Answering services for contractors: what they really cost, and what we do differently
Electrician, plumber, HVAC, roofer, GC — if customers call you to book work, every missed call is a job interview you didn't show up for. Here's honest pricing for every option on the market, including ours, and a simple way to pick.
The short version
Already looking at one in particular? We've written the honest math for Ruby and Smith.ai. Traditional answering services bill you by the minute and stop when their shift ends — so your bill is highest in your busiest month, and the after-hours calls still go to voicemail. We charge one flat price with no meter, and on every plan any call nobody reaches gets a text back in your business name in about ten seconds. Nothing lands in voicemail, ever.
Every option, with real prices
| Option | Cost shape | Reality | Right when… |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voicemail | Free | Most callers leave nothing and dial the next contractor | Never, as your only line of defense |
| Ruby (live, per minute) | $250–$1,725/mo · minutes, not calls · no rollover | Real receptionists, 24/7 and bilingual; the meter runs hardest in your busiest month; no booking or follow-up software | Low, predictable call volume you want answered around the clock |
| Smith.ai (live, per call) | $300–$2,100/mo · booking +$1.50 a call | Real receptionists with real CRM integrations; every spam call counts against the plan | Few but high-value calls, and you use a CRM |
| AI receptionist | $50–$500/mo, most $150–250 | Answers instantly, still fumbles messy trades calls | Simple booking work; watch it closely |
| FiveFlow Presence | $79/mo flat | A website on your own domain, plus your first five missed calls a month text-backed | You want to be findable first, and stop losing the easy ones |
| FiveFlow Recovery | $197/mo flat | Instant text back in your name, no monthly cap; you handle the replies | You don't mind texting, you just can't answer mid-job |
| FiveFlow Office | $447/mo flat | A real person runs the text conversations, books the job, drafts your quotes | The texts are piling up and you're on the tools |
| FiveFlow Front Desk | $797/mo flat · waitlist | A real person answers the phone in your name — and nothing ever reaches voicemail | You want the phone genuinely picked up |
| FiveFlow 24/7 | Not on the price list — ask us | We answer 8am–6pm today; the text-back holds the rest. A round-the-clock tier is under consideration and the asks decide it | Overnight emergencies are the bulk of what you miss |
Where we lose — worth saying out loud
If you only miss a handful of calls a month, a metered service is cheaper than us and we'd tell you to use one. At around 40 answered calls a month Ruby lands at $395 and Smith.ai at about $415, against our $797 for live answering. That's a real gap and we're not going to pretend otherwise.
It flips as you get busy, because their price climbs with your success and ours doesn't. At about 80 calls Ruby is $720 and Smith.ai $810 — or $930 once you add Smith.ai's $1.50 a call for actually booking the appointment, which for a contractor is the entire point — against our $797, so call that one line-ball. At 150 calls Ruby's 500-minute plan is $1,725 and ours is still $797, with the booking, quote chasing and review requests included rather than metered.
Need it round the clock? Ask us.
Being straight: 24/7 isn't on our price list today. Our people answer 8am–6pm your local time, and the instant text-back holds everything outside that — which is enough for most contractors, but not for everyone. We're weighing up a round-the-clock tier, and the businesses who ask for it are what decides whether we build it. If overnight is where you're actually losing jobs, tell us — we'll say honestly whether it's months away or worth waiting for.
The 60-second decision
Pull up your missed-call log for the last two weeks and sort it into "needed a human right now" versus "wanted to book or get a quote." If the second pile is bigger and you don't mind typing, Recovery at $197 covers it with no cap — or Presence at $79 if five a month is genuinely all you miss. If you'd rather never type again, Office at $447 puts a real person on those conversations. If the first pile is real and you want the phone genuinely answered, Front Desk at $797 does that — with the text-back still catching everything after hours and any call two-at-once. Front Desk is a waitlist right now while we prove the coverage; everything below it is available today.
Trade-specific breakdowns: plumbers · electricians · after-hours coverage · the full cost math. And to see what the misses are costing you now, the missed-call calculator takes 30 seconds.
Feel the safety net in 20 seconds
Call (615) 813-8256, hang up, watch your phone. That text is what every caller gets when nobody reaches them — the floor that sits under all four plans. Presence at $79 a month puts it on your real line — month-to-month, no setup fee, and we build your website preview free before you decide anything.
Common questions
What's the best answering service for a small contracting business?
Match it to your miss profile. If most misses are daytime quote and booking calls, an instant text-back recovers them at flat cost. If the texts then pile up on you, have someone answer them for you. If you want the phone genuinely picked up, you need live answering — but check whether it covers after hours, because most metered services stop when their shift does and the call simply goes to voicemail.
How much does a contractor answering service cost?
Traditional live answering is metered. Ruby sells receptionist minutes: $250/month for 50, $395 for 100, $720 for 200 and $1,725 for 500 — unused minutes don't roll over, and overage runs $3.30–$5.40 a minute depending on plan. Smith.ai bills per call: $300 for 30 calls, $810 for 90, $2,100 for 300, with overage of $8.50–$11.50 a call and appointment booking charged at $1.50 on top. AI receptionists run $50–$500, most landing at $150–$250. FiveFlow is flat: $79 for a website plus your first five missed calls a month text-backed, $197 with no cap, $447 with a person on your texts, $797 with a person answering your calls — no per-minute billing at any tier.
What happens when the answering service is closed or busy?
With a metered service, nothing — the call goes to voicemail and most callers hang up and dial the next contractor. That's the gap we built around: on every FiveFlow plan, any call nobody reaches in time gets an instant text back in your business name within about ten seconds. After hours, weekends, two calls at once — the floor is always there.
Do AI phone receptionists work for trades?
They're improving fast and cost less than humans, but trades calls are messy — panicked homeowners, background noise, half-described problems. Today's AI still fumbles enough of those that we'd rather a real person handled the conversation, with the automation underneath catching anything they can't get to.
What about just using voicemail?
Check your own voicemail box against your missed-call list — for most contractors the majority of missed callers leave nothing and simply dial the next business. Urgent trades work goes to whoever responds first.
Written by Emmanuel
Founder of FiveFlow — he builds and runs the missed-call recovery system US electricians and plumbers use to stop losing jobs to voicemail. About
FiveFlow · United States · vs. Ruby · vs. Smith.ai · vs. Podium · Calculator