01Call Flow Template
Roofing AI Receptionist Call Flow Template
This template specifies a complete roofing AI receptionist call flow: how the call opens, the four qualification branches and the exact data captured in each, how insurance claims are handled, how booking works, which CRM fields get written back in JobNimbus and AccuLynx, when the call escalates to a human, and what changes after hours. It is written to be handed to any voice vendor as a build specification.
A complete annotated call flow for a roofing AI receptionist: greeting, qualification branches, insurance claim handling, booking, CRM write-back field mapping for JobNimbus and AccuLynx, escalation rules, and after-hours behavior.
How to Use This Template
Read it as a specification, not as a script. The wording is yours; the structure and the required fields are the part that matters.
Most roofing companies evaluating a voice assistant end up comparing demos instead of comparing specifications. A demo shows a pleasant conversation. A specification shows whether the system will capture a claim number, respect an on-call roster at 2am, and write a triage tier into the field your workflow keys off. This template is the second thing.
Take it to any vendor, including Epiphany Dynamics, and ask them to confirm each section against what their platform can actually do. The sections a vendor cannot commit to are the sections that will become manual cleanup work after launch. If you have not yet defined the underlying process, start with the storm surge intake checklist, which covers the same intake logic for a human team.
1. Greeting and Call Reason
The opening has one job: classify the call into a branch within the first two exchanges.
The greeting states the company name, then asks one open question such as what is going on with the roof today. An open question classifies faster than a menu, because storm callers usually lead with the problem. The assistant listens for the branch signals below and does not ask a qualification question until the branch is decided, since asking storm questions of an active leak caller wastes the only minute that matters.
Capture the caller name and callback number early in every branch, before any long question sequence. If the call drops, that pair alone preserves the lead. Everything else in this template assumes those two fields already exist on the record.
Branch A: emergency leak
Triggered by active water inside the building, a visible hole, exposed decking, or a tree or limb on the structure. This branch overrides everything else, including a caller who started by asking for a price.
Branch B: storm damage
Triggered by hail, wind, a recent storm event, an insurance claim, an adjuster, or a neighbor referral. This is the highest-volume branch during a surge and carries the longest field list.
Branch C: estimate request
Triggered by planned work: age-related replacement, a repair with no urgency, a real estate transaction, gutters, ventilation, or skylights. No storm context and no active damage.
Branch D: existing customer
Triggered by references to an existing job, a warranty, a crew currently on site, an invoice, or a payment. Matched against the CRM by phone number where possible.
2. Branch A: Emergency Leak
The shortest branch in the flow. Its purpose is to stop qualifying and start moving.
Detection signals
Water coming through the ceiling, water in a light fixture, an active drip, a visible hole, missing decking, a tree on the roof, or the caller using the words emergency or urgent. Any one signal routes to this branch.
Fields captured before transfer
Caller name, callback number, service address, whether anyone is currently at the property, whether water is actively entering, and whether power or electrical fixtures are affected. Six fields, no more.
The action taken
Warm transfer to the on-call number during the call. If the on-call line does not answer within a set ring count, the assistant states that it is sending the details now, sends a text and an email alert to the on-call owner and a backup, and tells the caller when to expect contact.
What this branch must never do
Never quote a price, never estimate an arrival time it cannot guarantee, and never send an emergency caller to a next-day estimate slot. The only acceptable outcomes are a live transfer or a dispatched alert with a stated callback window.
Safety language
If electrical fixtures are affected or the caller describes ceiling sag, the assistant advises leaving the area and contacting emergency services if anyone is in danger, then continues with the transfer. Keep this wording fixed and approved by the owner.
Record created
A lead record tagged emergency with the triage tier set, plus a task assigned to the on-call owner with a same-day due date. The record is created even if the transfer succeeds, so nothing depends on the crew remembering to log it.
3. Branch B: Storm Damage
The longest branch and the highest volume during a surge. Every field here changes how the lead is worked.
Ownership status
Owner, renter, or property manager. A renter answer ends the sales path. The assistant asks for the owner or manager contact, records it, and closes politely without booking.
Damage type
Hail, wind, missing or lifted shingles, tree or limb strike, water stain with no active leak, or unconfirmed damage reported by a neighbor or door knocker. Store as a single value, not free text.
Payment path
Insurance claim or out of pocket. If insurance, the assistant continues into the insurance sub-flow. If out of pocket, it skips straight to address and booking.
Date of loss
The date of the storm event. Ask for it directly rather than inferring it, since carriers work from this date and an incorrect one creates rework later.
Roof age and history
Approximate roof age, whether it has been replaced or repaired, and whether a prior claim was filed. If the caller does not know, record unknown rather than leaving the field empty.
Address, property type, and access
Full service address including unit, residential or commercial or multifamily, gate codes, dogs, and any access constraint. Property type determines which estimator calendar the booking step reads.
4. Insurance Claim Sub-Flow
Entered from the storm branch whenever the caller says insurance. This is where a roofing flow differs most from a generic receptionist flow.
