboard upgrades. You review and send, so every quote and price that reaches a customer is still in your words.
The whole job thread in one place
What you quoted, the site address, the builder's number and private notes all sit beside the conversation. Anyone picking up the thread knows the job without digging through a personal phone or asking the customer to repeat themselves.
Assign the site jobs to the right sparky
Route the townhouse rough-in to the electrician on that estate, leave an internal note the customer never sees, and watch typing indicators so the office and the crew never send two different answers to the same builder.
Frequently asked questions
Can the office reply while the electricians are on site?
Yes, that is the point. Every text lands in one shared inbox the office can answer while the crew stays on the tools. Assignments and private notes keep it clear who owns each job, and the electrician can pick up the same thread on their phone the moment they are back in the van, with the full history in front of them.
Can I chase quotes that have gone quiet?
Yes. Schedule a follow-up message to go out a few days after you send a quote, so a switchboard upgrade or rewire gets a nudge instead of going cold. Because the whole conversation is one written thread, you can see exactly what you quoted and when, and the customer can reply the second they are ready to book.
Will the AI send prices to customers by itself?
No. HiveThread is not a chatbot. The AI drafts a suggested reply from your own pricing and FAQs, and a human reviews, edits and sends it. For anything with a price or a compliance answer attached, that human review step is exactly what you want before it reaches the customer.
Can customers send photos of the job?
Yes. Customers can text a photo of the meter box, the tripping safety switch or the room they want downlights in, and it lands in the conversation with their message. It helps you scope the job and decide whether a site visit is needed before you commit to a firm quote.
How long does setup take?
Most electrical businesses are answering messages the same day. Connect a number, link your Facebook and Instagram pages, add the chat widget to your website, and invite your office and crew. No new hardware, nothing to install on a job site. It runs from the phone and computer you already use.
Win the quote the other sparky forgot to follow up
Available now in Australia, the US and Canada.
Give every lead and every quiet quote one place to land and a team that can actually reply. Plans from $49/mo AUD ($25/mo USD).