A good answering service for contractors answers every call, tells the burst pipe from the quote request, books into your field-service software, and follows up on the leads that go quiet. Our pick is Mecha, and full disclosure: it's our own product. The seven closest alternatives are reviewed below, fairly, with pricing as of October 2026.
Ranked on three tests: does it book the job instead of taking a message, does the price hold up in your busiest week, and how simple is it to get live.
Books into ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, or Jobber, holds a flat price in storm week, runs calls and texts in one system, and goes live in about two weeks. And you don't build any of it: we custom build, test and tune it for you. It passes all three tests. I built it, so weigh that however you like.
The strongest specialist besides us, with a deep ServiceTitan integration and a full voice, text, and outbound suite. Pricing takes a demo.
For Jobber users, $29/mo is the cheapest way to stop sending calls to voicemail. Shallower on triage, and it only works inside Jobber.
A dental office wants a message taken politely. A contractor needs six things:
Pricing as of October 2026, from each vendor's own pages. Rates change often, so confirm at the source before you buy.
Custom built, tested and tuned for you by a team that does this all day. Answers every call, triages emergency vs routine, and books the job. Also calls out (estimate follow-up, reactivation, speed-to-lead) and texts (missed-call text back, two-way AI texting, outbound SMS, confirmations and reminders).
Pricing: Flat monthly, quoted to your call volume. Never per-minute or per-call, with unlimited concurrent calls.
Watch for: Built only for home services, so a law firm or dental office should look elsewhere. Pricing takes a quick quote.
Best for: $5M–$50M contractors.
Our closest direct competitor. Inbound voice, speed-to-lead, outbound campaigns, and CSR coaching, with a deep ServiceTitan integration.
Pricing: Not published. Every inquiry starts with a demo.
Watch for: Case studies skew toward larger multi-location operators.
Best for: Large ServiceTitan shops.
Started with SMS and still does text follow-up best: 27+ lead-source integrations and a no-code bot builder. Voice came later.
Pricing: Platform fee plus usage on annual contracts. Not published.
Watch for: Reviewers mention integration sync problems and no early exit from the contract.
Best for: Text-first lead follow-up.
ServiceTitan's own agent books against real technician availability and handles after-hours calls. ServiceTitan quotes about 20 minutes of setup.
Pricing: A per-call usage fee. The rate is not published.
Watch for: ServiceTitan customers only, and parts of the contact-center product are still labeled early access.
Best for: ServiceTitan shops wanting one vendor.
Answers calls and texts 24/7 and books visits inside Jobber. The cheapest option on this page.
Pricing: $29/mo add-on, $0.79 per extra conversation, included on Plus. Jobber's own help articles disagree on how many conversations the $29 covers.
Watch for: Emergencies run on keyword triggers you set, and booking needs Jobber's Online Booking turned on.
Best for: Small Jobber crews, overflow.
Answers calls, books jobs, and logs every call inside Housecall Pro.
Pricing: An add-on, quote only.
Watch for: Housecall Pro only, and its pages don't say how it handles outbound calls or emergency triage.
Best for: Housecall Pro users, one login.
A toolkit an agency assembles for you, inside HighLevel.
Pricing: AI Employee from $50/mo per location, plus pay-per-use voice rates, phone minutes and SMS billed separately, plus your agency's markup.
Watch for: No home-services triage built in. Quality depends on your agency's prompt.
Best for: Shops whose agency runs HighLevel.
AI first with live receptionists behind it, built for general business lines.
Pricing: A free AI tier of 25 calls, then per-call overage ($3.00 down to $1.50 per call at higher tiers).
Watch for: Books to calendars but is not built for dispatch, and add-ons stack up.
Best for: General line with human backup.
Volume spikes with the weather, so concurrency and flat pricing matter most, and triage has to tell a no-heat emergency from a tune-up. Our pick: Mecha. Running a large multi-location shop on ServiceTitan? Put Avoca and ServiceTitan's own agent on the shortlist too. More on our HVAC answering service page.
Plumbing lives on after-hours emergencies: burst pipes, backed-up sewers, dead water heaters. Triage and fast dispatch decide who wins the job. Our pick: Mecha. A small crew on Jobber can get by with Jobber's receptionist and good keyword rules. See our plumbing answering service page.
Roofing is storm-driven. Calls arrive in a wave after hail, and estimate follow-up decides the sale. Look for unlimited concurrency, outbound follow-up, and texting in one system. Our pick: Mecha, which covers all three. See our roofing answering service page.
Not a contractor, or want the wider field? See our best answering service for small business roundup.
Talk to Jill, our AI agent, and hear how she handles a real contractor call. Flat monthly, unlimited concurrent calls, live in about two weeks, and you'll love it or it's free.