Claim filed yes or no
The first insurance question. A caller who has not filed yet needs a different conversation than one with an adjuster appointment already on the calendar.
Carrier and claim number
Capture the carrier name always and the claim number when one exists. Read the claim number back to the caller to confirm it, since a wrong claim number is worse than a blank one.
Adjuster name and appointment
Adjuster name, phone if offered, and the scheduled inspection date and time. When an adjuster date exists, the booking step should try to place your inspection before or on that date.
Deductible awareness
Confirm the caller understands they are responsible for their deductible. Do not discuss covering, waiving, or absorbing it. Route any pressure on that topic to a human immediately.
Documentation handoff
Offer to send an email listing what to have ready: the claim number, the adjuster appointment, photos taken from the ground, and the date of loss. Send it as a plain text email the caller can forward to a spouse or a carrier.
Language boundaries
The assistant does not interpret policy coverage, predict claim approval, estimate a settlement, or advise on the claim strategy. Those questions escalate to a human by rule, not by judgment.
The boundary rules in this section are not optional polish. An assistant that speculates about coverage creates an expectation the company then has to walk back, and it does so in the exact conversation where trust is thinnest. Capture facts, hand off judgment. The same principle shapes how we scope AI automation for roofing contractors generally: automate the capture, keep the interpretation with a person.
5. Branch C: Estimate Request
Planned work with no storm context and no active damage. Lower urgency, longer sales cycle, same record discipline.
Work type
Full replacement, repair, inspection, gutters, ventilation, skylight, or other. Other always captures a free text note for the estimator.
Motivation and timeline
Age of roof, a real estate transaction with a closing date, a visible problem, or planning ahead. Timeline drives which calendar window the assistant offers.
Property details
Property type, approximate square footage or stories if the caller knows it, current roofing material, and whether the caller has estimates from other companies.
Decision maker
Whether the caller can approve the work or whether a spouse, partner, board, or owner also needs to be present. Ask this before offering times, since it changes which slots are usable.
Address and access
Same address and access fields as the storm branch. Territory assignment happens off this field, so it is required before booking can proceed.
Booking outcome
Standard estimate slots only. This branch never consumes storm-window priority slots, because a planned replacement can wait two days and a filed claim usually cannot.
6. Branch D: Existing Customer
The branch most often left out of a call flow specification, and the one where mistakes cost an existing relationship.
Identity match
Match the inbound number against CRM contacts first. If matched, greet by name and confirm which job the call is about rather than asking for the address again.
Call reason subtypes
Schedule question, crew on site issue, warranty concern, invoice or payment, change order, or documentation request. Each maps to a different internal owner.
Routing
Warranty and quality concerns route to production or service. Invoice and payment route to office administration. Crew on site issues route to the project manager on that job during business hours.
What is never handled here
The assistant does not negotiate an invoice, approve a change order, promise a warranty outcome, or commit a crew to a date. It captures the request and routes it.
Record behavior
Log the call as an activity on the existing job record rather than creating a new lead. Duplicate lead records from existing customers corrupt both reporting and follow-up sequences.
Escalation
An upset existing customer escalates to a human on the first clear signal. This branch is the one where a wrong automated answer costs the most, because the relationship already exists.
7. Booking Step
Booking is where a qualified call becomes a scheduled job. It is also where most flows quietly fail by offering times no crew can reach.
Availability rules
Offer two or three specific times rather than asking what works. Filter by territory so the slot offered is one a crew can actually reach, and respect the estimator calendar rather than a generic company calendar.
Priority windows
Reserve a share of daily slots for storm branch leads with a filed claim or a scheduled adjuster. Standard estimate requests book around them, not into them.
Confirmation
Read back the date, time, address, and the name of who is coming. Send a text confirmation immediately and an email with the same details plus what the homeowner should have ready.
Reschedule and cancel
The assistant can move an appointment inside a defined window without human involvement. Anything outside that window creates a task for the office instead of guessing.
When booking is not possible
If no acceptable slot exists, the assistant states a callback window with a named owner rather than inventing availability. An honest callback promise outperforms a slot nobody can keep.
Reminders
Day before and morning of. During storm weeks these reminders carry real weight, because homeowners are scheduling several contractors and adjusters in the same days.
8. CRM Write-Back and Field Mapping
Field mapping for JobNimbus and AccuLynx. Confirm the exact field names against your own instance, since both systems allow custom fields.
JobNimbus contact and job fields
Map to Contact for name, phone, email, and address, and to Job for the work itself. Set Job Record Type by branch, set Status to the intake stage your workflow starts at, and set Sales Rep from the territory rule. Do not leave Job Record Type unset, since JobNimbus workflows key off it.
JobNimbus insurance fields
Write carrier, claim number, adjuster name, adjuster phone, date of loss, and deductible awareness into the insurance fields on the Job. If your instance uses custom fields for these, map them explicitly rather than dropping the values into the notes field.
