How Many Calls Does the Average Contractor Miss Per Week?

The average home service contractor misses 40–60% of inbound calls. Not because they don't care. Not because they're lazy. Because they're on a job site, under a house, on a roof, or driving between appointments.

And here's the part that really hurts: 85% of people who call a contractor and don't get an answer will not leave a voicemail. They'll just call the next company in Google.

Let's do some math

Say you get 10 calls a week. You miss 5 of them. Of those 5, maybe 1 leaves a voicemail. The other 4 are gone — you'll never even know they called.

If your average job is worth $2,500, that's $10,000 per week walking out the door. That's $40,000 a month. $480,000 a year. Not because your work is bad. Because nobody answered the phone.

Why "I'll call them back" doesn't work

The data on callback timing is brutal. If you call someone back within 5 minutes, you're 100x more likely to reach them than if you wait 30 minutes. By the time you're done with your current job and check your phone at lunch, the window is closed.

The customer isn't sitting around waiting for you. They already found someone who answered.

What actually solves this

The fix isn't hiring a receptionist at $2,500/month. The fix isn't an answering service that takes messages you still have to return. The fix is responding instantly — automatically — to every missed call.

A text that goes out within 3 seconds of a missed call does two things. First, it tells the customer you exist and you care. Second, it starts a conversation that can lead to a booked appointment — without you ever picking up the phone.

That's not science fiction. That's what AI automation does right now, today, for hundreds of contractors.

The bottom line

You don't have a marketing problem. You don't need more leads. You need to stop losing the leads you already have. If you're missing even 30% of your calls, you're leaving six figures on the table every year.

← Back to all posts