Answering services for contractors, compared on qualification
A contractor's inbound is not one type of call. It is a commercial estimate, a residential repair, a warranty question and a supplier all arriving on the same number, and the value of an answering service here is sorting them before anyone wastes a drive.
That makes routing rules the thing to compare, not voice quality. Can it ask two questions and send a commercial inquiry to an estimator while a residential repair goes into the booking flow? Every product here can, and almost nobody configures it.
We lead on that split plus one thing the others treat as a message: the service-area question. Our assistant answers where do you cover from a boundary you define, at $49, instead of logging a callback to say no three hours later.
On price, the coverage question is the other contractor-specific one. If your service area has a real boundary, an assistant that answers where do you cover live is closing a category of call that would otherwise become a callback and then nothing.
Goodcall's unique-caller billing suits the long job where one customer rings through a project. For a business whose calls are mostly one-off estimates, per-call is the simpler reconciliation.
How this was put together
Compared in September 2026 on routing and qualification, by the team behind one of the entries.
What we compared
- Whether calls can be routed down different paths by job type in the same call.
- Whether the assistant can answer a coverage question from a defined service area.
- How each bills a long estimate conversation.
- Published price, allowance and overage rate.
What we could not test
- How accurately each classifies a caller who describes a job in terms that span commercial and residential.
- Whether estimators actually pick up a transferred call mid-site-visit.
- Field-service and estimating software integration depth, which most vendors describe in a word.
The shortlist at a glance
Billing unit first, because it decides more of the final bill than the headline price does.
| Charges by | Entry plan | After the allowance | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GreetKeeper | per answered call | $49/mo for 200 answered calls | $0.45 a call on Starter, published |
| Goodcall | per unique caller | Starter $79/mo ($66 annual) for 100 unique customers | $0.50 per additional unique customer, published |
| Smith.ai | per call | Free tier at $0 for 25 calls, then $3.00 a call | Published, and the per-call rate falls as the tier rises |
| Rosie | per minute | Professional $49/mo for 250 minutes | Not published |
| Dialzara | per minute | Business Lite $29/mo for 60 minutes | Published on every tier, from $0.48 a minute down to $0.35 |
| AnswerConnect | per minute | Does not publish pricing | Does not publish pricing |
Read from each vendor's own pricing page in September 2026.
GreetKeeper
Routing by job type and a live coverage answer, at $49 with booking.
Worth it for: A contractor who wants commercial split from residential inside the call, and a straight yes or no on service area rather than a callback that says no.
Not for: Anyone needing estimating-software integration, which we do not have, or a reference from another contractor, since there are none. No reviews, no certifications, no uptime figure, English only.
Charges per answered call. Entry plan $49/mo for 200 answered calls. After the allowance: $0.45 a call on Starter, published.
Goodcall
Uncapped minutes suit the estimate conversation that runs long.
Worth it for: A contractor whose calls involve real discussion, and whose customers ring repeatedly through a project.
Not for: A business with separate numbers for commercial and residential, since each number is a priced agent.
Charges per unique caller. Entry plan Starter $79/mo ($66 annual) for 100 unique customers. After the allowance: $0.50 per additional unique customer, published.
Smith.ai
Per-call billing and a human team, which suits high-value estimates.
Worth it for: A larger contractor where a commercial inquiry is worth enough that a person qualifying it pays for itself.
Not for: A small operation at $150 a month for Pro, especially where winter is quiet.
Charges per call. Entry plan Free tier at $0 for 25 calls, then $3.00 a call. After the allowance: Published, and the per-call rate falls as the tier rises.
Rosie
Cheap capture, without the routing that makes this work.
Worth it for: A contractor who wants inquiries captured accurately and will sort them personally.
Not for: Routing a commercial call to an estimator, since live transfer starts at $149 rather than $49.
Charges per minute. Entry plan Professional $49/mo for 250 minutes. After the allowance: Not published.
Dialzara
The cheapest entry, with rates published on every tier.
Worth it for: A small contractor testing whether this helps, or one working a bilingual market.
Not for: Estimate-heavy inbound. Sixty minutes on the entry plan is a handful of real conversations.
Charges per minute. Entry plan Business Lite $29/mo for 60 minutes. After the allowance: Published on every tier, from $0.48 a minute down to $0.35.
AnswerConnect
Human answering around the clock, priced on a call.
Worth it for: A larger contractor wanting established human cover including weekends.
Not for: Published comparison, and short calls, given per-minute billing reported to round up.
AnswerConnect does not publish its rates, so the cost is whatever the sales call produces.
The configuration that matters more than the vendor
Write the two questions that split commercial from residential before you compare a single price. Every product here will do it and the split is worth more than any difference between them, because it determines whether an estimator's day is spent on estimates.
Then set the service area properly. Contractors consistently underuse this, and a caller told no in the call is a better outcome for both sides than a callback three hours later to say the same thing.
And if your crews are booked out for weeks, none of this creates capacity. A caller told March when they wanted January rings the next number. That is a scheduling problem in a phone problem's clothing.
Our own pricing, in full
Including the rate after the allowance, which is the number most of this list leaves off.
| Plan | Monthly | Calls included | After that |
|---|---|---|---|
| StarterFor a single location taking calls one line at a time. | $49 | 200 | $0.45 per call |
| ProfessionalBooking, routing and transfers included, not an add-on. | $149 | 750 | $0.35 per call |
| ScaleFor busy phones and longer opening hours. | $349 | 2,000 | $0.25 per call |
The short version
- Booking is included on every tier. Rosie keeps booking and live transfer behind its $149 plan.
- The overage rate is on the pricing page. Rosie, Ruby, Slang and AnswerConnect do not publish theirs.
- Calls are counted, not minutes, so a long useful conversation costs the same as a short one.
Questions people ask about this list
Can it separate commercial from residential?
Yes, with two questions you write. That is the highest-value configuration a contractor can make and it works with every vendor on this page.
Can it answer where we cover?
It answers from the service area you define during setup, rather than taking a message about it. In a spread-out metro that closes a real gap.
What about a supplier calling?
You can route known numbers or keyword-matched calls straight through, so a supplier does not get qualified like a customer. Set that rule early.
Why is GreetKeeper first on a list it wrote?
Because sorting a commercial estimate from a residential repair is the job, and our routing plus a live service-area answer sits on the $49 plan. On long estimate conversations Goodcall's meter beats ours, and they have real depth in home services with customers behind it. We have none, and no reviews.
Hear one of these handle your own call
Your scenario, your greeting, a couple of minutes.