PhonePick answers your business phone when you can't — takes a proper message, books the appointment, and texts the caller back. You keep the number you already have and the phone system you already use.
Live in about ten minutes. From $29 a month. No contract, no setup fee, cancel any time.
(519) 555‑0134On a callWhat it's costing you
Most trades miss a third of their calls — on a roof, under a sink, driving. Move the sliders to whatever is true for you.
Nothing here is sent anywhere — the sum happens in your browser. It assumes PhonePick reaches every missed caller, which it does, and that they convert at the same rate as the ones you already speak to. Whether that holds is your call, not ours.
How it works
Pick a local number in your area code. Forward your existing line to it when you're busy, after hours, or all the time — your choice, and you can change it whenever you like.
Your hours, what you do, where you work, and the questions you get asked constantly. Written in plain words, changed by you, any time.
Every call gets a person-shaped answer, a written summary in your inbox and an email. Callers who need a time get one from your real calendar.
What it does on a call
Name, number, and what they actually want — written down properly, not "caller rang, please return".
It reads your calendar and offers times that are genuinely free. It never invents a slot.
It asks what you'd ask, so a real job and a price-shopper arrive looking different. Robocalls never reach your email.
When something can't wait it rings your mobile and tells you who's on the line before you say hello.
Texting
A missed call gets a text within seconds, so the caller knows they've been heard instead of ringing the next business on the list. Whatever they write back lands in your inbox, and you answer from there — same number, same conversation.
Where we're careful
It says it's an assistant, and if anyone asks it answers honestly. You choose whether that's announced up front or only when asked — there is no setting that lets it deny it.
The only pricing it can say out loud is the sentence you wrote yourself, word for word. A number you never saw is worse than no number at all.
It books times your calendar really has. Everything else is "someone will confirm" — because a promise a machine made is a complaint, not a job.
Your other options
There are four ways to deal with a phone you cannot always answer. Three of them you have already tried.
| Voicemail | Answering service | Hire someone | PhonePick | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roughly what it costs | Free | $1–$3 a call, or a retainer | $2,500+ a month, part‑time | From $29 a month |
| Picks up at 7pm on a Sunday | Takes a message nobody hears till Monday | Usually, at a surcharge | No | Yes, same as any hour |
| Knows what you actually do | — | Reads a script; won't know your trade | After you've trained them | Reads your website and what you type |
| Books into your calendar | No | Some do, for more | Yes | Yes, and never on top of something you already have |
| Texts the caller back | No | Rarely | If they remember | Within seconds, and you reply from your inbox |
| Written record of what was said | The recording, if you keep it | A message, not the conversation | Whatever got written down | Full transcript and recording, every call |
| What happens when it's busy | Everyone waits | You pay per call | One call at a time | Answers every caller at once |
Answering-service and wage figures are typical North American rates, not quotes — check them against whatever you have been offered.
And then what
Answering the phone is worth nothing if the job then falls down the back of a van seat. Everything a caller says lands somewhere you can work it.
Sign in and see the day: what rang, who is waiting on a reply, what is booked, and how much of your allowance is left.
Every caller who left a name becomes a lead with a stage, a note and a follow‑up date. Add the ones who came from a yard sign yourself.
Visits it books show up in Google, Apple or Outlook. It reads yours too, so it never offers a time you are already busy.
When do people actually ring? Which jobs do they ask for? How many turn into work? Pick your dates, export the lot.
Hear it answer
There is no free trial, and that is deliberate — a trial of a phone receptionist means pointing your own customers at software you have not heard yet. Listen to a real one instead.
Kitchen renovation enquiry
Headphones help. The caller and the receptionist are on separate channels, so you can hear exactly who says what — including the pause where it reads the callback number back to check it.
A homeowner rings about a kitchen renovation. The receptionist takes their name, address and number, reads the number back to confirm it, books a site visit for Monday at 11, and notes that they would rather be called after six.
Nothing in this call is scripted, and nothing in it is edited. It is what a renovation contractor's line sounds like with PhonePick answering — including the part where the caller asks what it will cost, and it declines to guess.
Pricing
Every plan includes the number, the call log, transcripts, booking and the SMS inbox. The only difference is how much you use it.
A drag‑and‑drop pipeline, follow‑up dates so nobody goes cold, and what each job is worth. Available on Busy and Flat out.
Run out of minutes and PhonePick stops answering — your calls ring through to your own phone instead. You are never billed for minutes you didn't buy. No contract, no setup fee, cancel any time.
Ten minutes to set up. You keep your number, and you can undo the whole thing with one dialled code.