Every tradesperson misses calls. You're under a sink, up a ladder, or driving between jobs — you can't always answer. But have you ever worked out what that actually costs you?
The maths most tradespeople ignore
Say you're a plumber charging £300 average per job. You miss 3 calls a week. That's £900 a week in potential revenue walking out the door. Over a year, that's £46,800.
Not every missed call would have converted. But even at 50% — that's over £23,000 a year lost to voicemail.
Why tradespeople lose more calls than they think
- You're on a job and can't pick up
- A customer calls at 7pm and gets no answer
- Someone calls while you're driving
- A caller rings once and moves straight to the next plumber on Google
That last point is the one that stings. Customers searching for a tradesperson are calling 2 or 3 businesses at once. First to answer gets the job.
What happens when you miss a call
Most customers won't leave a voicemail. They'll just call the next result on Google Maps. By the time you see the missed call and ring back, they've already booked someone else.
This is especially painful for emergency jobs — a burst pipe, a power fault, a boiler breakdown. Those customers need someone now. A missed call means a missed job, guaranteed.
The fix doesn't have to be expensive
Hiring a receptionist costs £20,000+ a year. That's not realistic for a sole trader.
AI call answering services like MissedCallAI answer every call you miss, take the customer's details, and text you a summary instantly — for a fraction of that cost.
Work out your own number
Use our free missed call calculator to see exactly how much you're losing based on your trade and average job value. Most tradespeople are surprised by the result.