If you work with your hands, you cannot answer the phone, and the caller does not wait. Most people ringing a plumber or an electrician are ringing three of them, and the job goes to the first one who picks up. An answering service for tradespeople takes that call while you are under a sink: it asks what the problem is, where they are, and when they need you, then sends you the whole thing as a message with a name and a number. You call back a lead, not a missed call.
The economics of a trade are simple and brutal. A missed call is not a delayed job, it is a lost job, because the customer keeps dialling until someone answers. By the time you are back in the van and scrolling through missed numbers, they have already booked.
The hours make it worse. You cannot take a call with your hands full, in a loft, on a ladder, under a floor, or with a drill running. Then the day ends and the calls keep coming, because a leak does not wait for office hours.
Voicemail catches almost none of it. People calling a tradesperson want to talk to someone now, and a recorded greeting is a cue to hang up and try the next number. The ones who do leave a message often leave a name so rushed you cannot make out the number.
You give it the questions you would ask yourself. Upload your service area, what work you do and do not take on, your call-out and hourly rates, your availability, your emergency policy, as a document or a link to your site. The agent answers from that and asks the things you actually need to know.
On a call it can:
With PhoneMyAgent you upload your rates and your service area, pick a voice and greeting, and forward your existing mobile or business line to it whenever you cannot answer. Your number on the van and on your cards does not change.
For a trade, the value is not the conversation, it is what lands in your pocket afterward. After every call you get an email with the transcript, a short summary, and the details the agent captured: the name, the number, the address, the problem in the caller's own words, and how urgent it is.
That is enough to price a job in your head before you ring back, and enough to decide which of four calls to return first. It also means the details are written down rather than remembered, so nothing gets lost between the van and the paperwork.
| Voicemail | Call divert to a mate | Traditional answering service | PhoneMyAgent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Answers while you are on a job | Records only | Sometimes | Yes | Yes, always |
| Answers evenings and weekends | Records only | No | Extra cost | Yes |
| Knows your rates and service area | No | Roughly | No | Yes, from your documents |
| Captures a usable lead | Rarely | Sometimes | Yes | Yes, with a transcript |
| Cost | Low | Favours | Monthly retainer | Monthly plan, all-in |
It will answer every call, confirm your area and rates, ask the right questions, capture the job details, mark urgency, and email you a transcript and summary. It tells every caller at the start that it is an AI assistant.
It will not diagnose the fault, quote a fixed price for a job it has not seen, or promise you will be there in an hour. Those are your calls to make, and it takes the details so you can make them.
Be clear on one thing: it is not an emergency service. A caller with a gas smell, a fire, or a medical emergency must ring the emergency services, not your business line. The agent can flag a job as urgent so you see it first, but urgent is not the same as an emergency, and nothing here replaces 112 or 122.
Yes. It answers while you are on a job, confirms whether the work is in your area and the kind you take, gives your call-out and hourly rates from your own price list, and captures the problem, address, and urgency as a message you get by email.
An email with the full transcript, a short summary, and the details the caller gave: name, number, address, what is wrong, and how soon they need someone. Enough to price the job roughly and decide who to ring back first.
It can capture an urgent job and mark it so it stands out, but it is not an emergency service and must not be treated as one. Anyone in danger, or dealing with gas, fire, or a medical emergency, should call the emergency services directly.
No. You keep your number and forward it to the number we provide, either all the time or only when you cannot answer. The number on your van, your cards, and your listings stays the same, and you can turn the forward on and off from your own phone.
Yes. Every caller hears a short disclosure at the start that they are speaking to an AI assistant. It is on by default, and you choose the voice and the greeting so it still sounds like your business.
Pricing is a monthly plan that includes an allowance of call minutes, and it is all-inclusive: one price covers both the AI and the telephony, with no setup fee and no separate surcharges. Evenings and weekends come out of the same plan rather than costing extra. You can start with 45 free minutes, no card. The plans are on our pricing page.
New to this? Start with what PhoneMyAgent is and how it works, or read how to forward your existing line. Then divert your mobile for a day on site and see what lands in your inbox.
Never miss another call
An AI agent answers your business phone, knows your documents, and emails you what happened after every call. 45 free minutes to try, no card required.
Try PhoneMyAgent free