Works in the Shop
Front DeskFran
Answers every call and text with your shop's name, day or night, and writes down what the customer needs.
Every call
Built for owner-operators
Your shop runs. You don't have to.
Catbird Seat is the office crew and system that keeps your HVAC shop running smoothly, without anyone needing to type. The crew answers every call, books every job, writes up every ticket and gets every invoice paid, so you can add trucks without adding desks.
Meanwhile, at the shop
You're stuck in the middle.
Right now every call, every ticket and every invoice runs through you. Here's a normal Tuesday.
2:15 PM · On a roof
"Phone's ringing. Hands are full. Guess they'll leave a message."
They don't. They call the next shop.
6:30 PM · Drive home
"Capacitor on the Trane, the coil on Elm Street... what was the part number?"
The ticket lives in his head until he writes it down.
10:40 PM · Kitchen table
"Four invoices left. Then the schedule for tomorrow."
The job was done Tuesday. The bill goes out Friday.
That works at one truck. At three it's a second job, and it's the job that keeps you from adding a fourth. The crew gets you out of it.
The roster
Hire a crew. Don't buy software.
Four hires come with Catbird Seat. They work in two places you already know: the Shop, which is your office, and the Truck, which is wherever your techs are.
Works in the Shop
DispatchDotty
Books the job on the Board and confirms the time with the customer.
Every call
Rides with the Truck
Parts CounterPete
Reads the plate, builds the parts list and writes the ticket from what your tech says.
No typing
Works in the Shop
Back OfficeBetty
Turns the finished job into an invoice in QuickBooks and chases it until it's paid.
Paid faster
AI on the job. Real people behind it.
The crew is AI and software that runs your front office for you. Real people at Catbird Seat set it up for your shop, check its work and pick up when you need us. On a call, the crew answers with your shop's name and the true feel of a live conversation. It's crazy how good we've made it. Call Fran and hear for yourself.
Want more calls to answer?
Marketing Matt joins the crew when you add marketing from our partner Chicken & Huevos. He keeps your website, Google profile and social pages current, and runs tune-up reminders off the jobs the crew actually wrote up.
How a Service Call moves
First ring to paid. Every time.
Every job makes the same trip down the crew, like a ticket down a counter.
Step 1 · Front Desk Fran
Picked up
Every call gets answered with your shop's name, at 2 in the afternoon or 2 in the morning. Fran gets the name, the address, what's wrong and how bad it is.
Step 2 · Dispatch Dotty
Booked
The job goes on the Board and the customer gets a confirmed time, so nobody's waiting by the window wondering.
Step 3 · Parts Counter Pete
Done
Your tech talks through the job and shoots the data plate. Pete reads the plate and writes the ticket. Nobody types.
Step 4 · Back Office Betty
Paid
The invoice is in QuickBooks before the truck leaves the driveway, and Betty follows it until the money lands.
Example job, for illustration.
Every call
Every customer speaks with someone, every time.
Calls, texts, and after-hours all land with the crew, and they keep every past call and service visit top of mind. When a customer calls back, Fran already knows it's the upstairs unit you fixed in June.
The homeowner with the AC out at 9 PM in July gets someone who sounds like your shop and a time you'll be there. You get to finish dinner.
Clocked in so you can clock out.
Handled by Front Desk FranDispatch Dotty
A missed call is two in the bush.
27%
of calls to home services businesses go unanswered.
<3%
of callers sent to voicemail leave a message. The rest call the next shop on the list.
Source: Invoca, analysis of calls to home services businesses, May 2024.
No typing
Every call, every job, documented and done.
Nobody on your team types. The customer's call, your callback from your own cell and your tech's walk-through on site all start as talk and end up written down on the job, in one place.
On site, your tech talks through the work and shoots the data plate. Pete reads the plate, builds the parts list and writes the ticket before the tech is back in the truck.
Say it. It's done.
Handled by Front Desk FranParts Counter Pete
"Trane, three ton. Run capacitor was shot, swapped in a 45/5. She's cooling fine now."
Your tech, in the driveway
- Unit
- Trane, 3 ton (from the plate photo)
- Problem
- Failed run capacitor
- Work done
- Replaced capacitor, tested cooling
- Parts
- 1 × run capacitor, 45/5 µF
- Status
- Done. Ready for Betty.
Paid faster
Invoiced before the truck leaves the driveway.
Every day between "job done" and "invoice sent" is a day you're not paid. Betty turns the finished ticket into an invoice in QuickBooks while the tech is still packing up, then follows it until the money lands.
Your bookkeeper gets invoices that match QuickBooks, with the right items and tax, and a month-end with nothing to clean up.
Handled by Back Office Betty
Today
- TuesdayJob done
- Friday nightInvoice written at the kitchen table
- Weeks laterPaid, if somebody remembered to chase it
With Betty
- TuesdayJob done
- Still in the drivewayInvoice in QuickBooks
- Until it's paidBetty follows up
Room to grow
Add a truck, not a desk.
More calls caught, more jobs a day per truck, and no office hire at truck four, six or eight. The crew handles the calls, tickets and invoices for the new truck the same way it handles the first one.
Catbird Seat helps small shops run like big ones. That's how contractors scale.
Keep the wrench. Lose the front office.
Run the numbers for your shop →
Handled by The whole crew
Truck 1
Truck 2
Truck 3
Truck 4
New office desks added for truck 40
Birds in hand
Stop running your shop on hope.
Every Service Call sits on the Board from the first ring until it's paid. You can see where any job is without calling anybody.
Once a month you get the Day-30 report, with a line for every promise on this page: calls answered, jobs written up, days to get paid, and how much more your trucks ran. The numbers your coaches tell you to run on, and the ones you've never had.
| Every call | |
|---|---|
| Calls answered | 214 of 214 |
| Answered after 6 PM or on weekends | 47 |
| No typing | |
| Service Calls written up by the crew | 131 of 131 |
| Paid faster | |
| Average days from job done to paid | 3.4 |
| Room to grow | |
| Service Calls done per truck, per week | 10.9 |
Example numbers to show the format. Your report shows your shop's own.
"Catbird runs my office."
That's the whole explanation when the guys at the supply house ask how you got your evenings back.
Hear it for yourself
Give Front Desk Fran a call.
Call Fran's demo line any time, day or night. Play one of your customers with the AC out on a Saturday night and see how she handles it.
- Tell her what's wrong, the way a homeowner would.
- She'll get your name, address, what's going on and how urgent it is.
- She'll set up a visit and tell you what happens next.
Now picture her answering with your shop's name. When we set Fran up for you, that's exactly what she does.
Fran's demo line
(423) ___-____
Open 24 hours. Takes about two minutes.
Fran is AI. Calls to the demo line are recorded so we can keep improving her.
We put shop owners in the catbird seat.