Electrician Answering Service24/7 AI Electrical Contractor Answering Service for Outage, Panel & Sparking-Outlet Calls

An electrical contractor answering service answers forwarded electrical shop calls when the crew cannot pick up. OnCrew is the AI answering service for electricians: it picks up 24/7 in your shop name, runs intake on no-power, burning-smell, sparking-outlet and panel calls, and alerts your on-call electrician. Reviewed November 2026.

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Quick answer

What is an electrical contractor answering service?

Answers forwarded electrical calls after hours/overflow without promising dispatch or arrival times.
Captures panel heat, breakers, sparking outlets, outages, EV chargers, and generator context.
Flags burning smells, smoke, downed wires, and medical-equipment outages for urgent review.
Sends caller name, address, summary, and transcript; ETA, pricing, and field decisions stay with your electrician.
From $49/mo for 150 minutes; $0.49/min after.

Before you forward your electrical line: four questions, answered

What OnCrew does on an electrical line today, from our own call logs and settings, and what it does not do.

In the last 30 days OnCrew answered 981 calls on customer lines. The latest job it booked onto a customer's calendar while the caller was on the line was on November 5, 2026. Counted the way we bill: robocalls, calls where nobody spoke, our demo and test lines and each shop's own test calls are left out.

Hang-ups

Will my callers hang up on an AI?

Some will, on any line.

Over the 30 days to November 1, 2026, 15% of calls to our paying customers' business numbers ended within 20 seconds with no more than a hello (22% if every silent call our robocall filter was unsure about was a real caller). On the voice system every line has used since October 27, it was 21% (31% counting the unsure ones) in its first 5 days. Robocalls and sales calls we could identify are left out; wrong numbers and pocket dials are still in it.

It runs higher, 50% (62% counting the unsure ones), on cell phones that forward to OnCrew only after ringing out: those callers have already waited through the rings. If you forward the calls you miss, set your phone to forward after a few rings.

Callers who ask usually stay. When a caller asks, she says she is an automated assistant and that a person from the business will call them back. In the 60 days to November 1, 2026, a caller asked whether they were talking to a real person in 21 calls: in 17 the caller then left their details, agreed to be called back or was put through to someone, and in 1 the caller hung up right after.

Your greeting is yours to write, and it can tell callers up front that they are talking to an automated assistant.

Booking

Does it book the job?

Yes, routine jobs, on your Google Calendar.

With Google Calendar connected and booking switched on, the receptionist offers a caller with a routine job, such as an outlet repair or a panel upgrade estimate, the next open times inside your business hours and puts the one they pick on your calendar while they are still on the line.

An urgent call, such as sparking, a burning smell from wiring or a power loss, is never put in a calendar slot: it goes to your on-call electrician by text when the call ends.

With booking off, the receptionist takes the request and the time the caller would like, and your team sets the time.

It does not book onto a Jobber, Housecall Pro or ServiceTitan schedule: booked jobs go on Google Calendar.

Field software

Does it work with Jobber, Housecall Pro or ServiceTitan?

Housecall Pro connects directly; Jobber and ServiceTitan get each call through the webhook export.

Housecall Pro connects from your OnCrew dashboard. It needs Housecall Pro's MAX plan (their tier, not an OnCrew plan). Each real caller lands there as a customer and a lead tagged OnCrew, with the call summary, callback number and service address. Jobber, ServiceTitan and other tools get one record per real call (summary, callback number, service address and a link to the call) through the webhook export. Connect it yourself with Zapier, or we set it up with you at no extra charge. It does not book onto your Jobber or ServiceTitan schedule.

QuickBooks is not integrated.

How each connection works

Reaching a person

Can a caller reach a person fast?

Not by live transfer on a new line yet.

The numbers new signups get today cannot put a caller through to your team. Settings shows whether your line can transfer.

A caller who asks for a person hears that the team is out on jobs, or after hours that the office is closed, and the receptionist takes the details with a note that they asked for a live person.

An urgent call goes to your on-call electrician by text when the call ends, so someone can call back right away.

