Match the app to the job. Jobber's or ServiceM8's voice assistant builds quotes, Fergus Go handles spoken job notes, CompanyCam turns talked-through photos into reports, and Tradify's bill reader or Powered Now's receipt scanner captures costs, with ChatGPT voice filling the gaps. Each sits behind a plan, a cap or a permission, so check which before you pay.
The permission is the one most people miss. Jobber's help article, updated 28 October 2026, says voice tasks are for admin users, while its pricing page lists "Jobber AI Voice for Field Workers". Whichever is true for your account, log in as a crew member and try the feature in the van, in the worst signal spot you work, before you plan a team around it.
The seven apps and the phone job each does best
Prices below are list prices read from each vendor's page on 29 October 2026, in USD wherever the page names a currency, apart from ChatGPT voice, where the allowance is the one last recorded for OpenAI's plans. Vendors change plans often, so treat the table as a map and confirm on the page.
| App | Best phone job | Plan or price on the page | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jobber AI Voice | Create quotes, reschedule, log notes by speaking | Help article: available on all plans, labelled beta. Core lists from $49 a month for one user on monthly billing | Help article says voice tasks are admin-only; pricing page says field workers |
| ServiceM8 assistant and AI writer | Add billable items to a job by voice; tidy quote wording | Free $0 (1 user, 30 jobs a month, 10 AI uses a day); Starter $29 with unlimited AI uses | Pages point to iPhone first; Android support unconfirmed |
| Fergus Go Assistant | Speak or type job updates, time and next steps | Essentials "from $31" and Professional "from $44" a month on its regional pricing page ($53 and $75 on its main page); monthly billing; 14-day trial | Neither page names a currency; the help centre says the AI tools are included "at no extra cost for now" |
| CompanyCam | Talk through photos and get a draft report, checklist or captions | Core $63, Crew $129, Scale $199 a month, billed annually; extra users $29 | Plan table gives Core 10 AI credits; the FAQ says AI starts at Crew |
| Tradify SmartTools | SmartRead for Bills captures costs; SmartWrite drafts descriptions | Plus plan only, $61 per user per month (Lite $47, Pro $51) | Page does not say how a bill gets in: photo, email or forward |
| Powered Now scanner | Photograph or upload a receipt and have it read and filed | Premium plan; prices are shown in a local currency only | Unclear whether the scan reaches your accounting software |
| ChatGPT voice | Think aloud, tidy notes, draft a message | Limited on Free; Go and Plus listed at about 3 hours when last checked; more on higher plans | Writes nothing into your job app; you copy the result across |
Jobber AI Voice: quotes and schedule changes by speaking
Jobber's AI page says you can complete "100+ tasks" from the mobile app, hands-free, and its FAQ gives examples: create quotes, ask for directions, reschedule jobs. The pricing page goes further for crews, saying a team can "log notes, update job progress, and document work hands-free just by speaking to Jobber in any language". The help article is more careful. It says the feature is in beta, available on all plans, mobile only, and that creating a new quote or job works only in Voice mode, not in chat. It does not list supported languages, so test yours.
Picture a one-van electrician who is the only admin on the account. After a site visit, in the driveway, they open the app, tap the sparkle icon and say they want a quote for replacing a consumer unit, three added sockets and testing, for the client they have just visited. They get a draft quote to review. The check is the part that earns your trust: read every line, every quantity and every price before it goes out, because a draft built by voice is still a draft.
Three things to know before you rely on it. The help article says tapping the microphone "does not mute Jobber AI or turn off its responses", so do not leave it listening in a customer's kitchen. It also says conversations "may be logged for analysis, improvement, and security purposes", and it does not say whether audio is recorded. And the permission split is real: non-admin users can use Jobber AI only for product support, with the help article saying they cannot use it for business questions or account actions. Jobber's separate Receptionist for calls and texts is a $29 add-on and not part of this list.
ServiceM8: build the quote by voice, let the writer tidy the wording
ServiceM8 has two phone-friendly pieces. The first is the voice assistant, ServiceM8 Chat, which its AI page also lists as "AI Smart Assistant" and its feature overview as "AI CRM Assistant". Once you are checked into a job, it can summarise the job, list its materials, send one of your saved text templates to the job contact, add billable items so you can build an invoice as you talk, and add notes that tag other staff. Its help article says it asks for confirmation before actions that cannot be undone, such as texting a client. The second piece is the AI writer, which drafts quote and invoice descriptions from scratch or from the job's diary notes, while AI Reply Suggestions offers three types of reply to a client's message.
