Built for heating & cooling companies
The HVAC answering service that catches the no-heat call while you're on a rooftop unit.
The Backup Line is a 24/7 AI answering service for HVAC contractors. When a furnace dies on the coldest night of the year and you're already on another job, it picks up as your company, asks what a dispatcher would ask, and rings your on-call phone before the homeowner dials the next HVAC company 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 rooftop, in an attic, 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 whose furnace just quit — hear exactly what your callers would.
Furnaces die on the coldest night and ACs die on the hottest day
HVAC demand is weather, and weather doesn't book appointments. The first hard freeze kills a wave of furnaces at once; the first heat wave does the same to ACs — and every one of those homeowners is calling down the list until somebody answers. When ten no-heat calls hit in one evening, the company whose line picks up every time wins most of them, and the company on voicemail wins none.
The cruel math is that your busiest days are your most unreachable days. When the calls surge, you're out running them — which is exactly when the next $5,000 changeout call rings through to voicemail. Replacement jobs are the ones that make the season, and they arrive as a phone call from someone cold, hot, and in a hurry to hire whoever answers first.
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
$3,000–$8,000+
A typical furnace or AC replacement runs $3,000–$8,000, and a full system changeout runs past that — gone to whichever company answered during the cold snap. The repair calls in between fund the trucks; the changeouts fund the year.
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 an HVAC intake — disclosed, up front
It tells callers it's an automated assistant, then asks what a dispatcher would: is it heat or cooling, is the system completely down or limping, how long it's been out, what kind of equipment, and how to reach them — plus whether anyone in the house is especially at risk in the temperature.
Calls that can't wait ring your phone in seconds (Pro)
On Pro, when a call can't wait — no heat in winter, no cooling in a heat wave, a suspected gas or CO issue that belongs with the utility and 911 first — the AI tells the caller the on-call tech is being alerted and will call them right back, then it instantly calls your phone, redials if you miss it, and sends the same alert by email and push.
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.
HVAC 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 HVAC contractors 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.
What happens during a cold snap when ten calls hit at once?+
The AI answers all ten at the same time — there's no hold queue and no busy signal, because it isn't one operator taking one call. Every caller gets the full intake, every lead lands in your email and portal, and the ones that can't wait ring your on-call phone. A surge night stops being the night you lose the most jobs.
What does it ask HVAC callers specifically?+
The intake is written for heating and cooling, not adapted from a generic script. It asks whether the system is completely down, heat or cool, how long it's been out, roughly what equipment they have, whether they're an existing customer, plus name, callback number, and the address details you'd want before rolling a truck.
Can it tell which calls can't wait? (Pro)+
Yes, on the Pro plan. A tune-up request or a quote gets captured and sent to your email for the morning. No heat when it's freezing, no cooling in a heat wave, or a vulnerable person in the house gets flagged, and your phone rings within seconds with the details already collected — redialing if you miss it, with the same alert by email and push.
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.