hank.for contractors
How it worksWhy Hank
Answering service for contractors · solo owner-operators + shops under 10 trucks

Whoever picks up first wins the job. You're under a sink. Hank picks up.

You run a contracting business — plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, landscaping, handyman, maybe two of those. The phone rings while you're 12 feet up a ladder or driving between jobs. Hank answers in your shop's voice, qualifies whether it's a real emergency or a routine booking, quotes your service call, and texts you a clean job card. No app for the customer. Same number they always called.

● founder-led · onboarding the first 25 shops
· no app for the customer· keep your number· works with ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Jobber, JobNimbus
Hank · jobs feed
live · today
● Hank handled · 3m agojob #0612
Renee Alvarez · no hot water
50gal electric, no leaks, breaker not tripped. House on Walnut. Quoted $99 service call, she's good with it. Wants today.
● Hank handled · 18m agojob #0611
Tom Wexler · ceiling fan + outlet install
Bundled handyman/electrical · booked Thursday 10am · est. $260
● Needs you · 47m agojob #0610
Cedar Park HOA · 8-building seasonal contract
Property manager wants a bid covering exterior + grounds for 8 buildings. Hank flagged this — wants you on the call.
● Early access · onboarding the first 25 contracting shops· founder-led · we hand-walk your setup· direct line to the founder
The math

78% of customers hire whoever picks up first. Voicemail is the same as losing.

78%
of customers hire the first contractor who picks up — not the cheapest, not the highest-rated
37%
of inbound calls to small home-service businesses go unanswered during the workday
85%
of customers who hit voicemail don't leave one — they call the next contractor on Google
5 min
is the median window before a homeowner with an urgent problem calls a second shop

Estimates based on public industry benchmarks (BrightLocal, ServiceTitan, Jobber) cross-checked with trade-forum threads. Run the math for your shop →

How Hank works

Three steps. Set up between two service calls.

STEP 01
Tell Hank about your shop
Trade(s) you run, service area, service-call fee, what counts as an emergency, brands you stock or service, hours. Five minutes — same conversation you'd have with a new receptionist on day one.
STEP 02
Forward the line
One toggle. Hank picks up after four rings — or instantly when you flip 'on a job.' Customers call the same number. Nothing changes on their end.
STEP 03
Read the job card
Hank takes the address, the problem, the time slot, the quoted fee, and lays it out as a clean card in your phone. Tap to schedule. Hank texts the customer the confirmation and the truck's ETA.
Hear Hank

He sounds like the office manager who's been at your shop for ten years.

Hank doesn't read a script. He knows your trade, your service area, your service-call fee, the brands you carry, and what you triage on the phone before rolling a truck. He answers the way someone who's worked at your shop forever would — because that's the only way an answering service is worth the money.

Sample call · multi-trade homeowner
0:53 · Ridgeline Home Services demo
Transcript · live
Hank
Ridgeline Home Services, this is Hank — what's going on?
Caller
Hi — I'm not totally sure who I need. The kitchen sink is draining slow, and the light over the sink is flickering. Are those related?
Hank
Probably not — the slow drain's a plumbing thing, the flicker is electrical. Good news: we do both. Want us to handle them on the same visit?
Caller
Yeah, that would actually be great.
Hank
Easy. Service call's $99 to roll the truck — covers the visit and the diagnosis on both. Repair quotes happen on-site. We've got an opening tomorrow at 10. What's the address?
Caller
3215 Ridgeline Court.
What's in the box

Everything a receptionist would do for a contracting shop, except cheaper and never sick.

