Hi, I'm Alex
Where it started
I didn't plan to build an automation business. I started tinkering with n8n and AI tools out of genuine curiosity - I wanted to see how far I could push them. The first time I connected a form to an email to a calendar and watched the whole thing run on its own, I was hooked. It felt like writing a small piece of software that solved a real problem, but without needing to be a developer.
The night the boiler leaked
May 2025. 11pm. My boiler started leaking and I rang four or five local plumbers. Every one of them had “24/7 emergency callouts” written across their website or Facebook page. Every one went straight to voicemail. I gave up on local after twenty minutes and rang one of the big UK-wide emergency firms - they said yes, they'd send someone, but the nearest plumber was thirty miles away. I sat up half the night with buckets under the leak with no idea whether anyone was actually coming.
The thing that stuck with me wasn't the leak. Leaks happen. It was the silence. Four or five missed calls, not a single text back. A two-sentence reply - “got your message, I'm 30 miles away, I'll be with you within the hour” - would have completely changed my night. The buckets still needed swapping. But the panic of not knowing whether anyone was coming? A text would have killed that.
That's when it clicked. The plumbers I was ringing weren't bad at their jobs. They were on other callouts, or asleep, or already booked. The actual work, when someone eventually turned up, was a two-second tighten-and-go. The gap was earlier than that - between a stressed customer hitting “call” and a busy plumber being able to answer. A two-line text could have changed everything for both sides.
Why trades, why plumbers first
The boiler night was the reason I started building specifically for tradespeople. It wasn't a marketing decision or a vertical strategy spreadsheet - it was a real moment where I saw the gap between “skilled human work” (which AI can't do) and “the bit before and after the work” (which is mostly just timely communication, which AI can absolutely do).
Plumbers were the obvious first vertical. High emergency demand. High variability in availability. A specific customer panic that a 60-second reply can almost completely resolve. Big enough national market to justify going deep on one trade. And the back-office pain - quote follow-ups, gas certificate renewals, no-shows, review requests - is universal across the industry rather than being scattered or vague.
Once I'd gone deep on plumbing I spun the work out into its own brand - Plumber Pro AI. That sits at plumberproai.co.uk now. The AI Income Project is the studio behind it - the parent brand. The same studio model will spin up the next vertical when we've got the bandwidth and the right co-conspirator on the inside of that trade.
How I work
I'm selective about who I work with. Not because I'm trying to be exclusive, but because I'd rather deliver properly for a handful of businesses than spread thin across dozens. Every client gets my full attention. Every build is tested properly. Every handover includes proper documentation and support - not just a workflow dumped on you with no explanation.
I back everything with a 30-day money-back guarantee. If what we build doesn't deliver what we agreed on within 30 days, full refund - I switch the system off and export your data. I can only offer that because I'm confident in what I build.
What's next
Plumber Pro AI is the first vertical. The studio model means the next one will look very similar in shape but built around a different trade - whichever one I find the right entry point for next. Electricians, dental practices, salons and small service businesses are all on the radar.
If you're a plumber: head to Plumber Pro AI. If you're a different trade and you're seeing the same gap I saw on the boiler night - quotes going cold, calls going to voicemail, admin eating your evenings - book a 15-minute consultation. We'll talk through what would actually work in your specific business.