AI prompt: after-hours text auto-reply for home services
A copy-and-paste AI prompt that writes the automatic text a plumber, HVAC company, electrician or other home services business sends when a customer texts after hours: office closed, your hours, when you will reply, your emergency line and safety line only if you have them, what to send you, and your opt-out line, with no invented response times, prices or promises.
When to use it
Customers text your business number at night and on weekends, and you want one automatic reply that tells them honestly when you will get back to them, how to reach your emergency line if you have one, and what to send so you can help faster, without promising anything you can't do.
- Copy the prompt below.
- Replace every
{{VARIABLE}}with your own details (see the list under the prompt). - Paste it into the AI chat tool you already use.
- Read the result against the checklist before you use it.
The prompt
You are helping a home services business write the automatic text message (SMS) it sends when a customer texts the business outside office hours. The same reply goes to everyone who texts after hours, so it must be true for every customer, whatever their problem is.
BUSINESS
- Business name: {{BUSINESS_NAME}}
- Type of business: {{BUSINESS_TYPE}}
- Tone: {{TONE}}
- Office hours: {{OFFICE_HOURS}}
- When we will reply to texts (use only this, word for word in meaning): {{NEXT_REPLY}}
- After-hours emergency service and how to reach it, or "none": {{EMERGENCY_SERVICE}}
- Safety instruction for dangerous situations, or "none": {{SAFETY_INSTRUCTION}}
- What we would like the customer to send us so we can help faster: {{INFO_TO_ASK}}
- Opt-out line to end the text with, or "none": {{OPT_OUT_LINE}}
RULES FOR THE TEXT
1. Start with "Thanks for texting {{BUSINESS_NAME}}." Then say in plain words that the office is closed right now and give our office hours as written above.
2. Say when we will reply using only the information given above. Do not promise any other time, speed or same-day service.
3. If after-hours emergency service is given above, say how to reach it, copying any phone number exactly. If it says "none", do not mention emergency service, on-call staff or any other number, and do not suggest anyone will come out tonight.
4. If a safety instruction is given above, include it word for word as its own sentence. If it says "none", do not add any safety advice of your own.
5. Ask the customer to reply with the information listed above, in one short sentence.
6. Do not mention prices, fees, discounts, arrival times, how long a job takes, or what might be wrong. Do not invent facts, numbers, phone numbers, links, policies or promises.
7. If an opt-out line is given above, start a new line (press Enter) and write it there by itself, exactly as written, as the last line of the text. If it says "none", do not add one, and end the text with the sentence from rule 5.
8. Put the parts in the order of rules 1 to 7. Say each thing once: do not repeat any sentence, and add nothing after the last part.
9. Keep your own wording short so the whole text stays under 90 words, not counting the opt-out line. Plain words, short sentences, no emojis, no hashtags, no exclamation marks.
Return only the finished text message and nothing else.What to fill in
- {{BUSINESS_NAME}}
- Your business name, as customers know it.
- {{BUSINESS_TYPE}}
- What you do and where, in a few words.
- {{TONE}}
- Two or three words for how you sound, e.g. calm, friendly, plain.
- {{OFFICE_HOURS}}
- Your office hours, e.g. Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm.
- {{NEXT_REPLY}}
- One true sentence about when you reply to texts, e.g. We reply to texts on the next business day.
- {{EMERGENCY_SERVICE}}
- Who your after-hours line is for and its number, exactly as customers should see it, or "none" if you don't offer after-hours service.
- {{SAFETY_INSTRUCTION}}
- One sentence you want every customer to see for dangerous situations, in your own words or your gas utility's, or "none". The AI copies it word for word and is told not to write safety advice of its own.
- {{INFO_TO_ASK}}
- What you want customers to text you, e.g. your name, the address and a short description of the problem.
- {{OPT_OUT_LINE}}
- The opt-out line your texts use, e.g. Reply STOP to opt out, or "none" if your texting service adds its own.
Real example output
Fictional sample business. Blue Kettle Plumbing & Heating and its phone number are fictional. They were made up to test this prompt; any resemblance to a real business is unintended.
Show the inputs used for Blue Kettle Plumbing & Heating (fictional)
- BUSINESS_NAME
- Blue Kettle Plumbing & Heating
- BUSINESS_TYPE
- plumbing and heating company in Worcester, MA
- TONE
- calm, friendly, plain
- OFFICE_HOURS
- Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm
- NEXT_REPLY
- We read texts when the office opens and reply in the order they came in.
- EMERGENCY_SERVICE
- For no heat, no water or a burst pipe, call our on-call line at (508) 555-0142.
- SAFETY_INSTRUCTION
- If you smell gas, leave the house now and call 911 or your gas company from outside.
- INFO_TO_ASK
- your name, the address, and a short description of the problem (a photo helps)
- OPT_OUT_LINE
- Reply STOP to opt out.
What the model returned
Thanks for texting Blue Kettle Plumbing & Heating. Our office is closed right now. We read texts when the office opens and reply in the order they came in. Office hours are Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm. For no heat, no water, or a burst pipe, call (508) 555-0142. If you smell gas, leave the house now and call 911 or your gas company from outside. Please reply with your name, address, and a short description of the problem (a photo helps). Reply STOP to opt out.
Model: Qwen3-4B-Instruct-2507 (Q4_K_M GGUF), llama.cpp server b11853, run locally, temperature 0.4. Tested on . Edits: None. The words are exactly as the model returned them, apart from removing spaces at the ends of lines. All 8 runs with this prompt and these inputs passed the automatic checks (opening, office hours, the reply-time sentence and the safety line copied exactly, the phone number copied exactly, no other numbers, no prices, arrival times, speed promises or guesses about the problem, the opt-out line alone on the last line, no repeated sentences, under 90 words) and a manual read. We ran the same prompt for 8 runs each on three other fictional businesses: an HVAC company whose after-hours line is for maintenance-plan members only, an electrician with no after-hours service and no safety line, and the same electrician with a call-911 safety line. All 24 passed both checks; with no emergency line or safety line given, the model did not add one. The runs were almost word for word the same, because the model mostly reuses your own lines, so the text is only as good and as true as what you put in. Earlier drafts of the prompt failed: the opt-out line ran on at the end of the paragraph, one draft repeated a sentence at the end, and one went over the word limit. AI output varies between runs and models, so always review it before posting.
Check before you post
- Every time and promise in the text is true for every customer, every night: your hours, when you reply, and who your emergency line is for. If nobody reads texts until Monday morning, the text should say so.
- If you list an emergency number, someone answers it every night it is listed, and the number is copied exactly. If you have no after-hours service, the text does not hint at one.
- No prices, fees, arrival times, how long a job takes or guesses about what is wrong.
- The safety line, if you use one, is in your own words or your gas utility's, and the AI copied it exactly. Do not rely on the AI to write safety advice.
- Only text people who have agreed to get texts from you, and honor every opt-out. Check what your texting service already adds, such as its own opt-out wording, so the customer does not get it twice.
- Before you switch it on, text your business number after hours from your own phone and read exactly what arrives.
Get the full set of local business prompts.
The pack has 40 prompts for Google review replies and review requests, Google Business Profile posts, ads, emails and social posts, plus a fill-in business context block. One-time purchase, $24.
Related tools
Zernio in the Digidle directory is one API for SMS, WhatsApp and social posts if you want to send texts like this from your own software. This example ran on a small open model on an ordinary computer: llmspeed previews local model speed, and Bifrost puts many models behind one API.