AI receptionist and answering service for HVAC companies
The AI receptionist that books HVAC service calls while your techs are on the job
Optimal Automations builds and runs an AI receptionist for HVAC companies. It answers when your techs are in an attic and your office line is busy. It says only the fees you give it, flags no-heat and no-cool calls by your rules, and books the visit on your Google Calendar before the caller hangs up. Yes, it's an AI, and it says so in its opening greeting.
Free, no card, about 5 minutes. You enter your contact details, then your fees and hours, and call your own AI receptionist from your browser. Andrei or Konnor may follow up.
- From $497 a month, $997 setup, month-to-month
- Live in about a week. You keep your number.
- 5 booked jobs in your first 30 days live, or month 2 is free Conditions apply.
- Customer
- Beth
- Problem
- No cooling, warm air
- At home
- Elderly resident
- Priority
- Urgent, today
- Address
- 418 Maple Ct
- Window
- Today, 2–4pm
- Fee
- $89, credited to repair
- Texts OK
- Yes
What is an AI receptionist for an HVAC company?
An AI receptionist for an HVAC company is an AI voice assistant that answers your business line, asks what the heating or cooling is doing, states your service-call fee, flags urgent calls by your rules and books the visit on your calendar. Gas, carbon monoxide and smoke calls get a fixed 911 message instead.
- It says only the fees and prices you give it, and the technician confirms the repair price on site.
- It never diagnoses a system or tells anyone to touch equipment.
- It tells every caller it is an AI assistant and that the call is recorded, in its opening greeting.
- It books into Google Calendar today. If you schedule in ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or Jobber, you copy each job across.
A no-cool call doesn't wait for voicemail
In ServiceTitan's June 2022 data on more than 3,000 US and Canadian trade businesses that use its software, HVAC shops booked 38% of inbound calls. Shops with fewer than five technicians booked 24% against 59% for shops with 25 or more (ServiceTitan). The data doesn't say why. A fair guess: bigger shops have someone whose whole job is the phone, and you don't.
The calls you miss while you're up in an attic
- The first hot afternoon. Every company in town gets the same no-cool call. The one that answers books the visit.
- The first cold night. In Samsara's data on 65 million HVAC service trips, October was the busiest month, as furnaces that sat idle since spring are switched on and many break down (Samsara).
- The 6 p.m. call. After 6 p.m., the small shops booked 9% and the large shops 21%. But off-hours calls (before 8, after 5 or on weekends) were 14.1% of residential HVAC calls in June 2025 and 9.8% in October 2025 in ServiceTitan's data, so the daytime calls you can't take matter as much as the night ones (ServiceTitan).
- The replacement shopper. A new furnace ($3,000 to $7,000), central AC ($3,500 to $10,000) or heat pump ($4,500 to $12,000) is a big decision (Housecall Pro). That caller wants a quick yes and a day for the estimate, not a mailbox.
Example call
It treats a hot house with an 82-year-old in it differently
A no-cool call on a 91-degree day isn't a routine booking. Here's how the AI handles it for a made-up company: the safety question, the fee up front, an urgent same-day window and a clear next step. It never tells her to touch the unit.
Made-up company, made-up caller. The free demo call has no live calendar and no texting; on your real line the AI checks your Google Calendar and asks about texts. When you build yours, it answers as your business, with your prices.
After a call like this, the owner sees it on an example HVAC dashboard. Made-up business, made-up numbers, no sign-in.
- AIThanks for calling Sample HVAC Co., this is Jess, an AI assistant. This call is recorded. How can I help you today?
- CallerMy AC is running but blowing warm air. It's 91 in the house.
- AIUgh, that's rough. How long has it been like that?
- CallerSince this morning.
- AIGot it. Is anyone at home elderly, very young or medically fragile?
- CallerMy mom's here. She's 82.
- AII'm marking this urgent, and if she feels faint, confused or very ill from the heat, please call 911 first. The service-call fee is $89, credited to the repair if you go ahead. Is that OK?
- CallerThat's fine.
- AIGreat. Your technician diagnoses it on site and quotes the repair before any work starts. What's the address?
- Caller418 Maple Court.
- AIThanks. We can come today between 2 and 4, or tomorrow morning between 8 and 10. Which works better?
- CallerToday.
- AIPerfect, today between 2 and 4. What's your first name?
- CallerBeth.
- AIThanks, Beth. What's the best mobile number for you?
- Caller512-555-0173.
- AIThat's five one two, five five five, zero one seven three. Is it OK if we text you reminders?
- CallerYes, that's fine.
