You're under a house. Phone buzzes. By the time you crawl out, they've hung up. No voicemail. They already called the next guy on Google. You didn't even know that was a $2,800 bathroom remodel.
How much is this actually costing you? We looked at thousands of contractor calls. The answer is ugly.
The numbers. They're ugly.
- 30% of calls to home service contractors go unanswered during business hours
- 62% of callers won't leave a voicemail — they'll just call someone else
- 85% of people whose calls aren't answered will not call back
- The average contractor misses 12-18 calls per week
- At a 40% booking rate, that's 5-7 lost jobs per week
Now let's look at how bad it is for your specific trade.
How bad is it for your trade?
| Industry | Avg. Missed Call Rate | Avg. Job Value | Monthly Loss (Est.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC | 28% | $450 | $5,400 |
| Plumbing | 32% | $325 | $4,160 |
| Electrical | 25% | $375 | $3,750 |
| Roofing | 35% | $8,500 | $11,900 |
| General Contracting | 38% | $12,000 | $18,240 |
*Monthly loss calculated as: (Missed calls per month) × (Booking rate of 40%) × (Job value)
Read that again: Roofers and GCs miss the most calls AND have the biggest jobs. A roofer missing 35% of calls at $8,500/job? That's almost $12K/month walking away. For the price of a gas station lunch every day.
The real damage. It's worse than you think.
A missed call isn't one lost job. It's a chain reaction.
1. The $400 job you lost.
Average job, gone. Five missed calls that would've booked? That's $2,000 in a week. Gone because you were on a roof.
2. The 3 referrals you'll never get.
Every customer you serve sends 2-3 people your way over time. Lose the customer, lose the whole chain. That's $1,200+ in future work.
3. The 5-star review that never happens.
Can't get a review from a customer you never served. Reviews drive 20-30% of your new calls. Fewer reviews = fewer calls = less money. It compounds.
4. The customer for life you never met.
HVAC customers need service twice a year. Plumbing issues come back. That one missed call? Could've been 10 years of steady work. Gone.
When you miss them
Here's when the money walks away:
| Time Period | % of Missed Calls | Primary Reason |
|---|---|---|
| During jobs (9am-4pm) | 45% | Hands are busy, can't answer |
| After hours (5pm-9pm) | 28% | Off the clock, phone forwarded to voicemail |
| Lunch/breaks | 15% | Brief window, calls stack up |
| Weekends | 12% | Emergency calls with no coverage |
Nearly half your missed calls happen while you're doing the actual work. Hands dirty. On a roof. Under a house. The rest are after hours, when emergencies happen and you're trying to eat dinner.
What happens after you don't answer
This is the part that should keep you up at night:
- 67% call the next contractor on their list within 5 minutes
- 62% won't bother leaving a voicemail
- 85% won't call you back — even if you call them back later
- 48% assume if you didn't answer, you're either too busy or out of business
5 minutes. That's your window. After that, your chances of ever talking to that lead drop 80%. When you're elbow-deep in a condenser, 5 minutes isn't happening.
What the guys booking more jobs do differently
Three ways to fix this. Two of them are expensive and half-broken.
Hire someone. $2,500-4,000/month.
Full-time receptionist. Books appointments. Answers questions. But: sick days, lunch breaks, quits in 6 months, doesn't work nights or weekends. Your 2am emergency? Voicemail.
Answering service. $800-1,500/month.
Call center takes messages. Can't book jobs. Can't answer "Do you service Trane units?" Can't do anything except write down a name and number. Then YOU still have to call everyone back. 85% won't pick up.
AI receptionist. $297-497/month.
Answers like a real person. Knows your trade. Books jobs directly on your calendar. Kills spam. Works 24/7. Never calls in sick. Costs less than your monthly gas bill.
How much are YOU losing?
Plug in your numbers. See the damage. Then decide if $297/month is worth it.
Do the MathHere's the deal.
Missing calls isn't a minor annoyance. It's the biggest money leak in your business. 30% missed calls at $350/job = $4,000-6,000/month walking straight to your competition.
The fix costs $297/month. That's less than what most contractors lose in a single week of missed calls. Less than your monthly gas bill.
The question isn't whether you can afford it. It's how long you want to keep handing jobs to the guy who answers his phone.
Call Jessica. Right now.
Pretend your AC just died. See how she handles it. Then imagine that working for your business 24/7.