Emergency answering & dispatch — restoration · HVAC · plumbing · electrical
The answering service that gets a live tech on the 2 AM emergency — or keeps ringing until it does.
Anyone can answer your phone. CallsAround rings your on-call chain — voicemail detected and skipped, SMS alerts at every hop — until an actual human accepts the call, with carrier-level failover underneath in case we're the ones having a bad night. And yes: it answers your daytime calls too.
Your own local number · instant self-serve setup · month-to-month pricing — no consultant, no contract
Skeptical? Call the AI right now.
(410) 673-3601You'll reach our demo company's line — the same agent your customers would get. Ask it anything. Try to trip it up.
Live emergency dispatch
24/7
every call answered — no hold queue, no voicemail black hole
every plan
carrier-level failover — the backstop below the AI stack
< 10 min
to detect + route around an upstream outage
every call
logged with transcript & recording in your dashboard
Instant self-serve setup — live in an afternoon
No demo call, no onboarding project, no consultant. Sign up, configure your agent from the dashboard, and take your first call the same day.
Pick a number, pick a template
Search live inventory for a local or toll-free number (or port yours). Choose an industry template — restoration, HVAC, plumbing, electrical — and the agent already knows your trade.
Shape your agent
Name it, pick its voice, write the greeting, load your FAQs and hours. Test it in a chat window or have it call you before it ever talks to a customer.
Build your on-call chain
Who rings first at 2 AM? Who's next after 25 seconds? Where do calls land if nobody answers? You decide; the engine executes — every time, exactly.
Built to win the emergency — it answers the easy calls too
Built like infrastructure, not a chatbot.
Emergency dispatch that doesn't give up
Water at 2 AM? It rings your on-call tech. No answer? Next contact. Voicemail? Detected and skipped — the chain keeps walking until a human picks up, with SMS alerts at every hop.
How dispatch works →Carrier-level failsafe — on every plan
A canary holds real conversations with your line around the clock. If anything upstream degrades, calls forward straight to your phone at the carrier — a backstop below the AI stack, so the failover works precisely when our servers don't.
The reliability architecture →Warm transfers with context
The AI keeps the caller company while it reaches your team, whispers who's calling and why, and bridges on a keypress. No cold handoffs, no 'who is this?'
And of course — your daytime calls too
Once the emergencies are covered, the same agent runs the everyday phone: natural voice (you pick it), your greeting, lead qualification, FAQs, and messages — nights, weekends, and while your crew is on a roof.
Lands in your job platform
Every message pushes into Jobber, Housecall Pro, JobNimbus, PSA (Canam), or ServiceMonster natively, or through Zapier into ServiceTitan, ServiceTrade, QuickBooks and 8,000+ apps — caller name, number, address, and problem included. Google Calendar availability checks and booking are rolling out.
See integrations →Everything on the record
Play recordings and read transcripts right in the dashboard. Every escalation hop is journaled; usage and plan limits are live, not a month-end surprise.
Built for the trades where the phone is the emergency line
Start from a tuned industry agent, then make it yours — greeting, voice, FAQs, hours, escalation rules.
Restoration
Floods and fires don't book appointments. Emergency-first routing, insurance-aware intake questions, and dispatch that reaches whoever is on call tonight.
Restoration answering service →HVAC
No-heat calls in January are revenue and reputation. Qualify the emergency, quote the service window, and page the tech — before your competitor's phone even rings.
HVAC answering service →Plumbing
A burst pipe won't wait for Monday. Triage the emergency, capture the address, and walk your on-call chain while the water is still rising.
Plumbing answering service →Electrical
Power-out and safety calls answered instantly, qualified carefully, and escalated to the on-call electrician — with everything on the record.
Electrical answering service →Keep your number. Forward only the calls you miss.
You don't have to reroute a 15-year-old business number to an AI on day one. Start in overflow mode: your phone rings exactly like it does today, and only the calls you don't pick up — busy, after hours, fourth ring — forward to your CallsAround line. The AI catches what you miss; nothing else changes.
Setup is a carrier forwarding code we walk you through. When you're ready to hand over the front desk for real, porting is a support ticket, not a project.
# overflow mode, day one
9:14 AM — you answer like always. CallsAround never hears it.
12:38 PM — you're under a house. Fourth ring forwards → AI answers, qualifies, texts you the lead.
2:07 AM — burst pipe call forwards → AI triages the emergency and walks your on-call chain.
— your number, your callers, zero switching risk.
What does an answering service cost?
Honest comparison: a live human service, a front-desk hire, doing it yourself, and CallsAround. Full math and sources in the 2026 cost guide.
| Option | Typical cost | After hours | Busy season | Emergencies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CallsAround | $79–299/mo flat | Included — 24/7 is the product | Flat overage per minute; no per-call fees | Escalation chains until a human answers |
| Human answering service | $135–450+/mo + per-minute or per-call fees | Usually a 25–50% premium | Bills spike 30–50% in storm/heat season | Takes a message; relays it |
| Office staff (one hire) | $35,000+/yr + benefits | One shift only — nights still uncovered | One person, one call at a time | Depends entirely on who picks up |
| Owner's cell (today) | "Free" | You are the night shift | Missed calls go to the next Google result | You, at 2 AM, every time |
What happens when we have a bad night?
Honest answer: your phone still rings. A canary probes every line around the clock — it literally asks the agent for a human and checks the answer. If anything upstream drifts, your number is switched to plain carrier forwarding at the phone network, below our servers, below the AI. Callers reach a person; you get an email and a text; service restores itself when the line is healthy again.
Every alert, every failover, every restore is on the record — see the live status page and the full reliability architecture.
# canary log — a Tuesday, 3:12 AM
03:07 probe line +1419… “may I speak to a human” → tool call ✓
03:12 probe failed: empty agent turn
03:14 second failure → flipping to carrier forwarding
03:14 owner alerted (email + SMS) · callers now ring the backup phone
03:41 probe healthy ×2 → forwarding off, agent back on the line
— zero callers heard silence.
Fair questions
One line. One monthly price.
Month-to-month pricing on every plan — no contracts, no per-call fees, flat overage, cancel anytime.
Starter
$79/mo
the full receptionist, smaller allowance
Start with Starter →Receptionist
$149/mo
every call answered, captured, and logged
Start with Receptionist →Dispatch
$229/mo
+ emergency chains that find a human
Start with Dispatch →Dispatch+
$299/mo
+ carrier failover & outbound notifications
Start with Dispatch+ →The next missed call was worth how much?
Industry reports put the average after-hours HVAC call at ~$1,400. CallsAround costs $5–10 a day. Get a line, shape your agent, and take the 2 AM shift off your shoulders — today.
Take the 2 AM shift off your plate