In the trades, the phone rings when you can't answer it: on a roof, in a crawl space, under a condenser. Here's what an AI answering service needs to do for a contractor, HVAC or plumbing business.
A dental office mostly books cleanings. A plumber gets a flooded basement at 9 p.m. The AI has to tell those apart and route them differently.
It should capture the address, the problem, whether anyone is home and how to reach them. It should know your service area and say so politely when a caller is outside it.
And it should never quote a price you haven't approved.
List the words that mean "urgent" for your trade (no heat, no AC, leak, flooding, gas smell) and where those calls go. For a gas smell, the script should tell callers to leave the building and call the gas utility or 911.
Warm transfer briefs you before connecting; waterfall transfer tries several numbers. Upfirst lists both on every plan; Rosie lists them on Scale and Growth; Dialzara lists warm transfer on Elite.
ZIP codes or towns you cover, trip charges if you have them, and after-hours rules.
Address, equipment type and age, symptoms, photos by text if the tool can send a link, and the best callback number.
Job length, travel buffers and which jobs can be booked directly versus need a callback for a quote.
Text and email summaries at minimum. If you use field-service software, ask the vendor whether it connects natively or through Zapier; the pricing pages we read list general calendar, CRM and Zapier options rather than trade-specific software.
Trial: 14 days or 100 calls, no card required. Source: vendor pricing page, checked Nov 7, 2026.
Trial: 7-day free trial. Source: vendor pricing page, checked Nov 7, 2026.
Trial: 7-day free trial. Source: vendor pricing page, checked Nov 7, 2026.
Calls from ads are the most expensive ones to miss. The HPM audit checks call tracking, cost per call and wasted search terms.
It can recognize keywords you set and transfer or text you right away, if the plan includes transfers. It should never be your only emergency line for anything life-threatening; scripts should tell callers to call 911 or the gas utility for those.
Only what you put in its knowledge base. Most contractors list service-call or diagnostic fees at most, and have the AI take details for a quote.
Check with the vendor. The pricing pages we read on Nov 7, 2026 list calendars, CRMs via API and Zapier, not specific trade platforms.