somebody called about a tank backing up into the house. nobody picked up.
they didnt leave a voicemail and they wont call back. they went down the list until somebody answered. and you'll never know it happened... that's the part that gets you.
it's a real line, running right now. takes about a minute to hear it.
i'm in Knoxville, i built it, and i set it up for you myself. who i am →
never call back after one missed try
what one big job is worth to a septic company
a year, at 25 calls a week and the lowest miss rate anybody publishes
put your own numbers in.
1,300 calls a year. about 182 of them you dont get to. roughly 73 of those would have been jobs.
a year, gone, and you never saw it happen
Part Timer is $3,564 for the year. at $500 a job you'd need it to save you 8 to break even. it's showing you 73.
this uses a 14% miss rate, which is CallRail's benchmark and the lowest figure published anywhere, and a 40% close rate, which is under the 50% most people quote. the job value starts at a typical service call for your trade and you can change it... it's your business, you know that number better than i do.
it knows an emergency from somebody pricing a job.
a tank backing up into the house
somebody scheduling a pump-out before they list the place
either way it texts you one line you can read without putting anything down.
a real screenshot of one of those texts goes right here.
i could mock one up so it looked real and you'd have no way to tell... which is exactly why it wouldnt be worth anything to you. so it's staying empty until there's a real one to put in it.
that difference is worth real money and a generic answering service doesnt make it. you still call them back yourself... i'm just making sure you knew.
50 calls is not 50 minutes.
everybody else sells you minutes. that sounds the same and it really isnt.
| plan | what they sell you | what that is in calls |
|---|---|---|
Call Ruby 50 $245/mo | 50 minutes | about 20 calls |
Call Ruby 100 $385/mo | 100 minutes | about 40 calls |
AnswerConnect $325/mo | 200 minutes then $1.65 a minute | about 80 calls |
Part Timer $297/mo | 50 calls | 50 calls, however long they take |
a minute meter charges you more when the agent does a better job. every question it asks to get the address right costs you money. that's backwards... so this counts calls instead, and a long one costs the same as a short one.
and look at that AnswerConnect row honestly: 200 minutes for $325 is more talk time per dollar than i'm giving you, and i'm not going to pretend otherwise. what it doesnt have is a ceiling. minute 201 is $1.65, and so is every one after it. a busy month is exactly when you can least afford a surprise invoice. my brackets stop. theirs dont.
calls figured at 2.5 minutes each, which is about what it takes to get a name, a callback number, an address and what's wrong. rounded down, so their number gets the benefit of the doubt. competitor pricing checked August 2026.
what it costs.
one septic company job is about $500. Part Timer starts at $297. if it catches one call a month it paid for itself.
Part Timer
it gets the calls you dont
$150 setup, one time
it never stops answering and you never get an overage bill. if you're heading past your bracket i'll tell you before it happens... and past 100 calls Front Desk is the better deal anyway, so i'll say that instead of charging you more.
- picks up the calls you miss, whatever time that is
- answers as your shop, in your service area, knows your trade
- gets the name, the callback number, the address, and what's wrong
- knows the call that cant wait from the one that can
- texts it to you in one line you can read on a ladder
- after-hours emergency routing, so the real ones still reach you
- your own local 865 number
- counted in CALLS, not minutes... a long call costs you the same as a short one
- it never stops answering, and there's no per-call overage bill... ever
Call Ruby 50 is $245/mo for 50 MINUTES, which is about 20 calls. This is $297 for 50 CALLS. Those are not the same number.
Front Desk
it books the job, you just show up
$250 setup, one time
no call brackets at all. however busy it gets.
- everything in Part Timer, and no call brackets at all
- synced to your calendar, so it books the slot while they're still on the phone
- texts the confirmation and the reminder
- reschedules without you touching it
- you stop answering the phone
Sameday is $449/mo and wants you on field-service software first. Most 3-person shops arent, and shouldnt have to be.
Teammate
it does the office work too
$500 setup, one time
no call brackets at all. however busy it gets.
- everything in Front Desk
- chases every quote that didnt close, on a schedule, instead of never
- asks for the google review the day after the job, while they still remember
- tells people their appointment window, and asks you first if they want better than that
- every customer, every job, every call recording, in one place
A full-time receptionist in Knoxville averages $14.92/hr, so 40 hours a week runs about $2,590 a month before payroll tax. She covers 40 hours. This covers 168.
no contract, cancel whenever. talk to me →
who you're actually calling.
you're about to hand your phone to somebody. worth knowing who.
Jay Campbell · Knoxville, TN
i'm Jay, and this is just me. not a franchise, not a reseller account, not a call center two states over reading your shop name off a script.
i set it up for you myself. i sit down with you once and learn how you actually talk about your work, how far out you'll drive, what you wont touch. then i test it on your trade before it ever picks up for a real customer. when it says something you dont like, you text me and i change it... there's no ticket and there's no queue.
and i built the thing, which sounds like a small distinction and really isnt. most of what gets sold as an AI receptionist is somebody else's software with a different logo on the login page, so when it does something strange nobody on the phone can tell you why. this is 45+ AI products in for me. i can open it up and fix it that afternoon.
and what i'm not: a 24 hour support desk. i'm one person and i do sleep. the agent doesnt, which is the whole point of it, but if what you want is a company with a support department behind it, that honestly isnt me and i'd rather say so now than after you've paid me.
what people ask.
how does this work for septic companies?
it answers your line as your septic company, gets the name, the callback number, the address and what they need, then texts it to you. it knows your service area and it knows the difference between a tank backing up into the house and somebody scheduling a pump-out before they list the place.
do i keep my number?
yes. you keep your number and it forwards, either after a few rings or on every call. nothing changes about how customers reach you.
what's one missed call actually worth to a septic company?
a typical job runs around $500 and a big one is $6,000 to $15,000. roughly 85% of the people who cant reach you never call back, so every one of those is gone... you just never see it happen.
is there a call limit?
there are brackets, but it never stops answering and you never get an overage bill. $297 up to 50 calls a month, $397 up to 100, and if you're heading past your bracket i'll tell you before it happens rather than after.
what does it cost?
$297 a month for Part Timer, which picks up everything you dont and texts it straight to you. $597 for Front Desk, which also books it onto your calendar. $997 for Teammate, which chases your dead quotes and asks for your reviews too. one saved job covers the month.
are you local?
yes, i'm in Knoxville. i set the whole thing up for you, i answer when it breaks, and you're not filing a ticket with somebody three time zones away.