Cost guide for UK trades businesses
What does an AI receptionist cost a UK trades business?
What plumbers, electricians, builders, roofers and heating engineers can expect to pay in 2026, how that compares with an answering service and a part-time hire, and the costs most price pages leave out.
How much does an AI receptionist cost for a small trades business in the UK?
An AI receptionist for a UK trades business starts at about £10 to £250 a month for a self-serve answering plan. A done-for-you system that answers calls, books jobs and connects to your quoting and diary is reported at about £99 to £1,249 a month, often with a £500 to £2,000 set-up fee. A part-time human receptionist costs about £10,650 a year.
Construct Virtual builds and runs these systems for UK construction and trades firms, and scopes the price to your business on a free diagnostic call.
AI receptionist, answering service or part-time hire: what each costs in the UK
Most price pages compare AI tools with other AI tools. A trades owner is really choosing between five ways of not missing the phone.
| Option | Typical UK cost (2026) | Hours covered | Books jobs and sends you the details? | Main catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-serve AI answering plan | About £10 to £250 a month, usually bundled by calls or minutes | 24 hours | Takes details; books if linked to your diary | You set it up and keep it accurate |
| Done-for-you AI system (answers, qualifies, books, chases) | Reported from about £99 to £1,249 a month, plus £500 to £2,000 set-up | 24 hours | Yes, when connected to your diary and CRM | Scope varies, so compare like for like |
| Human answering service | About £75 to £230 a month for 30 to 100 calls, or about £2.20 a call plus VAT | Depends on plan | Takes messages; booking depends on plan | Per-call fees add up in a busy week |
| Part-time receptionist (15 hours a week) | About £10,650 a year before pension, recruitment and kit | 15 of 168 hours | Yes | Unavailable on holiday and sick days |
| Voicemail only | £0 | 24 hours | No | 79% of UK consumers in one 2026 survey would switch to a faster-responding firm |
AI plan and answering service prices are provider price lists as reported in a UK comparison published on 11 October 2026, and have not been tested by us. Some prices are shown excluding VAT. The part-time hire figure is our own calculation from gov.uk rates (below). The 79% figure is from Invoca’s UK B2C Buyer Experience Report 2026 (663 UK consumers, fieldwork 8 to 22 May 2026), which is vendor research.
Examples in the reported lists include Answer.co.uk’s AI plan at £10 a month plus £0.85 a call, Hey Jodie at £49, £99 and £199 a month excluding tax, IONOS at £39 for 30 calls, £69 for 100 and £99 unlimited excluding VAT, and Whoza at £59 to £230 a month with no VAT charged. Prices change often, so use them as a guide to the range, not a quote.
What a part-time receptionist really costs
The National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour from April 2026. Here is the working for a 15-hour week, using gov.uk rates for 2026/27:
- Pay: 15 hours × 52 weeks × £12.71 = £9,914 a year.
- Employer National Insurance: 15% above the £5,000 secondary threshold = £737, before any Employment Allowance you may be able to claim.
- Total: about £10,650 a year, before pension, recruitment, equipment and training.
Holiday is paid, so you pay for 52 weeks but get about 46 weeks of cover (statutory leave is 5.6 weeks). That makes the real cost about £15.30 for every hour someone is actually on the phone, and those hours are 15 out of the 168 in a week. A call at 7pm, on a Sunday or while your receptionist is on leave still goes to voicemail.
Our calculation, 2 November 2026. Pension depends on earnings and age and is not included.
Break-even calculator: what do missed calls cost you?
The sum is simple: break-even jobs per month = monthly cost ÷ gross profit per job. At £400 gross profit per job (an illustrative figure, so replace it with yours), a £99 plan pays for itself with one extra job every four months, a £249 plan with about three jobs every five months, and a £1,249 plan with about three jobs a month.
Enquiries missed per month: 0
Jobs you would win: 0
Gross profit at stake each month£0
The starting values are examples, not benchmarks. Log your missed calls for a week to fill in the first box. Uses 4.33 weeks a month.
Is an AI receptionist good enough for a trades business yet?
Where it does well
- Answering every call at once, including evenings and weekends
- Capturing name, postcode, job type and urgency
- Sending you a clear summary instead of a missed-call number
- Booking into your diary when it is connected
Where it struggles
- Strong accents, poor lines and noisy sites
- Jobs that need technical judgement before a quote
- Price negotiation and upset callers
- Anything involving danger, which must go to a person
Emergencies must never rely on AI alone
A gas smell or suspected carbon monoxide goes to the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. Anyone in immediate danger needs 999. Your AI receptionist should read out the right number, alert you straight away and never advise on the fault itself.
of UK consumers would switch to a faster-responding competitor.
Invoca UK B2C Buyer Experience Report 2026 (vendor research)prefer a human when a human and an AI are equally available.
Invoca, same surveysay it matters that a brand’s AI says it is an AI.
