The best AI receptionist for contractors is one that answers in your business name, books visits into your real open slots, hands emergencies to you, and texts the caller a confirmation. Contruva, Smith.ai, Ruby, Rosie, Jobber’s AI Receptionist, Housecall Pro’s CSR AI and Workiz’s Genius Answering all do some or all of that, at very different prices.
The biggest difference isn’t the voice. It’s whether the receptionist can see your schedule. A standalone answering service takes a message; a receptionist connected to your job software books the job. Prices below were checked on each company’s own site in November 2026.
What a contractor needs from an AI receptionist
- Books real slots. It should only offer times your crew is actually free, with drive time in mind.
- Knows when to hand off. “Water pouring through the ceiling” should ring your phone, not go in a queue.
- Knows your business. Services, service area, hours and rough prices, so it can answer the questions that decide a booking.
- Confirms by text. The caller gets the time and address in writing, which cuts no-shows.
- Leaves a record. A summary and transcript of every call, so you know what was promised.
Speed matters because homeowners often call two or three contractors and book whoever answers with a time. Our piece on speed to lead for contractors goes into why.
Three kinds of receptionist
| Type | Examples | Strength | Weak spot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built into your business software | Contruva, Jobber, Housecall Pro, Workiz | Books straight into your schedule and customer list | Only works if you use that software |
| Standalone AI answering | Smith.ai AI Receptionist, Rosie | Works with any setup, quick to start | Booking depends on calendar links or integrations |
| Live human receptionists | Ruby | Real people, good with tricky calls | Priced by the minute, so busy months cost more |
The seven compared
| Receptionist | Price (checked Nov 2026) | Books appointments | Transfers calls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contruva | Included in $249.99 CAD/mo plan | ✓ Into real open crew slots | ✓ Always, on request or when urgent |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | Free (25 calls) or Pro from $150/mo | ✓ AI scheduling | ✓ To live receptionists |
| Ruby | From $250/mo for 50 minutes | ✓ Scheduling listed | Live people answer |
| Rosie | $49–$299/mo | Calendar booking from $149 plan | From $149 plan |
| Jobber AI Receptionist | $29 USD/mo add-on + Jobber plan | ✓ Uses online booking settings | ✓ On keywords you set |
| Housecall Pro CSR AI | Not listed on pricing page | ✓ Books jobs | ✓ To your number or an assist rep |
| Workiz Genius Answering | Not published | Not stated | ✓ Live transfers |
1. Contruva
Who it suits: contractors who want the receptionist, the calendar, the quotes and the follow-up in one place.
Price: included in Contruva’s one plan, $249.99 CAD a month, with no per-seat fees and a 7-day free trial.
Contruva’s AI receptionist answers in your business name with one of 20 voices. You choose when it picks up: 24/7, only after hours, or after your own phone rings first. It learns your services, service area, hours and FAQs from your profile, offers only real open crew slots, books the visit, and texts every caller a confirmation. It transfers to you always, on request or only when urgent, and every call comes with a transcript and summary in your inbox. It also replies to texts and Facebook and Instagram messages.
- ✓ Books into the same calendar your crew uses
- ✓ Part of a full business app, not an extra bill
- ✕ It’s part of Contruva, so you’d move your jobs and quotes too
- ✕ No human receptionist backup
2. Smith.ai
Who it suits: businesses that want AI first with the option of a live receptionist behind it.
Price: Smith.ai’s AI Receptionist has a Free plan with 25 calls a month, Pro from $150 a month (75 calls, with overage charged per call) and Enterprise from $500 a month. The page doesn’t name a currency. It’s month-to-month with 30 days’ notice to cancel.
It includes 24/7 answering, recordings and summaries, lead qualification, AI scheduling, and the option to transfer callers to a live North America-based receptionist.
- ✓ Free plan to test with
- ✓ Live receptionist backup available
- ✕ Per-call pricing adds up in busy months
- ✕ No Jobber or ServiceTitan integration listed on the pricing page
3. Ruby
Who it suits: contractors who want real people on the phone and are happy to pay for it.
