Missed calls lose a 1-10 person shopabout $112,000 a year.
The math is plain: 12 missed calls a week x 52 working weeks x a $600 average ticket. That is what a median HVAC or plumbing shop trades back to voicemail before close rate ever enters the picture. This brief runs the numbers, lays out what recovers on a flat monthly Bookweld plan, and ships a calculator to plug your own shop in.
The headline
A 1-10 person service shop trades back about
in missed-call revenue at the median $600 ticket, before close rate enters the picture. About 30% of that is recoverable on a flat monthly Bookweld plan.
- Median missed/wk
- ~12
- Voicemail rate
- 62%
- Recovery
- 30%
- Bookweld fee
- $800/mo
The three pieces of the leak
What HVAC and plumbing shops trade back to voicemail.
The leak has three parts: the share of calls that ring outside business hours, the math each ring sets on the table, and the close-rate lever that decides how much gets recovered on a flat monthly plan. The summary below is the front half of the six-page PDF - the back half adds the worked numbers and the recovery calculator.
The leak
~62% of after-hours rings go to voicemail.
On a median HVAC or plumbing shop with 1-10 people, the on-call dispatcher is usually tied up on a job. The phone rings into voicemail, and 78% of voicemail callers never reach back - they have already dialed the next shop on Google.
What it costs
$112K / year exposed at the median ticket.
The plain formula: missed/week x weeks/year x average ticket. At 12 missed calls/week, 52 working weeks, and a $600 average ticket, that is $374,400 in exposed revenue per year. Close rate appears in the math, not in the headline.
What recovers it
A 24/7 AI receptionist on a flat monthly fee.
A 24/7 AI receptionist that picks up, qualifies, and books on the first call moves the close rate to about 30% - and replaces per-minute invoices that grew with the call volume you were already losing.
By trade
What the leak looks like in your trade.
Same math, two shops. Each panel pulls from the existing pilots on /hvac and /after-hours-plumber and reuses the figures already cited there. The numbers below are the front half of the six-page PDF; page two carries the worked example.
HVAC
~$3,000 / wk recoverable on a 2-truck shop.
- After-hours voicemail rate
- 62 → 6%
- Emergency leads / wk
- ~5
- Avg. HVAC ticket
- ~$600
Six-week HVAC pilot moved voicemail from 62% to 6% on after-hours AC-out and no-heat calls.
Plumbing
~$2,800 / wk recoverable on a solo-truck shop.
- After-hours voicemail rate
- 62 → 6%
- Emergency leads / wk
- ~4
- Avg. plumbing ticket
- ~$700
Six-week plumbing pilot moved after-hours pickup from 18% to 94% on burst-pipe and Sunday no-water callouts.
Download the brief
The full six-page brief,
as a PDF.
Six pages of the same numbers, but with the worked examples and a four-row calculator table pinned to the median $600 ticket. Plain ASCII text inside the PDF so it pastes into a spreadsheet or a presentation without cleanup.
Multiple reads - download again anytime. Or email us at bookweld-5@polsia.app for a printed copy.
What is inside
- p. 01
Cover: what the brief is and the headline number
The six-page scope and the headline: $112,000 / year exposed at the median $600 ticket.
- p. 02
Industry stats: HVAC and Plumbing
Median after-hours share, voicemail rate, missed calls/week, by trade. Where your shop sits on the distribution.
- p. 03
Cost-per-missed-call math
The plain formula and a worked example at 12 missed/week x 52 x $600, with the close rate that turns the math into recovered revenue.
- p. 04
Recovery calculator at your shop
Four scenarios from 5 to 20 missed calls/week, showing annual lost, annual recovered, and net after the $9,600 Bookweld fee.
- p. 05
What changes when every ring is picked up
Five concrete shifts observed on six-week pilots: pickup rate, warm transfer, in-call booking, voicemail loss, pricing shape.
- p. 06
Bookweld CTA + contact
Pricing, the 30-day free trial shape, setup time, and how to bring your own numbers to a 15-minute walkthrough.
Get the full report
Send the briefstraight to your inbox.
Drop your email and we will send the six-page research brief straight to your inbox, the same worksheet our team uses on the fifteen-minute walkthrough. No drip sequence, no sales call until you ask for one.
Email capture
Deliver the PDF to my inbox.
Run your own numbers
Run your own numbers.
Three sliders: missed calls per week, average ticket, current pickup rate. We run the math against the same numbers above, then point you at a fifteen-minute walkthrough if the picture makes sense.