What we found
About 3 in 5 of the home-service businesses we called this year let the call go to voicemail.
Nobody is to blame for that. Contractors work with their hands, and you can't answer a phone from a ladder or from under a sink.
But think about who else calls you. A homeowner with a leak or a new kitchen in mind dials the same number we did. Often that caller hears a greeting, not you. What happens next decides who gets the job.
Most callers don't leave a message
In a 2025 CallRail survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, only 42 in 100 said they leave a voicemail when a business doesn't answer. 82 in 100 said they would call a competitor.
Those are answers people gave, not calls anyone tracked. But an older check points the same way. In 2016, Moneypenny looked at calls to small firms in the UK. Of the callers who reached voicemail, 69 in 100 hung up without leaving a message.
So a missed call can leave you with nothing but a number. No name, no job, no town.
Many people skip numbers they don't know
Calling back has its own problem. In a 2020 Pew Research Center survey of 10,211 U.S. adults, 8 in 10 said they don't usually answer a cell call from a number they don't know. In a 2025 Hiya survey of people in six countries, 48 in 100 said they never answer unknown calls.
The Pew survey has good news, too. 67 in 100 adults said they skip unknown calls but check the voicemail. So when you call a customer back and they don't pick up, leave a message. Say your company name first.
Customers want a fast answer
Most customers still like to talk. In a 2023 Overit survey, 51 in 100 people who paid for home services said they would rather deal with the company by phone.
They also want to hear back soon. In a Jobber survey of 1,050 U.S. home-service owners, the owners said over half of their customers expect a reply within the hour. Only 20 in 100 owners said they reply that fast.
You are not the only one who can't always pick up. In Invoca's 2026 report, a person answered 52 of every 100 calls its home-service customers got. For HVAC, it was 34.
What to do about it
Fix your greeting. Say your company name. Ask for their name, the job, the town and the best number. Say when you'll call back. A caller who hears what to leave can leave it.
Call back fast, and leave a message. Return calls between jobs, not only at night. If they don't pick up, say your company name, the job they called about and your number.
Send missed calls to someone who answers. That can be a person, an answering service or an AI receptionist. It takes one forwarding change on your phone. You keep your number and your carrier.
The third one is what we build: a receptionist that answers in your company's name, asks about the job, and sends you the details when the call ends.
What this means for your business
- Many of your callers may hear a greeting, not you. In our calls, it was about 3 in 5.
- Fewer than half of callers say they leave a message. Your greeting is your best shot at getting one.
- When you call back, leave a voicemail. Most people check it, even from numbers they don't know.
- Speed counts. Owners say over half of their customers expect a reply within the hour.
How we counted
- The calls
- Calls we made to service-based businesses.
- Voicemail
- “Went to voicemail” means the call reached a voicemail greeting.
- Source
- Our own calls, 2026.
This is a share of the businesses we called. It says nothing about yours.
Sources
- Our own calls to service-based businesses, 2026.
- Pew Research Center, on answering calls from unknown numbers, December 14, 2020. Web survey of 10,211 U.S. adults, July 13 to 19, 2020.
- Hiya, State of the Call 2025. Over 12,000 consumers in the UK, U.S., Canada, France, Germany and Spain.
- CallRail, Missed calls cost businesses more than ever, September 25, 2025. Survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers.
- Moneypenny, Small Business Call Report, November 21, 2016. Survey of 300 UK micro businesses, plus call data from 10,000 businesses.
- Invoca, Home Services Lead Conversion Benchmarks Report 2026. Calls on Invoca's platform across 10 industries.
- Jobber, 2026 Home Service Trends Report. Survey of 1,050 U.S. home-service business owners, December 2025.
- Overit, Home Services Marketing Trends in 2023. People who paid for home services in the past year.