Prices with the date we read them

AI Receptionists for Electricians, Compared

What each AI receptionist an electrical shop is likely to compare charges to start, as printed on its own pricing page on the date in its row.

AI Receptionists for Electricians, Compared: entry price, billing unit, field software, fit and the date each vendor's pricing page was read
Vendor	Entry price	What one unit is	Field software	Fits a shop that	Checked
OnCrewAI	Starter: $49/mo, 150 minutes	Per minute of answered calls, added up over the month and rounded up once; a hang-up on the greeting is not counted Past the plan: $0.49 per minute	Housecall Pro from the dashboard (on Housecall Pro's MAX plan); Jobber, ServiceTitan and other tools get each call through the webhook export	wants sparking, burning-smell and power-loss calls flagged urgent without writing the rules	Our own price, oncrew.ai/pricing
DialzaraAI	Plans and rates are published on dialzara.com/pricing	Per minute of talk time	Zapier and Make integrations on every plan	takes many short calls: it bills talk time, so short calls cost less there and long ones more	October 2, 2026, dialzara.com/pricing
GoodcallAI	Starter: $79/mo, 100 unique customers	Per unique customer a month, minutes not metered Past the plan: $0.79 per customer over 100	External tools on every plan (an API, an MCP server or your own code): 1 on Starter, 5 on Growth, 15 on Scale	hears from the same customers often: one number counts once a month and minutes are not metered	October 16, 2026, goodcall.com/pricing
RosieAI	Professional: $49/mo, 250 minutes	Per month, by included minutes Past 250 minutes you move up to Scale ($149/mo)	Zapier integration on every plan (its page: connect to 1,000+ apps)	has steady, short calls: going over the minutes moves the plan up a tier instead of billing per minute	October 17, 2026, heyrosie.com/pricing
Smith.aiAI, or people	AI Free: $0/mo, 25 calls a month AI Pro: $150/mo, 75 calls Receptionists Starter: $300/mo, 30 calls	Per call Past the plan: AI Free: $3.00 per call after 25 AI Pro: $2.50 per extra call Receptionists: $11.50 per call over 30	Its receptionist pricing page says call details are sent automatically to your CRM or Zapier	wants an AI first with people behind it: its AI page says a call can be passed to a live receptionist	October 16, 2026, smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist and smith.ai/pricing/receptionists

OnCrewAI

Entry price: Starter: $49/mo, 150 minutes
What one unit is: Per minute of answered calls, added up over the month and rounded up once; a hang-up on the greeting is not counted
Past the plan: $0.49 per minute
Field software: Housecall Pro from the dashboard (on Housecall Pro's MAX plan); Jobber, ServiceTitan and other tools get each call through the webhook export
Fits a shop that: wants sparking, burning-smell and power-loss calls flagged urgent without writing the rules
Checked: Our own price, oncrew.ai/pricing

DialzaraAI

Entry price: Plans and rates are published on dialzara.com/pricing
What one unit is: Per minute of talk time
Field software: Zapier and Make integrations on every plan
Fits a shop that: takes many short calls: it bills talk time, so short calls cost less there and long ones more
Checked: October 2, 2026, dialzara.com/pricing

GoodcallAI

Entry price: Starter: $79/mo, 100 unique customers
What one unit is: Per unique customer a month, minutes not metered
Past the plan: $0.79 per customer over 100
Field software: External tools on every plan (an API, an MCP server or your own code): 1 on Starter, 5 on Growth, 15 on Scale
Fits a shop that: hears from the same customers often: one number counts once a month and minutes are not metered
Checked: October 16, 2026, goodcall.com/pricing

RosieAI

Entry price: Professional: $49/mo, 250 minutes
What one unit is: Per month, by included minutes
Past 250 minutes you move up to Scale ($149/mo)
Field software: Zapier integration on every plan (its page: connect to 1,000+ apps)
Fits a shop that: has steady, short calls: going over the minutes moves the plan up a tier instead of billing per minute
Checked: October 17, 2026, heyrosie.com/pricing

Smith.aiAI, or people

Entry price: AI Free: $0/mo, 25 calls a month
AI Pro: $150/mo, 75 calls
Receptionists Starter: $300/mo, 30 calls
What one unit is: Per call
Past the plan:
AI Free: $3.00 per call after 25
AI Pro: $2.50 per extra call
Receptionists: $11.50 per call over 30
Field software: Its receptionist pricing page says call details are sent automatically to your CRM or Zapier
Fits a shop that: wants an AI first with people behind it: its AI page says a call can be passed to a live receptionist
Checked: October 16, 2026, smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist and smith.ai/pricing/receptionists

Vendors change plans, so check each page before you sign. Every vendor in this table also appears in the 13 electrician answering services compared.

