After hours answering service for trades & home services

AssistBPO's after hours answering service for trades and home services companies picks up the no-heat call at 11pm, the burst pipe on Sunday morning and the sewage backup on Thanksgiving, which are the calls that decide whether a homeowner becomes a customer for life or calls the next name on the list.

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This page Trades & home services After hours answering service

How does after-hours answering work for home services?

Your after-hours receptionist answers in your company name, runs your triage script, and either pages the on-call tech by text and call under your escalation tree or books the first morning slot with the customer told what to do until then. Gas smells and sparking panels get the safety script first: leave the house, call the utility or 911. Members are recognized from your platform and moved to the front of the line if that is your rule. Storm nights and hard freezes get extra receptionists on the line, with a queue message that tells callers the truth about wait times. Every call is logged in ServiceTitan, Jobber or Housecall Pro with the time, the script used and who was paged, and a morning handover note reaches you before the first truck rolls. The desk is staffed by employed receptionists with a lead.

What tasks does after-hours answering cover for trades and home services companies?

  • Answer in your company name evenings, weekends and holidays
  • Triage against your emergency list: no heat, no cool, active leaks, sewage, no power
  • Run the safety script for gas, electrical and flooding calls before anything else
  • Page the on-call tech by text and call under your escalation tree
  • Recognize members from your platform and apply your priority rule
  • Book non-emergencies into the first morning slot with the customer told what to do until then
  • Add receptionists on storm and freeze nights with honest queue messages
  • Deliver a morning handover note with every call, page and booking

The KPI that matters here

After-hours calls answered by a person within a few rings, and emergency pages acknowledged by the on-call tech within your target. Both show in the morning handover and the weekly review.

What rules does after-hours answering follow for home services?

  1. TCPA for follow-up calls and texts. Estimate follow-ups, tune-up reminders and review requests go only to customers who gave consent on your booking form or service agreement, inside 8am to 9pm local time, after do-not-call scrubbing, under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act enforced by the FCC. Purchased homeowner lists are never dialed.
  2. License numbers on ads and estimates. Many states require your contractor license number on advertising, estimates and social posts; California's CSLB and Florida's DBPR are two examples. Your assistant keeps the number on every template and never describes work your license does not cover.
  3. Review requests under the FTC rule. Review requests go to every customer after a completed job, not only the happy ones, and nobody is paid or given a discount for a review, following the FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule and Google's review policies. Replies never reveal a customer's address or account details.
  4. Card payments and PCI DSS. Deposits and payments are taken only through your ServiceTitan, Jobber or Housecall Pro payment link or portal. The assistant never writes down a card number or stores one in a note, in line with PCI DSS.

Home services software we work in

Also in use

  • FieldEdge
  • Google Business Profile

See all 80 tools we work in

More for trades and home services companies

Other services for home services

After-hours answering in other industries

Frequently asked questions

What counts as an emergency for after-hours paging?

Your list decides, and it changes by trade and season. HVAC companies usually page for no heat below a set outdoor temperature and no cool above one, plumbers for active leaks, no water and sewage backups, electricians for no power to the whole house or burning smells. Gas and electrical hazards always get the safety script and a page. Everything else is booked for the morning, and the list is reviewed with your team lead before each season.

How does the on-call tech get paged?

By text and call to the on-call phone under your escalation tree, with the customer's name, address, symptom and callback number in the message. If the tech does not acknowledge within the minutes you set, the desk tries the second name on the tree, then the owner. Every page and acknowledgment is logged with the time so you can see response times in the morning handover and the weekly review.

Can the after-hours desk quote the emergency fee?

Yes, if you approve one. Most companies set an after-hours diagnostic fee and want it stated before the tech is paged so there are no surprises at the door. The receptionist quotes that fee and nothing else, notes that repair pricing is given on site, and confirms the customer wants the visit before paging. Members with an after-hours benefit in their plan are told the member rate instead.

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