Knows what an emergency is
Burst pipe, no heat in winter, no AC in a heat wave, half-dark house, active roof leak — Hank routes those to you immediately. Slow drain on a Tuesday afternoon? Booked for Thursday.
Quotes your service call
Whatever you charge to roll the truck — $89, $129, $150 — Hank says it cleanly and confirms the customer's good with it before booking. No awkward door-step pricing surprise.
Captures the address right
Street, unit, gate code, dog warning, where to park the trailer. Your tech rolls in prepared. No call-back to ask basic questions.
Texts the customer a confirmation
Time window, the truck's number, day-of heads-up. The customer feels handled. You don't have to type a thing.
Handles multi-trade shops
If you run plumbing and electrical, or landscaping and snow removal, Hank knows which crew the job needs and books to the right slot. One number, multiple trades.
Flags work that needs you
Multi-unit estimates, HOA contracts, big design-build, commercial roofing — Hank flags those for you instead of trying to quote them. He knows where his lane ends.
Tracks every missed call
See who called, what they wanted, what Hank said, what came of it. Including the calls you used to never know about.
Plays nice with your tools
ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Jobber, JobNimbus, AccuLynx, FieldEdge, LMN, Aspire, Google Calendar, plain SMS — Hank pushes the booked job wherever you already work.
From the builder

I'm building Hank solo. I'm onboarding contracting shops one at a time so I can sit with you on the setup — your trade, your service-call fee, your emergency policy, your brand voice. You'll have my number from day one. If something's off — wrong fee quoted, wrong job booked, weird tone — you tell me, I fix it that day. That's the deal.

ZS
Zach Schwartz
Founder · Schwartz Software Group
FAQ

Stuff contractors ask before they sign up.

Will it sound like a robot?
No. Well-tuned 2026 voice models are hard for most callers to distinguish from a person on routine business calls. Best test: listen to the sample call, then call our demo line. If he doesn't pass for you, you don't pay.
I run two trades — plumbing and HVAC. Does that work?
Yes. Tell Hank both. He'll triage the call to the right crew and book to the right slot. If a homeowner calls about something that's both — like a leaking water heater that's also a no-hot-water situation — he handles it as one job.
How is this different from Smith.ai or Ruby Receptionists?
Both are great human services if you're paying $300+/month and don't mind a receptionist who has never heard of a P-trap or a TXV valve. Hank is AI, costs less, runs 24/7 without lunch breaks, and is built for the trades — he knows the difference between a tripped breaker and a real outage, between a hail check and an active leak, between a weekly mow and a hardscape estimate.
How is this different from a missed-call text-back tool?
Text-back tools send 'Sorry we missed you' SMS after the fact. By then the customer has called the next contractor on Google. Hank picks up live — he doesn't apologize for missing the call, because he didn't miss it.
What if I want to take the call myself?
Hank only picks up after four rings — or when you flip 'on a job' in the app. You're always in control. Roll a call straight to your cell when you want to.
Can I keep my number?
Yes. Customers call the same number they always have. Nothing changes on their end. We forward your line to Hank.
What about a real emergency at 2am?
Hank works 24/7. He'll book non-emergency stuff for the next morning and ring your phone for true emergencies — burst pipe, no heat, sewage, active roof leak, half-dark house. You set what counts.
Does it work with my dispatch software?
Yes — ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Jobber, JobNimbus, AccuLynx, FieldEdge, LMN, Aspire, Google Calendar, or plain SMS. Hank pushes the booked job into your dispatch board with name, address, problem, time slot, and quoted fee.
Can it triage on the phone before sending a truck?
Yes. Tripped breaker reset, water-shutoff for a leak, thermostat check before dispatching for no-AC — Hank does the basic triage your office manager would. You stop rolling on calls that resolve themselves.
How much does it cost vs. a human answering service?
Most human answering services for the trades run $250–$600/month and charge per minute, rounded up to the nearest 30 seconds. Hank is flat-rate per call, not per minute, and meaningfully cheaper than the human-staffed options. Exact pricing is on the early-access form.
How do I get started?
Tell Hank about your shop, flip the switch. Most contractors are live the same afternoon. We hand-walk the first setup so the voice and the triage match how you actually run.
Other trades Hank serves
Answering service for plumbers →Answering service for hvac →Answering service for electricians →Answering service for roofers →Answering service for landscapers →

Stop letting voicemail decide who books the next job.

Founder-led early access. Hand-walked setup with the first 25 shops.

Drop your email and I’ll reach out the moment your seat opens. You’ll have my number from day one.