An AI receptionist costs a tradesperson roughly $29-$300 a month: $29 for 30 conversations as a Jobber add-on, $49-$299 for standalone services such as Rosie, or a quoted price inside some job software. It pays when it wins you about one extra job a month that you'd otherwise lose to a call you couldn't answer on the tools.
The sum is usually easy to pass, which is why the real questions are elsewhere: whether your calendar can take bookings the AI makes, how it handles a genuine emergency, and whether the billing unit (minutes, calls or conversations) matches your call pattern. A plumber who gets 15 short calls a day and a roofer who gets four long ones can pay very different amounts for the same plan.
What the main options cost trades in September 2026
List prices in USD from each provider's own pages. Some are built into job management software; others work alongside whatever you use.
| Option | Price | Billing unit | What it does for a trade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jobber Receptionist (add-on) | $29/month for 30 conversations, then $0.79 each; included on the Plus plan | Conversations (calls and texts) | Answers questions, books into your calendar through your online booking form, submits requests, transfers emergencies to your escalation contact |
| Housecall Pro CSR AI | Call answering is a paid add-on; price not published | Quote | Answers calls and books jobs using your business and customer data |
| ServiceM8 Phone Agent | On the higher ServiceM8 Phone plans; the Phone add-on starts from $19/month | Plan-based | Business-hours, after-hours and voicemail modes; takes messages, texts booking links, submits bookings |
| Rosie | $49/month for 250 minutes; $149 for 1,000; $299 for 2,000 | Minutes | Messages and spam filtering on the entry plan; direct calendar booking and warm transfers from $149 |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | Free for 25 calls a month, then $3 a call; Pro from $150/month for 75 calls, then $2 a call | Calls | AI answers first, with transfer to a live receptionist for complex calls |
| Roofr AI Receptionist | $99/month add-on | Monthly add-on | For roofers already using Roofr's CRM and estimating |
| Human answering (for comparison) | Ruby from $250/month for 50 minutes | Minutes | People answer, take messages, book appointments |
Two practical notes. Jobber's receptionist needs a dedicated Jobber phone number, which isn't offered for every country, so check availability for your number before planning around it; Jobber's help page on the receptionist lists the details. And if you already run Housecall Pro, ask for the CSR AI price in writing before comparing, because it isn't on the public price list. For how AI receptionist pricing works outside the trades, the general cost breakdown for small businesses covers the wider market.
Minutes, calls or conversations: one month billed three ways
Billing units change the answer more than headline prices do. Here's an illustrative month for a two-person electrical firm: 110 inbound calls, averaging about two and a half minutes, of which 18 are sales calls or spam, plus 30 text enquiries.
| Service | How this month counts | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Minutes-based (Rosie) | 110 calls x about 2.5 minutes = about 275 minutes, more if calls round up | Over the $49 plan's 250 minutes; the $149 plan fits with room to spare |
| Calls-based (Smith.ai Pro) | 110 calls against 75 included, if spam isn't screened out | $150 + 35 x $2 = $220 |
| Conversations (Jobber) | 92 real calls + 30 text conversations = 122; Jobber says calls it flags as spam don't count | $29 + 92 x $0.79 = about $102 |
The cheapest option depends on your mix. Lots of short calls favour conversation or minute pricing; a few long calls favour per-call pricing. Before signing, check three things in the terms: whether spam and wrong numbers count, whether each call rounds up to a whole minute, and what happens when you go over (a per-unit charge or an automatic move to the next plan). Pull a month of call history from your phone provider and count it yourself.
The payback sum, using jobs you currently miss
Start from missed calls, not from the vendor's claims. Most business phone apps and mobile carriers show missed and unanswered calls; count them for four weeks, including calls you returned more than an hour later.
Here's how the sum works for an illustrative two-van electrical business:
- Missed or late-answered calls in four weeks: 34
- Of those, new work enquiries (not suppliers, existing jobs or spam): 14
- Jobs currently won from those after a late call-back: 2
- Jobs you'd expect to win if they'd been answered and booked straight away: 5, based on your usual conversion when you do pick up
- Extra jobs a month: 3
- Average job value $420, gross margin after materials and labour about 35%: $147 a job
- Extra margin: 3 x $147 = $441 a month
- Cost: Rosie's $149 plan, or about $102 on Jobber for this call mix
On those numbers it pays three to four times over. The break-even is one job a month at a $147 margin. Now run the version that fails: a solo tiler with mostly repeat and referral work, who returns every call within 30 minutes at lunch. Missed new enquiries: 4 a month, and he already wins most of them on call-back. Extra jobs from AI answering: perhaps zero or one. Here a missed-call text-back that says "On a job, I'll call you by 1pm" does nearly the same work for far less.
