Answering Service for Contractors: 8 Live and AI Options Compared by Price

For a contractor, a missed call is often a missed job. The homeowner with no heat or a leaking roof calls the next company on the list. But you can't answer the phone from a ladder, a crawl space or a customer's kitchen, and hiring a full-time office person is a big step for a small company. An answering service for contractors fills that gap: live receptionists or an AI agent answer in your company's name, take the details, and book, transfer or message you.

This roundup compares eight answering services, live and AI, with prices from each vendor's own pages as of October 22, 2026. We compare published plans; we haven't tested each service with live calls. We couldn't confirm current prices for MAP Communications or Posh, and AnswerConnect and Nexa don't publish prices, so they aren't included.

Quick comparison

PATLive: low per-minute plans with a free trial

PATLive's US-based receptionists answer 24/7/365, and you're billed only for live talk time, with no fees for wrap-up, nights, weekends or bilingual calls.

There's no contract, and you can try any plan free for 14 days. PATLive lists a native integration with Jobber, and Zapier connections for Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan, Service Fusion, JobNimbus, AccuLynx, Workiz and others.

Best for: small contractors who want live answering at a low monthly price, and Jobber users.

Specialty Answering Service: cheapest per-minute rates at volume

Specialty Answering Service charges a monthly base plus a per-minute rate, billed by the second: Economy is $44 a month plus $1.54 a minute, 100 minutes are $159 ($1.44 per extra minute), 220 minutes $269, 500 minutes $649 ($1.34) and 1,000 minutes $1,199 ($1.29). There's no setup fee, no contract and a 14-day free trial without a credit card. Extras such as patching calls through to you and voicemail are billed per minute.

Best for: contractors with steady call volume who want low per-minute rates and second-by-second billing.

Moneypenny (formerly VoiceNation)

VoiceNation is now part of Moneypenny. Its US live answering plans list at $165 a month for 50 minutes ($2.85 per extra minute), $265 for 100 minutes, $422 for 200 and $985 for 500. AI answering is billed per call, from $99 for 50 calls. Live plans are bilingual; all plans are 24/7 and contract-free, with 30 days' notice to cancel.

Best for: contractors who want live and AI options from one provider.

Abby Connect: live and AI with field service integrations

Abby Connect's receptionists work in-office in Las Vegas. Plans are counted in "Abby Minutes": Starter is $164 a month for 50, Essential $329 for 100, Professional $599 for 200 and Growth $1,380 for 500. AI answering uses half an Abby Minute per minute, so the same plan covers twice as much AI time. There's no setup fee, 24/7 coverage has no weekend upcharge, and calls can be answered in English or Spanish. The free trial runs 14 days or 500 Abby Minutes, whichever comes first.

Abby lists native integrations with ServiceTitan, Jobber, Housecall Pro, JobNimbus, Workiz and FieldPulse, among more than 150.

Best for: contractors who want the receptionist to work directly in their field service software.

Ruby: premium live receptionists

Ruby's plans are priced by minutes, with the same features on each: $250 a month for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200 and $1,725 for 500. Ruby says there are no fees for activation, onboarding, setup or after-hours coverage. It answers 24/7, including Spanish and bilingual calls, and can schedule appointments, collect payments and make outbound calls. Minutes are billed in 60-second increments, rounded up, and include after-call work. Overage is charged at a plan rate Ruby doesn't publish. First-time customers get a money-back guarantee within 21 days or 500 receptionist minutes, whichever comes first.

Best for: contractors who want a polished live receptionist and can pay more per minute.

Smith.ai: per-call pricing, live or AI

Smith.ai charges per call rather than per minute:

• Live receptionists: Starter $300 a month for 30 calls ($11.50 per extra call), Basic $810 for 90 calls ($10.50) and Pro $2,100 for 300 calls ($8.50). 24/7 costs the same as daytime. Add-ons are per call: appointment booking $1.50, a dedicated Spanish line $1, payment collection $1.
• AI receptionist: a free plan with 25 calls a month ($3 per call after), and Pro from $150 a month for 75 calls.
• Hybrid plans route calls to AI first and hand off to a person when needed.

Plans are month to month, with a discount for a 12-month commitment, and spam and wrong numbers aren't charged.

Best for: contractors with longer calls (booking, intake) where per-call pricing beats per-minute.

Rosie: low-cost AI receptionist

Rosie is an AI answering service: Professional is $49 a month for 250 minutes, Scale $149 for 1,000 minutes and Growth $299 for 2,000, with two months free on annual billing. It answers 24/7 in English and Spanish. Booking appointments directly on your calendar and live call transfers start on Scale. There's a 7-day free trial without a credit card.

Best for: solo contractors who want every call answered after hours for less than the cost of a few live minutes.

Goodcall: AI billed per unique caller

Goodcall bills by unique caller each month, not by minute, and doesn't count spam or wrong numbers. Starter is $79 a month for 100 unique callers (then $0.79 each), Growth $129 for 500 and Scale $299 for 2,000. Instead of a trial, you can build a free demo agent and pay once you connect a phone number.

Best for: busy shops with many short calls from the same customers.

Live, AI or both?

• Live answering handles emergencies, upset customers and complex jobs best, and costs roughly $1.30–$5 a minute on the plans above.
• AI receptionists cost far less and never put a caller on hold, but are best for message taking, simple questions and booking.
• Hybrid setups (Abby, Smith.ai, Moneypenny) let you send routine calls to AI and keep people for the rest.

Many contractors use AI or voicemail-to-text during the day and a live service after hours, or the reverse in peak season.

Answering services for roofers and electricians

Roofers get calls in waves: after a hail or wind storm, the phone can ring all day while every crew is on a roof. Per-minute plans with low overage rates, or a per-call plan when calls run long, keep a storm week from blowing the budget. Many roofing companies run their leads through a roofing CRM; Abby lists a native JobNimbus integration, and PATLive connects to JobNimbus and AccuLynx through Zapier. See our roofing estimate software and CRM comparison.

Electricians take more true emergencies: power out, a burning smell, a sparking outlet. Write a script that tells the receptionist what counts as an emergency, who to transfer it to after hours, and when to tell the caller to contact the utility or 911 instead. If you run FieldPulse, Abby lists an integration with it; see our FieldPulse review.

How to choose an answering service for contractors

1. Estimate your volume. Count calls per month and their average length from your phone bill. Multiply by each plan's rate, including overage.
2. Write the script. What to ask (address, problem, urgency), what counts as an emergency, who gets transferred, and what to tell callers about pricing.
3. Check how jobs reach you. A text and email per call, a booking on your calendar, or a job created in your field service software. Abby and PATLive list integrations with tools like Jobber and ServiceTitan.
4. Test it. Use a free trial to call your own line at 2 AM with a burst pipe and see what happens.
5. Track the result. Compare booked jobs from answered calls with the monthly cost.

Answering the phone is half the job; the other half is having somewhere to put the work. See our field service management app comparison and, for HVAC companies, our HVAC field service software roundup. If calls come from ads, note that Google Local Services Ads can charge for some missed calls as leads; our Local Services Ads guide explains what counts.