David Heacock grew a $260 million air filter business and says AI matters more to plumbers than programmers. We unpack the opportunity for UK trades and small businesses trying to do more with a small team.
Key takeaways
- AI shifts leverage from large teams and big budgets to individual operators and small businesses.
- UK tradespeople lose an estimated £24,000/year to unanswered calls alone. AI receptionists and scheduling tools solve this now.
- Only 4.8% of UK tradespeople currently use AI, but adoption among SMEs jumped from ~20% to ~39% between 2024 and 2025. The window to get ahead of competitors is open, but narrowing.
- The best use of AI in small and trades businesses is removing admin friction: calls, quotes, invoices, follow-ups, and stock management.
- You do not need a tech background to start. Affordable tools exist today, and ReadyToday can help you find and set up or even build the right ones.
A plumber does not lose work because of bad plumbing. They lose it because a call went unanswered, an invoice was late, or a follow-up never happened. The same is true for electricians, HVAC engineers, and most owner-operated trades businesses. The bottleneck is rarely the skill. It is the admin, the scheduling, and the time spent on everything around the actual work.
That observation sits at the centre of a Fortune article by David Heacock, founder of Filterbuy, a US air filter manufacturer generating over $260 million in revenue. Heacock's argument is direct: AI changes who gets leverage. For most of business history, leverage belonged to those who could hire large teams, raise capital, or build software. Everyone else traded time for money.
That is now changing, and the biggest beneficiaries will not be programmers. They will be the people running practical, physical businesses.
The friction that caps growth
Heacock describes a pattern familiar to anyone running a small operation. A plumber, HVAC technician, or local manufacturer spends a large portion of the working day on tasks unrelated to their core skill: scheduling, invoicing, customer follow-ups, demand forecasting. None of it is technically difficult. All of it creates drag. Over time, that friction limits how much the business can grow.
The AI Daily Brief podcast picked up this thread in a recent episode titled "Why AI Could Be Better for Plumbers than Programmers." The episode explores why AI tools matter more in industries where things do not already scale well. In tech, AI improves processes that are already efficient. In a trades business, it changes the maths entirely. One capable operator can manage complexity that used to need extra staff or outside contractors.
The numbers behind missed calls and lost revenue
UK-specific data backs this up. Research from Digital X Marketing found that owner-operators in the UK trades sector lose an average of £24,000 per year to unanswered calls. Around 62% of inbound calls to home service businesses go unanswered. 85% of callers will not leave a voicemail, and 79% will move on to the next listing within 30 minutes.
An AI receptionist or virtual assistant can catch those calls, qualify leads, and book appointments around the clock. Tools like this already exist and cost far less than hiring someone to sit by the phone.
What adoption actually looks like in the UK
Adoption among UK tradespeople is still early. A Logic4training survey found that only 4.8% of surveyed tradespeople actively use AI in their work. But the direction is clear. Over half said they expected AI to improve diagnostics and fault-finding, and half expected it to reduce admin time.
At the SME level, OECD data shows AI usage among UK SMEs jumped from less than 21% in 2024 to 39% in 2025. The FSB estimates UK SMEs could collectively save £17 billion annually through AI-automated accounting, CRM, and market research alone.
The gap between early adopters and those still on the sidelines is widening. Among sole traders, 42% say they have no plans to adopt AI at all.
Where this connects to real operations
The practical AI use cases for trades and small businesses fall into a few clear categories:
- Answering and qualifying calls outside working hours
- Generating quotes and proposals from job notes or photos
- Scheduling and dispatching jobs based on location and availability
- Chasing unpaid invoices and sending follow-up messages
- Keeping on top of stock levels and reordering supplies
None of this replaces the person doing the work. It removes the tasks that sit between the work and the revenue.
Heacock frames it well: the better question for any business owner is "How do we use AI to make our people more effective?"
What this means for UK trades and small businesses
If you run a small business or a trades operation and you are still handling every call, quote, and invoice manually, AI can take on the admin load at a fraction of the cost of hiring someone to do it. The tools are available now, and the costs are lower than most people expect. A practical starter setup can run from around £69 per month, and many individual tools cost less than £15 per user.
The businesses that benefit first will not be the ones making the most noise about AI. They will be the ones quietly using it to answer the phone, follow up on leads, and stop work falling through the gaps.
How ReadyToday can help
This is the kind of work we do at ReadyToday. We help schools, small businesses, and tradespeople across Dorset, Wiltshire, and the wider UK get practical value from technology, without vendor lock-in or inflated budgets. Whether you need help choosing the right AI tools, setting up automation for scheduling and invoicing, or training your team to use what is already available, we focus on outcomes that fit your budget. Every engagement comes with documentation and knowledge transfer so you are not dependent on us long-term.
If you are interested in seeing what AI could do for your day-to-day operations, get in touch for a conversation. Websites start at just £50 with £3.50 hosting. Talk to us about customer portals, payment and invoicing workflows and scheduling automations. If you need it, we can build it, so that you are ready for tomorrow: ReadyToday.