Receive a call. Log half the information. Dispatch the engineer with a postcode and a 12-word summary.
Reactive call handling is the most operationally chaotic, SLA-exposed workflow in FM: operators triage by gut, priority is applied differently across shifts, and safety flags get missed because the call handler didn’t know to ask. SLA evidence is rebuilt at month-end from screenshots, voicemails and memory. When the deduction lands, the chain has gaps — and the deduction sticks.
Six stages take every call from first ring to defended SLA.
Click any stage to expand · inputs / outputs / time / human role
Intake
Caller through to helpdesk by phone, email, portal or app. Structured intake against the contract taxonomy. Caller, site, asset, fault, access, safety flags, history, captured the same way every time.
- COLLAPSETriage
Apply contract SLA matrix to the fault category. Assign priority with reasoning and evidence. Flag escalation triggers: life safety, business-critical, vulnerable occupant, statutory compliance.
+ EXPANDBrief
Build engineer-facing brief from the intake. Pull asset history, last attendance, parts records, access notes. Surface RAMS reference, permits, site rules, contacts. One ticket the engineer can act on.
+ EXPANDDispatch
Dispatch ticket to the appropriate engineer (skills, location, availability, SLA window). Engineer acknowledges, updates with arrival ETA. On-site arrival timestamped against the SLA clock.
+ EXPANDEvidence
Engineer captures findings, work done, parts used, time on-site, completion or follow-up status. Photos, signatures, certificates uploaded against the ticket, building the SLA evidence chain live.
+ EXPANDDefence
Live SLA performance view at account, contract and site level. Weekly performance pack for account managers and clients. Any deduction triggers a defence pack: full evidence chain, contractual reference, recommended response.
+ EXPANDCompetent-person judgement and sign-off — a named person from your firm approves every document.
Pricing judgement — rates, margins and commercial positions are yours, never generated.
Every document carries a named approver from your firm. Nothing is issued unsigned.
Your documents stay confidential — processed by the team you deal with, never training data.
Reactive is half the product. The other half runs on a calendar.
Steps 1–5 above handle the phone ringing. Nine more workflows run the planned side of the contract — compliance, assets, money — on their own cadence, feeding the same evidence chain.
SLA Monitor
WeeklyTracks every open ticket against its response and rectification windows, with the evidence attached.
PPM
MonthlyBuilds the planned-maintenance schedule from the asset list and statutory frequencies.
Rota
MonthlyDrafts engineer cover against the PPM load and reactive history.
Parts
MonthlyTurns fault history into a parts and van-stock forecast.
Asset
MonthlyKeeps the asset register current from ticket close-outs and PPM visits.
Quotation
As arisingPrices remedial works arising from tickets and PPM findings, ready to issue.
Monthly SLA
MonthlyAssembles the monthly SLA report from the ticket evidence — the pack the review meeting reads.
Cost Recovery
MonthlyBuilds the recharge and comeback case for works outside the contract scope.
Quarterly Review
QuarterlyThe capstone: quarterly performance, trends and contract health, assembled from the year's evidence.
Open the ticket. Check the chain.
Illustrative worked example · Aldgate FM, M18 · not a live deskTKT03847 — a CRAC humidity alarm on a data-centre floor — is a complete, audit-grade worked example: one reactive call carried through all six stages, every timestamp on the register below. The featured document shows the dispatch brief as the engineer receives it — read it end to end, or browse the full library.
Worked example — fictional project, real output formatthe full dispatch brief
Every reactive call, one flow to defence.
Illustrative service-desk model · worked example (Aldgate FM M18), not a live boardWashroom leak, ground floor
Boiler lockout, no heating
Lighting circuit trip, L3
Fire panel fault indication
Cold-water booster alarm
Lift entrapment call-off
AHU belt failure, warm floor
CRAC humidity alarm
Automatic door won't close
Scrub the clock, T+0 to T+300, and TKT03847 walks the desk — captured, triaged, briefed, dispatched, evidenced, defended. The other calls hold their place in the queue, each with the SLA clock running.
Fourteen Structured Deliverables. The paper trail no helpdesk has time to type.
98.4% SLA held in the worked month. £42k defended.
First-visit fix, not first-time guess.
Illustrative model · targets, not measured client resultsEngineers arrive briefed, asset history and likely parts in hand. The fix happens on the first visit.
Defence pack assembled the moment the deduction is raised. Chain intact, contract reference held.
Repeat calls surface as root-cause flags for escalation, not another blind dispatch.
Structured intake to SLA-tagged brief — model target; the M18 worked example ran T+12m to dispatch (TKT03847).
Structured intake, contract-aware triage and dispatch-ready briefing have become work AI can hold to one standard across every call and every shift, which makes the reactive helpdesk the next FM workflow to be systematised. The service providers who put their desk on that track first will be the ones holding an intact evidence chain — and their margin — when the deduction conversation starts.
SLA arguments are won at the moment the call is logged, not the month the deduction lands.
Built with working helpdesk managers, service desk team leads and FM operations directors. Pilot results will be published named, or not at all.
The desk drafts every ticket.
Your operators make every call.
The line sits where FM judgement lives: reading a caller’s panic against the contract taxonomy, overriding a priority because the operator knows the site, choosing which engineer carries which ticket, and owning the client relationship when an SLA month is argued. BuiltAI structures, briefs and evidences; your helpdesk decides.
Reads and structures inbound calls, emails, portal submissions and app reports
Applies contract-specific SLA matrices to classify priority consistently across operators and shifts
Surfaces safety flags by recognising trigger patterns (gas, fire, water, electrical, life safety)
Pulls asset history, previous calls, last attendance, parts replaced, recurring fault patterns
Builds dispatch-ready tickets with all the context the engineer needs
Dispatch the engineer, that’s the helpdesk operator with operational judgement
Make safety decisions, operator escalates, AI surfaces the flag
Replace operator judgement on priority where context overrides taxonomy
Replace engineer diagnosis or repair decisions
Sign off SLA performance to the client, that’s the account manager
BuiltAI is run by Dominic Hobson, who has spent his career in construction and M&E delivery — the packs exist because he needed them.
Send us the deduction your team absorbed last quarter.
Thirty minutes. The ticket, the timestamps you have, the contract clause that should have applied. We hand back a structured defence pack, chain reconstructed, clauses cited, response drafted, ready to push back.
Priced as an annual licence by company size, plus usage credits — the pricing page explains the model. How the pack is priced →
You'll deal with Dominic Hobson, Founder, BuiltAI — not a sales team.
Under NDA if you want one. Your document is seen by the team that processes it, is never training data, and is deleted on request.