After-hours coverage planner
Tell it when someone picks up. It shows the hours nobody does, the share of the week they add up to, and how far each plan's included calls would stretch across them.
Hours a week nobody answers
128
That is 76.2% of the 168 hours in a week. You're open for 40.
- Share of the week uncovered
- 76.2%
- Uncovered hours in a month
- 554.7
Each plan's allowance, spread over those hours
- StarterOne included call every 2.77 hours, $0.09 per uncovered hour0.36 / hr
- ProfessionalOne included call every 0.74 hours, $0.27 per uncovered hour1.35 / hr
- ScaleOne included call every 0.28 hours, $0.63 per uncovered hour3.61 / hr
This spreads the allowance evenly, which real calls never do. It tells you how much room a plan has, and says nothing about when those calls come in.
What the planner shows
Most owners think of closed hours as a small slice at the edge of the day. Add them up and they're most of the week. The planner does that adding for you, day by day, from the hours you enter.
You get three things back. The hours a week nobody answers. That figure as a share of all 168 hours. And for each GreetKeeper plan, how its included calls spread across a month of those hours.
That last part turns an allowance into something you can picture. "Two hundred calls" is hard to judge. "One call every few closed hours" is easy to hold up against what you know about your evenings.
The formula, in plain words
| Line | How it's worked out |
|---|---|
| Share of the week | Uncovered hours divided by 168. |
| Uncovered hours a month | Weekly uncovered hours times 52, divided by 12. |
| Calls per uncovered hour | A plan's included calls divided by the monthly uncovered hours. |
| Price per uncovered hour | The plan's monthly price divided by the same hours. |
A closing time earlier than the opening time is read as running past midnight, so a bar open 6pm to 2am counts eight hours. The week can't go past 168 hours, even if two late nights overlap.
A worked example
The planner opens on a plain nine-to-five week, closed weekends.
Hours open
5 days at 8 hours each is 40 hours a week.
Hours uncovered
168 less 40 is 128 hours. Divided by 168, that's 76.2% of the week.
A month of them
128 times 52, divided by 12, is 554.7 uncovered hours a month.
Starter
200 included calls over 554.7 hours is 0.36 calls an hour. That's one call every 2.77 hours, at $0.09 per uncovered hour.
Professional
750 included calls over 554.7 hours is 1.35 calls an hour. That's one call every 0.74 hours, at $0.27 per uncovered hour.
Scale
2,000 included calls over 554.7 hours is 3.61 calls an hour. That's one call every 0.28 hours, at $0.63 per uncovered hour.
Hours are the easy half
The hours on the door and the hours you answer
Be strict when you fill in the form. If the office is open until five but the phone goes to voicemail from half past four, enter half past four. The planner is only as honest as the hours you give it.
Once you know the size of the gap, the next question is what falls into it. Pull a month of calls from your phone provider and count the ones stamped outside your hours. Then run that count through the call volume estimator and the plan picker.
GreetKeeper answers every inbound call, at any hour. It books into your calendar, takes the caller's name, number and reason for calling, and sends you a transcript with a short summary. When a caller asks for a person, or the assistant is unsure, it transfers to your team.
Questions about covering closed hours
How many hours a week is a small business closed?
There are 168 hours in a week. A business that answers the phone 40 hours a week is closed for the other 128, which is 76.2% of the week. Your own share depends on your hours, so enter them above.
Do I need answering around the clock?
That depends on what a night call is worth to you. A burst pipe at 2am is a job for a plumber and nothing to a bookkeeper. Check your call log for calls outside opening hours before you decide.
Does GreetKeeper charge more for calls at night or on weekends?
No. Plans count calls answered, and the plan table has no separate night or weekend rate. A call at 3am uses one call from your allowance, the same as a call at noon.
Which plan is enough for after-hours calls only?
It comes down to how many calls arrive while you're closed. Starter includes 200 calls a month. The call volume estimator on this site turns your daytime count into a first after-hours figure.
How do I enter a lunch break or a split shift?
Each day takes one opening and one closing time. For a break, move the closing time earlier by the length of the break. The total hours are what the planner uses, so the answer comes out the same.
Find out who calls after you lock up
See a night call get answered, booked and summarized in a two-minute demo.