Your phone rings while you’re up a ladder. It answers as your business, says up front it’s your assistant, sorts out what the job is and books it. Anything urgent comes to you by text.
When a Coffs Harbour tradie can’t get to the phone, OffsiteMate’s AI receptionist answers it, any hour, every day, at the same price. It introduces itself as your assistant, finds out what the job is, puts routine work in at a time you’re free, and texts you emergencies before ringing you.
A sole trader pays A$299 a month, with 100 minutes and 150 texts included, plus A$299 once to set up. Setup is done by phone from Wagga Wagga, and your number stays yours.
The City of Coffs Harbour runs the town water and sewer and regulates plumbing and drainage work. Its rules decide whether a call is your job or the council’s.
| Whose job | What the council says | |
|---|---|---|
| The water meter and the pipe up to it | The council’s | Only council staff can repair up to and including the meter. It’s an offence for anyone else to disconnect or tamper with it |
| Everything after the meter | The owner’s | A leak on private land is for the owner to get fixed by a licensed plumber |
| The ground built up around the meter | The owner pays | If landscaping leaves less than 200 mm from the ground to the underside of the meter, it has to be raised. The council quotes and does it once the quote is paid |
| Sewage overflowing at the neighbours’ too | Probably the council’s | That probably means a blocked sewer. Ring the council’s 24-hour line on (02) 6648 4000 |
| An overflow inside the house | Ring the council first | It’s probably a blocked drain or toilet, but the council asks people to call it first. It looks at the spill and says whether a private plumber is needed |
From the City of Coffs Harbour’s water meter, sewer problems, emergencies and plumbers’ pages, read October 2026.
The council is smoke and dye testing the sewer to find stormwater getting in, and it says the program will take several years to cover every suburb. Owners get a letter first and a reminder the day before.
The usual finds are downpipes, tank overflows and garden or driveway drains plumbed into the sewer, plus broken or low gully traps. The council says any plumbing that sends stormwater into the sewer is an illegal connection under NSW law. When it finds one, it asks the owner to fix it and says a licensed plumber can help.
If smoke turns up inside the house, the council says that may point to faulty internal plumbing and to ring a licensed plumber straight away. Your assistant takes the details and texts you if you’ve told us it counts as urgent.
From October 2026, Essential Energy is bringing in new controlled load capability in some towns, Coffs Harbour included. On Controlled Load 1, hot water has traditionally heated overnight, generally between 10pm and 7am on weeknights (Essential Energy, read October 2026).
At rare times when demand is very low and rooftop solar is high, Essential Energy says it may move some of that heating to the daytime or cut the hours. It calls these Minimum System Load events. Most people won’t notice, it says, but some may have less hot water than usual in the morning, and heating picks up later in the day.
So when someone rings to say the hot water’s gone cold, it might be the network’s timing. Your assistant takes the details either way, and you decide what to say when you ring back. Essential Energy’s line for controlled load questions is 13 23 91.
Want your assistant to mention one of these when it fits? Text us and we’ll add it.
Essential Energy, 13 20 80, answered in Australia at any hour. The same number takes reports of shocks and tingles.
City of Coffs Harbour, (02) 6648 4000. It keeps a staff member on call around the clock for sewer and water problems.
The council flushes its mains after repairs. Discoloured water clears if you run the tap. Milky water is air bubbles and does no harm. If it doesn’t clear, ring the council.
From Essential Energy’s contact page and the council’s contact and water emergency pages, read October 2026. No gas company is listed for Coffs Harbour on the NSW Government’s list of gas networks by region, so there’s no gas line to give.
