For home-services shops
After-Hours Answering That Catches The Emergency, Not A Voicemail.
A burst pipe at 9 PM doesn’t wait for business hours, and it doesn’t leave a voicemail. If your line rings out after close, that caller hangs up and dials the next contractor on the list. Inboxsmith answers in your company name, triages the emergency, and gets the job to you instead. Starts at $47 a month.
Keep your number. Forward after close. Cancel anytime.
After-hours is a coverage style, not a separate product. It runs on any Inboxsmith plan.
What Happens To The Calls You Miss After Close?
The phone doesn’t stop ringing when your crew clocks out. A no-heat call at midnight, a flooded kitchen on a Sunday, a new customer who found you at 8 PM: those are the jobs that pay, and they come in when nobody is there to pick up.
Here is the part that costs you: an emergency caller almost never leaves a voicemail. They hang up and dial the next company on the list, and you lose the job before you even knew it existed. By the time you hear the missed call in the morning, it has already been booked by someone else.
Inboxsmith answers every one of those calls in your company name, triages the emergency from the routine, transfers the true emergency live to your on-call tech, and has the rest waiting in a clean recap by morning. The job stays yours.
How Does After-Hours Answering Work?
Three steps, and your after-hours calls stop going to voicemail.
Forward your line after close
Keep your existing number. You set conditional forwarding so Inboxsmith only answers when you don’t: no-answer, busy or unreachable. No porting, no number change. The exact carrier dial codes are on the start page, and on iPhone, Live Voicemail can screen a caller before it ever forwards. It takes about five minutes, and the start page walks you through it code by code.
It answers and triages the call
Inboxsmith picks up in your company name and figures out fast whether this is an emergency or a routine request, capturing the job type, the location, how urgent it is and how to get access. Every caller gets a real conversation, not a beep and a voicemail box.
Emergency transfers, routine waits till morning
A true emergency is transferred live to your on-call tech, with an email alert carrying the details. A routine call becomes a complete message, delivered in your morning recap with the recording and transcript, so nothing is lost and nothing wakes you up that didn’t need to.
What Does An After Hours Call Look Like?
The $47 plan, beat by beat: a real 2 a.m. no-heat emergency.
Your on-call tech can let a routine message wait until morning and still choose to pick up the 2 a.m. emergency. That’s the call that’s usually worth answering.
2:07 AM · 📞 Call · Incoming · After hours
Inboxsmith: Thanks for calling Northgate Heating & Cooling. I’m the automated dispatcher, and this call is recorded. What’s going on?
Caller: Our furnace just quit and the house is already down to 48 degrees. It’s below zero out. Can someone come tonight?
2:07 AM · 📞 Call
Inboxsmith: No heat in a hard freeze qualifies as an emergency. What’s the service address?
Caller: 27 Frost Hollow Road, Ridgeway 05445, the blue house past the church.
2:08 AM · 📞 Call · Intake
Inboxsmith: Got it. Your first name and the best number to reach you, and is there anything I should know to get in?
Caller: Carla, 555-0168. Side door’s unlocked and there’s a friendly dog inside.
2:08 AM · 📞 Call + 🛠️ Dispatch
Inboxsmith: Thanks, Carla. Callback 555-0168, address 27 Frost Hollow Road, I’ve got it. I’m connecting you to Ray, our on-call tech, right now. One moment while it rings.
Email alert · Ray + office inbox: Emergency: no heat, house down to 48°, below-zero night. 27 Frost Hollow Road, Ridgeway 05445. Carla, 555-0168. Side door open, friendly dog.
System: Ringing Ray on the on-call line ⏳
2:09 AM · 🛠️ Dispatch → 📞 Call
Ray: Got it, I’m up. Rolling to Frost Hollow now.
Inboxsmith: Ray picked up, Carla, I’m connecting you to him now. He’s got your address and he’s on his way.
2:09 AM · 🛠️ Dispatch · After the call
Inboxsmith: Ray answered inside the ring window, so the emergency’s his and he’s on the line with Carla. Call summary emailed to the office with the recording and transcript attached; it leads the morning recap.
If the tech doesn’t pick upNo second number gets dialed. The dispatcher takes the full details, the email alert still goes to Ray and the office, and it lands at the top of the morning recap so the office calls Carla back first thing.
If it’s a routine call insteadNo transfer at all. The dispatcher takes the full message, tells the caller the office will call back first thing, and drops it in the morning recap with the recording and transcript. Nobody’s night gets interrupted for a job that can wait.
Want callers booked straight into your calendar instead? That is the Full-Time plan.
What About The Telemarketers?