Hear OnCrew answer a call before you compare: call (213) 319-5075. Emily answers as a sample plumbing company.

Wake-on-call vs queue-for-morning

Which Electrical Calls Wake the On-Call Electrician, and Which Wait Until Morning

Every customer call captures name, callback number, service address, home or business, and the issue in the caller's own words, with transcript and recording in the alert. The lane decides what happens at 3 AM:

WAKE: Sparking outlet, panel, or switch. On the urgent list. The caller is told to keep clear, to shut off the breaker only if safe, and to call 911 first on any fire risk; the alert is flagged urgent.
WAKE: Burning smell or heat at a panel, outlet, or fixture. Same keep-clear and 911-first guidance. Address, callback number, and the caller's own words on the smell and any smoke reach your electrician instantly, never in a digest.
WAKE: Outage with oxygen, dialysis, CPAP, or other medical device. Any power loss is urgent on its own. A medical device in the home goes into the alert in the caller's own words; your electrician decides whether to roll.
WAKE: Downed service wire, storm-damaged mast, or water near a live panel. Exposed live wiring is urgent. The address and the caller's description go to your electrician; the AI never suggests approaching the wire or the water.
WAKE: Generator or transfer-switch fault during an outage. An active outage is urgent even with backup power on site; what the caller says about the generator and switch rides along in the transcript.
QUEUE: EV charger quote, panel upgrade, lighting, or outlet-swap quote. Revenue, not urgent. The AI captures what they need, the address, and a preferred appointment time for your team to review; it never quotes a price.

Every call alerts you the moment it ends, urgent or routine, and a daily roundup email you pick in settings can come on top. The AI answers, triages, and alerts. Your team owns the actual callback, scheduling, and field decisions.

How the Answering Service for Electricians Works

Forward your number

Calls roll to OnCrew when you cannot pick up: always, after hours only, or on busy and no-answer. Your number stays the same.

AI answers as your shop

Greets the caller in your business name and runs intake: the issue in the caller's words, the service address, a callback number, and whether it is a home or a business.

Urgent electrician alerts

Urgent calls alert your on-call electrician right away with the address, summary, recording, and transcript. Routine calls alert you the moment they end too, and a daily roundup email can come on top.

AI vs Live Answering vs Voicemail for Electrical Contractors

Shops pricing an electrician call center or live receptionist choose between three models:

Coverage

OnCrew: 24/7/365, storm-week overflow included

Live answering: Often 24/7; ask whether nights and holidays carry a surcharge

Voicemail: Only if the caller leaves one

Electrical triage

OnCrew: Power-out, sparking-outlet, burning-smell, panel-failure, downed line, and exposed wiring calls flagged urgent; keep-clear and 911-first guidance on any fire risk

Live answering: Generic script unless every operator is trained on panel and breaker vocabulary

Voicemail: None

Pricing

OnCrew: $49 to $349 monthly, $0.49 to $0.99 per minute after

Live answering: PATLive $49/mo plus $2.99 per minute, Ruby $250/mo for 50 minutes, Smith.ai $300/mo for 30 calls (vendor pages; PATLive and Smith.ai checked October 16, 2026; Ruby checked October 2, 2026)

Voicemail: Free, but no triage, transcript, or on-call alert

OnCrew does not dispatch trucks, assign technicians, commit to a job arrival time, or own the schedule. Your team owns assignment, ETA, pricing, and field decisions.

