From Phone Books to AI Search with Carrie Kelsch
A Plus Garage Doors founder Carrie Kelsch on navigating two decades of disruption in local marketing and why the shift to AI search may matter most.
About This Episode
Carrie Kelsch, founder of A Plus Garage Doors, joins Mustafa on the AI in Trades Podcast to talk about building a home service business through two decades of technological change — and what the current shift to AI means for contractors who are paying attention.
Carrie has lived through every major disruption in local marketing. She named the business to appear near the front of the phone book, questioned whether customers would ever search online, and watched competitors disappear after missing that transition. Her view is that AI search represents the same kind of moment.
She walks through how A Plus Garage Doors applies AI across marketing, accounting, call evaluation, dispatch, contract review, and process documentation. The goal is not to replace people but to let each position handle more, so the company can grow without adding headcount at the same rate. She also covers where AI still falls short, including customer pushback on voice agents, generational differences, and the risk of AI tools generating inaccurate pricing expectations for customers.
Chapters
- 00:00 Introduction
- 00:26 Why Carrie Kelsch started a garage door company
- 04:10 Moving from phone books to the internet
- 07:18 How AI search is affecting organic visibility
- 11:38 Using voice AI for overflow and after-hours calls
- 14:26 Growing without adding the same level of headcount
- 16:14 Reviewing contracts and legal documents with AI
- 17:11 Creating operating procedures in minutes
- 20:38 Where contractors should focus their AI efforts
- 24:15 Closing thoughts
About the Guest
Carrie Kelsch is the founder of A Plus Garage Doors, a garage door service company established in Utah in 2005. She started the business as a single mother to create future opportunities for her children, initially operating it from home. Over two decades, Carrie built the company through systems, professionalization, and continued technology adoption.
About AI in Trades
AI in Trades is a podcast from Peaka exploring how artificial intelligence is changing home services, field service operations, contractor growth, and the future of work in the trades. Each episode features operators, technology leaders, and business owners discussing practical ways AI is showing up in the field, in the office, and across trade businesses.