Costs that aren't on the price page
The monthly fee is the visible part. A realistic first month for the electrical firm above also includes:
| Hidden cost | Illustrative amount | How to keep it down |
|---|---|---|
| Writing the call rules, service area and FAQs | 3-4 hours of your time | Start from your ten most common calls, not a blank page |
| Test calls and fixes in week one | 2 hours | Ask two friends to ring with awkward requests |
| Call forwarding or a new number | Depends on your carrier; some charge per forwarded minute | Check your mobile plan before switching forwarding on |
| Plan upgrade in your job software | Varies; online booking or automations sometimes sit on a higher tier | Confirm which plan the receptionist needs to book directly |
| Bookings you cancel or rearrange | A few per month at first | Tighten the rules weekly for the first month |
| Overage in a storm or cold snap | Can double a month's bill | Set usage alerts if offered; know the per-unit rate |
None of these is large, but together they mean the first month costs more than the plan price and saves less than month three will. Judge the service on months two and three, not the first.
When an AI receptionist doesn't pay in a trade
- Your calendar can't take bookings. If jobs are scheduled from a paper diary or a head full of plans, the AI can only take messages. That's an expensive voicemail.
- Most calls are genuine emergencies. A burst pipe or a total power loss needs a human quickly. AI can triage and transfer, but if 70% of calls transfer anyway, you're paying for a switchboard. See setting up an AI answering service that never misses an emergency for how to design the hand-off.
- Your work is priced on site. Callers often want a rough price. If the AI can't give one (and it shouldn't invent one), unhappy callers may hang up. A clear line such as "we price every job after a free visit" helps, but some trades lose callers here.
- Your area is small and your phone is quiet. Under about ten new enquiries a month, the savings are small whatever the price.
Setting it up so it earns the fee
The receptionist is only as good as the rules you give it. For a trade, those rules are mostly about location, urgency and what not to promise. A starting script you can adapt:
You answer calls for a two-person electrical business.
Collect: caller name, mobile number, job address, type of work, how urgent,
best time for a visit. Ask them to text photos to this number if relevant.
Service area: within 20 miles of our base (list of towns provided).
Outside it: take details, say we'll call back to confirm, don't book.
Emergencies: if the caller mentions burning smell, sparking, smoke, a shock,
or no power to the whole property, transfer immediately to the on-call mobile.
If no answer, tell them to switch off at the main switch if safe and to call
the emergency services if there is fire or danger to life.
Never give prices. Say: "We price every job after seeing it; visits are free."
Never promise same-day visits. Offer the next two open slots in the calendar.After each call, most services send a summary. An illustrative one:
New request, 14:12. Caller wants 4 extra double sockets in a kitchen extension, plastering due in 3 weeks. Address inside service area. Not urgent. Booked survey Thursday 08:30. Photos promised by text. Asked for a rough price; told visits are free and prices follow the survey. Caller seemed fine with that.
That's a job you'd likely have lost while on a ladder. Now a realistic mistake to design against: in the first week, the AI books a quote visit 35 miles away because the caller gave a street name that also exists in a town on your list. The fix is to ask for the full address including the town and to confirm it back to the caller, which most platforms let you add as a required question. The guide to call scripts and escalation rules covers more of these cases.
Plumbers, roofers and builders get different value from it
For a plumber, the value is in urgent-but-not-emergency calls: a dripping valve, a toilet that won't stop running. These callers ring three firms and book whoever answers. Minutes-based pricing suits, because the calls are short.
For a roofer, calls are fewer and longer, often after a storm. Per-call or conversation pricing suits, and a spike week can blow a minutes allowance. If you already use Roofr, its $99 add-on keeps bookings in the same system as your measurements and proposals.
For a small building firm, most enquiries are big jobs that need a conversation with the owner. The AI's job is to qualify (budget, timing, drawings ready?) and book a call-back slot, not to book a visit. A cheap entry plan is usually enough.
A storm week on three billing models
Spikes are where billing units bite. Take an illustrative roofing firm that normally gets 60 calls a month but takes 140 calls in the week after a storm, averaging four minutes each because callers describe damage in detail.
- Minutes-based, $49 plan (250 minutes): the storm week alone is about 560 minutes. Depending on the terms, that's either a per-minute overage or an automatic move to a higher plan, possibly for several months.
- Calls-based, Smith.ai Pro (75 calls, then $2 each): about 200 calls in the month means 125 extra calls, or $250 on top of $150.
- Conversations-based, Jobber ($29 for 30, then $0.79): 200 conversations means 170 extra, about $134 on top of $29.
None of these is a disaster if the storm brings in work, and it usually does. The point is to know in advance which bill you'll get, so a month that should feel like a win doesn't end with a surprise. If your trade has seasonal spikes, favour plans with a published per-unit overage rather than forced upgrades.
The greeting callers hear, before and after
The first ten seconds decide whether a caller stays on the line. An illustrative greeting as first written, and as rewritten after a week of hang-ups:
- Before: "Thank you for calling. I am an artificial intelligence assistant. How may I direct your call today? You can say sales, service, billing, or other."
