An AI front desk that cannot invent a price.
Frontwise is the AI front desk we set up for South African businesses. It asks your customers for the details and drafts the quote or the order from your own price list. The AI never writes a price: your list does the maths, and every price waits for your approval.
Where it is today: a working demo drafts the reply and the quote from your own price list. Web chat, email and approving on your phone are built with each founding business before it goes live.
Sipho K.Web chat
Hi, our geyser just burst and water is coming through the ceiling. Can someone come tonight?
Received
Day book
Mendwell PlumbingSipho K. wrote in your web chat.
- 38 seconds
-
AssistantSorry, Sipho. Close the main tap if you can. What size is the geyser, and which suburb? A photo of the leak helps.
Sipho sent a photo and wrote “150 litres, Randburg”.
ExampleDraft for Sipho K., from your price list
- Call-out, after hours
- R850
- 150 litre geyser, installed
- R9 800
- Ceiling board repair
- Needs your price
Estimate: confirmed on site.
Approve and send to Sipho?
Approved19:44, sent
-
Approved by you. Sent.
AssistantCall-out R850. We can be there by 20:30. Geyser R9 800. The ceiling is priced on site.
An example of how the service is set up to run, sped up. The businesses, customers, prices, stock figures and times are made up. The demo today drafts from an enquiry you paste in. Every price comes from the business’s own price list. Anything not on it shows as “Needs your price”, with no number.
Why it’s different
Why you can trust it with your prices
Your price list
The only place a price comes from.
- Call-out, after hoursR850
- 150 litre geyser, installedR9 800
- Isolator valveR95
- Copper pipe, per metreR62
The draft quote
Items and quantities from the AI.
- 1 × Call-out, after hoursR850
- 1 × 150 litre geyser, installedR9 800
- 1 × Ceiling board repairNeeds your price
| When an AI writes its own answer | Frontwise | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sets the price | It can type any number, so a wrong or made-up price can reach your customer. | The AI names the items and quantities; your own list sets every price. |
| An item that is not on your list | It may guess. | It shows “Needs your price” with no number, and waits for you. |
| Your customers’ details | The AI can read them in full. | Phone numbers, emails and street numbers are masked before the AI sees the enquiry. |
| Sending on its own | It may be all or nothing. | Every price waits on day one; you choose what may go on its own later. Being built with our founding businesses |
Why start now
- Three founding places, because we set up each one by hand.
- The first 30 days are included.
- The setup fee is refunded if you’re not live by the date we agree.
Bring your price list to the demo: you see it quote your own jobs before you pay anything. Book a demo
How it works
How it works for any business
A customer asks
By web chat or email, built and set up with you before you go live.
Frontwise asks and drafts
It asks for anything missing, then drafts the quote or the order from your price list. The AI never writes a price. Anything not on your list waits for your price.
You approve
Every price waits for you. No price, quote or order is sent before you approve it.
Sent and logged
It goes out, and the conversation and your approval are logged.
Who sends
No price goes out without you, until you say it can.
-
Level 1
Day one: everything waits
Every price, quote and order waits for your approval, and you see every conversation.
-
Level 2
When you trust it
You switch on sending for kinds of messages you name, for example quotes where every line is on your price list. You can switch it off at any time.
Being built with our founding businesses
-
Level 3: the floor
Always
Anything not on your list waits for your price, at every level.
Why that is safe: the assistant cannot invent a price. It names the items and quantities; your own list does the maths.
Who it’s for
For any business that quotes from a price list.
Plumbers, electricians and builders
It replies to call-outs, asks for the details, and drafts the quote from your rates.
Hardware, building and plumbing supplies
It drafts quotes and orders for your trade customers from your price list.
Wholesalers and distributors
It drafts trade orders and answers price questions from your list.
Workshops, printers and hire
It asks for the customer’s sizes and drafts the quote from your price list.
Shops and other businesses with a price list can use it too. Every price still comes from your own list.
Four minutes on a Tuesday
You were on the job. The next enquiry still came in.
This is how it is set up to run while you work. The assistant asks the questions. Every price waits for you.
Day book
An example TuesdayA dripping tap and a running toilet.
Answered. Suburb and photos collected.
A blocked drain at a guesthouse.
Answered. Visit drafted, waiting for your approval.
A quote for a new bathroom.
Answered. Photos collected. Tiling marked “Needs your price”.
A leaking outside tap.
Answered. Photo collected, visit drafted for tomorrow.
Sipho’s geyser bursts while you’re finishing a job across town.
