The short answer
Published studies put the share of unanswered home-service calls anywhere from about 14 percent to about three in four. The gap comes from who measured and how they defined a call. Nearly every figure comes from a company that sells phone or call-tracking tools. Treat the numbers as a range, and trust your own call log over any average.
What the studies report
| Study | What it measured | Result |
|---|---|---|
| CallRail, January 2025 | Home-services missed calls | 14 percent missed |
| Invoca, July 2026 | Inbound home-services calls answered by a person | 52 percent answered (65 percent when calls under 15 seconds are excluded) |
| Service Direct (reported by MightyCall) | Calls answered by local home-service companies | 66 percent answered; the same companies estimated they answered 97 percent |
| Vendor analysis of 130,175 calls from 45 contractors | Calls completely unanswered | 74.1 percent; plumbers were best at a 28.6 percent miss rate |
| 411 Locals, 2024 (all industries, 85 businesses) | Calls answered by a live person | 37.8 percent |
Why they differ: some count every ring, some drop short calls, some measure a small group of businesses, and some are marketing material for a product. No study we found gives a reliable figure for how many missed callers try again. One vendor suggests planning with 10 to 20 percent as an assumption, not a measurement.
Count your own
Use four weeks of your own phone log.
- Missed calls last month: ___
- Share of those that were new customers, not repeat customers or spam: ___
- Share of new-customer calls you would normally book: ___
- Your average ticket for a booked job: ___
Booked jobs lost per month = (1) x (2) x (3). Revenue at stake = booked jobs lost x (4). Then subtract the callers who would have called back or left a message anyway. Be conservative.
What to ask any AI receptionist vendor
- What does the full monthly cost include? Is there a setup fee? What does the price become after a trial?
- What happens on an emergency call, who gets contacted, and how fast?
- Does it book into your calendar, or only take a message?
- How does the greeting tell callers it is an AI? How are recordings and transcripts stored and who can see them?
- Does it also place calls or send texts, and how does it get the person’s consent?
- Can you hear it before you sign up? Can you cancel with one click?
Entry prices listed on vendor and comparison pages range widely, from about $18 per user per month for a phone system with built-in AI to a few hundred dollars per month for services with live agents. Check each vendor’s current pricing page.
Your options for answering the phone
| Option | What it is | Price listed on vendor and comparison pages (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| In-house receptionist | A person on payroll, usually business hours only | About $3,170 a month ($38,010 median salary), before benefits |
| Live answering service | Human agents answer for you | Ruby is listed at roughly $235 to $250 a month for 50 minutes of live time |
| AI receptionist (standalone) | Software answers calls, books jobs and routes emergencies | Rosie about $49 a month; Dapta from $99; Smith.ai AI receptionist about $95 to $150 plus per-call add-ons |
| Phone system with built-in AI | A business phone line that includes AI answering | From about $18 per user per month, billed yearly (Allo) |
| NOVA (our product) | AI receptionist for home service businesses | Plans start at $297 a month after a 30-day free trial; the trial covers inbound calls |
Trade-offs: a live service puts a person on the line; AI services can answer many calls at once and are listed at lower monthly prices in the figures above; every option needs clear emergency rules from you. Prices come from vendor and comparison pages and change often. We did not check each vendor’s current pricing page, so confirm before you decide.
Sources
- The CallRail, Invoca, Service Direct, 411 Locals and contractor call-analysis figures are as reported in these vendor and trade summaries; the original studies were not checked: https://stealthagents.com/research/home-services-missed-call-revenue-statistics-2026, https://www.mightycall.com/blog/research-businesses-arent-answering-the-phone-as-much-as-they-think/, https://www.zyratalk.com/blog/what-a-missed-call-actually-costs-a-home-service-business/
- The 10 to 20 percent callback planning assumption is a vendor suggestion (zyratalk link above), not a measured rate.
- AI answering tool entry prices: https://www.withallo.com/blog/best-ai-phone-answering-services-for-plumbers and https://fast.io/resources/smith-ai-review-2026
About NOVA
NOVA is the 24/7 AI receptionist sold by Nova Impact Solutions, which publishes this site. It has a 30-day free trial with no credit card and works with your existing number for inbound calls; plans start at $297 per month after the trial.