Solicitors don’t keep business hours either, and every one that reaches your line is time you’re not quoting real work. When Inboxsmith catches a sales pitch, it shuts the call down: it tells the caller this business is not interested, asks them to add your number to their do-not-call list, hangs up fast, and drops a row in your recap with the caller ID and the time. No more guessing who keeps calling.
We’ll be straight with you about what that does and doesn’t do. Inboxsmith asks sales callers to stop and to list your number as do-not-call. It cannot force every caller to comply, and it does not replace the federal Do Not Call Registry, which does not cover business lines. What you get is a call handled and a timestamped log of who tried, not a legal promise we can’t keep.
After-Hours Plans
Start with After Hours at $47 a month. Upgrade when you want every call booked.
After Hours
$47/mo
Cover nights, weekends and overflow. Keep answering your own phone by day.
- ✓250 minutes a month included
- ✓Custom message taking for up to 2 call types, built for you
- ✓Live emergency transfer to your on-call tech
- ✓Telemarketer screening, do-not-call request and a screened-call log
- ✓Website widget: text chat and voice
- ✓Email recap after every call
7 days or 300 minutes. Then $47/mo. Cancel anytime.
Full-Time
$147/mo
Every call answered and booked into your calendar, day and night.
- ✓1,000 minutes a month included
- Everything in After Hours, plus:
- ✓Custom message taking for up to 5 call types, built for you
- ✓Warm transfers: your AI briefs your tech before connecting
- ✓Calendar booking with Calendly, Cal.com, and Google Calendar (via their sync)
7 days or 300 minutes. Then $147/mo. Cancel anytime.
Pro
$297/mo
Full-service and custom-trained on how your shop actually runs.
- ✓2,000 minutes a month included
- Everything in Full-Time, plus:
- ✓Unlimited call types, built for you
- ✓Custom training on your documents and price sheets
- ✓Smart department routing: each caller goes to the right person
- ✓White-glove setup and priority support
7 days or 300 minutes. Then $297/mo. Cancel anytime.
Went over? $0.20 / min after your included minutes, billed to the whole minute, never a per-call meter.
All plans include
- ✓Answers 24/7, in your company name
- ✓Live emergency transfer to your on-call tech
- ✓Telemarketer screening and a screened-call log
- ✓Email recap after every call
- ✓Website widget: text chat and voice
- ✓Call recordings, transcripts and summaries
- ✓Keep your existing business number
- ✓Published overage: $0.20 / min after your included minutes, billed to the whole minute
- ✓No per-call fees and no setup fee
- ✓Month to month, cancel anytime
Keep your number. Month to month. Cancel anytime.
After-Hours Answering Questions
What is an after-hours answering service?+
It answers the calls your shop can’t after you close. Inboxsmith is an AI receptionist that picks up in your company name, triages each caller as an emergency or a routine request, then either transfers the emergency live to your on-call tech or takes a full message and emails you the recap by morning.
How much does after-hours answering cost?+
Inboxsmith After Hours is $47 a month for 250 included minutes, then a published $0.20 per minute, billed to the whole minute. Need more? Full-Time is $147 for 1,000 minutes and adds calendar booking, and Pro is $297 for 2,000 minutes. Every plan is month to month with no setup fee and no per-call fees.
Do I keep my number?+
Yes. You keep your existing business number and set conditional forwarding so Inboxsmith only picks up when you don’t: no-answer, busy or unreachable. There is no porting and no number change. The carrier dial codes are on the start page, and on iPhone, Live Voicemail can screen a caller before the call ever forwards.
What happens with a real emergency at 2 a.m.?+
Inboxsmith transfers the caller live to your on-call tech and sends an email alert with the job details. If nobody is reachable, it takes a detailed message: job type, location, urgency and access, and puts it at the top of your morning recap with the recording and transcript so you can call back first thing.
What will my customers hear when Inboxsmith answers?+
Your company name, in a natural voice, not a phone tree. Inboxsmith tells callers up front that it’s an automated assistant, then asks the same questions a good office manager would: what happened, where, how urgent it is, and how to get access. Most callers just want the problem handled, and it handles it.
Can it book appointments after hours?+
Not on After Hours. That tier takes the message and emails you the details. Booking is a Full-Time and Pro feature: Inboxsmith books straight into Calendly and Cal.com, and reaches Google Calendar through Calendly and Cal.com’s own sync, so if you want every after-hours call booked into your calendar, that is Full-Time.
Stop Losing The After-Hours Job.
Start After Hours and Inboxsmith answers the calls you miss after close, transfers the emergency to your on-call tech, and has the rest in your inbox by morning. Live in a few days, for $47 a month.
Keep your number. No setup fee. Month to month. Cancel anytime.