Every one of these gets answered at the normal price. Jobs go in only on the days you’ve told us you work.
| 2026 | 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | Thursday 1 January | Friday 1 January |
| Australia Day | Monday 26 January | Tuesday 26 January |
| Good Friday | Friday 3 April | Friday 26 March |
| Easter Saturday | Saturday 4 April | Saturday 27 March |
| Easter Sunday | Sunday 5 April | Sunday 28 March |
| Easter Monday | Monday 6 April | Monday 29 March |
| Anzac Day | Saturday 25 April and Monday 27 April | Sunday 25 April and Monday 26 April |
| King’s Birthday | Monday 8 June | Monday 14 June |
| Labour Day | Monday 5 October | Monday 4 October |
| Christmas Day | Friday 25 December | Saturday 25 December and Monday 27 December |
| Boxing Day | Saturday 26 December and Monday 28 December | Sunday 26 December and Tuesday 28 December |
| Coffs Harbour Gold Cup | Not a holiday | Not a holiday |
Dates from the NSW Government’s public holidays, local public holidays and local event days pages, read October 2026. Daylight saving runs from Sunday 4 October 2026 to Sunday 4 April 2027, and your assistant keeps to your local time.
The Coffs Harbour Gold Cup was a local public holiday from midday to 5:30pm in 2021 and 2022. It was set down as a local event day for 3 August 2023, and that was revoked. It isn’t on the NSW lists for 2024 to 2027, so for work purposes it’s an ordinary weekday.
Working in the Clarence Valley as well? Grafton has part-day local holidays in 2026 for the Ramornie race day, the Grafton Cup and the Jacaranda Festival, inside the area on the City of Grafton map. Same deal: answered, and booked only if you work that day.
The ABS counted 1,430 construction businesses in the Coffs Harbour council area at 30 June 2025. That’s more than any other industry, and nearly twice health care, the next biggest at 771 (ABS Data by Region, read October 2026). The town itself had 77,244 people at 30 June 2025 (ABS estimate).
When your phone rings out, the customer scrolls to the next one. Your assistant answers instead, or rings you first if you’d rather.
NSW contractor licences now come in a digital version in the Service NSW app, alongside the plastic card. The NSW Government says a real one has an animated NSW Government logo, a last refreshed date and time, a QR code that expires and reloads, and a Waratah hologram that moves when you tilt the phone.
Customers can also check a licence on Service NSW’s Verify.licence. Add your licence number to what your assistant knows. Text it to us and it’ll give it to callers who ask.
A Coffs plumber dealing with smoke test letters and a landscaper working around water meters don’t need the same calls flagged as urgent. Your trade’s page has the list we start from.
Pick the one for how many people work in the business.
Sole traders on the tools
A$299a month
About A$9.83 a day. Plus A$299 setup, once. Month to month.
Talk to the humansA small crew
A$449a month
Plus A$499 setup, once. Month to month.
Talk to the humansA bigger team with more phones ringing
A$799a month
Plus A$499 setup, once. Month to month.
Talk to the humansGo over your minutes or texts and it keeps answering: A$0.49 a minute and A$0.25 a text. It’s month to month, because 12 months is a big commitment to make to a robot. That’s the whole price. Nothing gets added on top. Questions? Ring us on 0468 075 000 or email hello@offsitemate.com.au.
No. OffsiteMate is based in Wagga Wagga, NSW, and every setup happens over the phone, wherever the tradie is. Ring us on 0468 075 000 and a human answers.
Not in 2026 or 2027, going by the NSW lists. Your assistant answers that afternoon like any other.
Yes. The national numbering plan lists Coffs Harbour under (02) 66, (02) 56 and (02) 36 numbers. Keep it with whoever you’re with now, and divert it to your assistant’s own Australian mobile number. If it’s a landline or runs through a phone system, ring us and we’ll work through it with your provider.
Yes, of the AI kind. It answers in an Australian voice, says it’s your assistant and that the call may be recorded, and gets the job details before it books anything.
Only if you tell it. Text us what you’d like it to say when someone rings about a smoke test letter, and we’ll add it.
A$299 a month for a sole trader, which covers 100 minutes and 150 texts, plus A$299 once to set up. It’s A$449 a month with 2 to 4 people in the business and A$799 with 5 to 10. No GST is added, and the price is the same anywhere in Australia.
Ring us on the number below, or email. Either way, a human gets back to you.
0468 075 000Or email hello@offsitemate.com.au
