FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Arkanis, answered.

Straight answers from a trades operator's point of view — what Arkanis is, what it costs, how it works, how it compares, and how your data is handled. If your question isn't here, just ask.

ABOUT ARKANIS

About Arkanis

What is Arkanis?+
Arkanis is an AI operations platform built specifically for trades businesses — HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, and general contracting. Eight AI agents answer the phone, qualify leads, draft proposals from voice memos, follow up, and report, so owners can focus on running the business instead of chasing administrative work.
Who builds Arkanis?+
Arkanis is built by Keith Sherman, founder of Force Technology LLC in Waxhaw, North Carolina. Keith is a retired Navy Senior Chief and combat veteran, and the founder and chairperson of SAIL Institute, the independent standards body that publishes the Agent Deployment Standard for responsibly deploying AI agents.
Where is Arkanis based?+
Arkanis is headquartered in Waxhaw, North Carolina, about 30 minutes south of Charlotte. Force Technology LLC is registered in North Carolina. The product runs on secured United States infrastructure, and the company is small, local, and founder-operated — same time zone as the Carolinas trades businesses it serves.
Is Arkanis a real company or a side project?+
Force Technology LLC is a registered North Carolina company, filed in April 2026, and Arkanis is full-time work, not a side project. It is intentionally small and early-access today — a founder-led company with a clear roadmap, real customers in onboarding, and the funding to build deliberately.
How much does Arkanis cost?+
Arkanis pricing starts at $500 per month, which covers the AI voice receptionist, lead response, and CRM updates. Higher tiers — Growth, Partner, and the AI Integration Consultant engagement — are scoped during a consultation based on business size, integrations, and workflow complexity. Pricing is month-to-month with no annual contract.
THE EIGHT AGENTS

The eight agents

What does the Voice Receptionist agent do?+
The Voice Receptionist answers every call 24/7, qualifies the caller, recognizes returning customers, books appointments into your calendar, and triages emergencies with SMS alerts to your phone in under 60 seconds. It forwards from your existing number and talks like a real person, not a phone tree.
What does the Lead Response agent do?+
The Lead Response agent watches your web forms and inbound email and replies to new leads in seconds — long before a competitor calls them back. Each lead is qualified and logged, so fast first contact happens automatically, even at 11 PM or on a weekend.
What does the CRM Update agent do?+
The CRM Update agent logs every call, quote, photo, and status change to your CRM automatically. There is no manual data entry — your system of record stays current and clean without anyone on your team touching it between jobs.
What does the Follow-Up Sequencer agent do?+
The Follow-Up Sequencer runs structured follow-ups on quoted-but-unsigned work — typically Day 2, 5, and 10 — with personalized messages. It keeps aging estimates from going cold and surfaces upgrade opportunities, all without anyone remembering to chase the customer manually.
What does the Audio-to-Proposal agent do?+
Audio-to-Proposal is the Arkanis flagship. Walk the job, talk through scope and materials into a voice memo, and the agent transcribes it, prices it against your catalog, and drafts a polished, branded proposal — often before you reach the truck. You approve, then it sends.
What does the Weekly Reporting agent do?+
The Weekly Reporting agent pulls from your CRM, QuickBooks, calendar, and call logs and writes a one-page brief every Monday at 6 AM — close rate, pipeline value, what moved, and what is at risk — with specific recommended actions, not just numbers.
What is Ask Arkanis?+
Ask Arkanis is the business intelligence layer on top of every agent. You ask plain-English questions — close rate on hail-damage jobs, which lead source paid off, why a deal was lost — and get answers drawn from your real CRM, books, and operational history.
What does the Review Request agent do?+
The Review Request agent sends an automated review request after every closed job, timed for the highest five-star response rate. It turns finished work into online reputation consistently and automatically, without anyone on your team having to remember to ask each customer.
INTEGRATIONS

Integrations

Does Arkanis integrate with QuickBooks?+
Yes. Arkanis includes QuickBooks integration, with full read and write access to invoices, customers, and items on the Partner tier. The Ask Arkanis intelligence layer uses QuickBooks data alongside CRM, calendar, and call data to surface what is actually happening in your business.
Does Arkanis integrate with Google Calendar?+
Yes. The Voice Receptionist books appointments directly into Google Calendar based on crew or technician availability and territory. Callers can self-reschedule their own appointments, and Arkanis sends automated reminders 24 hours and one hour before each visit to cut down on no-shows.
Does Arkanis integrate with Jobber?+
Yes. Arkanis works with Jobber for scheduling and calendar booking, so appointments the Voice Receptionist takes land in the calendar your crews already use. Arkanis integrates with the tools you run on rather than forcing you to switch systems.
Does Arkanis integrate with HubSpot?+
Yes. Arkanis works alongside HubSpot and other CRMs, writing call, lead, and job activity back so your CRM stays current. Arkanis owns its own canonical data model and feeds your existing CRM — it integrates with HubSpot rather than replacing it.
BUILT FOR YOUR TRADE