Price: Ruby’s virtual receptionist plans are $250 a month for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200 and $1,725 for 500 (currency not named on the page). Ruby says there are no extra fees for setup or onboarding. Spanish and bilingual call handling is available, and AI features like transcripts are included.
- ✓ Live receptionists 24/7
- ✓ Spanish and bilingual handling
- ✕ The priciest option here for a busy phone line
- ✕ Minutes run out fast in storm season
4. Rosie
Who it suits: small businesses that want a cheap standalone AI answering line.
Price: Professional $49 a month (250 minutes), Scale $149 (1,000 minutes) and Growth $299 (2,000 minutes), with a 7-day free trial. The page doesn’t name a currency. The $49 plan sends booking links by text; direct calendar booking and live transfers start on Scale. It answers in English and Spanish and connects to other apps through Zapier.
- ✓ Low starting price
- ✓ English and Spanish
- ✕ Entry plan can’t book directly or transfer
- ✕ Not connected to your job software without extra setup
5. Jobber AI Receptionist
Who it suits: businesses already on Jobber.
Price: $29 USD a month as an add-on, on top of a Jobber plan (included in Jobber Plus). It answers calls and texts using your Jobber account details, books visits through your online booking settings, transfers or alerts you on keywords like “burst pipe”, and gives you a summary, transcript and recording.
- ✓ Cheap add-on if you’re on Jobber
- ✓ Keyword-based emergency transfers
- ✕ Requires a Jobber subscription, billed in USD
- ✕ Booking follows your online booking rules
6. Housecall Pro CSR AI
Who it suits: businesses already on Housecall Pro.
Price: not shown on Housecall Pro’s pricing page, where CSR AI is listed as an add-on. It answers calls and website chats 24/7, books jobs on your calendar and transfers to a number you choose or a Housecall Pro Assist rep. Text answering was marked as alpha or “coming soon” when we checked.
- ✓ Books into Housecall Pro directly
- ✕ Price not published
- ✕ Text answering not fully released
7. Workiz Genius Answering
Who it suits: businesses already on Workiz, especially with French or Spanish-speaking callers.
Price: not published; it’s listed as an add-on sold separately. Workiz says it answers calls and inbox messages in English, Spanish and French, with live transfers and custom Q&A. See our Workiz alternatives if you’re weighing the whole platform.
- ✓ English, Spanish and French
- ✕ Price not published
- ✕ Requires Workiz
Is it worth paying for?
Work out what a missed call costs you. A lead is worth roughly your average gross profit per job times your close rate.
Say your average job leaves $1,200 of gross profit and you close one in three calls. Each call is worth about $400. Miss five calls a week and that’s around $2,000 of profit a week walking to the next contractor. Even an expensive receptionist pays for itself if it saves one of those.
Per-minute and per-call pricing is fine for quiet shops. If you get bursts of calls in storms or heat waves, a flat price is easier to live with. And a receptionist that can’t see your calendar still leaves you calling people back to book, so the job isn’t really done.
Here’s how the published prices work out per unit, using the plans listed above. Ruby’s 200-minute plan at $720 is $3.60 a minute. Smith.ai’s Pro plan at 75 calls works out to $2.00 a call. Rosie’s Scale plan at $149 for 1,000 minutes is about 15 cents a minute. If a typical booking call runs three or four minutes, that’s roughly $11 to $14 a call with live people versus well under a dollar with AI. A flat-priced receptionist inside your business software doesn’t change with volume at all.
How to set one up in a day
Services, service area, hours, rough prices and the three questions callers ask most.
List the words that mean “call me now”: flooding, no heat, gas smell, sparking.
Make sure it can only book real open slots, with travel time between jobs.
Call as a customer three times: a simple booking, a price question and an emergency. Fix what it gets wrong.
If you want a receptionist that books straight into your crew’s calendar and then follows up on the quote, try Contruva. It’s built for trades like HVAC and plumbing, where the phone never stops, and it’s all in one plan, free for 7 days.