AI answering services for HVAC and plumbing: 2026 costs

What AI answering costs HVAC and plumbing shops in 2026: Jobber, Housecall Pro, Smith.ai, Rosie and Dograh compared, plus a missed-call cost worksheet.

Published Nov 8, 2026 · 7 min read · By Catervas team

Tags: hvac, plumbing, missed calls, pricing

When you're under a sink or up in an attic, the phone keeps ringing. An AI answering service picks up when you can't, asks what the caller needs, and books the job or passes it to you. Here is what the options in the Catervas library cost right now, how they differ, and a simple way to work out whether one pays for itself.

Last checked: November 2026.

All prices below come from the Catervas catalog. The "price label" is shown exactly as our listing shows it. The Catervas team checked every one of these prices on November 5, 2026, and each tool page shows where its price came from. Prices change, so confirm with the vendor before you sign up.

Two kinds of AI answering

Built into field-service software. Jobber, Housecall Pro and ServiceTitan run your schedule, quotes and invoices. Jobber and Housecall Pro sell an AI receptionist on top. ServiceTitan handles call booking inside its own system. The upside: the AI books straight into the same calendar your techs use.

Standalone answering services. Smith.ai, Rosie and Dograh only answer the phone. They fit if you're happy with the software you already have, or if you don't use field-service software at all.

The tools, one by one

Jobber

Field-service software for quotes, scheduling and invoices. Its AI Receptionist answers calls and texts 24/7, books visits based on real availability, and transfers urgent calls. Our listing notes say Core is $29/mo billed annually ($49 month to month). The AI Receptionist is a $29/mo add-on, and it comes included on the Plus plan. There is a 14-day free trial.

Price label: From $29/mo
Price checked: November 5, 2026
Jobber on Catervas

Housecall Pro

Field-service software for scheduling, dispatch, estimates, invoicing and payments. Its CSR AI answers calls and chats around the clock and books jobs using your job history, price book and availability. Basic is $59/mo billed annually ($79 month to month), Essentials $149/mo and Max $299/mo. The CSR AI call answering is a separate paid add-on, and Housecall Pro does not publish its price. Ask for a quote before you decide.

Price label: From $59/mo
Price checked: November 5, 2026
Housecall Pro on Catervas

ServiceTitan

A full system for larger HVAC, plumbing and electrical shops: call booking, dispatch, mobile estimates, a pricebook, memberships and payroll. Pricing is not published. It's priced per technician, by quote. Setup effort is rated high in our listing.

Price label: Quote
Price checked: November 5, 2026
ServiceTitan on Catervas

Smith.ai AI Receptionist

A standalone AI receptionist for shops that don't want to switch software. It answers overflow and after-hours calls, qualifies leads, and hands harder calls to live receptionists based in North America. If you run ServiceTitan, it can create customer records, log recordings and summaries, and book into Scheduling Pro. The free plan includes 25 calls a month, with extra calls at $3.00 each. Pro is $150/mo for 75 calls, and Enterprise is $500/mo. Plans are month to month.

Price label: Free plan · Usage-based
Price checked: November 5, 2026
Smith.ai on Catervas

Rosie

A standalone AI answering service that picks up every call in English or Spanish, sends you a summary and transcript, and can warm-transfer calls to you. Professional is $49/mo for 250 minutes. Scale is $149/mo for 1,000 minutes and adds calendar booking. Growth is $299/mo. There is a 7-day free trial. In our catalog, Rosie is matched to cleaning businesses and lists no field-service connections. It can text callers a booking link, and the Scale plan books appointments on a calendar.

Price label: From $49/mo
Price checked: November 5, 2026
Rosie on Catervas

Dograh (free, open source)

An open-source AI phone agent. It answers missed and after-hours calls, sorts a no-heat emergency from an estimate request, collects the address and details, then books or transfers. The software is free under the BSD-2-Clause license. You pay for hosting and phone service. Our listing notes say Dograh Cloud starts at $0.01 a minute, plus your phone provider's fees (for example, a Twilio number and minutes). Running it on your own small server costs about $10 to $40 a month. It passed all our trust checks and offers one-click hosting. You still have to set up the call flow in its visual builder and connect a phone number from your own provider, so expect some setup time.