The plan details matter more than the features. The Free plan is $0 for one user and 30 jobs a month, and AI helper uses are capped at 10 a day there. Starter is $29 with 50 jobs, and the paid plans list unlimited AI uses a day. A job is any new job card, quotes included, and accepting a quote does not use another job credit. Auto-Invoice drafts a description and billable items for you to review, and ServiceM8 says 30% of invoices drafted that way are "accepted for use". I read that as a reminder to check every draft.
A one-man plumber on the Free plan can use the writer alone. Dictate bullet points into the phone, such as "replaced isolation valve under basin, tested joint, one and a half hours", and ask for a clear description for the invoice. That is one of the ten daily uses. On platforms: ServiceM8's pages point to iPhone first. The assistant starts when you say "Hey Siri, Start ServiceM8 Chat", the feature overview marks AI Photo Tagging as iOS only, and none of the pages I read says whether Chat runs on Android, so confirm on your own phone before you pay.
Fergus Go Assistant: speak the update, confirm it before it saves
Fergus Go is the mobile side of Fergus, and Fergus describes its assistant as "the easiest way to handle the admin around each job": you type or speak on site to update jobs, time and more. Speak when your hands are full and type when the site is noisy. The safety feature is the one to like: before it creates, changes or sends anything, it shows a confirmation step so you can check the details.
Take a two-person plumbing and heating firm working in a loft. One of them says, "Log two hours on this job, note that the zone valve was replaced, and book a return visit next Tuesday". The assistant prepares the time entry, the note and the follow-up, and the engineer confirms each. Heavier work, such as describing a report and having Fergus build it, happens in Fergus Assistant in the web app rather than on the phone.
The gaps are about money and availability. One Fergus pricing page shows Essentials "from $31" and Professional "from $44" a month, billed monthly with no lock-in, while its main pricing page shows $53 and $75; neither names a currency, and the 14-day free trial covers Essentials. Its help centre says the new AI tools are "included in your current monthly Fergus subscription at no extra cost for now", so ask what "for now" means before you build a routine on them. Fergus AI, pitched as AI that handles your admin, is marked "Coming soon" and "currently in beta" in the same help centre, with access through Support. Ask who on your team can use the Go Assistant, since it follows each person's Fergus permissions. For a side-by-side with Tradify for plumbers and electricians, see Tradify vs Fergus for Plumbers and Electricians.
CompanyCam: talk through the photos and get a draft report
CompanyCam's AI pitch is a single sentence: "Snap a photo, talk through what you see, and let AI spin up your field reports, checklists, captions, and updates." It sits on top of what the app already does well, which is capturing job photos with tags, annotations and timelines. For a kitchen fitter at handover, that could mean twelve stage photos spoken over as they are taken, then a captioned report sent to the client the same afternoon. For a roofer, it could mean a damage walk-through with the notes already attached to each photo.
The plan wording needs care. The pricing page showed Core at $63, Crew at $129 and Scale at $199 a month, billed annually, with extra users $29. Its plan table gives AI credits as 10 on Core, 100 on Crew and unlimited on Scale, while its FAQ says "AI features are included in Crew, Scale, and Enterprise". Those two statements disagree about Core, and the pages I read do not say what happens when credits run out. The AI page also invites you to join an "AI Beta", so expect rough edges. Ask which version applies before you pay, and for how long a trial runs with AI included. Construction Photo Documentation App: What AI Adds, and Which Plan goes deeper on that choice.
Tradify SmartTools: bill capture and wording, on the top plan only
Tradify keeps its AI on the Plus plan at $61 per user per month; Lite is $47 and Pro $51. Two SmartTools matter on a phone. SmartRead for Bills captures bill costs with AI, in the page's words "effortlessly", and SmartWrite generates and improves descriptions. Pro and Plus also get Quote and Invoice Reminders that chase approval and payment (Lite does not), and the 14-day trial includes all features, so you can try the AI before choosing a tier.
A three-person electrical firm can price the decision simply: three users on Plus cost $183 a month, three on Pro cost $153, so the AI costs $30 a month between them. If SmartRead saves ten minutes on each of 40 supplier bills a month, that is more than six and a half hours back. Those figures are an illustration, so time your own bills during the trial. The page does not say how a bill reaches SmartRead, whether by photograph, email or forwarded invoice, so test with a paper receipt from the van's glovebox and a PDF from a supplier, and note which one it handles.
