Built for handyman businesses
The handyman answering service that picks up while you're on somebody's ladder.
The Backup Line is a 24/7 AI answering service for handyman businesses. When the phone rings with the next job while you're in the middle of this one, it picks up as your business, captures the to-do list, and gets the lead to your phone before the caller tries the next handyman on Google.
Step 1
1.Your phone rings first
Keep answering like you always have — nothing changes.
Step 2
2.You can’t pick up
On a ladder, mid-repair, or off the clock.
Step 3
3.The Backup Line catches it
Answers as your company, qualifies the caller, alerts you.
Call the demo line and act like a homeowner with a list of repairs — hear exactly what your callers would.
A handyman business is a phone business
Handyman work lives on call volume: lots of jobs, booked fast, from people who want it handled this week. Those customers call the first two or three numbers they find and hire whoever answers — for small jobs, nobody waits on a callback. Miss the call and the job is simply gone; there's no bid process, no second chance, no follow-up round.
But the real money in handyman work is the repeat customer — the homeowner who finds someone reliable and calls them for everything, for years. That relationship starts with a first call that got answered. As a one-person business you can't stop mid-repair for the phone, and hiring an office is out of the question at handyman margins — which is exactly the gap a backup line fills.
A backup line has one job: nobody who calls you ever disappears into voicemail. The Backup Line answers instantly on every ring, runs an intake written for your trade, and gets the lead to your phone while the caller is still on the line. Your phone still rings first; the AI only catches what you miss. It's the same product we run for contractors across the construction trades — built in Michigan, answering nationwide.
One caught call covers months of this
The jobs that come in as missed calls are the jobs that fund the month.
One missed call
$150–$1,000+
Individual handyman jobs run $150–$1,000 — small tickets, but they arrive in volume, and each answered call is a customer who may call you for everything for the next ten years. Voicemail leaks exactly that.
The Backup Line, catching every one
From $149/mo
Starter is $149/month: 24/7 backup on your existing number, an intake tuned to your trade, and every call alerted to your phone and email as it ends. Pro, at $297/month, adds the call-back that rings your phone for calls that can't wait and redials if you miss it. One caught job covers months of either.
That's the whole pitch. The pricing is on this page because most answering services make you sit through a sales call to hear theirs.
How it works on your line
You don't build or configure anything. We install it on your line and tune the intake for your trade, and the only step that's ever yours is the last one: calling the lead back.
Your number stays yours
Nothing to port, nothing to change on your trucks, website, or Google listing. We set up conditional forwarding remotely, so your phone rings first and the AI only picks up the calls you don't — mid-job, after hours, or on every call if you want.
The AI runs a handyman intake — disclosed, up front
It tells callers it's an automated assistant, then asks what you would: what needs doing — one repair or a whole list — anything urgent on it like a leak or a door that won't lock, when they're hoping to have it done, and how to reach them.
The lead is on your phone before you're off the ladder
The moment the call ends, the caller's name, number, and what they needed land in your email and hit your phone as a push notification, with the full transcript and recording in your portal. You call back on your schedule — and the caller never knew you missed anything.
What's included
On every plan unless marked. Nothing here is an add-on to hunt for later.
- 24/7 after-hours + overflow answering
- Answers on the first ring — no hold music, no phone tree
- No busy signals — every caller answered at once, even on your busiest day
- Greets callers as your company, with a greeting you approve
- You choose when it picks up — after-hours only, overflow, or every call
- You get emailed the caller's info, transcript & recording the moment the call ends
- Every caller qualified and captured — name, callback number, and exactly what they need
- Calls that can't wait get an instant call to your phone (redialed if missed) plus email & push, so you call the customer straight backPro
Don't take our word for it — call it
Dial the number below and act like a customer calling about a job — whatever that sounds like in your trade. Answer its questions like a real caller would. That's the whole demo.
+1 (918) 223-4411Pick the line that fits your shop
Every plan answers every call, 24/7, and includes a 7-day free trial on your real line. No contract — move up or cancel anytime.