Price label: $0 + ~$10/mo hosting (estimate)
Price checked: November 5, 2026
Dograh on Catervas

Comparison table

Tool	Type	Price label (Catervas)	Price checked	Answers by	Books into
Jobber	Field-service software	From $29/mo	Nov 5, 2026	AI Receptionist add-on, calls and texts	Jobber's own calendar
Housecall Pro	Field-service software	From $59/mo	Nov 5, 2026	CSR AI add-on, calls and chats	Housecall Pro's own schedule
ServiceTitan	Field-service software	Quote	Nov 5, 2026	Call booking tools (no AI phone answering in our listing)	ServiceTitan
Smith.ai	Answering service	Free plan · Usage-based	Nov 5, 2026	AI with live human backup	ServiceTitan Scheduling Pro
Rosie	Answering service	From $49/mo	Nov 5, 2026	AI, English and Spanish	Calendar booking on Scale plan
Dograh	Open-source phone agent	$0 + ~$10/mo hosting (estimate)	Nov 5, 2026	AI, your own call flow	Whatever you connect it to

You can put any three of these side by side on our compare page.

Not phone answering, but useful alongside it: Chatwoot ($0) puts web chat, texts, WhatsApp, Facebook and email in one shared inbox. Easy!Appointments ($0 + ~$1.80/mo hosting) is a free online booking page, but it carries a Caution badge right now because of known security problems in its current release. Twenty CRM ($0 + ~$6.68/mo hosting) tracks leads and shows which estimates are going cold.

How to choose

1. Start with your call volume. These tools charge in different ways: per call (Smith.ai), per block of minutes (Rosie), per minute plus phone fees (Dograh), or a flat add-on fee (Jobber). Pull last month's call log from your phone carrier and count the calls you didn't answer. Then price each tool at your number. For example, if you sent 60 calls a month to Smith.ai's free plan, the math is 25 free calls plus 35 x $3.00 = $105 for the month.

2. Decide what happens after hours. A "no heat" call at 9 PM in January is different from a quote request. Check how each tool handles emergencies. Jobber's receptionist transfers urgent calls. Smith.ai passes complex calls to live people. Rosie and Dograh can transfer calls to you. Decide who gets the 2 AM call before you go live.

3. Book into the software you already use. If you already run Jobber or Housecall Pro, their add-on books straight into your schedule with your real availability. If you run ServiceTitan, Smith.ai's connection creates records and books into Scheduling Pro. If you use paper or a basic calendar, a standalone service is simpler, but someone still has to enter the job.

4. Test it like a customer. Use the free trial (Jobber 14 days, Rosie 7 days, Smith.ai's free plan). Call your own line after hours. Ask for an emergency visit, then a quote, then pricing. Read the summary it sends you.

Worksheet: what does a missed call cost you?

Use your own numbers here, not anyone's averages. Your phone log and job records have what you need.

Missed calls per month (from your phone carrier's call log): ______ = A
Share of those that were new customers asking for work (listen to voicemails, or call a sample back): ______ % = B
Share of new-customer calls you answer that turn into a booked job: ______ % = C
Average gross profit per job (the job price minus parts and labor): $______ = D

Monthly cost of missed calls = A x B x C x D

Then compare that number with the tool's monthly price at your call volume.

Here's how the math works, using made-up numbers (not typical figures; use yours): 20 missed calls x 50% new customers x 40% booked x $250 profit = $1,000 a month. If a tool costs $150 a month and catches even a fraction of those calls, you can see whether it pays for itself.

Leave out repeat business and maintenance agreements for now. If the tool pays off without them, those are extra.

Need a hand?

If you'd like help picking one of these or setting it up to book into your schedule, book a free call with Catervas. For free one-on-one advice on technology and AI, try the Maryland SBDC.