AccuLynx lead and job fields
Map to Contact and Job in AccuLynx with Lead Source, Job Type, and Trade set from the branch outcome. Assign the Sales Rep by territory and set the Job Workflow stage so the lead enters the correct pipeline instead of an unsorted bucket.
AccuLynx insurance fields
AccuLynx carries dedicated insurance fields for carrier, claim number, adjuster, and date of loss. Populate them from the insurance sub-flow. Populating them at intake is what prevents a second call to the homeowner two days later.
Fields both systems need every time
Triage tier, damage type, ownership status, payment path, storm event tag, call recording or transcript link, next action, next action date, and next action owner. These nine fields make the record usable without listening to the call.
Write-back failure handling
If the CRM write fails, the assistant must not drop the record. Queue it, alert the office by email, and retry. A silent write failure during a storm week is indistinguishable from a missed call by the following Monday.
Write-back is the section vendors most often gloss over. Ask directly whether the integration writes to native fields or only to a notes blob, whether it can create the appointment as well as the contact, and what happens when the CRM is unavailable mid-call. Those three answers separate a system that runs your operation from one that answers the phone and hands you typing to do.
9. Escalation to a Human
Define the triggers as rules, not as instincts. An assistant that escalates by judgment escalates inconsistently.
Hard escalation triggers
Active water intrusion, structural exposure, an explicit request for a human, an upset existing customer, a legal or lien question, a media inquiry, or any question about deductible handling. These transfer without deliberation.
Soft escalation triggers
Repeated misunderstanding, a caller the assistant cannot classify after two attempts, an unusual property type, or a commercial inquiry above your normal project size. These create an urgent callback task with a stated window.
Transfer mechanics
Warm transfer during business hours with the captured context passed to the person answering. If no one answers within a set ring count, take a message, create the task, and tell the caller when to expect a return call.
Context handoff
Whoever picks up should see the fields already captured before they say hello. Making a homeowner repeat everything they just said undoes the benefit of answering the call at all.
Escalation review
Review every escalated call weekly for the first month. Escalation patterns are the fastest signal about which branch of the flow is underspecified.
Do not automate around a policy gap
If the team cannot state the rule for a situation, the assistant escalates it. Encoding a guess into the flow turns a one-time judgment call into a repeating mistake.
10. After-Hours and Storm Surge Behavior
Roofing call volume concentrates in the hours after a storm, which are usually the hours nobody is staffed for.
What changes after hours
Emergency detection stays fully active and still transfers to the on-call number. Non-emergency branches complete qualification and booking normally, since a homeowner calling at 9pm can still be booked into a Thursday slot.
On-call routing
Maintain a written on-call roster the assistant reads by day and hour. Roster changes should be a data update, not a script change, so nights and weekends do not require a developer.
Storm surge behavior
During a declared surge, every branch captures the storm event tag and priority slots open automatically. Deciding this in advance is what keeps the evening after a hail event from becoming a voicemail backlog.
Overnight non-emergency calls
Book normally and confirm by text. Do not wake the on-call crew for a caller who has no active leak and no exposed structure, and state clearly when the office will be back.
Holiday and closure handling
Define the behavior for company closures separately from ordinary after hours. A closure week with no defined rule is where flows most often fail quietly.
Morning handoff
Every overnight record should appear in a single morning summary with tier, branch, and next action. The office should start the day with a sorted list, not a voicemail queue.
The after-hours window is the part of this template with the clearest return, because it covers the calls that currently reach voicemail. If you want to estimate what that window is worth in your own business before building anything, run your numbers through the roofing missed call calculator. The wider case for the approach is laid out in AI receptionist for roofing companies.
11. Testing and Measurement Before Launch
A call flow is not finished when it is written. It is finished when it survives real calls.
Scenario tests before launch
Run each branch end to end with a real phone, including a renter, an insurance caller with a claim number, a commercial inquiry, an existing customer with a warranty complaint, and an active leak at 2am.
Edge cases worth testing
Bilingual callers, poor cell reception, a caller who gives the address before being asked, someone reading a claim number too fast, and a caller who asks for a price in the first sentence.
CRM verification
After each test call, open the CRM record and confirm every mapped field landed in the right place. A field that lands in notes instead of its own field will not drive any workflow.
Recording review cadence
Listen to a sample of real calls weekly for the first month, then monthly. Fix the script where callers hesitate rather than where the transcript looks tidy.
Measurement
Track answer rate, branch distribution, booking rate per branch, escalation rate, and CRM field completeness. These five numbers tell you whether the flow is working better than the humans it replaced or supplemented.
Change control
Keep the flow in a versioned document and record what changed and why. Storm season is a bad time to discover an undocumented script change from three months ago.
Have This Flow Built and Tested
Epiphany Dynamics runs a free 30-minute AI audit covering your current answer rate, your storm-season call pattern, and your CRM setup.
Epiphany Dynamics builds AI voice assistants for roofing and field service companies, including the qualification branches, insurance handling, escalation rules, and CRM write-back described here. Bring this template filled in with your own rules and the audit will tell you which parts are worth building first.