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Best AI receptionists for plumbers, HVAC and electricians in 2026

This list compares seven ways to have a plumbing, HVAC or electrical shop’s calls answered by an AI receptionist, and they split into two kinds. Six are products you set up yourself or with light help, priced per call, per minute or per customer: Smith.ai, Wakeman, Jobber’s Receptionist, Goodcall, Rosie and Avoca. Betterlane builds and runs the phone assistant for you, from your own website and the way your shop already works, and the first flow is free: built in ten days, and if it does not do what was scoped, you pay nothing and keep it.

Where Betterlane is different: it is done for you, from the greeting to the questions it asks, in your shop’s own wording; when a caller mentions a gas smell, sparks or water near wiring, it gives the safety words first, then messages your team; every call reaches your team as a text summary (the job, the address, how soon, the caller’s name and number); it runs in your own accounts; and the same partner can automate the office work around the calls. What it does not do today: book into Jobber, ServiceTitan or a calendar, transfer a live call, or publish a price.

Betterlane comes first because this is our list, and its limits are stated as plainly as everyone else’s. Every competitor fact below comes from that company’s own pages, read on 31 Oct 2026, linked in the sources. Prices change; check the page before you buy.

Updated Oct 31, 2026

How it works

  1. Betterlane: built and run for you, first flow free

    Suits: plumbing, HVAC, electrical and other home-service shops that want the calls they miss answered in their own words, without setting anything up themselves. Price: not published; a quote after a short call, once you have heard it. Setup: done for you, from your website and your process, with the first flow built free in ten days; if it does not do what was scoped, you pay nothing and keep it. Booking: no; each call reaches your team as a text summary, and whoever schedules books it. Live transfer: no; a caller who asks for a person is marked for a callback. Emergencies: safety words first, then a message to your team. It never gives a price or promises an arrival time. Try first: hear a phone assistant built from your own website, free, in about a minute.

  2. Smith.ai: AI with live receptionists behind it

    Suits: small businesses that want people behind the AI; it has plumbing and home-service pages and a large legal focus. Price (its pricing pages, read 31 Oct 2026): AI Receptionist Free at $0/mo for 25 calls ($3.00 a call after), Pro $150/mo for 75 calls, Enterprise $500/mo for 300 calls; human receptionists from $300/mo for 30 calls. Billed per call, not per minute. Setup: AI Free is self-serve and Pro is “set it up yourself with dedicated support”; only Enterprise ($500/mo and up) is “We build and run a custom solution for you”. Booking: calendar integrations such as Calendly and Acuity, and its plumbers page names ServiceTitan; booking is a $1.50-a-call add-on on human plans. Live transfer: yes, to a North America-based receptionist “any time, day or night”. Languages: English, with a Spanish line at $1.00 a call on human plans. Trial: the free AI tier; human plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee (refund up to $1,000). Contract: month to month; AI plans need 30 days’ notice to cancel.

  3. Wakeman: self-serve for trades, setup included on request

    Suits: US plumbing, HVAC and electrical shops; its setup-included page targets “2 to 15 trucks”. Price (wakeman.ai/pricing, read 31 Oct 2026): Starter $49/mo for 100 minutes, Pro $149/mo for 500, Max $399/mo for 1,500; extra minutes 29¢ to 45¢, and calls are rounded up to the next whole minute. Setup: self-serve in “about ten minutes” from your Google listing and website, or “Setup included” at no cost for plumbing, HVAC and electrical, with 14 days of call review, in return for a check-in, permission to share totals and a named write-up if it works. Booking: into Jobber on Pro and Max (the times you set in Wakeman); “ServiceTitan is not supported”, and Housecall Pro “is not generally available yet”. Live transfer: yes; for gas, fire, live wires and flooding it rings and texts the on-call phone during the call. Languages: English only. Trial: 14 days or 500 minutes, card required; the first plan payment is refundable within 30 days. Contract: no minimum term.

  4. Jobber Receptionist: for shops already on Jobber

    Suits: home-service businesses that run on Jobber. Price (getjobber.com/pricing, read 31 Oct 2026): included with unlimited usage on the Plus plan ($499/mo with no commitment); on other plans a $29/mo add-on with 30 conversations, then $0.79 each, on top of a Jobber plan (Core from $49/mo with no commitment). Setup: self-serve in six in-app steps, “No scripting or setup calls required”. Booking: native to the Jobber schedule, and it recognizes known callers; it needs a Jobber dedicated phone number (an existing number can be forwarded). Live transfer: yes, by keyword escalation to a chosen contact, or a text alert. Languages: not stated. Trial: the Jobber software has a 14-day free trial; no trial of the Receptionist itself is stated. At the 30-conversation cap you pay overage or pause it, and a paused Receptionist only takes messages.