Comparing vendors? The best answering service for electricians buyer guide puts 13 live and AI services side by side, with the prices they publish and what most of them would bill at 50, 150, and 300 calls a month. If your shop also takes HVAC or plumbing calls, the AI receptionist for contractors page covers HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, and carpentry shops. If you searched for an AI dispatcher for electrical contractors, the AI dispatcher for contractors page says what the phrase means in practice: OnCrew triages and alerts; the dispatch decision stays with your team.

Taking HVAC or construction calls as well? The HVAC answering service and construction answering service pages show how those calls are handled. Every trade OnCrew answers for is covered on the contractor answering service page, and the demo page plays a recorded call.

After-hours call

What Happens on an After-Hours Electrical Call

OnCrew answers in your company name whether the office is open or closed. Your configured hours tell the AI receptionist when you are closed and when you open next, so a routine caller hears that the team will have their details first thing at the next opening, while an urgent caller hears that your team is alerted the moment the call ends and someone calls back as soon as possible, and it does not promise a callback time. On every call it collects the caller's name, the best callback number, the service address, the issue, whether the property is a home or a business, how urgent it is, and a preferred time. For electrical work, sparking outlets or panels, a burning smell from wiring, exposed live wires, partial or full power loss, or a breaker that will not reset is treated as urgent, and on sparking, smoke, or a burning smell the AI tells the caller to keep clear, shut off the breaker only if it is safe, and call 911 first if there is any fire risk. Urgent calls reach your on-call electrician by text with the caller's name, number, address, and need, and by email with the full transcript and the recording when it is available.

After hours: open or closed and the next opening come from your configured hours, and urgent requests are flagged so they are seen first.
Electrical triage: sparking outlets or panels, burning smells from wiring, exposed live wires, power loss, and breakers that will not reset are urgent; routine panel, lighting, and estimate calls queue for the morning callback.
On-call alert: an urgent text to your on-call team, plus the email with the full transcript and the recording when it is available. With SMS Follow-Ups on, the caller gets one text confirming the call came in, and a caller who hangs up before saying a word gets one text asking what they need; replies come to your phone.
Housecall Pro connects from your OnCrew dashboard. It needs Housecall Pro's MAX plan (their tier, not an OnCrew plan). Each real caller lands there as a customer and a lead tagged OnCrew, with the call summary, callback number and service address. Jobber, ServiceTitan and other tools get one record per real call (summary, callback number, service address and a link to the call) through the webhook export. Connect it yourself with Zapier, or we set it up with you at no extra charge. It does not book onto your Jobber or ServiceTitan schedule. QuickBooks is not integrated.
Your team still decides who goes out, what it costs, and when. The AI receptionist captures and alerts; it never quotes a price or promises an arrival time.

A Sparking Outlet and an EV Charger Quote: Two After-Hours Electrical Calls

Two example electrical calls after hours, one urgent and one routine, and what the receptionist does on each.

Urgent call

"An outlet in the garage sparked and now it smells like burning plastic."

A sparking outlet and a burning smell from wiring are on the electrical urgent list, so the receptionist asks for the service address and the best callback number before anything else.
It tells the caller to keep clear, shut off the breaker only if that is safe, and call 911 first if there is any fire risk.
It tells the caller your team is alerted the moment the call ends and someone calls back as soon as possible, and never says a crew is on the way or gives a callback time.
Your on-call electrician gets the urgent text with the caller's name, number, address and need.

Routine call

"I'd like a quote to install an EV charger in my garage."

The electrical urgent list covers sparking outlets or panels, a burning smell from wiring, exposed live wires, partial or full power loss and a breaker that will not reset. An install quote is not one of them, so unless the caller says it is urgent, it is taken as a routine request.
It takes the caller's name, the best callback number, the service address and a preferred time, and after hours says the team will have the details first thing at your next opening.

Questions an electrical shop can add

Add them to your notes in Settings and the receptionist asks them on routine calls, one short question at a time, skipping anything the caller already said. Urgent calls keep to the essentials.

The panel size or brand, if the caller knows it.
Whether the caller owns the home or rents it.
Whether the job is in an existing home or new construction.

