Replace the receptionist

The calls you never hear are the ones that cost you

Small businesses miss a large share of their calls: one 30-day count of 85 of them found 62% unanswered. An AI receptionist answers every one of them, takes the booking, qualifies the caller and hands the ones that need a person straight to a person, with the context already written down.

Scope a receptionistSee the arithmetic

From $1,490 to build, then $290 a month to run. No per-minute surprises. Live in 5 to 7 days.

Replace the receptionist
$0.40a call, against $8 to $12 for a live answering service
Calls answered
100%, any hour
Answers within
2 rings
Books straight into
your calendar
Anything complex
to a person
Missed after 6pm
none

From $1,490 to build, then $290 a month to run, telephony and monitoring included.

An AI receptionist answers your phone around the clock, books appointments, qualifies callers and passes anyone who needs a person to a person with the context already written down. It costs about $0.40 a call against $8 to $12 for a live answering service, and it exists because small businesses miss a large share of the calls they get.

The numbers

Why this one is worth automating

Four figures with their sources attached. The salary line is a typical loaded cost for a US small business, which makes it an anchor rather than a measurement of yours.

Pay by state and task
62%of calls went unanswered in a 30-day count of 85 small businesses411 Locals, 2016, published by an answering service
$0.40typical cost of an AI-handled call, against $8 to $12 for a live answering serviceAI per-minute rates; Smith.ai per-call rates, Sep 2026
$4.64Bthe virtual receptionist market in 2026, which is what the unanswered calls are worthmarket sizing, 2026
$3,170typical loaded monthly cost of a full-time receptionist in the USanchor, not your number
Side by side

A person against the system

The last row is the one that decides it. Everything above it is arithmetic; that one is judgement, and it is the reason this is a replacement of a task rather than of a person.

Work it out with your own cost
DimensionA person doing itThe system
Hours coveredAbout 40 a weekEvery hour there is
Calls answered at onceOneAs many as arrive
Cost per answered call$8 to $12 outsourcedAbout $0.40
Monthly cost$3,170 loaded, typical$290 plus setup
Sick days and holidaysCovered by someone elseNone
Handles an upset customerYes, wellNo: escalates immediately
The line

What it handles, and what it does not

Read the right column first. A page that claims the whole job is telling you it has never run one of these in production.

What it handles
  • Answers every inbound call within two rings, at any hour
  • Books, moves and cancels appointments directly in your calendar
  • Qualifies the caller against the questions you would ask
  • Takes a message with a written summary and the recording attached
  • Answers the twenty questions that make up most of your call volume
  • Routes to the right person or department when one is needed
What stays with a person
  • Anything with an upset customer attached: it escalates on the first signal
  • Negotiation, pricing exceptions or anything requiring judgement about a person
  • Clinical, legal or financial advice, in any wording
  • Outbound calling: this answers, it does not dial
  • Being the only number: a human path is always one word away
Four steps

How it goes live without a bad week

Every rollout here starts on the work nobody is doing today, and widens only against evidence. Nothing that currently works changes on day one.

You describe the callsThe twenty questions people actually ring about, what you book and how, who gets escalated to, and the phrases that mean drop everything and fetch a person.30 minutesyour side
We build and you listenThe agent is built against your calendar, your CRM and your escalation rules, then you call it yourself as many times as it takes to be comfortable with what it says.5 to 7 daysour side
It takes the overflow firstIt starts on the calls nobody currently answers: after hours, and the ones ringing out while the line is busy. Nothing that is being answered today changes on day one.Week oneoverflow only
You widen it when it earns itEvery call is transcribed and scored. You widen its remit against a transcript rather than against a promise, and you can narrow it again in an afternoon.Your callreversible
The money

What it costs to build and to run

Two numbers, both fixed before anything starts. There is no per-seat fee, no per-resolution fee and no minimum term.

To buildFrom $1,490

to build, then $290 a month to run. No per-minute surprises.

To run$290/mo

Hosting, model usage and monitoring. Cancel any month, and the system stays yours.

Live in5 to 7 days

From the first conversation to something running, with the rollout above between them.

Before you commit

The questions that actually decide this, including the ones with an uncomfortable answer.

The other fourReplace tier-one supportReplace the SDRReplace the reconciliationReplace the content freelancer

Yes. It says so at the start of every call, tells the caller the call is recorded, and confirms it whenever asked. In the EU, Article 50 of the AI Act has required that disclosure since 2 August 2026. What callers care about is that the phone was answered and the booking was made.

It escalates. During hours that means a warm transfer to the right person with a written summary of what has happened so far. Outside hours it takes the message, books a callback in a real slot, and flags it as urgent if the words used suggest it is.

From $1,490 to build and $290 a month to run, which includes the telephony, the model and the monitoring. A typical call costs about $0.40 in usage against $8 to $12 for a live answering service.

The scope can use a dedicated number or forwarding from yours, then write into a supported calendar or booking system. We confirm the phone and calendar APIs before work starts. A missing connector changes the scope and price.

Every call is recorded and transcribed, and both are yours. Most of the value in the first month is reading them: it is usually the first complete record anyone has of what people actually ring about.

Count it before you replace it.

The audit prices what this task currently costs you, in your own numbers rather than in a typical loaded figure, and says whether it is the one worth removing first. It is $290 and it comes off the build.

Scope a receptionistPrice it first

From $1,490 · live in 5 to 7 days · no per-seat fees