How answering services price
| Model | How it bills | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Per-minute bundle (human) | Monthly fee for X minutes, then per minute | Overage on busy months, rounding up, hold and transfer time |
| Per-call (human) | Fixed price per call | Spam and wrong numbers billed as calls |
| Pay as you go (human) | Small fee plus a higher per-minute rate | Highest rate per minute |
| Flat (AI) | Monthly price, large minute allowance | Overage rate beyond the allowance |
Worked examples
Assume three-minute calls. Human service at $2.29 a minute (PATLive's extra-minute rate on its 50-minute plan); HireJosie at its published price.
| Calls a month | Minutes | Per-minute at $2.29 | HireJosie Starter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 90 | $206 | $29 |
| 60 | 180 | $412 | $29 |
| 150 | 450 | $1,031 | $29 + overage at $0.25/min |
Run your own numbers in the answering service cost calculator.
The cost that isn't on the invoice
The bigger cost for emergency businesses is what happens after the answer. A service that takes a message and passes it on still loses the job if the tech doesn't call back fast, because 85% of callers who can't reach a business won't call back (BIA/Kelsey). Compare services on whether they dispatch and quote your fee, not just price per minute.
Message service: 4 minutes billed · message texted to tech · tech asleep · customer calls a competitor
Emergency line: fee agreed · tech paged · pressed 1 in 3 minutes · job booked
What Josie does
- 24/7 Emergency Line: Answers every after-hours call and sorts real emergencies from routine jobs with your rules.
- Surge Overflow: When the office line is busy or a heat wave hits, Josie answers the overflow, all at once.
- Weekly Revenue Report: A 7am morning report and a Monday email in dollars: emergencies, fees agreed, jobs won back.
- For your trade: 24/7 Emergency Answering Service for Home Service Companies
Common questions
How much does an answering service cost per month?
Human services commonly start around $100/month for a small bundle of minutes and climb with volume; PATLive's published plans run from $99/month for 50 minutes to $759/month for 500 (October 2026). HireJosie Starter is $29/month for 200 minutes.
Is an AI answering service cheaper than a human one?
Usually, by a wide margin at any real call volume, because there is no per-minute labour cost. The right comparison also includes whether the service dispatches your tech.
What does HireJosie cost?
HireJosie is $29/month for 200 AI minutes, starting with a 7-day free trial — cancel before day 7 and you pay nothing. Pro is $79/month for 500 minutes, with $0.25/minute overage after that. Every feature is on every plan, and every plan starts with a 7-day free trial.