Does the AI receptionist tell callers it is an AI?

Yes. It introduces itself as an assistant when it answers, and if a caller asks outright whether they are talking to a person it says plainly that it is not. Nothing about the product depends on a caller being unsure.

Can an AI receptionist book into my calendar?

It can, once you have turned booking on and marked which jobs it may book. Before it offers a time it checks appointments already made and the busy times on a calendar you have connected, so it will not offer a slot you are already committed to. The appointment is held for as long as you said that job takes.

What happens when the assistant cannot answer the question?

It takes the caller's name, a number to reach them on and what they need, and leaves it for somebody at the business to ring back. If the call ends without a booking, the caller also gets a text so the conversation can carry on there.

Am I billed for calls the assistant did not take?

No. A call that was claimed but never spoken on is deleted rather than billed, so a caller who hangs up during the ring costs nothing. Minutes count from the call reaching the assistant to the end of the conversation, rounded up.

What happens if I run out of assistant minutes?

Nothing stops working and no call is refused. Minutes beyond your plan are 25 cents each on the next invoice, and you are told when you pass the allowance rather than finding out from the bill.

Do I have to change my phone number or phone system?

No. You keep the number already on the van and the truck wraps. Nothing is ported and no phone system is replaced — the assistant answers on that number when you have said it should.

Answering the phone

The calls your crew cannot stop to answer

It answers the call, asks what the caller needs, books the job when it is allowed to, and texts them when the call ends without one. What it will not do is here too.

Written by Christopher Gillig, who files the carrier registrations behind these numbers and configures the assistants. Last reviewed September 16, 2026.

The short answer

An AI receptionist answers a contractor’s phone when nobody can, asks what the caller needs and where they are, and writes it down as a lead with a number to ring back. Where the business has allowed it, it books the job into the real calendar. When a call ends without a booking, the caller gets a text so the lead does not end at a voicemail nobody returns. At CallerOps it is included in every plan, it is off until you switch it on, and you choose per number whether it answers everything, only what you miss, or nothing at all.

Three ways it can answer

Set per phone number, not per account. A shop number and an advertising number can behave differently.

How each answering mode behaves
Setting	Who answers	When it fits
Off	Nobody. The caller gets a text instead, inside a minute.	You would rather ring back yourself, but never want a call to end at nothing.
After you	Your own phone rings first. The assistant takes only the calls you miss.	You answer when you can, and the phone is unattended the rest of the time.
Every call	The assistant answers first, every time.	Nobody is free to answer during the working day, or the volume is beyond you.

What happens, in order

A call arrives on the number already on the van. What happens next is a setting on that number: nobody answers and we text instead, or the business's own phone rings first and the assistant takes only what it misses, or the assistant answers every call.
The assistant answers, says it is an assistant, and asks what they need. A name and a number to call back on come first, and it asks for the address after that without insisting on it.
It is handed that business's own facts for the call: the name, the opening hours, the area covered, and the list of jobs marked bookable.
Where booking is on and the job is one of those, it checks what is genuinely free, offers times, and books one for the length that job is set to take.
Where it is not, it writes the caller's name, their callback number and what they need onto the lead, in the caller's own words.
If the call ends without a booking, the text-back carries on the conversation so the lead is not left as a note somebody has to act on.

Things you only learn by running one

A leg the assistant never spoke on is deleted rather than billed. The claim on a call is taken before it is answered, so a caller who hangs up during the ring would otherwise leave a billable minute behind for a conversation that never happened.
Every call is capped at five minutes at the carrier. That is not a conversation limit anybody hits — it is the fuse for a call that never hangs up, which is the failure that quietly runs up minutes on a silent line.
The carrier records every call by default. It is switched off here, deliberately, in states where the caller's consent would be required for exactly that. What is kept instead is a written record of what the caller said, on the lead, because that is the point of answering.
It only offers times for jobs the business has marked bookable, and it checks the real diary before offering one: appointments already made, and the busy times on a calendar the business has connected. A slot is held for as long as that job is set to take, not a default hour.
Minutes are counted from the call reaching the assistant to the end of the conversation, rounded up, and summed across the month. Every plan includes an allowance of them, and nothing stops working when they run out.

What it will not do

The limits, in the same place as the promises. Being recommended to somebody it does not suit costs them a month and costs us a refund.

It cannot move or cancel an appointment: It does not know that the caller already has one. Somebody at the business changes a booking; the assistant takes the message and flags it.
It is not a person, and does not pretend to be: It says it is an assistant when it answers, and says so plainly if asked outright. A call that needs a human gets its details taken and escalated rather than handled badly.
It books only what you marked bookable: Every job is off by default. You decide which ones it may put in the diary by itself and how long each takes; everything else it takes down and passes to you.
No audio recording: The carrier would record every call by default and it is switched off. A written record of what the caller said is kept on the lead instead.

The messages around the call

Both of these are real templates, shown with the business name filled in exactly as they would send.

missed call textback

Hi Dana, sorry we missed your call to Northgate Services. What do you need, and where? Reply here or BOOK.

Sent when nobody answered at all, including when the assistant is switched off. It asks what and where because the answer is what decides urgency, and it stays inside one segment with the opt-out line still to come.

appointment reminder

Hi Dana, a reminder of your Northgate Services appointment on Tuesday at 9:00 AM. Reply here if anything changed.

The other end of a booking the assistant took on the phone. It invites a reply rather than asking them to ring, because the thing that wastes a visit is nobody being home and nobody having said so.

What it costs to have the phone answered

The assistant is in every plan rather than an upgrade. What changes between them is how many minutes are included, and how many numbers you can point at it.

Assistant minutes included by plan
Plan	A month	Assistant minutes
Recover	$999	150
Convert	$1,750	400
Scale	$2,499	750

Beyond the allowance a minute is 25 cents and nothing stops working. Setup is $499 once, charged when the carrier registration is filed rather than when you sign up.

Whether it pays is arithmetic only you have: take what one recovered job is worth to you, and divide. A business whose average job is worth a few hundred dollars needs a handful back in a month; one that fits systems or roofs usually needs a single job a quarter.

Questions

Does the AI receptionist tell callers it is an AI?: Yes. It introduces itself as an assistant when it answers, and if a caller asks outright whether they are talking to a person it says plainly that it is not. Nothing about the product depends on a caller being unsure.
Can an AI receptionist book into my calendar?: It can, once you have turned booking on and marked which jobs it may book. Before it offers a time it checks appointments already made and the busy times on a calendar you have connected, so it will not offer a slot you are already committed to. The appointment is held for as long as you said that job takes.
What happens when the assistant cannot answer the question?: It takes the caller's name, a number to reach them on and what they need, and leaves it for somebody at the business to ring back. If the call ends without a booking, the caller also gets a text so the conversation can carry on there.
Am I billed for calls the assistant did not take?: No. A call that was claimed but never spoken on is deleted rather than billed, so a caller who hangs up during the ring costs nothing. Minutes count from the call reaching the assistant to the end of the conversation, rounded up.
What happens if I run out of assistant minutes?: Nothing stops working and no call is refused. Minutes beyond your plan are 25 cents each on the next invoice, and you are told when you pass the allowance rather than finding out from the bill.
Do I have to change my phone number or phone system?: No. You keep the number already on the van and the truck wraps. Nothing is ported and no phone system is replaced — the assistant answers on that number when you have said it should.

Every price is on the site

No quote, no sales call to find out what it costs. You can create the account and set it up without paying anything — setup is billed when you submit your carrier registration, and the monthly charge starts when your number is live.

See what it costs