Powered Now: photograph the receipt before the ink fades
Powered Now's pricing page lists an "AI receipt & cost document scanner" on its Premium plan, with the line: "Photograph or upload a receipt and the details are read out and filed for you." The same plan lists AI text writing, which turns a few words into a quote description or customer message. Every plan starts with a 14-day trial, and its prices are shown in a local currency only, so check the page for your own pricing rather than trusting a conversion.
The scanner solves a real van problem: thermal-paper receipts fade in a hot cab and vanish into door pockets. A self-employed carpenter buying screws, sealant and timber for $86.40 photographs the slip in the car park, glances at the supplier, date and total that come back, and assigns it to the job. That takes under a minute, against ten minutes at a desk on Friday trying to remember what each crumpled slip was for. The questions to put to Powered Now: does the scanned receipt flow into your accounting software, and does it keep the image for as long as your adviser says you must keep the original?
ChatGPT voice: the stopgap for wording and site notes
ChatGPT's voice mode is not a job app, and that is its limit and its use. It cannot write into your quotes, but it can listen to a rambling description of a job and give back something clear. Voice time is limited on Free and larger on paid plans, with Go and Plus listed at about three hours when last checked; confirm the current allowance on OpenAI's plan page, since these limits shift.
A decorator in the van after a survey can say the following out loud, then answer the questions it asks.
I am a self-employed decorator. I will describe a job by
voice. Ask me no more than five questions about anything
missing (access, protection, number of coats, materials,
exclusions). Then write a quote description in plain English
with a short list of exclusions. Do not invent prices.Treat the output as wording, not arithmetic. Models still make sum errors, as Why Is AI Bad at Maths? What to Check in Quotes and Invoices explains, so keep prices and totals in the job app. And do not use the consumer version for customer details: consumer plans have a model-training switch in privacy settings, and business plans do not train on your content by default, so switch it off or keep names and addresses out.
Choosing by firm size: a three-person worked comparison
Take a three-person electrical firm that sends 40 quotes a month, wins about 18 of them, and handles roughly 60 receipts. Assume, as an illustration, that each receipt takes three minutes to key in and one to scan, and each quote description takes eight minutes to write and four to draft and check with AI. Receipts then cost 180 minutes a month by hand against 60 with a scanner, and quote wording 320 minutes against 160. That is about four hours and forty minutes a month saved, worth roughly $163 at $35 an hour. Time your own tasks before you trust any of those inputs.
| Option for three people | Monthly list price | What its AI covers |
|---|---|---|
| ServiceM8 Growing | $79, unlimited users, 150 jobs | Voice assistant, AI writer and Auto-Invoice drafts; Office Agent Pro is a $39 extra |
| Tradify Plus | 3 x $61 = $183 | SmartRead for Bills and SmartWrite |
| Jobber Connect, up to five users | $199 on monthly billing | AI Voice and Chat (beta) and quote follow-ups |
| Fergus Essentials | "From $31" a month on its regional page ($53 on the main page), currency not named | Go Assistant, included "at no extra cost for now" |
| Add CompanyCam Crew | $129, three users included | Voice-led photo reports; AI credits per the plan table |
On those numbers, ServiceM8 Growing is the cheapest way to get a voice assistant and an AI writer for three people, provided 150 jobs a month is enough, and Tradify Plus is the one to price if receipts are the pain. Neither answer is permanent. If you already run one of these apps, stay with it and use its assistant; moving a business between job apps costs more than any AI feature saves. A solo trader on a spreadsheet can start on ServiceM8's Free plan and see whether the habit sticks. For a phone-first setup built around a single van, AI Apps for Contractors: A Phone-Only Setup for One-Truck Firms takes the same question from the other end.
A 30-minute van test before you pay
Trials run 14 days on Jobber (with its Grow features), Tradify, Fergus and Powered Now, and CompanyCam offers one too, so use them properly. This half-hour test catches what a demo hides.
- Pick three real jobs from last week and re-quote them by voice. Time each one against your usual way.
- Run one of them with the engine on or the radio playing, and one wearing work gloves.
- Use a customer name that sounds like another customer's, and see whether it picks the right one.
- Switch to aeroplane mode and note what fails. No vendor page I read says how its assistant behaves without signal.
- Log in as a crew member and repeat the main task. This is the Jobber permission question, and it matters for every app.
- Photograph five receipts, including one crumpled and one faded, and compare each read total with the slip.
- Write down every correction you had to make. More than one correction per quote means the assistant is a drafting aid, not a time saver, for you.
Score each app from 0 to 2 on speed, accuracy and how little you had to correct, then compare. A tool that scores 5 or 6 out of 6 in your own van beats a tool with a better demo. Keep the scoring sheet; it is also your evidence when a vendor changes a plan and you have to decide whether to stay.
