We recently surveyed our users for our AI in the Trades Report and found:
35% are curious about AI, but want to see it proven before they commit
60% aren’t sure how it could benefit their business or which tool to pick
The hesitation makes sense. AI content on social media swings from “genuinely useful” to “if you’re not vibe-coding a full app to run your business, you’re already behind.” Neither extreme is a one size fits all for everyone.
Here’s the real opportunity: use AI to remove the coordination frustration eating your week, not to rebuild your business from scratch. Pick a tool you already like (Claude, ChatGPT, Grok Bot), then give it the context of how your jobs actually run: project and customer data, job photos, timesheets. Make that accessible to your team, and instead of these tools guessing about what is best for your business, you will start getting legitimate help.
The Bezos gap
Imagine you bump into Jeff Bezos on the street. And you get the opportunity to ask him anything, so you say, “How do I grow my business?” The reply that he’d give you would probably be something like: maybe try selling something that people need. It’s correct, but an ultimately disappointing answer.
But you don’t get an actionable answer from him by asking a better question. You would get it by handing him a folder with your recent projects, P&L statements, job site photos, crew timesheets, callback rate, and cost per lead. Then you would ask him to review it and call you with an answer ASAP. Without that info, you’re getting the answer he’d give to the next person who asks, even if they run a completely different business.
This is the reality of where AI tools sit today. The models are smart and the output is confident. But confidence isn’t anything without context, and a tool that doesn’t know your business will always hand you the same advice it’s giving your competitor across town.
Close the gap with context, Not More AI
The instinct might be to try out a different model or demo another LLM. But that rarely works because the tool still doesn’t know anything about your business until you give it something to know: Your actual project and work data.
Once your AI tool can see what’s actually happening on your jobs, the advice it gives you stops being generic and starts being specific to what you’re dealing with that week and giving you options on what to do about it. You’ll start to see references to your actual projects, crews, and photos.
And best of all, you’ll be able to ask a specific question about a specific job and get a specific answer that you can act on, instead of a general framework. Once the tool sees your jobs, it can help run the next ten.
How to actually do this
The simplest way to start is to set up a Project in an LLM of your choice and upload as much context as you have.
You might be concerned about putting your business data into LLMs (and rightly so). So you should only use a paid plan with your LLM of choice. That subscription will get you a lot further and keep your context stored for you and your team without starting over every time.
Another and more dynamic way is to connect your software directly to an LLM using a Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server. This type of connection pulls the context directly from your CRM or CompanyCam or whatever tool, and allows for you to set up time- and activity-based automations, like sending automated emails to customers with updated job notes or creating an internal brief of every active job at the end of the day. Small improvements to everyday coordination will add up over time. That’s what every business owner is looking for in everything they do.
Read the AI in the Trades Report
While there’s a significant number of home service pros who want to see proven AI use cases, our report also found that they’re not waiting around: Nearly 3 in 5 are actively shopping for AI tools, with 46% of them wanting help with administrative work and 24% with job site coordination.
The contractors who start now and build consistently toward automating the administrative and coordination tasks will win a long-term advantage in their market. That edge comes from consistency and context: every job you feed into the tool makes the next answer sharper and insight more actionable.
The window to start is wide open right now. Pick one piece of administrative busywork this week, give your tool the context to handle it, and build from there.
