How much is your plumbing business losing to missed calls?

Where these numbers come from

This is the only missed-call calculator in the AI-receptionist category that hyperlinks every default to its primary source. Every number is editable — adjust the sliders to match your specific business.

Universal stats (apply to all trades)

• 46% of phone leads convert to a booked job — Invoca 2025 Home Services Call Conversion Benchmarks Report (60M+ calls analyzed). Used as the cross-trade default conversion rate.
• Only 55% of inbound business callers actually speak with a person — same Invoca 2025 report. We use the inverse (45% never connect) as the missed-call rate when nobody picks up.
• 21x more lead qualification at 5-min response vs 30-min; 100x more contact at the same comparison — Dr. James Oldroyd, MIT / InsideSales.com Lead Response Management Study (2007, 15,000+ leads) — academic foundation of speed-to-lead research.
• 35% of homeowners say "answering the initial call" is the single most important factor when choosing a contractor (64% say important) — Service Direct 2022 homeowner survey (n=559).
• In-house staff answer 66% of calls. A dedicated answering service answers 99%. — Service Direct 2019 Home Service Call Performance Report.
• 62% of small business calls go unanswered — 411 Locals study (January 2016). Note: small sample (n=85) but widely cited as the category benchmark; pair with Invoca 2025's 55%-speak-with-person stat for stronger triangulation.
• 46% of homeowners are still researching after their first contact with a contractor — Pro Remodeler / Contractor Nation survey, n=1,729 homeowners (2016).

Per-trade defaults — primary sources

• Plumber: $200-$475 service call (default $350) — HomeStars Plumbing Price Guide (Canadian; 2025).
• Electrician: $75-$200 first hour + $80-$150/hr (default $250) — HomeStars Electricians Cost Guide (Canadian; 2025).
• HVAC: $100-$250 service call + $90-$150/hr (default $200) — multiple Canadian HVAC sources, 2025.
• Realtor (BC): ~$26,000 commission per closed deal (default) — CREA stats + REBGV monthly reports: BC commission split 7%/3% on first $100K + 2.5%/1.5% on remainder. Vancouver MLS HPI benchmark $1,150,400 (Aug 2025) → ~$26K typical commission per agent per closed deal.
• Veterinarian: $80-$150 exam + $5K-$10K LTV over 10 years (default $120 / 7-year LTV) — CVMA Small Animal Fee Guide + Practice Life — Lifetime Value of a Veterinary Client.
• Lawyer: $83K solo billable revenue, $4K avg matter (default 11% conversion) — Clio 2025 Legal Trends for Solo and Small Law Firms.
• General contractor: $12,300 avg annual reno spend per Canadian household (default ticket) — HomeStars Reno Report 2023 (latest published edition); Statistics Canada Residential Renovation Price Index Q2 2025 for current Canadian reno cost trends.
• Roofer: $5-$24/sq ft (asphalt-to-metal); typical reroof $8K-$20K — multiple Canadian sources, 2025. LTV directional via roofing industry blogs.
• Landscaper: $100-$300/mo maintenance, $7K-$35K project — multiple Canadian landscaping sources, 2025.
• Dentist: $350 avg ticket directional — BCDA Fee Guide 2025 (Abbreviated Patient PDF) covers 1,400+ codes; specific values vary by procedure.
• Massage (RMT): $120/session — RMTBC Insurance Coverage page (ICBC schedule "up to $120 initial"); Vancouver clinics charge $120-$145/60-min. Conversion 40% from Liine 278K healthcare-leads study.
• Spa / esthetician: $120 avg ticket — Mindbody 2025 Beauty & Wellness Revenue Benchmarks ($89.55 USD ≈ $120 CAD; medspa average $164 USD); Zenoti 2025.
• Hair salon: $85 avg ticket — ExpressRut Vancouver pricing guide 2025 (women's $40-120) + Fade Artist GTA 2025 (men's $30-100).
• Chiropractor: $135 initial / $80 follow-up (default $100 blended) — BC Chiropractic Association Fee Guidelines (regulator-association published averages — gold standard for the calculator). Visit frequency 6.7/yr from Evidence Based Chiropractor.
• Physiotherapist: $130 initial / $90 follow-up (default $110 blended) — Sword Health Canada citing Ontario Physio Association 2024 fee guide (965 PTs surveyed).
• Personal trainer: $65/session — Bark Canada Personal Trainer Cost Guide (CAD $40-$75 average).
• Auto repair: $325/visit (1.5-3 hr labour + parts) — Browns Line Auto Canadian Hourly Rates ($80-$150/hr by city; Vancouver $165, Toronto $170, 2024 data).
• Cleaning service: $170/visit recurring — Taskrabbit Canada House Cleaning Cost Guide ($120-$220 standard recurring; $200-$400 deep clean). Biweekly LTV ~$22K over 5 years.
• Pest control: $275 one-time / $50-$90/mo recurring — directional from HomeGuide Orkin Cost 2026 (US Orkin reference; Orkin Canada doesn't publish prices). Confidence: lowest of the 18 verticals — Canadian-specific public data is genuinely scarce.
• Healthcare appointment after-hours pattern: ~40% of appointment calls book outside business hours — Matik 24/7 Medical Answering data. Used as the after-hours baseline for the wellness verticals (massage / spa / chiro / physio).

Coverage-gap stats (the receptionist tax)

• 49% of SMBs miss calls because their receptionist is on another line — RingCentral data via SchedulingKit.
• 47-55% of home-services calls arrive after 5pm or on weekends — AgentZap industry data. 9-5 receptionists miss all of these by definition.
• 75% of after-hours voicemails are never returned — Ruby Receptionist via SchedulingKit.
• Canadian receptionist sick days: ~10.4/year — Statistics Canada Table 14-10-0196-01.
• BC receptionist loaded cost: $63K-$78K/year CAD — Robert Half Canada 2026 ($53.5K mid base) + ~17% statutory (CPP/EI/WorkSafeBC) + 6-12% benefits + workspace/tech.
• Plumbing peak call window: Saturday mornings; HVAC: 6pm-midnight; Painting/remodel intent: Sunday evenings; Monday-morning post-weekend surge: +340% vs Friday PM — AgentZap home-services phone statistics.

What we deliberately do NOT claim

• "85% of voicemail callers never call back" — widely repeated in the category but traces to a vendor (PATLive), not peer-reviewed research. We use Invoca 2025's verified 55%-speak-with-a-person figure instead.
• "78% hire whoever picks up first" — originally from MIT/InsideSales 2007 about B2B sales leads, repeated as if it were home-services research. We cite the more rigorous Service Direct 2022 finding (35% say "answering the initial call" is most important) instead.
• "$126,000/year missed-call cost" — traces to AMBS Call Center (vendor), not academic. Our calculator computes from your specific inputs instead.
• "Weekend leads convert at higher rates" — verification research could not find primary support. For some trades (plumbing, HVAC) Mon-Tue is actually the conversion peak. We removed the weekend conversion multiplier.

All figures verified by independent web research 2026-05-03. Per-trade calls-per-week defaults remain directional — no published primary research exists; adjust the slider to your actual call volume. Last updated: 2026-05-03.