What is a virtual receptionist for contractors?+
A virtual receptionist for contractors answers your business phone in your company name when your team cannot pick up so callers reach a real conversation instead of voicemail. The classic model is a remote human agent on a per-minute or per-call meter. OnCrew is a 24/7 AI virtual receptionist for contractors: it answers in your business name, asks trade-specific questions for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, and carpentry calls, captures the address, contact info, and the issue in the caller's own words, and alerts your on-call crew on real emergencies. Plans start at $49 per month for 100 calls.
How is an AI receptionist different from a live virtual receptionist for contractors?+
A live virtual receptionist is a remote human agent who answers your business line in your company name, follows your script, takes a message, and pages your team on a per-call or per-minute meter during covered hours. An AI receptionist like OnCrew handles the same first conversation 24/7 in your business name on a predictable monthly plan, captures the same caller details, and alerts your on-call crew on real emergencies. Live receptionists tend to win on long, warm, judgment-heavy daytime calls. AI tends to win on after-hours coverage, trade-specific urgency triage on no-heat or burst pipe calls, and predictable monthly billing during a freeze night or storm surge.
How much does a virtual receptionist for contractors cost?+
OnCrew's AI virtual receptionist for contractors starts at $49 per month for 100 included calls, with Pro at $149 per month for 400 calls and Multi-Truck at $349 per month for 1,000 calls. Calls beyond your plan are $0.99 each. Live virtual receptionists bill per minute or per call: Ruby starts at $250/mo for 50 minutes, and Smith.ai's receptionist plans start at $300/mo for 30 calls ($11.50 per call over 30); Ruby's page was checked October 2, 2026 and Smith.ai's October 16, 2026. Ask any live vendor for setup, after-hours premium, transfer-minute, and seat fees in writing, and whether transcripts and recordings cost extra.
Does a virtual receptionist replace my published business number?+
No. Keep your existing published business number on your website, Google Business Profile, vehicle wraps, and invoices. You forward the line, always or conditionally on busy or no-answer, and the caller hears your business name. The forwarding is invisible to them.
What happens to an emergency call at 2 AM?+
The AI receptionist answers in your company name, and your configured hours tell it the office is closed. It takes the caller's name, callback number, service address and the problem, and checks it against your trade's urgent list: no heat, a burst pipe or a sewage backup, sparking or a burning smell from wiring, an active roof leak, or a caller who says it is an emergency. On a gas smell, smoke or fire it tells the caller to get clear and call 911 first. The moment the call ends, you and the people you set up for urgent alerts get a text marked urgent, with an email carrying the transcript and the recording when it is available, so a person on your team decides whether to roll a truck. It never quotes a price or promises an arrival time.
Can it transfer an emergency caller to my on-call tech?+
Yes, once you switch live transfer on. It is off by default: the AI receptionist says the team is out on jobs (or, after hours, that the office is closed), takes the details, and you get the text. With live transfer on, it offers to connect the caller to the people you list. By default it stays with the caller while the phone rings, and if nobody picks up within about 25 seconds, or the 45 or 60 seconds you can choose in Settings, it comes back on the line and takes a message. If your cell forwards its calls to OnCrew, that cell cannot be the transfer number, because the transfer would ring the receptionist again; use a phone your team answers directly.
Is OnCrew an answering service or a receptionist?+
OnCrew is an AI receptionist, though many contractors search for it as an answering service. A classic answering service takes a message and passes it along. OnCrew answers in your company name, asks your trade's intake questions, sorts urgent calls from routine ones by your rules, texts and emails you after every call, plus the teammates you add to alerts, and can transfer live when you switch that on. It does not dispatch crews, quote prices or promise arrival times; your team keeps those decisions.
What are the common ways contractors get virtual receptionist coverage wrong?+
Three patterns: hiring an in-house receptionist for after-hours coverage and ending up with a 9-to-5 employee plus voicemail on nights and weekends; picking a per-minute live service and getting blindsided by a large invoice during a freeze week; and picking an AI without an explicit trade-specific urgency-trigger list, so routine quote requests page the on-call tech at 2am. Empathy on tone-heavy calls is still a gap for AI compared to a trained human, and complex billing or insurance disputes route better to a live operator first.
Is OnCrew a virtual receptionist for carpenters and finish-trim contractors?+
Yes. OnCrew works as a virtual receptionist for carpenters, finish-trim contractors, framers, remodelers, and general contractors who run calls from the truck and the job site. The AI captures finish-trim callbacks, framing job-site missed calls, remodel walkthrough requests, punch-list questions, change-order follow-ups, and after-hours job-site issues with the project name, address, and contact info already pulled together for your PM, foreman, or estimator.
Does OnCrew send a technician or commit to an arrival time?+
No. OnCrew is a virtual receptionist that answers, captures, triages, alerts, and summarizes the call. It does not promise truck arrival times, assign technicians on the call, route trucks, run project management, or commit your team before your team has confirmed it. Those decisions stay with your owner, your office manager, your estimator, and your on-call crew. The AI replaces voicemail and after-hours dead air for the first conversation, not your team's judgment on what to do next.
Will callers know they are talking to AI?+
The AI receptionist answers in your company name and takes the call the way a receptionist would. If a caller asks whether it is a person, a recording, or an AI, it answers honestly in one breath: it is the automated assistant that takes down what they need, and a live person from your company calls them back. Then it asks what it can pass along. It never claims to be a person.
What is the best AI receptionist for a contractor?+
The one that handles your trade's calls, so test each against five things. Does it know your trade's urgent calls (a no-heat call, a burst pipe, sparking, an active roof leak) without you writing the rules, and give the 911-first safety line where it applies? What is one billed unit (a call, a minute or a unique customer), and what does a busy week cost at that rate? How does an urgent call reach your on-call team: 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 test call with your own most common emergency to each one before you forward your line.