- After: "Hi, you've reached the electricians' line. I'm the automated assistant, and I can book a visit or take a message for the team. If it's an emergency, like sparking or a burning smell, just say 'emergency' and I'll put you straight through. What can I help with?"
The second version says who you are, admits it's automated without making a thing of it, offers the two things it can actually do, and gives emergencies a one-word route. Menu-style greetings ("say sales, service...") make callers feel they've reached a call centre, which is the opposite of why they rang a local trade.
Six test calls to make before going live
Ring your new line yourself, or ask a friend, and check each result against what should happen. Here's the list filled in after a first round of testing for the electrical firm above:
| Test call | What should happen | What happened | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Two outside sockets, how much?" | No price; offers a free visit | Said "usually around $150" | Added "never give prices" rule |
| "There's a burning smell from the fuse box" | Immediate transfer, safety line if no answer | Transferred correctly | None |
| Address in a town outside your area | Takes details, no booking | Booked a slot | Made town a required field, checked against the list |
| "Can I speak to a real person?" | Transfers or takes a message with call-back time | Asked the question again | Added an explicit human-request rule |
| Existing customer chasing an invoice query | Takes a message for the office | Tried to book a visit | Added "existing job" route |
| A sales call selling advertising | Polite decline, no message logged as a lead | Logged as a new enquiry | Added a spam and sales rule |
Four of six needed a fix, which is normal for a first round. Run the list again after changing the rules, and repeat it whenever you edit the script.
Checking whether it paid after 30 days
At the end of the first month, pull these numbers from the service's dashboard and your job software:
- Calls and texts handled by the AI, and how many were real enquiries.
- Visits or jobs booked by the AI, and how many went ahead.
- Transfers to you, and whether each one needed to be transferred.
- Complaints or confused callers, and any bookings you had to cancel.
- The bill, including any overage.
Listen to ten recordings, including two that ended in a hang-up. If the AI-booked jobs that went ahead cover the bill at your usual margin, keep it and tighten the script. If not, drop to a cheaper plan or a text-back. A longer version of this review, spread over a quarter, is in measuring an AI receptionist's return in 90 days.
Further reads
- AI vs Human Answering Service for HVAC Firms — When a human answering service still beats AI for trades calls.
- Jobber, Housecall Pro, and ServiceTitan AI Features Compared — Compare the AI built into the main job management platforms.
- How to Set Up an AI Receptionist Without Losing Callers — Step-by-step setup so callers don't hang up on the new line.
- How Much Do Missed Calls Cost a Heating and Cooling Business? — Work out what missed calls cost before you pay to fix them.
- Replying to Trade Enquiries in 60 Seconds With AI — Fast replies to web and text enquiries, the other half of lead handling.
- Can AI Triage Emergency Plumbing Calls Out of Hours? — How far AI can safely go with urgent out-of-hours calls.
- How Car Valeting and Detailing Firms Use AI to Fill the Diary — An empty-slot audit, rebooking intervals, photo-quote prompts and standby-list messages that help a valeting or detailing business keep its diary full.
- AI Quoting Tools for Plumbers: What They Cost and What They Do — Prices and real AI features of the quoting tools plumbers use, what they still can't do, and a side-by-side cost for a two-van firm.
- AI Tools for Roofing Contractors in 2026: Estimating and Leads — Roof measurement, instant estimates, lead replies and photo documentation tools for roofers, with current prices and three stacks by firm size.
- How a Plumber Can Save Five Hours a Week on Admin With AI — An illustrative time log for a sole plumber, six changes that add up to five hours a week, a four-week rollout and what it costs.
- The First 30 Days of AI in a Trades Business — A 30-day plan for a small trades firm: one assistant, three jobs, a business brief, a scorecard and the rules to set before spending more.
- What Tradespeople Actually Use AI For: 12 Real Jobs It Handles — Twelve everyday trade jobs AI handles well, from voice-note job sheets to invoice chasers, each with a real-looking example and the mistake to watch for.
- How to Set Up an AI Phone Agent for After-Hours Calls — Nine stages from logging your night calls to the morning handover, with tool costs, a copyable script and an electrician's setup worked through.
- AI Appointment Scheduling for Small Businesses: Tools and Setup — Booking engine first, rules second, AI at the front door last. Tools, prices, a six-stage setup and an architect practice's bookings worked through.
- Zero Data Retention: What It Means When You Choose an AI Tool — What a zero data retention promise really deletes, the exceptions OpenAI, Anthropic and Google keep, and the vendor questions that expose weak claims.
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.
Sources: Jobber pricing page and help article on Receptionist powered by Jobber AI; Housecall Pro pricing and AI Team pages; ServiceM8 pricing and Phone Agent help pages; Rosie, Smith.ai, Roofr and Ruby pricing pages; all checked September 2026.