What not to say out loud on a phone assistant
A voice assistant records what you say in places a keyboard never would: customer kitchens, call-outs, a neighbour's driveway. Build three rules into the team. Never read out gate codes, alarm codes, key-safe numbers or payment card details. Keep health details about a customer, such as access needs, out of free consumer tools. And remember that Jobber's help article says conversations with its assistant may be logged, which is a reasonable thing to tell a customer who asks. Each vendor's privacy terms differ, and consumer chat tools differ from business accounts, so read them for the tool you actually use.
Receipts: what the scanner decides and what you must
A scanner reads; it does not know your books. Here is a before and after on an illustrative receipt. The paper shows an $80.00 subtotal, $6.40 tax and an $86.40 total, plus a line for cash tendered of $100.00. A careless read picks $100.00 as the amount. A good one picks $86.40, with the supplier and date. Your check is to compare the amount to the card statement at month end, and to confirm the receipt is assigned to the right job rather than to general overheads.
Keeping the original or the image, and for how long, is a question for your accountant, because it depends on where you operate and how you are registered. If you want the wider picture of receipts, mileage and approvals beyond a phone scan, AI Expense Management: Receipts, Mileage, and Approvals covers it, and Turning On-Site Voice Notes Into Job Sheets and Quotes With AI goes further on the notes side.
Questions about AI apps on a tradesman's phone
Do these assistants work without phone signal?
None of the vendor pages I read says what the AI features do offline. Jobber's help article does not state whether voice needs a connection, and the others are silent too. Test each one in the worst spot you work, such as a loft or basement, and keep a notebook habit for jobs where it fails.
Can my crew use the voice assistant or only me?
It depends on the app and the account. Jobber's pricing page lists AI Voice for field workers, while its help article, updated 28 October 2026, says voice tasks are for admin users. Fergus ties access to user type and permissions. Log in as a crew member and try it before you plan around it.
Is ChatGPT's free voice mode enough on its own?
For wording and thinking aloud, yes. For quotes and receipts, no, because it does not write into your job app, so you copy the result across. Free voice time is limited and the allowance changes, so check OpenAI's plan page. It makes a good stopgap for a sole trader on a spreadsheet.
If I buy only one, which should it be?
Buy the app that already holds your customers and jobs, then use its own assistant. An assistant inside the job app puts the quote straight onto the job. Add CompanyCam if photo reports are your main paperwork, and keep ChatGPT voice for wording.
Further reads
- Jobber AI Receptionist Pricing: Is It Worth It for a One-Van Plumber? — Jobber's separate AI receptionist, priced for a one-van firm.
- Powered Now vs Tradify for a Sole-Trader Heating Engineer: AI Compared — Two of these apps compared for a sole-trader heating engineer.
- Is ServiceM8 AI Worth It for a Small Heating Firm? — Whether ServiceM8's AI is worth it for a small firm.
- Chasing Unpaid Invoices With AI: Polite Reminders for Trades — Chase unpaid invoices politely once the quote is won.
- Can a Plumber Use AI to Write Quotes? — What a plumber can safely let AI write in a quote.
- Free vs Paid AI Tools for a Small Trades Business — Which of these tools are worth paying for.
- Best AI for Plumbers: What a Solo, Two-Van and Ten-Van Firm Should Buy — What a solo, two-van and ten-van firm should buy.
- Best AI Receipt Scanning App for UK Tradesmen: Xero, Tradify, Powered Now — A head-to-head of three receipt scanners for sole-trader tradespeople: what each reads, which plan you need and a ten-receipt test.
- Best AI for Tradies: Seven Tools by Job, Price and Setup Effort — Seven AI tools ranked for quoting, calls, invoices and marketing, with vendor-page prices and a realistic setup time for each.
- Mileage Log for the Self-Employed: App, Spreadsheet or AI-Built Sheet? — The fields a mileage log needs, what apps cost against a free sheet, and one worked month of 98 trips logged three ways.
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.
Sources: Jobber pricing page, AI page and help article on AI Voice and Chat; ServiceM8 pricing page, feature overview, AI page and help article on ServiceM8 Chat; Fergus pricing pages, Assistant page and help centre (Assistant FAQs, What is AI at Fergus); CompanyCam pricing and AI pages; Tradify pricing page; Powered Now pricing page; OpenAI's ChatGPT plan comparison (voice allowance as last checked in late October 2026). Prices read on 29 October 2026.