Built for your trade

Is Arkanis a good AI receptionist for roofing companies?+
Yes. Arkanis is built for roofing companies — answering storm-surge call volume, qualifying storm-damage emergencies, capturing insurance details, booking inspections, and dispatching crews by SMS. There is a dedicated roofing guide covering scenarios, pricing, and how Arkanis compares for roofers specifically.
Read the roofing guide →
Is Arkanis a good AI receptionist for HVAC contractors?+
Yes. Arkanis is built for HVAC contractors — handling no-heat and AC-out emergencies, peak-season call spikes, service-call booking, technician dispatch, and maintenance-agreement renewals. A dedicated HVAC guide covers vertical-specific scenarios, pricing, and the agent stack framed for HVAC workflows.
Read the HVAC guide →
Is Arkanis a good AI receptionist for plumbing companies?+
Yes. Arkanis is built for plumbing companies — triaging burst-pipe and water-damage emergencies, capturing shutoff status, booking service calls, and dispatching plumbers by SMS. A dedicated plumbing guide covers vertical-specific scenarios, pricing, and how the agent stack maps to plumbing workflows.
Read the plumbing guide →
Is Arkanis a good AI receptionist for electrical contractors?+
Yes. Arkanis is built for electrical contractors — qualifying emergency electrical hazards, running intake for panel upgrades, EV charger installs, and generator jobs, and dispatching electricians by SMS. A dedicated electrical guide covers vertical-specific scenarios, pricing, and the agent stack for electrical workflows.
Read the electrical guide →
Is Arkanis a good AI receptionist for general contractors?+
Yes. Arkanis is built for general contractors — qualifying new builds, additions, and renovations by budget and timeline, booking estimate visits, and keeping multi-trade communication organized. A dedicated general contracting guide covers vertical-specific scenarios, pricing, and the agent stack for GC workflows.
Read the general contracting guide →
AI INTEGRATION CONSULTANT

AI Integration Consultant

What is an AI Integration Consultant?+
An AI Integration Consultant works directly with trades business owners to design, build, and deploy custom AI workflows tailored to how the business actually operates. Engagements typically map the sales pipeline, identify where AI agents replace manual work, configure the Arkanis stack, and provide ongoing optimization.
What does an AI Integration Consultant engagement include?+
An engagement typically includes mapping your sales pipeline, identifying where AI agents replace manual work, configuring the Arkanis stack to your specific workflows, and ongoing optimization as the business changes. Pricing is custom scoped during a consultation. It suits businesses with workflows a standard plan does not cover.
GETTING STARTED

Getting started

How quickly can Arkanis go live for my business?+
Arkanis is designed to deploy within 7 to 14 days. The AI Voice Receptionist goes live first — usually within 7 days — to stop missed calls immediately, with the remaining agents activated as your business is onboarded into the platform.
What is onboarding like?+
During the early-access period the founder personally onboards every client. Onboarding connects your call line, calendar, CRM, and QuickBooks, then tunes the system to your pricing, customers, and patterns over the first one to two weeks. Arkanis does real work from day one.
What kind of support does Arkanis offer?+
Support is founder-led and US-based during the early-access period — same time zone as the Carolinas, a direct line, and no tiered support queue. When something needs attention, you talk to the person who builds the product, not an outsourced help desk.
Is there a contract, and what does early-access pricing mean?+
Arkanis is month-to-month with no annual commitment. Early-access means you join while the platform is onboarding its first cohort of clients — founder-led onboarding, direct input into the roadmap, and pricing that starts at $500 per month with higher tiers scoped during consultation.
HOW ARKANIS COMPARES

How Arkanis compares

How does Arkanis compare to Sparkwright?+
Sparkwright is a focused AI voice receptionist starting around $299 per month. Arkanis is a full operations platform starting at $500 per month — eight agents covering proposals, follow-up, CRM, reporting, and intelligence. The right choice depends on whether you need a receptionist or the whole stack.
See the full Arkanis vs Sparkwright comparison →
How does Arkanis compare to SpadeWorks?+
SpadeWorks is a YC-backed AI platform focused on call answering, scheduling, and follow-up for trades. Arkanis covers that ground and adds audio-to-proposal, QuickBooks Partner-tier integration, and the Ask Arkanis intelligence layer. The honest trade-off is institutional backing versus operational scope and founder access.
See the full Arkanis vs SpadeWorks comparison →
STANDARDS & VERIFIABILITY

Standards & verifiability

What is SAIL Institute and the Agent Deployment Standard?+
SAIL Institute — the Southeast Artificial Intelligence Leadership Institute — is an independent standards body founded and chaired by Keith Sherman. It publishes the Agent Deployment Standard (ADS), an open specification for how AI agents should declare scope, escalate to humans, and produce verifiable audit trails.
Why do AI agent standards matter for my business?+
When an AI agent acts on your behalf — answering calls, sending proposals — you need to know what it actually did. The Agent Deployment Standard exists to enforce that: clear scope, human escalation, and a verifiable audit trail. Arkanis is built on the same principles SAIL publishes.
SECURITY & DATA

Security & data

Is my business data safe with Arkanis?+
Arkanis runs on enterprise infrastructure with industry-standard encryption — TLS in transit and encrypted at rest. Access is restricted per business, so no other Arkanis customer can see your data, and individual records are not viewed without explicit support context.
Does Arkanis train AI models on my data?+
No. Your business data is used to operate Arkanis for your business — it is not used to train models, sold to third parties, or shared across customers. Each customer's data lives in an isolated context, and nothing identifying your business or customers leaves your account.
Where does my data live?+
Your data is stored on secured infrastructure in the United States — Supabase for structured data and Vercel for application hosting, both in US data centers. Arkanis does not replicate your business or customer data to third-party countries.
What happens to my data if I cancel?+
You take it with you. On request, Arkanis exports a complete archive — contacts, jobs, proposals, and communication history — in standard formats like CSV and JSON. After export, your data is permanently deleted from Arkanis systems within 30 days, beyond what law requires.

Still have questions?

Email keith@arkanisai.com or book a consultation and we'll walk through it together.