Simple Plans for Electrical Call Volume

Extra minutes are $0.49 each on Starter, $0.99 on Pro and Multi-Truck; hang-ups before anyone speaks and recognized robocalls are not counted.

Starter

$49/mo

150 included minutes

Pro

$149/mo

200 included minutes

Multi-Truck

$349/mo

500 included minutes

See the pricing page.

What to Ask Any Electrical Answering Service

Does it answer the same way on a storm night, a holiday weekend, and when the crew is already on a call?
How does it separate a sparking outlet from a tripped GFCI, and an ozone smell from burning plastic?
Does smoke or visible flame stay on a 911-first boundary before any callback?
Where does the urgent alert land, and what does it carry: address, breaker state, medical-equipment flag, transcript?
Is the bill per-call or per-minute when a worried homeowner talks through a panel issue for eight minutes?

Then compare published prices, vendor by vendor, in the electrician answering service comparison.

Electrician Answering Service FAQ

What is an answering service for electricians?

An answering service for electricians answers your electrical line when the crew cannot pick up. OnCrew is the AI version: it greets callers in your shop name, listens for power loss, sparking outlets, burning smells, and panel failures, captures the service address and callback number, and alerts your on-call electrician with the summary, recording, and transcript. Plans start at $49 per month for 150 included minutes.

How much does an electrician answering service cost?

OnCrew is $49/mo for 150 included minutes, $149/mo for 200 minutes, and $349/mo for 500 minutes, then $0.49 per minute on Starter, $0.99 on Pro and Multi-Truck. At full use that is about $0.33 a minute on Starter, $0.75 on Pro and $0.70 on Multi-Truck. Live answering services price by the minute or by the call. Their own pricing pages list PATLive at $49/mo plus $2.99 per minute, Ruby at $250/mo for 50 minutes and Smith.ai at $300/mo for 30 calls (PATLive and Smith.ai checked October 16, 2026; Ruby checked October 2, 2026).

Is OnCrew an AI dispatcher for electricians?

No. OnCrew triages and alerts; it does not dispatch trucks or assign electricians. A licensed person on your team still decides whether to roll a truck, what to quote, and when to arrive.

Will the AI tell a caller to open a panel or reset the main breaker?

No. On sparking, smoke, or a burning smell the script tells the caller to keep clear, to shut off the breaker only if safe, and to call 911 first on any fire risk. It never walks a caller through opening a panel or touching wiring, and never quotes a price.

Is there a free answering service available?

Voicemail and forwarding to your cell are free, but nobody sorts a burning-smell call from a quote request and nobody is alerted. OnCrew is not free, but every plan starts with a 14-day free trial that does not ask for a card: forward your after-hours calls to it, read the transcripts, and cancel anytime if it is not a fit. After the trial, Starter is $49 a month for 150 included minutes with no setup fee, and a call that ends before anyone speaks is not counted against the plan.

What happens when a caller insists on a real person?

With live transfer off, the default, Emily says the team is out on jobs (or, after hours, that the office is closed). She asks what the call is about and takes the details, with a note that the caller asked for a live person. If your line can transfer (the numbers new signups get today cannot yet) and you switch live transfer on, she offers to connect the caller to the people you list. In the default handoff, if nobody picks up within about 20 seconds, or the longer ring you pick in Settings, Emily comes back on the line and takes a message; with the direct handoff the caller stays on that phone, voicemail included.

Does it answer Spanish-speaking callers?

Calls are handled in English by default. Spanish (Latin American) is a setting you switch on in your dashboard at no extra charge. English and Spanish are the languages Emily speaks today. If many of your callers speak Spanish, test it on your own line before you forward everything.

What is the best AI receptionist for an electrical company?

The one that handles your calls, so test each against five things. Does it treat sparking, a burning smell from wiring, exposed live wires and power loss as urgent without you writing the rules, and tell the caller to keep clear and call 911 first if there is any fire risk? What is one billed unit (a call, a minute or a unique customer), and what does a storm-outage week cost at that rate? How does an urgent call reach your on-call electrician: by text, by email, or both, with the recording? What lands in your field software after each call? And what happens when a caller asks for a person? Place a sparking-outlet test call to each one before you forward your line.