When a trade business finally decides to stop missing calls, there are really only two options on the table: a human call answering service at roughly £500/month, or a missed call text-back system like our Starter plan at £197/month.
The difference in price is obvious. What's less obvious is what you're actually getting for each — and which one makes you more money. We ran the numbers on both, including the hidden costs nobody puts on the quote. Here's the honest breakdown.
What a £500/mo Answering Service Actually Costs
UK call answering services typically charge £250–£600+ per month, depending on minutes, hours of cover, and whether calls are answered as your business or just as a message-taking service. The £500/month figure is realistic for a tradesperson who wants:
- 24/7 cover — emergency call-outs happen at 2am, and 24/7 answering is the premium tier
- A reasonable minute allowance — most plans bundle 100–300 minutes; every minute over is billed at £0.40–£1.00
- Call handling as your business name — the agents take a message and pass it on
Add a one-off setup fee (£50–£150 is common) and any overage, and the real first-year cost lands around £6,000–£7,000. That's a van payment. Every year.
What the £197 System Does Instead
Our Starter plan at £197/month does one job better than any human could: the second you miss a call, the customer gets an instant text back with a link to book themselves in. No queue, no "we'll pass the message on", no 40-minute callback window.
It also automates the follow-up work an answering service can't do — review requests after a completed job. And because it's software, there are no per-minute charges, no overage bills, and no limit on how many calls it catches. A missed call at 2am gets a text-back at 2am, not a message read at 9am.
The core difference: an answering service takes a message so you can call back later. A text-back system closes the loop instantly — which matters, because most callers who don't get through won't wait for a callback.
The 12-Month Cost Comparison
| Answering Service (£500/mo) | Text-Back System (£197/mo) | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup / one-off fees | £100 (typical) | £0 |
| Monthly cost | £500 | £197 |
| Per-minute overage | £0.40–£1.00/min over bundle | £0 |
| Year 1 total | ~£6,100 | ~£2,364 |
| Year 3 total | ~£18,100 | ~£7,092 |
Over three years, the answering service costs roughly £11,000 more — for a job a £197 system does in under a second.
The Hidden Costs of Answering Services
The monthly price is only the start. Three costs sneak in after you sign:
- Overage charges. Your 200-minute bundle disappears fast in a busy week. At £0.60/min, ten extra minutes of calls is £6 — and it compounds every month.
- Contract lock-in. Most services want a 12-month minimum. If it doesn't work out, you're paying for a full year.
- The lost-call cost that remains. An answering service still relies on you calling the lead back. If you're on a job when their message lands, that "caught" lead goes cold anyway. The service doesn't fix the response problem — it just moves it.
What Each Option Is Actually Best For
Honest answer: they're different tools, and one isn't universally "better".
Choose an answering service if you genuinely need a human receptionist experience — callers who want to talk to a person, complex jobs that need screening, or a high volume of long calls (10+ minutes each) where a real conversation adds value.
Choose a text-back system if your calls are short and urgent — "can you come fix this?" — which describes most trade calls. The customer wants a fast, frictionless way to book. A text with a booking link converts better than a message that arrives an hour later. Our full comparison of answering services vs automation digs into the difference in more detail.
Real-world example: one missed emergency call-out is worth £150–£400 to a plumber or electrician. An answering service needs to recover its £500 monthly cost plus the £197 difference before it pays for itself. A text-back system pays for itself with a single recovered job.
The ROI Maths, Simplified
Run this for your own business: how many calls do you miss in a typical week, and what's an average job worth? If you miss even two jobs a month worth £250 each, that's £500/month in lost revenue sitting on the table.
The £197 Starter plan catches those calls and books the jobs — for less than the value of a single recovery. Use our Revenue Calculator to see your exact number; most tradespeople we talk to are losing £1,000–£3,000 a month to missed calls, and we've seen it cost as much as a boiler.
When the £197 System Isn't Enough
If you want the text-back automation and a human safety net for the calls that need one, that's what our Growth (£347/mo) and Full System (£497/mo) plans are for — automation plus the extras that grow a trade business, not just catch its calls. But for most sole traders and small teams, the Starter plan replaces the answering service entirely at 60% less.
Not sure which one you need?
15-minute call. No pitch. We'll look at your missed call numbers and tell you honestly whether you need automation, a human, or both.
Book a free call →FAQ
How much does a call answering service cost in the UK?
Most UK call answering services charge £250–£600+ per month depending on minutes and hours of cover, plus a setup fee and per-minute overage charges. 24/7 cover for trades typically sits at the top end of that range.
Can a £197 system really replace a human answering service?
For most trade businesses, yes. Most trade calls are short and urgent — "can you fix this?" — and callers want a fast way to book, not a chat. A text-back system responds instantly, 24/7, with a booking link. Choose a human service if your callers genuinely need long conversations or complex screening.
What happens if the customer can't use the text link?
They can still call you back, leave a message, or use the booking link on any smartphone. The text-back is designed to make booking easier than waiting for a callback — not to replace the phone entirely.
Is there a contract on the £197 Starter plan?
No long-term lock-in — that's the point of the comparison. You're not tied into a 12-month commitment the way you would be with most answering services.