- Booked: today 2–4pm · 418 Maple Ct · no cooling · elderly resident · marked urgent · $89 service call · on the calendar · owner notified
- AIYou're all set, Beth: today between 2 and 4 at 418 Maple Court.
The intake
What it asks HVAC callers
The order a good office manager uses: safety first, then the problem, then the fee, then the day. One question at a time, in plain words.
- Safety
- Gas, a carbon monoxide alarm, smoke or sparks? Asked first on heating problems, burning smells and strange noises. A yes triggers the fixed 911 message.
- Problem
- What the system is doing, in the caller's words: no cooling, no heat, leaking, noisy, a tune-up or a replacement quote. How long, and whether any air is blowing.
- Who's home
- Anyone elderly, very young or medically fragile? On a no-heat or no-cool call, that marks it urgent under your rules.
- System
- Heating or cooling, gas or electric, roughly how old, only when it helps.
- Fee
- Your service-call fee, before booking, and whether it is credited to the repair if they go ahead.
- Where
- The street address, checked against your service area. If it's outside, the AI says you'll check whether it can work and takes their details.
- When
- Two arrival windows inside your hours, or your after-hours rule. Never a time tighter than the window.
- Contact
- First name and mobile number, with the number read back. The address, day and window are confirmed before the call ends.
Your rules
Your fees, your urgent-call rules, your service area
We set it up from your price sheet and the way you run your trucks. We tune it through your first month. After that, send us a change and we make it.
Service-call fee
The fee you charge to roll a truck, and whether it is credited to the repair. It says it before it books, every time.
After-hours rules
Your after-hours fee, and which calls get urgent treatment tonight and which wait for morning. You decide what counts as urgent.
Tune-ups and plans
Your tune-up price and maintenance plan. It mentions the plan once on a tune-up call, then lets it go.
Estimate-only jobs
Replacements, new installs, ductwork and mini-splits get an estimate visit, free or paid under your policy. It never prices them by phone.
Work you don't take
Commercial rooftop units, boilers, window units, whatever is on your list. Callers hear it kindly and hear who to call instead.
When to get you
Complaints, billing questions, commercial work, or anyone who asks for a person once. The AI takes their name, number and a one-line reason, and tells them you'll call back, without naming a time. A live transfer to your cell in business hours is optional.
Where it stops
It books the visit. It doesn't play technician.
You can trust a receptionist with your phone when it knows what it is not allowed to say. These limits are built in.
Gas, carbon monoxide and smoke
- A gas or rotten-egg smell, smoke, sparks, or a burning smell from equipment: it drops the normal call, says the fixed message below and ends the call. It doesn't book, diagnose or keep the caller on the line.
- A carbon monoxide alarm, or a headache, dizziness or nausea with a heating problem: a second fixed message (get outside to fresh air, call 911 from outside), then the call ends.
- No heat or no cooling with an elderly, very young or medically fragile person at home: marked urgent under your rules, with a reminder to call 911 first if anyone feels faint, confused or very ill.
The three fixed messages, word for word. Gas, smoke, sparks or a fire: "That sounds unsafe. Please hang up and leave the house right now, without touching any light switches. Once you're outside and away from the building, call 911 and your gas company's emergency line. Stay safe." Carbon monoxide: "Get everyone outside into fresh air right now and call 911 from outside. Don't try to find the source. Stay safe." Anyone hurt, in danger or having a medical emergency: "Please hang up and call 911 right now." The gas message follows public advice from Black Hills Energy and the U.S. Department of Transportation's pipeline safety office. The carbon monoxide message agrees with Health Canada's advice to leave immediately and call 911 from outside, and with the Consumer Product Safety Commission's advice to get outside to fresh air and then call 911. Have your own lawyer or insurer read them before they go live.
What it never does
- Diagnose, or tell a caller to reset a breaker, open a panel or touch equipment.
- Quote a repair or replacement. It says only the fees on your price sheet. The technician gives the repair price on site, before any work.
- Claim you're licensed, bonded or insured unless you give us the exact wording and any license number to use.
- Take a card number on the phone. It says your team takes payment after the work.
Reminder texts
A reminder before the technician arrives
- Right after the call: for customers who said yes to texts, a confirmation with the day, arrival window and address.
- The evening before: a reminder, sent from 4 p.m. They reply C to confirm or R to reschedule.
- The morning of: from 8 a.m., and only before the window starts, a heads-up that your technician is coming.
- No reply? About two hours after a reminder goes unanswered, you get one email, so you can call before a truck rolls to a house nobody's in.
- If they reply R: the customer gets a short note that you'll be in touch, their reminders pause, and you get an email so you can book a new time.
