Short answer: An AI receptionist for trades businesses picks up calls (and often texts) for plumbing, HVAC, electrical and roofing shops, books or messages the job, and hands off to a person when needed. In this directory, trade shops have used Avoca, Hatch, ServiceTitan and Jobber this way; the table compares them on vendor-published facts only.
I'm Daniel Massaad. Search "AI receptionist for trades" and you'll get a pile of product pages that all say the same thing. I built Trades AI Use Cases for the opposite job: show you which trade shops actually put an AI on the main line, overflow, or after-hours — with the public source so you can decide if the story fits your shop. This page is aimed at that search. If you came in looking for the contractor-focused write-up, start withAI receptionist for contractors; the featured entries overlap, but the framing here is trade-first.
Nothing on this page is a paid placement. Vendor case studies are labeled as vendor-reported.
What "AI receptionist for trades" usually means
In a trade shop the receptionist job is different from a dental office or a law firm. Callers want a tech dispatched, a membership pitched, or a no-heat emergency booked before they dial the competitor. Strip the marketing and an AI receptionist is a voice (or chat) agent on your main line, overflow, or after-hours that answers, takes details, books into your real schedule when it can, and hands off to a human when it can't.
Owner-operator Frank Galvin of Frankie's Plumbing in San Diego can't answer emergency calls mid-job, so Jobber's AI Receptionist picks up, takes the caller's details and leaves him a clear message to return between jobs. "The AI takes a message. It jots down the information very well... we're able to get their business, and we don't lose any money," he says. The case study also credits Jobber's quoting, scheduling and payment tools as the company grew from about $100K to an estimated $800K a year.
The Aire Serv HVAC franchise in Sevierville, TN swapped its third-party live answering service for Avoca's AI on after-hours calls. The AI follows the brand's call standards, books jobs directly and offers maintenance/subscription plans when relevant. Avoca reports after-hours bookings went from 58 to 208 over the comparison period (a 90% after-hours booking rate) and that 41% of eligible callers signed up for a plan.
My Plumber Plus, a large residential plumbing and HVAC company (about $129M revenue and 356 employees per the case study), used to push overflow calls to a third-party service with long holds. It now routes overflow to Avoca's AI Responder, which picks up within seconds and books jobs. Avoca reports zero hold time for overflow callers, 1,000+ calls handled since launch, and a 17% higher booking rate than the old overflow process.
High Ground (about 150 employees across NJ, NH and ME) started with AI only on overflow and after-hours calls in place of voicemail. It then moved AI to the front line one day a week, then two, then all five, with warm transfers to CSRs for escalations. The company reports AI now handles 75% of inbound calls, the abandon rate fell from 10% to 2%, AI books 81% of bookable calls, $250K-$300K a year in CSR costs were avoided without layoffs, and outbound SMS campaigns bring in $100K-$250K a month.
Hatch, ServiceTitanVendor case studyHatch · Dec 2025
Los Angeles HVAC company Brody Pennell (200+ employees) replaced four separate front-office vendors in 2025 with one AI platform covering voice, web chat and scheduling, speed-to-lead on social leads, outbound text/direct-mail campaigns, estimate follow-ups and membership renewals. According to Avoca, the booking rate rose from 65-70% to 90%, Facebook/Meta lead conversion went from about 15% to 25%, and the call-center manager got back roughly three hours a day of manual call review.
Rescue Air & Plumbing in Dallas-Fort Worth estimated that each missed call cost it about $250. It put an AI CSR on all inbound calls (pulling caller info, checking tech schedules and booking into the CRM) and uses an AI coaching tool that scores every call so CSRs get feedback on each one instead of a sample. The case study credits the coaching program with two agents being promoted.
Jobber — AI Receptionist for message-taking (Frankie's Plumbing).
Avoca — overflow, after-hours and full front-line answering (My Plumber Plus, Aire Serv, Brody Pennell).
Hatch — phones plus outbound SMS, overflow → front line (High Ground).
ServiceTitan — AI Virtual Agent that books against capacity and zones (related plumbing stories).
Probook — AI CSR paired with dispatch (Cardinal and Del-Air; see the dispatch guide).
Trades receptionist vs. answering service vs. voice agent that dispatches
A lot of trade shops already pay a live answering service. The AI pitch is usually: pick up faster, book into your real schedule, follow your script, and cost less per call than a BPO. Whether that holds depends on call volume, how messy your bookable job types are, and whether you have a human for warm transfers.
AI agents answer calls, texts and web chats and book jobs around the clock; SMS/call follow-up campaigns; call scoring for managers. Describes itself as a ServiceTitan certified app.
HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing
Not published in our directory entry; check the vendor
Answers calls 24/7, screens spam, books into the team calendar, logs summaries and transcripts on the job card, can quote via Roofr’s Instant Estimator.
Roofing
Roofr published $99/month ($85 billed yearly) with 200 minutes, as of Oct 19, 2026
Handles inbound voice calls and web leads and assigns the right technician to each call; outbound campaigns for unsold estimates.
Home services
Not published in our directory entry; check the vendor
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Every cell comes from the tool's page in this directory, which was checked against the vendor's own website. Not a ranking or endorsement; features and pricing change, so confirm with the vendor.
How to choose an AI receptionist for a trades business
Built into your software or standalone? If you already run Jobber, ServiceTitan or Roofr, their built-in receptionist sees your calendar. Standalone tools like Avoca, Hatch and WaveSales say they integrate with CRMs and scheduling systems; confirm yours is on the list.
Where are calls being missed? After-hours, lunch-hour overflow, or the whole front line. Most shops in our entries started with overflow or after-hours (My Plumber Plus, Aire Serv) before moving to the front line (High Ground).
Warm transfer. Make sure angry, commercial or out-of-script callers reach a person.
Texts and follow-up. If speed-to-lead on web leads matters as much as the phone, look at tools that also text and call leads back (see Homer Home Service).
Get pricing in writing. Only Roofr publishes receptionist pricing on the pages we checked; ask the rest for per-minute or per-call terms.
FAQ
What is an AI receptionist for trades?
A voice (and often text) agent for plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing and other trade shops that answers calls, captures job details, and books or messages the job, with a handoff to a person when needed.
Can an AI receptionist book jobs, or only take messages?
Both exist. Jobber's AI Receptionist is described as answering calls and taking messages; ServiceTitan's AI virtual agent, Avoca, Hatch and Roofr's add-on are described by their vendors as booking appointments.
How much does an AI receptionist cost?
Of the tools in this directory, only Roofr publishes receptionist pricing on the page we checked: $99/month ($85 billed yearly) with 200 minutes, as of Oct 19, 2026. The others don't list prices in our entries, so ask each vendor.
Is an AI receptionist better than an answering service?
It depends on your call volume and whether the AI can book into your real schedule. Shops in our entries mostly started with overflow or after-hours calls, then expanded. Read the linked sources and decide for your shop.
Which trades use AI receptionists?
Entries on this site cover plumbing, HVAC and home-service shops, and the vendors list roofing, electrical, remodeling and solar among the trades they serve.
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