What a missed call costs a tradesperson
A plumber on a job cannot answer the phone. The caller with a leaking water heater rings the next number. That one call was a job, and the job was worth a few hundred dollars. This is the arithmetic for every sales conversation.
What a job is worth
Average cost of a hired job, by trade, from HomeAdvisor’s cost guides (updated June 2026). These are national averages across every job type; a service call is lower, a replacement far higher.
| Trade | Average job | Normal range |
|---|---|---|
| Plumber | $341 | $182 to $501 |
| HVAC repair | $350 | $130 to $2,000 |
| Electrician | $351 | $163 to $538 |
How many calls are missed
Invoca’s analysis of thousands of calls to home services companies found that 27% of inbound calls go unanswered (April 2023). A smaller, older vendor study is often quoted at 62%; we do not use it. Take 27% as the planning figure, and ask the owner in front of you how many voicemails they returned yesterday, and how many of those callers had already booked someone else.
The arithmetic
An example. One missed booking a week at $350 is $18,200 a year. Two a week is $36,400. A business taking 20 calls a week that misses 27% of them misses about five. If one in three was a job, that’s nearly two jobs a week. Change the job value and the call count for the trade in front of you.
What they do today
- Voicemail, which most callers do not leave.
- A human answering service, which takes a message and charges per call or per minute. The pricing article has the bands.
- A spouse or an office worker, who goes home at five.
What the agent does instead
Answers, as their business. Takes the details. Books the job into their calendar. Texts the caller. Transfers to the owner when it should.
Sources
- HomeAdvisor, How Much Does a Plumber Cost, updated June 19, 2026: average $341, normal range $182 to $501. Retrieved October 8, 2026.
- HomeAdvisor, HVAC Repair Cost, updated June 19, 2026: average $350, normal range $130 to $2,000. Retrieved October 8, 2026.
- HomeAdvisor, How Much Does an Electrician Cost, updated June 19, 2026: average $351, normal range $163 to $538. Retrieved October 8, 2026.
- Invoca, How Many Phone Calls Are You Missing, April 6, 2023: home services companies miss 27% of inbound calls, from an analysis of thousands of calls. Retrieved October 8, 2026.