Answering service for contractors
An answering service for contractors that picks up when the whole crew is on site.
An AI receptionist built from your own website, for plumbing and HVAC contractors. It answers the calls you can't, gives the right first step in an emergency, takes the details for every job, and sends them to you.
- ✓ Built from your own website
- ✓ Tested before it answers a real call
- ✓ Keep your number
62%
of calls to small businesses went unanswered by a person in one 30-day study of 85 businesses (411 Locals). It's an old, small study — call a few shops in your area after hours and see for yourself.
In your trade a missed call is rarely someone browsing. It's a job, and it goes to whoever picks up next.
On an emergency call
The safety step first. Then the address. Then you.
Emergencies are handled in a fixed order, and every receptionist is tested on them before it goes live.
Burst pipe or water pouring in
It tells the caller to shut off the main water valve — usually where the water line enters the home, turned clockwise — and to keep clear of anything electrical near the water. Then it flags the call as an emergency and takes the address and a callback number.
Gas smell at a furnace or water heater
Leave the building now with everyone, don't flip switches or use phones inside, and call the gas company or 911 once outside. It never asks anyone to look for the leak.
Carbon monoxide alarm, or headaches and dizziness at home
Everyone out into fresh air now, pets too, and call 911 — right away if anyone feels unwell. Nobody goes back in until the fire department says it's safe.
No heat in a freeze, no cooling in dangerous heat
When someone vulnerable is at home — an elderly person, an infant, someone medically fragile — it treats the call as an emergency: it flags it, takes the address and a callback number, and alerts you straight away.
It is a receptionist, not an emergency service: for fire, carbon monoxide or anyone hurt it tells callers to get out and call 911 first.
On every other call
It books the work without making anything up.
Estimates and replacements
It asks what the job is, where it is and whether you serve that area, and passes the request on. If you offer free estimates for some work, it says so; for everything else, it says your team will confirm.
“How much will it cost?”
It quotes only the fees you've set, like a service call or diagnostic fee and when it's waived. It never guesses a price for a job.
When the whole crew is on site
It picks up every call your line forwards to it, day and night, takes the details and the best time to call back, and sends them to you as a message.
AI or a live answering service
What each is good at.
| AI receptionist | Live answering service | |
|---|---|---|
| Knows your business | Learns your services, hours, area and fees from your website, then from a profile your partner keeps up to date. | Works from a script you write and the operator's notes. |
| Emergencies | The same safety steps on every call, tested before go-live. | Depends on the operator on shift. |
| Prices | Only the fees you set. Anything else, it says it doesn't know and takes a message. | Whatever the script allows. |
| How it's usually priced | A monthly price your partner agency quotes. | Usually per minute or per call, sometimes with a monthly minimum. |
| At 150 three-minute calls a month | The same monthly price in a quiet week and a storm. | $759 to $1,725 a month on Ruby, Smith.ai and PATLive's published prices (October 2026). |
| Where it's weaker | Judgement calls it wasn't given rules for. It takes a message rather than guess. | Surges: when many callers ring at once, some can wait in a queue. |
Prices, plans and the worked example: how much an answering service costs.
How it's set up
You keep your number. It picks up when you can't.
1. Hear yours first
Enter your website above. In about a minute you're talking to a receptionist that already knows your services and area. Nothing reaches your real phone.
2. A partner agency sets it up
AhoyDesk works through partner agencies. Yours fills in the details your website doesn't say, then runs the accuracy test: 31 scripted callers, a 95% pass mark, and no misses allowed on safety. It doesn't answer a real call until it passes.
3. Forward your line
Your phone forwards calls to the receptionist when nobody picks up, when the line is busy, or after hours. Your customers still dial the number they know.
4. You get the jobs
Emergencies reach you by email the moment the address is in. Every other call arrives as a message with the caller's details, and a monthly report shows the calls it answered.
Questions
What owners ask first.
How much does an answering service for contractors cost?
Live answering services charge per minute or per call: for 150 three-minute calls a month, the published prices of Ruby, Smith.ai and PATLive came to $759 to $1,725 in October 2026 (see our guide to answering service costs). With AhoyDesk, the partner agency that sets you up quotes one monthly price after you've heard your receptionist.
What does an AI receptionist for contractors cost?
On their own published prices in October 2026, do-it-yourself AI receptionists came to about $100 to $160 a month for 150 calls, and live answering services to $759 to $1,725 (see our guide to answering service costs). With AhoyDesk, the partner agency that sets yours up and tests it on your emergencies quotes one monthly price after you've heard it.
Which contractors is it for?
Today it is built and tested for plumbing and HVAC contractors: their emergencies, their services and their pricing questions. If you're in another trade, you can still try the demo, but it will answer as a plumbing and heating company would.
Will my customers know it's not a person?
It never claims to be a person. If a caller asks, it says it's your virtual assistant and that your team handles every job. If a caller wants a person and someone on your team is available, it puts them through; otherwise it takes the details so your team calls back.
Do I have to change my phone number?
No. Your line forwards calls to the receptionist when nobody picks up, when it's busy, or after hours — your customers keep dialling the number they know.
What do I get after a call?
The caller's name, number, address, the problem in their words and how urgent it is, sent to you as soon as the call ends. Emergencies alert you straight away.
Hear your receptionist before you decide.
It takes about a minute, and it's built from your own website.
Also see: Plumbing answering service· Run an agency? Resell AhoyDesk under your brand