  5. Goodcall: build your own agent, billed per customer

    Suits: small service businesses that want to build their own agent, from solo operators to franchises. Price (goodcall.com/pricing, read 31 Oct 2026): per unique customer, not per minute: Starter $79/mo for 100 customers (then 79¢ each), Growth $129/mo for 500, Scale $299/mo for 2,000; Enterprise by quote. Setup: self-serve, described in plain English to its in-app builder. Booking: Google Calendar, Google Sheets, HighLevel, Zapier and APIs; no field-service software is named on the pages read. Live transfer: yes, to up to three escalation contacts. Languages: not stated. Trial: none; a free demo agent you can build and test, paid when you add a phone number. Notes: local US numbers only, texts are outbound only, and every call is recorded.

  6. Rosie: low entry price, Spanish included

    Suits: small businesses of many kinds, with pages for plumbing, HVAC and electricians. Price (heyrosie.com/pricing, read 31 Oct 2026): Professional $49/mo for 250 minutes, Scale $149/mo for 1,000, Growth $299/mo for 2,000; the overage rate is not published. Setup: self-serve, trained from your Google Business Profile and website; white-glove onboarding only on Growth. Booking: text booking links on Professional, calendar booking from Scale ($149). Live transfer: from Scale ($149), not on Professional. Languages: “English & Spanish on every call”, on every plan. Trial: 7 days with all features.

  7. Avoca: for larger service companies on ServiceTitan

    Suits: home and field service companies from growing shops to multi-brand groups and franchises. Price: not published (its pricing page returned 404 on 31 Oct 2026, and the site offers “Book a Demo”). Setup: sales-led. Booking: a ServiceTitan Certified App, with Housecall Pro and FieldRoutes badges; it books in real time and pulls caller history. Live transfer: yes, “Human in the Loop” with full context, and emergency calls go to the on-call tech. Languages: “supporting multiple languages”, none named. Trial: not stated; a “Talk to our AI” demo. It also sells outbound campaigns and call coaching for your team.

What it costs to run

Published prices as each company’s page stated them on 31 Oct 2026, entry plan first. Prices change, so check the linked page. Betterlane publishes no price: you get a quote after a short call, and the first flow is built free.

ItemList priceSource
Smith.ai AI ReceptionistFree $0/mo for 25 calls ($3.00/call after); Pro $150/mo for 75 calls; Enterprise $500/mo for 300 callsSmith.ai, Plans & Pricing for AI ReceptionistRead on Oct 31, 2026
Smith.ai human receptionistsStarter $300/mo for 30 calls; Basic $810/mo for 90; Pro $2,100/mo for 300Smith.ai, Plans & Pricing for receptionistsRead on Oct 31, 2026
WakemanStarter $49/mo (100 min), Pro $149/mo (500 min), Max $399/mo (1,500 min); extra minutes 29¢–45¢Wakeman, PricingRead on Oct 31, 2026
Jobber Receptionist$29/mo add-on with 30 conversations, then $0.79 each; included on Plus ($499/mo, no commitment)Jobber, PricingRead on Oct 31, 2026
GoodcallStarter $79/mo (100 unique customers), Growth $129/mo (500), Scale $299/mo (2,000)Goodcall, PricingRead on Oct 31, 2026
RosieProfessional $49/mo (250 min), Scale $149/mo (1,000 min), Growth $299/mo (2,000 min)Rosie, Plans & PricingRead on Oct 31, 2026
Avoca AINot published (the pricing page returns 404; the site offers “Book a Demo”)Avoca AI, pricing page (returned 404)Read on Oct 31, 2026

Third-party list prices, read on the date shown. They are not Betterlane prices.

When it is not worth it

  • If you need calls booked straight into Jobber or ServiceTitan today, Betterlane does not do that yet; Jobber’s Receptionist (native), Wakeman (into Jobber, on Pro and Max) and Avoca (ServiceTitan Certified App) do.
  • If a caller must be put through to a person mid-call, Betterlane does not transfer live calls today; the six others say they do (Rosie from its $149 plan).
  • If you need Spanish on every call out of the box, Rosie states it on every plan; Wakeman is English only.
  • If someone always answers and you rarely miss a call, none of these may be worth paying for.

Questions

How do I choose an AI receptionist for a trade business?

Check six things. The price per call or per minute, and what counts (Wakeman rounds up to the whole minute; Smith.ai counts every answered call on AI plans, with up to 10% removable as spam; Goodcall bills per unique customer). Booking, and into which software. Live transfer, and on which plan. What it does in an emergency: a gas smell, sparks, flooding. Spanish. And the contract, trial and refund terms.

Which ones book into Jobber or ServiceTitan?

Jobber’s Receptionist books natively into Jobber. Wakeman books into Jobber on Pro and Max and says ServiceTitan is not supported. Avoca is a ServiceTitan Certified App. Smith.ai’s plumbers page names ServiceTitan. Betterlane does not book today: your team gets a text summary of each call and books it.

Which ones answer in Spanish?

Rosie: English and Spanish on every plan. Smith.ai: a Spanish line at $1.00 a call on human plans. Wakeman: English only. Jobber and Goodcall do not state languages, and Avoca mentions multiple languages without naming them.

Is Betterlane’s first flow really free?

Yes. We build the first flow in ten days at no cost. If it does not do what was scoped, you pay nothing and keep it. After that, you get a quote for running it on your real calls.

Sources

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