For HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, landscaping, cleaning, pest control and pool service shops. Five questions decide whether an AI receptionist earns its keep in a trade, then an honest table of 8 products with each figure as its maker published it on 2026-09-05.
A no-heat call at nine at night and a leak on a Sunday are the calls that decide who gets the job. Ask each vendor what happens to an urgent call after hours: is it only a message, or can it reach the person on call?
A service call is useless without the service address, the kind of system and what it is doing. Ask whether the receptionist collects those in your words and writes them where your dispatcher looks.
Some plans take a message and nothing else; others book the visit and text the homeowner. Know which one you are buying before you compare prices.
A transcript in someone else's app is a second inbox. Ask whether the call lands on the customer's record in a CRM your office already uses, with the next step written down.
Per-minute, per-call and per-caller plans behave differently when the first heat wave hits. Work out each plan against your own peak month, not an average one.
| Product | Describes itself as | Entry price · included | CRM | Stored |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Front Desk Company | An industry receptionist — 27 industries, each with a name, a face and that trade's vocabulary | $49 · 250 inbound minutes (Starter), $0.15/min over, up to a cap you set | The full EngageSuite360 CRM in every plan — contacts, companies, deals, tasks, calendar, reports — shaped for your industry | Starter: one sentence per call, no recording, no transcript. AI Front Desk ($397): transcripts and recordings |
| Rosie | AI answering service for home services and small businesses | $49 · 250 minutes | None — Zapier triggers only | Transcripts and recordings on all plans |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | AI and human receptionists for your front office | $150/mo + $2.00 per call; free tier of 25 calls/mo (card required) | Integrations only — Salesforce, HubSpot, Clio, Zapier | Recorded and transcribed; summary after every call |
| Goodcall | AI phone calls made easy | $79 per agent · unlimited minutes, 100 unique callers, $0.50 per caller over | Integrations only — Zapier, Sheets, GoHighLevel | Summaries; transcripts and recordings not stated |
| Dialzara | The AI receptionist who never misses a call | $29 · 60 minutes, $0.48/min over | Integrations only — Zapier, Make, webhooks | Yes, plus an SMS/email summary |
| My AI Front Desk | Agentic AI for every stage of the customer journey | $20 Basic takes no calls; first calling plan $99 · 200 minutes, $0.25/min | Built-in CRM, plus HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Zapier | Recordings and post-call notifications |
| Upfirst | AI receptionist that answers calls while you run your business | $24.95 · 30 calls, $1.50 per call over | Integrations only — HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, GoHighLevel, Zapier | Yes, with instant summaries texted or emailed |
| Reception by ElevenLabs | AI receptionists that answer every call | $22 · 60 minutes, $0.40/min over | Google Calendar, Zapier, webhooks only | Yes, on all plans |
Figures as published on 2026-09-05; each product links to its own comparison page with the source.
Mike answers in your shop's words and writes every call on the customer's record in EngageSuite360. Starter plans take the message; the AI Front Desk adds texting and booking. Meet Mike →
After-hours emergencies, The address and the equipment, Booking, not just messages, Where the call ends up, Busy-season pricing. Put each one to every vendor as a question and compare the answers, not the headlines.
Of the 7 products in our table, Rosie describes itself that way on its own site; the others describe a general small-business receptionist. The Front Desk Company gives each industry its own receptionist; for home services that is Mike.
On the Starter plans the receptionist takes the name, the callback number and what the caller needs, writes it on the CRM record and emails you; it does not book or text. The AI Front Desk plan ($397) adds transcripts, recordings, texting and booking on the same number and CRM.
Every rival figure is as published on that product's own pricing page on 2026-09-05; each has its own comparison page with the source. If a figure has changed, tell us and it will be corrected.