AI receptionist · HVAC
HVAC phones follow the weather. The first cold snap and the first heat wave each bring a week of calls at once, while every technician is in an attic or on a roof. The receptionist answers from the information you approve, tries the person you choose, and leaves a request your dispatcher can act on.
From $49/month with 250 AI minutes and one US local number included. Additional AI time is $0.09 a minute on managed plans. See full pricing
A furnace that will not light in January, a condenser that quit on the first ninety-degree afternoon, a landlord with tenants and no air. These callers want to know whether you can come today and what the visit costs. The receptionist states your emergency policy as you set it, reads the diagnostic fee only if you approved one, and tries your on-call technician.
Spring and fall bring the planned work: a tune-up before the season, a filter question, a plan member asking what the plan includes. The receptionist answers from the plan description you approve, takes the request with the caller’s preferred weeks, and your office sets the visit.
A fifteen-year-old system, a repair estimate that made the homeowner wince, a question about heat pumps or rebates. The receptionist answers what you approved about estimates and financing, captures the home, the current equipment and the caller’s timing, and says who will follow up.
Illustrative example A January evening call about a furnace that stopped during a cold snap. The business, the caller and the policy are invented; the receptionist opens every real call with its AI disclosure.
Thanks for calling Northwind Heating and Air. I am an AI receptionist for the team. How can I help?
Our furnace quit about an hour ago. The house is down to 58 and we have a baby. Can someone come tonight?
I am sorry, that is a hard night. Northwind treats no-heat calls in freezing weather as same-day emergencies, and the after-hours diagnostic fee is explained before a technician is sent. Northwind asks callers to check that the thermostat is set to heat and that the switch beside the furnace is on.
Both are on. The furnace clicks a few times and then nothing happens.
Thank you, I will note that. What is the address?
2217 Birchwood Drive in Elk Ridge. It is a house.
Elk Ridge is in the service area. Let me try the on-call technician now. Please hold for a moment.
The on-call technician did not pick up, and neither did the next person on the team. Can I get your name, the best number to call back, and whether the furnace is gas or electric?
Marcus Oyelaran. This number works. It is a gas furnace, about twelve years old.
Thank you, Marcus. Your request is with the team as a no-heat emergency with an infant in the home, and someone will call you back on this number.
Synthetic example record The team inbox shows a no-heat emergency: gas furnace about twelve years old, clicks and does not light, thermostat and switch checked, house at 58 degrees with an infant, 2217 Birchwood Drive in Elk Ridge, caller Marcus Oyelaran at the number he called from, transfers tried to the on-call technician and a second teammate at 7:16 p.m., neither answered. The on-call technician returns the call from the record.
Every answer comes from the business information you approve during setup. The receptionist does not guess at prices, areas or policies you have not given it.
A homeowner with no heat at 10 p.m. is dialing down a list, and the company that answers gets the job. The receptionist answers at once, explains your emergency policy as you wrote it, tries your on-call technician and then up to three teammates in turn, and takes a complete request that reaches the team right away if nobody picks up.
During a heat wave the office line is busy from eight until six. The receptionist answers the second, third and fourth caller instead of sending them to voicemail, takes each request in full, and your dispatcher works the list in order.
Set your holiday hours once; on those days the receptionist plays the closed-hours message you chose while still handling emergencies as your policy allows. In the quiet weeks of April and October it keeps taking plan signups and tune-up requests, which is where next season’s work comes from.
How after-hours answering works → What happens when three people call at once →
No heat with an infant or an elderly person in the house, a furnace smell, a carbon monoxide alarm: the receptionist uses only the safety wording you approve, tries your on-call technician and marks the request urgent. It diagnoses nothing over the phone and promises no arrival time. For a carbon monoxide alarm or a gas smell, approve a line that tells the caller to leave the house and call emergency services or the gas utility.
