You don't take after-hours work.
A missed call text back with your hours in it is enough.
See missed call text back →// AFTER HOURS CALLS
After hours answering service for tradies with emergencies kept away from the AI
An after hours answering service for tradies picks up the calls you can't take at night and on weekends, so the caller gets a next step instead of voicemail. We set it up on your own number: an AI assistant takes routine calls and says what it is, urgent callers trigger a text to you, and emergency lines ring a person, never the AI.
Updated 30 October 2026
// THE CALL FLOW
What happens to a call at 9pm
- Your phone rings first. If you or whoever is on call can take it, you do. The phone rings for as long as you choose before anything else happens.
- Nobody answers, so the AI assistant picks up. It says what it is: "Hi, I'm the AI assistant, I can help get your details logged so the business can call you back first thing."
- It gives the caller two options. "Do you want me to help you?" or "Do you want me to send you the booking form so you can enter your details yourself?"
- It takes the details. Name, number, the job and the suburb. It reads everything back and confirms, so you start the morning with a job you can act on.
- Urgent? It texts you. The AI asks, and if the caller says it is urgent, you get a text to call them back. Most callers say it can wait until morning.
- Hung up early? They get the link. If the AI call lasts under 20 seconds, the caller gets your booking link by text straight away.
Every caller hangs up knowing what happens next.
// EMERGENCIES
Emergency lines never reach the AI
The fair worry with any answering service is a real emergency meeting a robot. So emergencies get their own path. Searches for emergency jobs, a gas leak or a burst pipe for example, go to dedicated tracking numbers. Those numbers ring your on-call phone and are never routed to the AI. Before it goes live we agree with you who the emergency line rings, and what happens if they can't pick up.
If an emergency comes in on the main line instead, the AI won't make up safety advice. Say a caller says "I can smell gas": it reads the safety script you approved, word for word, and nothing else, then texts you to call them back.
// VOICEMAIL OR A CALL CENTRE
Why voicemail loses the job
Most after-hours callers don't leave a message. They hang up and ring the next business on Google, and by morning the job is booked with someone else. A text back helps, but a caller with water through the ceiling wants to know a person has their details tonight.
A call-centre answering service takes a message too, and it still needs your rules. Ours runs inside GoHighLevel and passes the details to the job software you already use, so they are waiting there in the morning. No separate app to check at night.
// FIT
Who shouldn't buy this
You answer every call yourself, 24/7, and want to keep it that way.
Then you don't need the AI. You may still want the emergency tracking number, so you know which calls are emergencies before you pick up.
Every call needs a licensed person from the first word.
Run the emergency line only, and skip the AI.
// PRICE
One fixed setup price
After-Hours Call Routing Setup: the after-hours AI with the greeting and two options, the urgent-callback text, your safety script loaded, a dedicated emergency tracking number, the under-20-second booking-link text, and a test call for each path before it goes live, an emergency included.
Setup is from $900 + GST setup, a fixed figure confirmed in writing before we start. The AI then runs on GoHighLevel Voice AI at $349/month + GST. The emergency tracking number is included in the setup; its call usage is billed through HighLevel with the other usage charges, so you don't need separate call tracking for it. The full AI setup, including the ServiceM8 route, is on AI receptionist for tradies.
Related: why callers hang up on AI receptionists · missed call text back for tradies · Google Ads for plumbers · marketing for plumbers
// QUESTIONS
After-hours call questions from tradies
Not sure which of your calls the AI should take? Ask us and you'll get a straight answer.
Get in touchWhat does an after hours answering service for tradies cost with Web Blend?
The After-Hours Call Routing Setup is from $900 + GST setup, one fixed figure confirmed in writing before we start, and it includes the emergency tracking number. The AI assistant then runs on GoHighLevel Voice AI at $349/month + GST. HighLevel's own usage charges are separate, and we confirm them when we scope it.
Will the AI handle my emergency calls?
No. Emergency searches go to their own tracking numbers, which ring your on-call phone and never the AI. If an emergency comes in on the main line, the AI won't make up safety advice: it reads your approved safety script word for word and texts you to call back.
What if callers hang up when they hear an AI?
Some will. That is why the AI only answers when nobody else can, and why anyone who hangs up within 20 seconds gets your booking link by text straight away. There is more on why callers hang up on AI receptionists on its own page.
Won't every caller say it's urgent?
In practice, no. Asked straight, most callers say it can wait until morning. The ones who say it is urgent are the ones you want to call back tonight.
Do I need a new phone number?
No. The number on your van and your Google listing stays the same. Calls you don't answer forward to the assistant. Only the emergency line is a new number, used in your emergency ads and pages.
I use ServiceM8, Tradify, Fergus or Simpro. Does it work?
Yes. The AI runs in GoHighLevel and captures the caller there, and our integrations pass the details to your job software. What moves across depends on what each platform allows.
// GET A PLAN
Tell us what your after-hours calls look like
Your trade, roughly how many calls come in after hours, and which ones are real emergencies. We'll map which calls the AI can take and which must ring you, and give you one fixed price.
Get my after-hours plan