The basics
What is Front&Center?
Front&Center is an AI receptionist built for Canadian trades and home-service businesses such as HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, cleaning, landscaping and pest control. When you can’t pick up, it answers the call in your business’s name, asks the questions you would, answers from what you’ve taught it, books the job into your calendar, and sends you a summary. You keep your existing phone number.
Who is Front&Center for?
Owner-operators and small to mid-sized trade and home-service teams in Canada that lose jobs because nobody can answer the phone while they’re on a job site, driving, or off for the night. Plans range from Solo for one-truck operators to Scale for multi-crew shops, with Enterprise for larger or multi-location companies.
How does an AI receptionist work for a trades business?
Your phone rings first, as always. If you don’t answer, your carrier’s no-answer forwarding sends the call to Front&Center. The AI greets the caller with your business name, works out what they need and how urgent it is, answers common questions about your services, hours and service area, and books an appointment or takes a message. Every call shows up in your dashboard with a summary, and you get an alert.
Can I hear it before I sign up?
Yes. On the live demo page you pick a sample trade (or paste your website), enter your phone number, and Front&Center’s AI calls you so you can talk to it like a customer would. Nothing is set up on your line until you create an account.
Your phone number and setup
Do I have to change my business phone number?
No. You keep the number your customers already know. Front&Center gives you a private routing number, and you turn on no-answer (conditional) forwarding with your carrier so only the calls you don’t pick up go to the AI.
Which phone carriers does Front&Center work with?
It works with any Canadian carrier or VoIP system that supports conditional call forwarding, including Rogers, Bell, TELUS, Freedom Mobile, and VoIP systems such as RingCentral, 3CX and Zoom Phone. Setup shows the steps for your provider.
How do I set it up?
Setup is three steps, done from a computer: verify your business number with a quick code, turn on no-answer forwarding to your private routing number, then run the connection test, where we ring your line, you let it go, and the receptionist confirms everything works. You also add your hours, services and the answers you want it to give.
What it does on a call
Can it book appointments into my calendar?
Yes, on every plan. It checks your business hours and your connected Google or Outlook calendar, offers open times, reads the details back to the caller, and books the visit. Growth and higher plans can also book straight into Jobber.
Does it speak French?
Yes. Every plan answers calls and sends texts in English or French, which matters for businesses serving Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and other bilingual markets.
Does it answer after hours and on weekends?
Yes. Forwarded calls are answered any time, day or night. It knows your business hours, so after hours it can still take the job details, offer the next open slot, and flag urgent calls like floods, no heat or gas smells so you can decide whether to call back right away.
Can it transfer a call to me or my on-call tech?
Yes, on Growth and higher plans. It can do a briefed (warm) transfer, where you hear a quick summary before the caller is connected, and it can try backup or on-call numbers in order.
Will callers know they’re talking to an AI?
That’s your choice. You can have it say once, briefly, that it’s the virtual assistant (and that the call is recorded when it is), or have it simply greet callers and help.
What is missed-call text-back?
On every plan, when a call is missed or ends without a booking, Front&Center can text the caller so the lead doesn’t go cold, for example to confirm a booking or let them know someone will call back.
Does it filter spam and robocalls?
Yes. Spam filtering is included on every plan, so robocalls and sales calls don’t clutter your call list or use up your attention.
Do I get recordings and transcripts?
Yes. Every plan includes call recordings, transcripts and a short summary of each call in your dashboard.
Does it integrate with Jobber or HubSpot?
Yes, on Growth and higher plans, in both directions. It books jobs straight into Jobber and syncs callers, call summaries and lead details to HubSpot, and during a call it reads the caller's Jobber jobs, quotes and invoices so it knows who it's talking to.
Does it recognise returning customers?
Yes. It recognises callers by phone number and uses what you know about them: past jobs, installed equipment and warranty dates, upcoming bookings and your notes, plus Jobber or HubSpot history when connected. On Growth and higher plans, other systems such as QuickBooks or ServiceTitan can connect through a secure lookup. It confirms the caller's name or address before discussing anything account-specific.
Can callers send photos of the problem?
Yes, on Starter and higher plans. When a photo would help, the AI texts the caller a private link during the call. Photos, PDFs and short videos land on the call in your dashboard so the tech arrives prepared. Links expire after 72 hours and only your team can see the files.
Can it take a deposit?
Yes, on Growth and higher plans. Connect your own Stripe account and set a deposit or service-call fee. After booking, the AI texts the caller a secure Stripe payment link for that exact amount. It never takes card numbers over the phone, and the money goes straight to your Stripe account.
Will the AI make up prices?
No. It only quotes prices you've set: a fixed price or an approved range like “usually $250 to $400”. If a service has no price, it says the team will give them one. After every call, any dollar amount it said that isn't in your price list is flagged for you to review.
Pricing
How much does an AI receptionist cost in Canada?
Front&Center plans are priced in Canadian dollars: Solo $79 CAD/month (150 caller minutes), Starter $150 CAD/month (500 caller minutes), Growth $300 CAD/month (1,500 caller minutes), Scale $750 CAD/month (5,000 caller minutes). Enterprise pricing is custom. Every self-serve plan starts with a 14-day free trial and has a 30-day money-back guarantee, with no contracts.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. Every self-serve plan starts with a 14-day free trial that includes up to 200 caller minutes. You add a card to start, and you aren’t charged if you cancel before the trial ends. If you’re not happy after paying, email within 30 days of your first payment for a full refund.
What happens if I go over my monthly minutes?
Calls keep getting answered and extra minutes are billed at $0.25 CAD per minute, or you can choose to send callers to voicemail instead once you hit your limit.
Is there a discount for paying yearly?
Yes. Paying yearly gets you 2 months free: you pay for 10 months and get 12.
Compared with the alternatives
How is an AI receptionist different from an answering service?
A traditional answering service uses live agents who usually take a message from a script and bill per minute or per call. An AI receptionist answers instantly, any time, never puts callers on hold, knows your services and prices, books directly into your calendar, and costs a flat monthly fee. An answering service can be a better fit if you need a human for complex or sensitive conversations.
Why not just use voicemail?
Many people who reach voicemail when they need a tradesperson don’t leave a message. They hang up and call the next business on Google. An AI receptionist keeps the caller talking, captures the job details and books the next step while they’re still on the line.
Still have a question? Email support@frontandcenter.ca, read the guides, or hear the AI on a live call.