- Same-day and moved jobs: a reminder is skipped when the job was booked less than six hours before it was due. If you move a job on your calendar, its reminders follow the new time. The customer isn't told automatically, so give them a call.
- One honest note: texting starts once the phone carriers approve your business texting number, usually one to four weeks after we file. Until then the AI answers calls and books jobs, every call is in your call log, and you get each summary by email.
Compare
AI receptionist vs. voicemail, an answering service and a do-it-yourself AI app
Voicemail is free and loses the job. A live answering service takes a message you still have to return. An AI receptionist app can book jobs if you set it up and keep it tuned. We build yours around your fees and rules, test it and tune it through your first month.
| Feature | Optimal Automations | Voicemail | Live answering service | AI receptionist app |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Answers when your techs are on jobs and after hours | Yes, 24/7 | Takes a message only | Usually | Yes |
| States your service-call fee before booking | Yes, from your price sheet | No | Rarely | If you set it up |
| Gas, CO and smoke calls | Fixed 911 message, then it ends the call | Caller waits for a callback | Depends on their script | If you write it |
| Books a window during the call | Yes, into open Google Calendar windows | No | Often just takes a message | If you connect a calendar |
| Who builds it and updates it | We do | You | The service | Mostly you |
| Price | $997 setup, then $497 or $797 a month | Free | From $250 a month for 50 minutes (Ruby) | From $49 a month for 250 minutes (Rosie, price shown) |
Prices checked October 8, 2026 on Ruby and Rosie. Rosie shows monthly and annual billing; $49 is the price shown on its page. Jobber's Receptionist, another AI receptionist app, is a $29-a-month add-on on select Jobber plans with 30 conversations included, and is included on the Plus plan with unlimited usage (Jobber, read October 8, 2026). "Live answering service" means a live-operator service. Features vary by provider and plan.
Missed-call calculator
What are missed calls costing you?
Change the numbers to match your business. The starting rates and average job come from published data, linked below.
Adjust the assumptions
Estimated jobs not reaching a person, per month
about 3
Estimated revenue at stake, per month
$3,130
That is revenue, not profit, and it leaves out the $997 setup. For scale, Starter is $497 a month.
If only half of those callers would have booked, that's about 1 job and $1,560 a month.
Or book a demo and we'll run this with your real call numbers.
How it's figured: calls per week × 4.33 weeks × share not answered × share that are leads × booking rate × average job. Starting rates from the Invoca 2026 home services report: 65% of calls longer than 15 seconds to home service businesses are answered by a person (52% of all calls), 38% of answered calls are leads, and 45% of those leads convert on the call. $1,205 is Housecall Pro's 2025 average HVAC repair job (Housecall Pro). It covers only jobs tagged as repairs or installs, and Housecall Pro calls it directional, so type your own average. It assumes missed callers are just as likely to be leads, and to book, as callers who get through, so treat it as an illustration, not a forecast.
Pricing
What it costs: $497 a month, $997 to set up
Starter is $497 a month and Pro is $797, after a one-time $997 setup. It's month-to-month. For scale, a part-time receptionist at the median wage, 20 hours a week, is about $1,583 a month in wages alone (BLS). Housecall Pro's guide prices a new furnace at $3,000 to $7,000, so one furnace job at the low end brings in more than six months of Starter, before your costs.
Starter
$497/ month
Up to 1,000 AI minutes, about 500 two-minute calls. Answering, booking, call summaries and, once your number is approved, reminder texts.
Pro
$797/ month
Up to 2,500 AI minutes and everything in Starter, plus a monthly call review with Andrei or Konnor.
One-time setup
$997
We build it from your own prices and rules, test it on a full call checklist and tune it during month one.
What you commit to: $1,494 to start on Starter ($997 setup plus the first month) or $1,794 on Pro. After that it is month-to-month: cancel before your next billing date and you owe nothing more, apart from $0.25 for each minute over your plan.
What we need from you: answers to a few questions about your fees, service area and schedule, access to your Google Calendar, call forwarding from the number you already use, and the business details the phone carriers ask for before texting starts. We build, test and tune it.
Extra minutes past your plan are $0.25 each. No per-call fees. The same done-for-you setup is built for AI receptionist for plumbers, AI receptionist for handyman services and other home service trades. See the full list.
The 5-job guarantee
If your AI receptionist doesn't book at least 5 jobs in its first 30 days live, your second month is free. "Free" means we waive your plan fee for month 2. The $997 setup fee is not refunded.
- What counts as a booked job: a real customer's booking, visit or estimate that the AI put on your calendar. Test calls don't count.