Invoca, same surveyVoice is not the only front door
Checkatrade research with Mortar (2,077 UK adults, August 2025) found 29% of Gen Z had put off home jobs because they were reluctant to speak to a tradesperson. The same research reports that 45% find phone calls with tradespeople especially difficult. If younger homeowners avoid the phone, an AI receptionist that only answers calls misses them. Look for one that also replies to texts, WhatsApp messages and web forms.
Statistics we don’t use
Several figures repeat across vendor blogs: a fixed value for every missed call, the share of callers who never ring back, and the share who hang up on voicemail. We couldn’t trace any of them to a primary source, so we have left them out. Use your own call log and your own job values instead.
UK rules to know before you switch it on
- Say it is an AI. We found no UK rule that requires an inbound AI receptionist to announce itself, but UK GDPR transparency duties apply to the personal data it collects, and most consumers say it matters. Open the call by saying so.
- Be clear about recording. If you record calls, tell callers at the start and say why. Keep recordings only as long as you need them, and know where recordings and transcripts are stored.
- Keep marketing separate. An inbound receptionist is not marketing. An AI that rings or texts people to promote your services is, and UK marketing consent rules (PECR) apply. Contact only people who asked to hear from you.
- Data protection still applies. UK data protection law covers AI tools like any other system that handles customer details. This is general information, not legal advice.
Seven questions to ask any AI receptionist provider
What happens on a gas smell or an electrical emergency?
You want a named escalation path and the right emergency number read out, not a promise that the AI is smart.
Does it say it is an AI at the start of the call?
Listen to a recording to hear exactly what callers hear.
Where are recordings and transcripts stored, and for how long?
Get the answer in writing, and ask how you can delete a caller’s data on request.
What does it do when it doesn’t understand?
Ask how fast it hands the call to you and what you receive when it does.
Which diary, CRM and job software does it connect to?
Ask for a named integration for the tools you use, shown working, not assumed.
What is the total monthly cost at my call volume, including VAT and overage?
Give them your real call log and ask for one number.
Can I hear ten real calls from another trades customer?
A provider that can’t share anonymised examples hasn’t been tested on trades work.
The receptionist is the front door, not the whole house
Answering the call is step one. The money is in what happens next: qualifying the enquiry, booking the survey, sending the quote and chasing it. That is why we build the AI receptionist for trades together with the AI lead handling system, the appointment booking system and the quote follow-up system, so an enquiry never stalls between tools.
We are a done-for-you service, not a software tool. We set it up, run it and keep it current. See how it works for plumbing and heating, HVAC firms, electricians, builders and roofers, or read why good leads go cold after the first call and how AI voice receptionists have changed.
AI receptionist costs: common questions
How much does an AI receptionist cost in the UK?
Self-serve AI answering plans are reported from about £10 to £250 a month. Done-for-you systems that book jobs and connect to your diary and quoting are reported from about £99 to £1,249 a month, often with £500 to £2,000 set-up. Construct Virtual scopes a fixed price to your business on a free diagnostic call.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than an answering service?
Usually, at higher call volumes. Human answering services are reported at about £75 to £230 a month for 30 to 100 calls, or about £2.20 a call plus VAT, so cost rises with volume, while many AI plans bundle more calls. Compare the total at your real call volume, including VAT.
How much does a part-time receptionist cost in the UK?
At the 2026 National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour, 15 hours a week costs about £9,914 in pay plus about £737 employer National Insurance, roughly £10,650 a year before pension, recruitment and equipment. That covers 15 of the 168 hours in a week.
Do AI receptionists work for tradesmen, builders and roofers?
Yes, for answering, capturing job details and booking. They are weaker on strong accents, noisy sites and jobs needing technical judgement, and emergencies must always go to a person.
Will customers hang up if they reach an AI?
Some will. In one 2026 UK survey, 58% preferred a human when both were equally available, but 79% would switch to a faster-responding competitor. Being answered quickly matters more than who answers, as long as the AI says what it is and hands over smoothly.
Can an AI receptionist handle emergencies like a gas leak?
No. It should read out the National Gas Emergency Service number, 0800 111 999, or 999 if anyone is in danger, and alert you immediately. It should never advise on the fault.
Does an AI receptionist integrate with Tradify, ServiceM8 or Powered Now?
It depends on the system. Construct Virtual scopes the connection to your diary, CRM and job software on the diagnostic call, so you know what links to what before you commit.
Keep reading
Why isn’t your trades website showing on Google?
A five-minute check across four gates.
Is it safe to use ChatGPT or Claude with client data?
A red, amber and green list of what you can paste in.
How much does SEO cost for trades?
UK price ranges, what’s included and a break-even calculator.
Find out what it would cost for your business
Thirty minutes. We look at how many enquiries you miss, where they go cold and what a done-for-you system would cost to fix it. No obligation and no software to buy.
- Your missed-call and slow-reply bottlenecks, named
- A scoped price for your trade, size and diary software
- A straight answer if an answering service suits you better
Free AI search check
Does ChatGPT recommend your company?
When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity to recommend a builder or contractor, is your company named? Find out where you stand today.
See how AI engines answer about you