How we work · the build and go-live stages
What happens in the first three weeks?
This site says a focused receptionist is usually live within one to three weeks, and the receptionist on 0483 982 033 says it on the phone. Those weeks start on the date agreed at the scope call, which is stage three of the five on How we work; the strategy call and the proof of concept before it are free and carry no clock. What follows is the inside of the build: what Durbacti does each week, what you hand over, and what exists when the week ends.
Two things first. The one build on the record is our own line, so the weeks below are the plan a build follows, written from the documents that run that line rather than from a client's diary. And the estimate is an estimate: the section after week three says what stretches it.
What has the proof of concept already settled?
Before the clock starts, a small working version has already answered your call types from your information, and you have heard it do so. That leaves three things settled: which calls it will take, what it answers from, and that the business wants it. The first draft of its brief exists, because the proof of concept ran on one. What you handed over for that was a rough sense of what people ring about. What goes in an AI receptionist's brief before it answers? shows what that draft turns into.
Week one: the number, the calendar and the brief
A number of its own. The receptionist gets a line nobody is forwarding to yet, so nothing about your phone changes until it has passed its tests. An Australian number needs a regulatory bundle approved first, which can take a day, so this is the first thing that starts.
The calendar and the CRM. The calendar it books into is connected and given two tools, one to check availability and one to create the event, so a booking is real while the caller is still on the line. Where your enquiries land, a CRM or an inbox, is chosen on the scope call and connected next; on our own line that is a database that keeps the record of every call and sends the alert email.
The brief, in full. The draft from the proof of concept becomes the whole document: who it is, how it speaks, what it does in what order, what it collects, what it may say about your business, what it must never do, and how a call ends. Ours is 10 paragraphs.
The handoff rules. Which calls go to a person, by transfer inside the hours someone answers and by message outside them, is written down with you. Which calls should an AI receptionist hand to a person? is the list our own line works to.
Transcription and retention. Whether calls are transcribed, what is kept and for how long, is decided now, and your privacy policy is updated to say so before a caller is ever told it.
What you hand over
Access to the calendar and the CRM; the number you want calls to reach; your hours, services and what to say about prices; the questions customers ring with and the answers you give; who takes a transfer and when. Most of it is a conversation, not a form.
What exists at the end of the week
A line you can ring that answers from your information and books into your real calendar. It is not yet on your number.
Week two: the nine calls and the corrections
Testing is calls, not a demo. How do you test an AI receptionist before you pay for it? sets out nine calls that push every branch: the greeting, the bad line, the question outside the brief, the price, the time it should refuse, the person inside and outside hours, two phones at once, the caller who declines, and the record it leaves. Durbacti makes them from a mobile to the new number, and you make some of them yourself, because the point is the calls you actually get and you know them better than we do.
Every fail is traced to a paragraph of the brief or to a setting beside it, and fixed by changing that: on our own line, the first test call changed three paragraphs the same morning, and beside them the calendar tool's look-ahead, the spoken messages on the tools, the server URL on the assistant and the greeting. The transfer path is tested on a weekday inside the hours someone answers, because a clock decides it rather than the prompt; the message path can be tested at any hour.
What you hand over
Time across the week to make calls and listen to the record; the person who takes transfers, on standby for one of them.
What exists at the end of the week
A receptionist that has passed the calls you get, and a written record of every test call: what the caller wanted, what it answered, what it booked or captured.
Week three: your number, the first days, the handover
The receptionist is connected to the number your customers already dial, by call forwarding or by connecting that number directly, so nothing about what they dial changes. The first days are watched closely, with the record read after each call, and a fact that turns out wrong is fixed in the brief. Your team is trained on how it works and how to read the record, and the documentation is handed over: the brief, the settings, what connects to what.
On a Project the accounts are yours at handover. On the other plans, who keeps a fact current after your hours or prices change is settled on the scope call, as How we work says.
What you hand over
The number you already have, forwarded or connected; a training session; the first real calls, read together.
What exists at the end of the week
A receptionist live on your number, a documented system, and a named person, yours on a Project and agreed on the scope call on the other plans, who changes a fact in the brief.
What makes it one week, and what makes it three?
The two things the How we work page names, and one more. How many call types the receptionist has to cover: a line that books and takes messages is at the short end, one that also quotes, qualifies and transfers across a team is at the long end, and every extra call type is another week-two call to pass. Which calendar and CRM it connects to: a calendar Durbacti has connected before goes quickly; a new one has to be given its tools and tested before week two can start. And the number: the receptionist's own line waits on the regulatory bundle, which is why it is bought first; forwarding from the number you already have waits on nobody once that line answers.
What does not stretch it is the brief. Its first draft already exists from the proof of concept, and the rest is written from what you say on a call.
What we will not do
Promise a date before the scope call. The call types and the connections decide the weeks, and both are counted there.
Put it on your number before the nine calls pass. Until then the receptionist answers a number nobody dials.
Let it answer from general knowledge. A question outside the brief goes to a person; the brief says so and the tests check it.
Call one build a pattern. The record holds one build and it is ours, as the next section says.
What is not yet proven
Two things. The only build on the record is Durbacti's own line. The database it writes to was begun on 9 September 2026, its own half of that database and its brief were written on 12 September, the number was answering test calls on 13 September, the day the brief was corrected from three of them, and it went on the site on 16 September. That build did not run the weeks above either: it had no client and no scope call, and three of the nine test calls, the transfer inside hours, two phones at once and the decline, had not been made on it by 29 September. No client build has yet run the three weeks above, so the estimate on this site is still an estimate, carried since before that build and not yet measured against a client's calendar. When one has, this page will carry the number.
The first three weeks: common questions
When do the three weeks start?
The three weeks start on the date agreed at the scope call, which is stage three of the five on How we work. The free strategy call and the free proof of concept before it carry no clock: the call is 30 minutes and the proof of concept usually takes a few days, but nothing is counted until the scope, the price and the start date are agreed together. From the agreed start date, week one stands the line up, week two tests it against your calls, and week three puts it behind your number.
What do I hand over in each of the three weeks?
During the build you hand over access to the calendar and the CRM the receptionist works with, the number calls should reach, your hours, services and what to say about prices, the questions customers ring with and your answers, and the name of whoever takes a transfer and when. Then time in week two to make test calls and listen to the record, and a session in week three for the training. None of it is a form; most of it is said on a call and written into the brief by Durbacti.
What if the build takes longer than three weeks?
The scope call sets the date and the build runs to a fixed scope, so a build that runs long is one whose scope grew or whose connection was new. A call type that turns up in testing and nobody mentioned is written into the brief and tested with the rest. A calendar or CRM that needs a tool Durbacti has not built before has to be built and tested first. Either way you hear about it when it is found, not at the end, and the receptionist does not go on your number until the calls pass.
Can the receptionist go live in less than a week?
Sometimes. A line with one or two call types and a calendar Durbacti has connected before is at the short end. Durbacti's line is not that example: its brief was written on 12 September 2026, it answered test calls on 13 September and the number went on the site on 16 September, but it had no client and no scope call, and three of its nine test calls, the transfer inside hours, two phones at once and the decline, had not been made by 29 September. A client's build is not put on their number until the nine calls pass.
The clock starts after two free steps
A free 30 minute call, then a free proof of concept on your own calls. The three weeks above begin only once you have heard it work and the scope is agreed.
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