How much does an answering service cost? 2026 pricing for contractors
· Updated · 4 min read · By the Fullweek team
Short answer
Live answering services usually cost $250 to $400 a month for 50 to 200 minutes, which works out to roughly $1.30 to $5 a minute, plus overage. AI answering services typically charge $100 to $500 a month or $1.50 to $3 a call. For a contractor taking 300 calls a month, minute-based plans often pass $1,500. Compare them by cost per booked job.
Key takeaways
- There are four pricing models: per minute, per call, flat monthly, and per booked job.
- Published live plans run about $250 for 50 minutes up to $1,725 for 500 minutes at Ruby, and about $350 for 200 minutes at AnswerConnect.
- Per-minute plans charge for spam, hold time and busy months, exactly when you can least afford it.
- A shop with 300 calls a month at 3 minutes each uses 900 minutes, well past most bundles.
- The fair comparison is total monthly cost divided by booked jobs the service produced.
On this page
The four ways answering services charge
| Model | How it works | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Per minute | A monthly bundle of receptionist minutes, then overage | Overage rates, rounding up each call, spam using minutes |
| Per call | A bundle of calls, then a fee per extra call | What counts as a call, fees for transfers to a person |
| Flat monthly | One price for unlimited or very high volume | Fair-use caps, setup fees |
| Per booked job | A base fee plus a fee only when a job is booked | How "booked" is counted, and whether it is measured from your own software |
What popular services charge (published plans)
Prices change often, so check each provider's site before you buy. These are the plans published as of November 2026:
| Service | Type | Published plans | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby | Live receptionists | $250 / 50 min, $395 / 100 min, $720 / 200 min, $1,725 / 500 min | $3.45 to $5.00 per minute |
| AnswerConnect | Live receptionists | About $350 / 200 min and up | About $1.75 per minute, more on overage |
| Smith.ai | AI receptionist (human add-on) | AI plans from about $95 to $150 a month for a call bundle | About $1.60 to $3 per call |
| Fullweek | AI front desk for home services | $497 / month flat (Starter), $997 + $35 per booked job above baseline (Growth) | Unlimited calls, priced on booked jobs |
The math for a busy home service company
Minute bundles look cheap until you count your calls. Take a plumbing or HVAC shop that sends 300 calls a month to the service, overflow during the day plus nights and weekends, at an average of 3 minutes a call:
| Per-minute live service | Per-call AI service | Flat or per-job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly usage | 900 minutes | 300 calls | 300 calls |
| Typical rate | $1.75 to $3.45 a minute | $2 a call | Flat |
| Estimated monthly cost | $1,575 to $3,100 | About $600 | $497 to $997 + per job |
| Spam and robocalls | Billed | Usually billed | Filtered, not billed |
In a heat wave or a freeze, call volume can double, and so does a per-minute bill. Overage minutes are often priced above the plan rate.
Hidden costs to ask about
- Overage rates once you pass your bundle, and whether they are higher than the plan rate.
- Rounding. Some services round each call up to the next 30 or 60 seconds.
- Spam and robocalls. Ask whether they count against your minutes or calls.
- Holiday and after-hours surcharges.
- Setup and onboarding fees, and charges for changing scripts.
- Transfers and patches to your on-call tech, sometimes billed as extra minutes.
- Contracts and cancellation notice periods.
Compare by cost per booked job
Price per minute tells you what the service costs. It doesn't tell you what it earns. A cheap service that takes messages, and leaves your office to call back the next morning, loses the emergency jobs that pay the most. The number that matters is:
If a $400 message-taking service leads to 8 booked jobs after callbacks, that is $50 a job. If a $997 service that books on the call produces 40 jobs, that is about $25 a job, and more revenue. In our scan of contractor reviews, about 1 in 7 contractors had customers complaining that nobody answered, so the calls you miss today are usually the cheapest jobs to win back.
Which type is right for you?
- Low volume, mostly messages: a small live bundle can be enough if you call back fast.
- Emergency trades with night and weekend calls: you need something that triages and books on the call. See our after hours answering service.
- Busy seasons and storm spikes: avoid per-minute bundles, or cap your exposure. A 24/7 answering service with no hold queue handles spikes.
- Spanish-speaking customers: check whether bilingual answering costs extra. Ours is included, see bilingual answering service.
Fullweek is an AI answering service for home service companies: unlimited calls, booking into your field-service software, and a monthly report on cost per booked job. See pricing or get a free city audit.
Sources
FAQ
How much does an answering service cost per month?
Live answering services usually start around $250 to $350 a month for 50 to 200 minutes. AI answering services usually run $100 to $500 a month. Busy home service companies often spend $1,000 or more on per-minute plans once overage is included.
How much does an answering service cost per minute?
Published live plans work out to roughly $1.30 to $5 per minute, with the lowest rates on the largest bundles. Overage minutes are often more expensive than the plan rate.
Is an AI answering service cheaper than a live one?
Usually, especially at higher volume, because AI services charge per call or a flat fee instead of per minute, and answer many calls at once. Compare total cost per booked job, not just the rate.
Do answering services charge for spam calls?
Many do, because spam calls use minutes or count as calls. Ask before you sign. Fullweek filters spam and robocalls before they reach your team, and they are not billed.
What is the cheapest answering service for contractors?
The cheapest monthly bill isn't always the cheapest service. A low-cost service that only takes messages can cost more per booked job than one that books on the call. Work out cost per booked job for each option.
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