[AI Agent Use Case] Solving Missed Call Challenges — Tradie Agent Helps Independent Tradespeople in Australia Capture Every Business Opportunity

Customer Background & Needs:

Tradespeople struggle to answer calls while working or commuting

In Australia, independent tradespeople (electricians, plumbers, concreters, carpenters, etc., collectively referred to as "Tradies") not only provide skilled services but also handle quoting, scheduling, and job management themselves. The Australian Tradie market consists of around 1.9–2 million workers, with an average annual income of AUD 90,000, and some specialists earning over AUD 110,000.

Tradies typically juggle multiple responsibilities alone. However, they commonly face these issues:

• While on the job, they cannot answer calls in real time, often missing potential customers.

• During commutes, strict traffic laws prohibit phone use, preventing timely callbacks.

As a result, Tradies frequently lose valuable business opportunities when they cannot respond immediately. Customers often switch to other providers after repeated unanswered calls.

Tradie misses potential business opportunities because they are unable to answer calls in real time due to construction work and commuting.

Challenges & Breakthroughs: Real-Time Speech Understanding and Structured Information Processing

To address missed calls and lost customer information, Pentium Network was commissioned by an Australian software developer to launch a Proof of Concept (PoC) project. Our goal went beyond simple speech-to-text — we built an AI voice assistant capable of answering calls in real time, understanding intent, prioritizing urgency, and outputting structured information.

During implementation, we faced multiple technical and operational challenges, which we overcame through precise technology choices and customized development:

• Speech recognition accuracy: Australian outdoor environments and local terminology posed recognition difficulties. We fine-tuned Google Cloud models with localized training to significantly improve accuracy.

• Real-time dialogue streaming: Unlike batch audio processing, phone conversations are fragmented and require instant handling. By implementing bidirectional STT/TTS streaming, we enabled real-time speech slicing, short-phrase recognition, and smooth conversational responses.

• User intent amid background noise: Jobsite noise interfered with call understanding. We developed a custom voice-trigger mechanism to distinguish human speech from noise, combined with a “dialogue state machine” to ensure sentence completeness and accurate intent recognition.

• Telecom compliance: Integration with traditional Australian telecom networks required strict compliance testing. We worked closely with carriers, optimizing call-forwarding protocols to pass regulatory and compatibility checks.

• LLM fine-tuning & tone optimization: Business rules and natural dialogue could not rely on out-of-the-box models. Through iterative prompt engineering, we aligned the LLM with business logic while ensuring natural, human-like responses.

• Cost predictability: Token-based billing models were difficult to forecast. We built a cost analysis system to precisely track token consumption per service and project long-term variable costs post-deployment.

Solution: Tradie Agent — AI Voice Assistant for Independent Tradespeople

Tradie Agent Technical Architecture Diagram

Technical Advantages

• LLM Agent Architecture: Built on Pentium’s multi-task agent framework, Tradie Agent leverages an MCP Server for data writing, task scheduling, and notification automation. It also supports customer integration with proprietary LLMs, offering high flexibility and scalability.

• Optimized voice interaction: Designed around real tradesperson-client conversations, the system recognizes accents, handles interruptions, and avoids irrelevant bot-like responses, delivering natural, human-like dialogue.

• Cost efficiency: From the outset, we introduced SaaS subscription and call quota management mechanisms, enabling a cost-effective, scalable solution with sustainable long-term competitiveness.

Product Benefits

• Rapid deployment: Modular design and agile development accelerate project delivery and market entry.

• Transparent cost control: From payment integration to telecom operations, we provide clear timelines and cost breakdowns, helping businesses manage budgets from day one.

• Reduced technical risks: Leveraging experience with GCP, Twilio, and Stripe, we minimize common development pitfalls and ensure reliable project delivery.

Results & Benefits: Improved Order Efficiency, Reduced Missed Opportunities

In the PoC phase, real-world call simulations validated Tradie Agent’s stability and practicality in call answering, automatic summarization, and structured information output. Key benefits include:

• Higher booking efficiency: Calls are automatically answered and summarized, allowing Tradies to stay informed without manual call handling.

• Real-time structured data: Voice conversations are converted into clear order summaries for easy follow-up and scheduling.

• Prioritization support: Semantic understanding enables quick identification of urgent cases.

• Mobile-ready responses: Summarized information is accessible across devices, allowing quick review and action during breaks.

Tradie Agent - Never miss a call

Tradie Agent is more than an upgraded voicemail. It is an AI voice assistant that understands intent, prioritizes requests, and transforms conversations into actionable information in real time.

If your business also struggles with missed calls and lost customers, contact us to explore how AI-powered voice automation can be applied in the field services industry.

Start your voice automation journey today.