Every plan is built and installed by us. On your real line, tuned to your trade, tested with a live call before it ever answers a customer.
Starter
The line that always answers.
Up to 100 calls a month
No setup fee · no contract
Start free trial- 24/7 AI answering — every call picked up, first ring
- Recordings, transcripts & call summaries — never an add-on
- Instant alerts — push, email, and in your dashboard the second the call ends
- Know what each call is worth — every one priced against your average job, so you see what the line caught
- Follow-up list — every lead you haven't called back yet, in one place, so nothing quietly goes cold
- Built and tuned by us — set up for your business, and changes are free for as long as you're a client
Pro
Most popularIt calls your phone with the leads that can't wait.
Up to 250 calls a month
No setup fee · no contract
Start free trial- Everything in Starter, plus:
- Call-backs to your phone — when a call can't wait, the AI tells the caller you're being alerted, then rings your phone with their name and number, and tries again if you miss it (you pick 2 or 3 attempts). What counts as can't-wait is tuned to your trade — an active loss for restoration, a burst pipe for plumbing, etc.
- The follow-up list chases you — every lead you haven't called back gets a nudge every two days until it's closed out
- Insurance-ready call file — when a job involves a claim, any call prints as a clean intake record with the full transcript, ready to hand an adjuster or drop in the claim folder
- Calendar-aware scheduling — if you want it, the line reads your calendar and offers callers a proposed time from your real availability. Nothing is confirmed until you confirm it. We set it up with you.
Running a bigger operation? Pick Enterprise in the trial form, tell us what you need, and we'll build it custom.
Extra calls are $3 each. We never stop answering — if you have a big month, the line stays up and the extra shows on your next invoice. Call-backs to your phone are free and never count toward your monthly calls.
Start your free trial
Tell us about your shop and we'll set up a live 7-day trial on your real number. You aren't charged until the trial ends.
Handyman Answering Service FAQ
Is it a real person answering my phone?+
No, and it never pretends to be. It's an AI answering service that discloses in its first sentence that it's an automated assistant. What it does that voicemail can't: it answers every call 24/7, asks the questions your office would ask, and gets the lead to your phone while the caller is still deciding which of the handyman businesses in their search results to hire.
Does my phone still ring first?+
Yes — that's the whole design. We set up conditional call forwarding on your existing number, so your phone rings exactly like it always has. The AI only picks up the calls you don't: mid-job, on the other line, or off the clock. If you answer, it never enters the picture.
Do I lose control of my phone number?+
No. Nothing is ported and nothing changes on your trucks, website, yard signs, or Google listing. The forwarding lives on your line and you can turn it off anytime. Your number stays your number.
My jobs are small — does an answering service pencil out?+
At handyman volume, yes — the math is jobs per month, not dollars per job. If missed calls are costing you even two or three small jobs a month, the service pays for itself, before counting the repeat customers those first jobs turn into. It's the office help the margins could never justify hiring, at a fraction of one job's revenue.
What does it ask handyman callers specifically?+
The intake is built for list-style work: what needs doing, whether anything on the list is urgent, roughly when they want it handled, plus name, callback number, and the address. A caller with six small fixes gets the whole list captured, so your callback quotes the visit, not one item.
How do I find out about the calls it takes?+
The second a call ends, the lead is in your email and on your phone as a push notification — caller's name, number, what they needed, with the full transcript and recording in your web portal. On Pro, calls that can't wait also ring your phone directly, redialing if you miss it (2 or 3 attempts, your choice). Nothing depends on you catching one ring.
How fast can it be live on my line?+
Days, not weeks — and we do the work. We register your business with the carrier and set up the forwarding remotely; your part is a short call to approve the greeting and tell us whose phone gets the call-backs.
What does it cost, and is there a contract?+
No contract. Plans start at $149/month, month-to-month, cancel anytime — no setup fee — and it starts with a 7-day free trial on your real line before you pay anything. You get a set number of calls a month — 100 or 250, depending on the plan — and anything past that is $3 a call, not a renegotiation. Call-backs to your phone are free — they never count toward your monthly calls.
Built for every construction trade — see all trades.