Inbound calls
Answer, qualify, book, quote from approved price ranges, give live wait times, open tickets and transfer to staff with a summary. This is the AI receptionist job, built around your call mix.
Custom AI voice agents, built on your phone lines and systems
Most AI voice agents are sold as a product: sign up, describe your business, forward your number. That works for a lot of businesses. It stops working when the agent has to read from your systems, follow rules that differ by location, or make calls as well as take them.
We build those agents. Trilix AI designs, connects, tests and maintains custom voice agents for businesses in the US, Canada, the UK and Europe.
Quick answer
A custom AI voice agent is a phone agent built for one business: its call flows, its systems and its rules. We map your calls, connect the agent to your scheduler, POS or CRM where they allow it, test it on simulated calls, then audit live calls on a schedule. Most first agents go live in about 10 days.
What a custom voice agent can do
Outbound calls
Call back missed callers, confirm tomorrow's appointments, follow up on an open quote or remind a customer that a service is due. Outbound calling has stricter consent rules, covered below.
Calls that start work
A towing call becomes a ticket with the pickup location and vehicle. A maintenance call becomes a work order. A booking lands in the scheduler. The agent fills in the fields so your team doesn't retype them.
A second agent that checks the first
An audit agent reviews the voice agent's calls on a schedule and flags the ones that went wrong. Nobody has to listen to every call to know the agent is behaving.
How we build one
- Map the calls. We go through your recent calls or call log and sort them by reason. Most businesses find a handful of call types make up most of the volume.
- Write the spec. For each call type: what the agent says, what it can look up, what it can change, when it transfers and who it tells. You approve it before we build.
- Connect the systems. Scheduler, POS, CRM, shop software, cameras or a spreadsheet, through each system's official connection or export. If something can't be connected, we tell you before quoting.
- Pick the models. We choose the voice, speech recognition and language model for the job. Faster and cheaper where the calls are simple, stronger where the rules are strict.
- Test on simulated calls. Before a real customer hears it, the agent works through test calls built from your actual call types, including the awkward ones.
- Go live and audit. We start at one or two locations, review real calls with you, fix what's off, then roll out.
The audit step matters more than people expect. At a multi-store quick lube in Texas, our audit agent reviews the phone agent's calls every 2 hours during shop hours. It showed that the smaller model we started with was ignoring some booking rules, so we moved the agent to a stronger model. Read the Texas quick lube case study.
Build it yourself, buy a product or have it built
| Developer voice platform | Self-serve AI receptionist | Custom build with Trilix | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Tools for engineers to build voice agents | A finished product you configure | An agent designed, built and run for you |
| Who does the work | Your developers | You or your office manager | We do |
| Connects to your systems | Anything your developers build | The integrations the vendor offers | Your systems, through their official connections |
| Rules by location | You build them | Usually one setup per number | Built per location |
| Testing and audits | You build them | Call logs and playback | Simulated calls before launch, scheduled audits after |
| After launch | Your team maintains it | Vendor support | Monthly plan covers monitoring, fixes and changes |
| Best for | Teams with developers to spare | One location, simple calls | Several locations, connected systems, strict rules |
If you have developers and time, a developer platform gives you full control. If you have one location and simple calls, a self-serve receptionist is cheaper. We fit the space between those two.
Where our voice agents run today
- A multi-store quick lube in Texas. An AI front desk handling hours, bookings, walk-in and state inspection questions, with transfers to the front desk and an audit agent checking its work.
- A two-store tire and auto repair shop in the US Southeast, with AI call handling set up around the shop and live since October 2026. See the tire shop case study.
- A UK holding group. The chairman's AI executive assistant takes voice and WhatsApp requests across 11 businesses. See the holding group case study.
- Demo builds for a towing fleet's call agent and a dental practice's front desk, built on sample data and labelled as demos. See the towing dispatch demo.
Consent, disclosure and recording
Outbound AI calls need care. In the US, the FCC ruled in 2024 that AI-generated voices count as "artificial" voices under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, so robocalls using them need the called person's prior express consent (FCC). We only set up outbound calls to people who have agreed to hear from you, and we keep a record of that consent.
For inbound calls, several US states require consent from everyone on a recorded call, and Canadian privacy law expects notice and consent. Every agent we build opens with a disclosure you approve. Recordings and transcripts belong to you, with access set by role. See data and security.
What it costs
A custom voice agent is a one-time setup fee plus a monthly fee. Setup covers the call map, spec, integrations, testing and launch. The monthly fee covers hosting, phone and model usage, audits, fixes and small changes. The biggest cost drivers are the number of locations, the number of systems the agent reads from or writes to, and whether it makes outbound calls.
Our AI cost guide explains the pricing models and lists what other vendors publish.
Frequently asked questions
Something else on your mind? Ask us directly or call 416-262-2723.
What is the difference between an AI voice agent and an AI receptionist?
An AI receptionist is one kind of voice agent: it answers inbound calls at the front desk. "Voice agent" also covers outbound calls, agents that open tickets or work orders, and assistants people talk to by phone. We build both.
How long does it take to build a custom AI voice agent?
Most first agents go live in about 10 days from an agreed spec. Agents that write into several systems or run across many locations go live in phases.
Can the agent make outbound calls?
Yes, to people who have agreed to hear from you. Common uses are missed-call callbacks, appointment confirmations and service reminders.
What happens when the agent doesn't know the answer?
It says so, takes the details and transfers the caller or sends a message to the right person. You decide where that line is.
Can I keep my phone numbers?
Yes. The agent works with your existing numbers. We agree the routing with you, including when the agent answers and when calls ring your team first.
Who owns the recordings and the agent's data?
You do. We use your recordings and transcripts only to run and improve your system.
Case studies
- A multi-store quick lube in TexasAI front-desk phone agent, call audits every 2 hours, camera analytics and private employee coaching.
- A two-store tire and auto repair shopAI call handling and workflow automation built around the shop. Live since October 2026.
- A UK holding group running 11 businessesAn AI executive assistant for the chairman: task tracker, WhatsApp, voice, team check-ins and daily wraps.
- Demo: AI call agent and dispatch for a towing fleetA call agent that opens tickets, truck recommendations, a driver app, customer texts and an owner dashboard.
- Demo: front desk and clinic operations for a dental practiceLead replies, chair refills, treatment plan follow-up, recalls, an aligner pipeline, records checks and billing.
Keep reading
- AI receptionistWhat an AI receptionist does, what it costs and when a custom one is worth it.
- AI phone agentAnswers every call 24/7, books visits and gives live wait times.
- Custom AI developmentAgents, dashboards, CRMs and assistants built to your spec, owned by you.
- AI voice agent vs answering servicePublished per-minute and per-call prices, and when to keep humans.
- How much does custom AI cost?Setup fee plus monthly, what drives the price, and published market prices.
- Data and securityWhere your system runs, who can see what and what happens to your records.
Tell us what your calls look like
Bring your call volume and the calls you'd most like off your team's plate. We'll show you how we'd build the agent.