The assistant replies in 38 seconds and asks what a good plumber would ask: the geyser size, the suburb and a photo of the leak.
It drafts an estimate from your own price list. The ceiling repair isn’t on it, so it waits for your price.
You glance at your phone and approve the draft. No price went out before you did.
Sipho gets the call-out time in writing, and you get the address.
An example day. The business, the enquiries, the names, the figures and the times are made up to show the idea.
What we promise
Your business, your prices, your customers.
- No price leaves without your approval.
- The assistant drafts only from your own price list. Anything not on it waits for your price. Estimates are labelled as estimates.
- Customers know they’re talking to your assistant.
- We set it up to say so in its first reply, and to hand over to you whenever a customer asks for a person.
- Their details are handled lawfully.
- We sign a written POPIA operator agreement with you before anything goes live. We never use your customers’ details to train AI models, and we delete them when you ask.
- Contact details are masked from the AI.
- Phone numbers, email addresses and street numbers are masked before the AI sees an enquiry.
- No long contract.
- Leave before your first monthly charge and you owe nothing more; after that, 30 days’ notice. Your number, your chats and your price list stay yours.
How it is built
How we know it won’t price wrong
Frontwise is built by a governed AI system we call Alfred, under rules a person sets.
- Every change starts as a written need with tests.
- It is built in isolation and tested.
- An AI from a different company then tries to find serious faults, and the change goes in only when none are found.
- A change that keeps failing is stopped and rebuilt in smaller pieces.
- Every step is logged, and any change can be undone.
Since 1 October 2026
- 151 changes shipped
- 96.6% passed first time
- 0 rolled back
These count changes to the software.
The quoting software is checked by 248 automated tests and 205 planted faults, each of which must be caught (13 October 2026).
Alfred is our own build system. It is not a product we sell, we do not build software for other businesses, and it has no access to your customers’ messages.
Your own numbers
What slow replies may be costing you
Move the sliders to match your business. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Work you may be losing each month
- Enquiries a week
- 15
- × weeks in a month
- 4.33
- × missed or slow
- 20%
- × would have ordered or booked
- 40%
- × average order or job value
- R3 500
R18 186
15 enquiries × 4.33 weeks × 20% missed or slow × 40% would have ordered or booked × R3 500
An estimate from your own inputs, not a promise. In your first 30 days we measure the real figure with you.
Founding customers
Three businesses. Thirty days included. A year at a founding price.
We’re choosing three South African businesses to set Frontwise up with us first, at a founding price that stays fixed for twelve months.
- We set it up with you and load your price list. The small setup fee is refunded if you’re not live by the date we agree.
- The first 30 days are included. You see every conversation and approve every price.
- Then a founding monthly price, fixed for 12 months. We measure it with you: reply times, quotes and orders won.
- Leave before the first monthly charge and you owe nothing more. After that, 30 days’ notice.
Book a demo
Fifteen minutes, on your phone or at your business.
Call or email with your name and town. We’ll show it drafting a reply and a quote from your own price list.
Questions owners ask
Does it work for my kind of business?
If your customers ask you for prices, quotes or orders, it can help. Every price comes from your own price list, and anything not on it waits for your price. When a job needs a visit before a firm price, we set it up to say so.
How do I know it won’t invent a price?
It can’t. The assistant never writes a price or any money figure. It names the items and quantities, and our code prices them from your own list. Anything not on your list shows “Needs your price”, with no number.
How is it set up?
We sit down with you once and write down how you quote: your price list, your delivery or call-out fees, the areas you cover and the questions you always ask.
Does it replace my staff?
No. It is set up to answer while you and your team are busy, and to hand every decision back to you. It is there for the enquiries you currently miss.
Which channels does it answer?
Web chat on your website, and email. Neither is live yet: we build and set up the one you choose with each founding business before it goes live, and you see every conversation.
What does the assistant see of my customers’ details?
It sees what the customer asks for. Phone numbers, email addresses and street numbers are masked before the assistant sees an enquiry. Your customers’ details are handled under a written POPIA operator agreement, never used to train AI models, and deleted when you ask.
What if a customer writes in Afrikaans or isiZulu?
English works today. Afrikaans and isiZulu are next; we test them with your customers’ real messages in your first 30 days and tell you plainly what works before your first monthly charge.
What happens if the assistant gets something wrong?
Prices never go out without you, and you can take over any conversation. For founding customers we read every conversation with you each week.
What does it cost?
A small setup fee and a monthly price, both agreed with you before you start. Founding customers keep their price for 12 months. No long contract.