Predictable pricing. No per-minute traps.
For many contractors, one booked emergency job can cover months of service. Start with a 14-day free trial.
Generic live answering services typically charge $200 to $500 per month with per-minute hold-time billing. OnCrew is built for contractors with simple, predictable pricing.
Free 14-day trial. No credit card required to start. Cancel anytime. After the 14-day trial, plans start at $49/mo.
Want guided setup instead?Compare all 3 plans side by sidePick the plan that fits your call volume
All plans include emergency triage, transcripts, and team handoff. Move tiers anytime as you grow.
Every call on our lines gets answered around the clock, including the ones at 2 AM.
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Guided setup
Hours, voice, forwarding.
Your 14-day trial starts
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Starter
Best for solo contractors testing after-hours coverage.
- 1 AI phone number
- Emergency triage & alerts
- Call transcripts & recordings
- Calendar booking and SMS job summaries
- Basic analytics
Free 14-day trial. No credit card required to start. Cancel anytime before the trial ends.
Want guided setup instead?Pro
Best for growing teams that need more handoff and coverage.
- Everything in Starter
- 2 AI phone numbers
- Workflow handoff setup for your current tools
- Appointment request capture and team handoff
- Priority support
Free 14-day trial. No credit card required to start. Cancel anytime before the trial ends.
Want guided setup instead?Multi-Truck
Best for multi-crew and high-volume operations.
- Everything in Pro
- 5 AI phone numbers
- Custom AI voice training
- Multi-location support
- Dedicated account manager
- Custom workflow planning
Free 14-day trial. No credit card required to start. Cancel anytime before the trial ends.
Want guided setup instead?All plans include emergency triage. No setup fees. $0.99 per additional call after included. Cancel anytime. Annual billing saves 2 months.
How Much Does an AI Answering Service Cost?
An AI answering service for contractors costs $49 per month for the entry plan (100 included calls, $0.99 per-call overage), $149 per month for 400 included calls, and $349 per month for 1,000 included calls on OnCrew. Human-staffed live answering services like Smith.ai and Ruby commonly start at $250 to $300 per month with much smaller included-call or receptionist-minute bundles. The AI option is 4 to 8 times cheaper at typical contractor call volume and runs 24/7 without per-minute billing or holiday surcharges. Annual billing takes two months off each tier ($490, $1,490, or $3,490 per year).
Contractor Answering Service Pricing: The 3 Tiers
Most contractor answering services fall into three pricing tiers in 2026. Monthly-tier AI services (OnCrew at $49 to $349 per month) include a call quota with a per-call overage, typically capped at $0.99 per extra call. Per-call human services (AnswerForce, PATLive) charge $1.25 to $2.50 per answered call with no flat base. Bundle-based human services (Smith.ai, Ruby) start near $250 to $300 per month for a small bundle (a 30-call quota at Smith.ai, 50 receptionist minutes at Ruby, as of July 2026) and bill overage on every extra call or minute. Monthly tiers stay predictable on storm or freeze weeks; metered plans punish the shop on its highest-call-volume night.
Try it on a real call first
Hear the AI answer before you forward a single call
Talk to Sarah in your browser right now, or start the trial and test her on your own number. Starter is $49/month with 100 included calls after the trial, then $0.99/call overage.
14-day free trial·No credit card to start·30-day money-back guarantee
What every plan includes
What is not in the bill
For many contractors, one booked emergency job can cover months of OnCrew service.
You only need to win back a single after-hours job to make Starter pencil out for the year. Every captured callback after that is upside.
Worked example: an after-hours HVAC emergency call is often worth $350 to $450 in booked work. At $49/mo, one captured job covers roughly seven months of Starter.
- Trade-aware triage so true emergencies get a fast callback.
- Predictable $0.99 overage. No per-minute hold-time billing.
- Full transcripts plus the callback request handed to your team.
Starter
100 calls/month included. $0.99 per additional call. Cancel anytime.
Just trying it on? Start with Starter. We will help you upgrade later when call volume actually demands it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens during the 14-day free trial?
Can I cancel anytime?
What if I go over my call limit?
Do callers know they're talking to AI?
How long does setup take?
How is this different from Smith.ai or Ruby?
Does it work with my existing software?
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Still have questions? Call (818) 578-4783
Want the workflow and trust basics first? See how OnCrew handles your calls
Related guides and decision aids
Trade-specific intake walkthroughs, pricing models, and head-to-head comparisons to help you pick the right phone-coverage setup for your shop.
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Cost, response speed, and triage-accuracy comparison between AI agents and live receptionists for the trades.
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Per-minute and tier-based pricing breakdown for Ruby and how it compares to flat-rate AI for contractors.
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Local-market case context for OC HVAC, plumbing, and electrical shops adopting AI phone coverage.
Best AI answering service (buyer guide)
Long-form buyer guide covering trade-built vs general AI, integrations, triage, and pricing for contractors.
Contractor virtual receptionist buyer guide
Evaluation framework for virtual-receptionist providers: hours, transfer flows, dispatch handoff, and pricing.
AI receptionist vs answering service
Decision aid on when to use AI receptionist, when to use a traditional answering service, and when to use both.
Contractor answering service cost
Per-minute, flat-rate, and AI pricing models for contractor answering services, with sample monthly invoices.
After-hours answering service guide
How to staff nights, weekends, and holidays for service calls without paying receptionists to wait by a phone.
Emergency call routing setup
Step-by-step setup for emergency call routing: forwarding, triage rules, on-call rotation, and escalation paths.
Answering service cost calculator
Estimate monthly answering service cost from your call volume, average minutes per call, and per-minute rate.
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