The same table on every receptionist page, because the limits matter as much as the features when you are choosing.
| On a call | Today | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Questions about hours, services, areas and prices | Handled on the call | Answered from the business information you approve. A question you have not covered gets a plain "I do not have that" and a message for your team, never a guess. |
| Reaching a person on your team | Handled on the call | A transfer to one eligible US destination, with the teammates you list tried in turn when the first does not pick up. |
| Closed hours, a busy line and holidays | Handled on the call | Your closed-hours message, a bounded waiting queue with position announcements, and the fallback path you configure when every AI line is busy. |
| Messages and callback requests | Captured for your team | Name, number, the request in the caller’s words and the details you ask for, in your inbox and on your webhooks the moment the call ends. |
| Appointment and estimate requests | Captured for your team | The request, the address and the caller’s preferred times. Your team confirms the time from the record; the receptionist writes no calendar. |
| Emergencies and safety | Captured for your team | Only the safety wording you approve, such as where a shutoff valve is, then the on-call transfer and an urgent request. It gives no medical, legal or electrical advice of its own. |
| Dispatching a crew or promising an arrival time | Not part of the receptionist | Not the receptionist’s job: your dispatcher assigns the work and your team confirms the visit from the record it leaves. |
| Texting the caller afterwards | Not part of the receptionist | It sends no text messages. Requests reach you in the inbox, on your signed webhooks and through the API. |
| Writing to a calendar, a CRM or a dispatch system | Not part of the receptionist | No named connector exists. Results reach other systems through signed webhooks, CSV export and the API. |
| Recording the whole call | Not part of the receptionist | Full-call recording is not part of the receptionist offer. Every call leaves a record of what was asked and what was answered. |
| Languages other than English | Not part of the receptionist | English today. |
| Guaranteed answer rates, response times or outcomes | Not part of the receptionist | Capacity is per plan on shared fleet, not reserved hardware. When every AI line is busy, callers follow the fallback path you chose. |
When a call ends without a transfer, the receptionist leaves your team a request instead of a missed-call notification. For HVAC companies that record holds:
Requests land in the team inbox and on your configured webhooks, with the call record beside them. Read how the receptionist handles a call, see how intake questions are chosen, or see what reaches your team.
Published plans, no quote required. Each managed plan includes one standard US local number; the lower BYO price is for businesses that already run their own Twilio account.
| Plan | AI minutes included | Number included | Your own Twilio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 250 | $49 | $39 plus your Twilio bill |
| Business | 1,000 | $139 | $109 plus your Twilio bill |
| Scale | 2,000 | $269 | $219 plus your Twilio bill |
Example from the rate card 150 calls a month averaging 3 minutes each use about 450 AI minutes after the 30-second per-call minimum. The cheapest managed plan for that month is Starter at $67: the $49 subscription plus $18 of additional AI time. With your own Twilio account the cheapest plan is Starter at $49, plus your carrier bill. Non-AI incoming time, connected transfers, extra numbers and taxes are not in these figures.
Get a supported US local business number without setting up your own Twilio account. Search by city, state or area code during paid setup; actual inventory, the number quote, accepted billing/funding and call qualification determine activation. AI time is metered per second with a 30-second minimum per AI-handled call. Every rate and term is on the pricing page.
No. It captures the request and tries the person you choose. Your dispatcher assigns the technician and confirms the visit from the record in the team inbox.
Only if you approve it. You can approve a diagnostic fee, a flat tune-up price or "replacement estimates are free", and it says exactly that. It never invents a price or promises a repair total.
The receptionist answers, states the emergency policy you approved, and tries your on-call technician. If nobody on your list picks up, it takes the complete request, including the address, the equipment and who is in the home, and sends it to your team inbox and webhooks immediately.
Related reading on this site.
Related reading on this site.
Related reading on this site.
What the calls you miss while working are worth, and how they get answered.
Closed-hours rules, emergency transfers and morning requests.
Plumbing calls arrive while you are under a sink.
An electrician’s phone mixes real danger with routine estimates.
Cleaning companies lose the phone to the job.
Start with your website, review every answer before you pay, and keep your existing number.
