Guide · Missed calls
What missed calls cost a home service business
Missed calls cost a home service business the jobs those callers book with someone else. CallRail's data puts the share of calls home-service businesses miss at about 14%, and 82% of people say they'd try a competitor after an unanswered call. To size your own loss, multiply missed calls by the share that are new jobs, the share you'd book, and your average job value. AERIOX's calculator uses that formula.
- Calls missed
- About 14% (home services)
- Would try a competitor
- 82% of callers
- Answered calls that are leads
- 38%
- Leads booked on the call
- 45%
Updated · AERIOX, LLC, Jupiter, FL
What the numbers say
- Most callers move on. In a CallRail survey of 1,000 US consumers (2025), 82% said they'd try a competitor after an unanswered call, and only 42% said they leave a voicemail.
- Misses are common. Home-service businesses miss about 14% of their calls, per a CallRail benchmark cited by Plumber magazine (2026).
- A lot of calls are new work. Invoca's home services benchmarks (2026) found that 38% of answered calls are leads, and 45% of those leads convert on the call.
These are averages across many businesses. Your own share of missed calls, new-job calls and bookings may be higher or lower, and your own numbers always beat a benchmark.
The math, step by step
AERIOX's missed-call calculator uses this formula. You can run it on the back of an envelope.
- Missed calls a month. Missed calls a week × 52 ÷ 12.
- New-job calls. Multiply by the share of calls that are new jobs. The calculator uses 38%, from Invoca.
- Jobs you'd book. Multiply by the share you'd book on the call. The calculator uses 45%, also from Invoca.
- Money. Multiply booked jobs by your average job value. That's the monthly figure; times 12 is the year.
One caution: Invoca's rates come from calls that were answered. A caller who reached voicemail may be more urgent or less committed than average, so treat the result as an estimate of the leak, not an invoice.
A worked example
Say a plumbing shop gets 70 calls a week and misses the benchmark 14%. That's about 10 missed calls a week. Assume its average job is $350; use your own figure.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Missed calls a month | 10 × 52 ÷ 12 | About 43.3 |
| New-job calls | × 38% | About 16.5 |
| Jobs it would book | × 45% | About 7.4 |
| A month of jobs | × $350 | $2,594 |
| A year | × 12 | $31,122 |
At a $1,000 average job, the same missed calls come to about $7,410 a month. Some of those callers leave a voicemail and you win them back on the callback, so the real loss is lower than the full figure. Even so, a few lost jobs a month can be worth more than most of the fixes below cost.
How to find your own missed-call number
- Pull two weeks of call history from your phone carrier, your business phone app or your call log, and count calls you didn't answer.
- Note when they came in: during jobs, at lunch, after hours, on weekends. The pattern tells you which fix to try first.
- Check how many of those callers left a voicemail and how many you called back the same day.
- Run the formula above with your own average job value.
Practical fixes
Forward calls you can't take
Ask your phone carrier about conditional call forwarding: calls you don't answer, or that come in while you're on another call, ring a second phone, such as an office manager's or a family member's who helps with the business. It keeps a person on the line without any new software.
Cover after hours
Evenings and weekends are when homeowners notice problems and nobody is at the desk. The options are an on-call rotation among your techs, a live answering service, or an AI receptionist such as AERIOX's, which answers 24/7 in English and Spanish, books into Google Calendar and emails you every call. Compare them in AI receptionist vs. answering service vs. voicemail.
Let people book online
Some callers only want a time slot. A booking link on your website and on your Google Business Profile lets them pick one without calling. Google explains how to add one in its Business Profile help on booking links.
Call back fast, with a better greeting
If a call does go to voicemail, the greeting should say when you'll call back and ask for a name, number, address and what the problem is. Then call back the same hour if you can.