What I learned building an AI receptionist for barbers, plumbers and yoga studios

Local businesses rarely lose customers because they're bad at what they do. They lose them because the phone rings while they're mid-cut, mid-massage or up a ladder, and by the time they call back, that customer has booked with the next name on Google.

That's the problem subba is built for. It's an AI receptionist and booking system for local businesses: it answers website chats and contact forms in seconds (and phone calls, with the phone add-on), books people into the real diary and takes the deposit, in the owner's own voice.

We launched here a couple of weeks ago. Since then we've shipped ready-made setups for 54 trades, class timetables and a referral programme. Here are five things building it has taught me.

1. Nobody wants "an AI". They want the interruption gone.

Owners don't care which model answers. They care that the customer got a real answer and a booking. So setup is: sign in with Google, pick your trade, check the suggested services and prices, and you're live. The AI stays out of sight.

2. A receptionist that guesses is worse than no receptionist.

If the AI invents a price or a promise, the owner pays for it at the till. So subba only quotes services and prices the owner has set, and only offers times that are genuinely free in the diary. On chats and forms, every reply is then checked a second time against the same facts before it goes out. If something doesn't hold up, it isn't sent: the customer is told the team will get back to them, and the owner gets the question. That extra check costs a little on every message. It's the best money we spend.

3. A yoga studio is not a barber.

A barber books a chair for 30 minutes. A yoga studio runs a 7am class on Tuesdays with a named teacher and a set number of mats. A plumber needs to quote before anything goes in the diary. One generic booking form fits none of them, so each of 54 trades gets its own starting setup: typical UK services, durations and prices, and only the features that trade actually uses. The owner checks it and confirms in one tap.

4. Price by value, not by seat.

Small businesses hate per-seat pricing, because the day they hire someone, their software bill goes up. So bookings, team members, services and locations are unlimited on every plan. The plan only sets how many AI enquiries you get a month: 50 on Starter (£9.99), 300 on Pro (£49.99) and 750 on Studio (£99.99). The first 30 days are free.

5. Plenty of them have no website that can take a booking.

subba plugs into the website a business already has, and there's a WordPress plugin too. For everyone else, we design and build a simple booking website for £200 on their own domain, usually live in about 5 working days, and we run it for them.

What's in the box

• AI replies to website chats and contact forms, quoting real prices

• Online booking with staff hours, classes, self-service changes, and a waitlist that offers a freed-up slot to the next person

• Deposits and payments straight to the owner's own Stripe (we never hold the money)

• Email reminders, Google review requests, a loyalty card and a simple CRM

• Optional extras: an AI phone line, text reminders and the £200 website

Try to trip it up

Call +44 7577 359660 and our own AI receptionist picks up. Ask it anything about subba, or chat to it at subba.pro.

A question for you

If you run a local business, or build websites for them: what's the one thing you'd never let an AI receptionist do? That line is where we spend most of our time, and I'd love to hear where you'd draw it.

P.S. If you build websites for small businesses: every subba account comes with a referral link that pays 10% of the subscription profit every month, for as long as the business stays. Not a subba customer? We can set you up with a free partner login.