- When the 30 days start: the day it starts answering your calls.
- What we need from you: your calls forward to the AI for the full 30 days, at least whenever you can't answer and after hours. Your calendar has at least 10 open job windows a week.
- Enough calls to judge it: at least 40 calls from potential customers reach the AI in those 30 days, as shown in the call log with recordings. If fewer come in, the guarantee doesn't apply. On the demo we look at your call volume and tell you if it is likely too low.
- How to claim: after your first 30 days live, email hello@automateai.agency. We go through the call log with you, and if the conditions above were met and fewer than 5 jobs were booked, month 2's plan fee is waived.
Who you'll work with
Two founders. No call center.
We're Andrei and Konnor. We build every AI receptionist ourselves and test it before it takes a customer's call. We tune it through your first month; after that you send us a change and we make it, and Pro adds a monthly call review. You talk to one of us on the demo, and after launch you reach one of us directly, not a support queue.
We are new. There are no customer reviews or case studies to show yet, and we won't invent any. What we can show: you hear your own receptionist before you pay, every number on this page links to its source, and the guarantee puts our month-2 fee on the line.
Email us anytime: hello@automateai.agency
Andrei
Co-founder
Konnor
Co-founder
Questions
HVAC AI receptionist FAQ
Updated
Is an AI receptionist the same as an HVAC answering service?
No. An HVAC answering service is usually a live operator who takes a message you still have to return. An AI receptionist answers the call itself, states your service-call fee, flags urgent calls by your rules and books the visit on your calendar while the customer is still on the line.
Can it quote my service-call fee and tune-up price?
Yes. You give us your service-call fee, whether it is credited to the repair, your after-hours fee, your tune-up price and your maintenance plan. It says those, in your words, and nothing else. Your technician prices a repair on site, and replacements and installs get an estimate visit, so none of them gets a phone price.
What does it do with a gas smell or a carbon monoxide alarm?
It stops the normal call and says one fixed message: leave now and call 911 and the gas company from outside, or get outside into fresh air for a carbon monoxide alarm. Anyone hurt hears "Please hang up and call 911 right now." It never books, diagnoses or keeps the caller on the line. The wording follows public utility advice.
How does it handle no-heat and no-cool emergencies after hours?
It asks if anyone home is elderly, very young or medically fragile and marks the call urgent under your rules. If anyone feels faint, confused or very ill, it tells them to call 911 first. After hours it follows the rule you choose, such as a call back the next business day. You get details by email until texting is approved, then by text.
Does it work with ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or Jobber?
Not today. It books into Google Calendar and logs every call, with the recording, in a Google Sheet. If you schedule in ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or Jobber, you keep Google Calendar as your live schedule or copy each job across. Tell us what you use on the demo and we'll say what we can connect.
Do missed calls hurt my Google Local Services Ads?
Google's Local Services Ads help page lists responsiveness as a factor in how a profile ranks and says missed calls may negatively affect it, without saying by how much. If you run those ads, the AI can answer the calls you forward to it. We recommend forwarding only the calls you can't take, so you still pick up when you can.
Source: Google Local Services Ads Help
How much does an AI receptionist for HVAC cost?
Optimal Automations costs $997 once to set up, then $497 a month for Starter (up to 1,000 AI call minutes) or $797 a month for Pro (up to 2,500 minutes, plus a monthly call review). Your first month, setup included, is $1,494 on Starter or $1,794 on Pro. After that it is month-to-month, and extra minutes are $0.25 each.
Will my customers know it's an AI?
Yes. Its opening greeting says it's an AI assistant and the call is recorded, and it never claims to be human. Some may hang up, and we have no hang-up data yet. A Gartner survey released in July 2024 found 64% of customers would prefer companies not use AI for customer service; the top concern was reaching a person. Asking for one gets a callback.
Source: Gartner, July 2024
Free 20-minute demo
Hear it book a no-cool call for a company like yours
20 minutes on Zoom with Andrei or Konnor. You'll leave with:
- A live call: we put the AI on speaker and let it answer a call like one of yours.
- Your missed-call math, worked out with your weekly calls and average job.
- A straight answer on whether it's worth it for you, what it costs and when it could start.
If you go ahead and it doesn't book 5 jobs in its first 30 days live, your second month is free. Conditions apply: see the terms.
No long-term contract. If it's not a fit, we'll tell you on the call.
- 1Your details
- 2Pick a time
Thanks, there. Pick a time for your 20-minute Zoom.
Calendar not loading? Open it in a new tab or email hello@automateai.agency.