The 24/7 AI answering service for contractors that quotes and books the job
You’re on a roof or mid-pour, and the phone’s ringing with a five-figure job behind it. Mercateer picks up on the first ring (nights, weekends, Christmas morning), answers in the caller’s language, quotes work from your price book, and books it on your calendar. From $99/mo.
7:40 a.m. · Incoming call
“Storm leaned my fence over. Can you replace the section?”
What is a contractor answering service?
An answering service for contractors picks up your business line 24/7 when you can’t, takes the caller’s information, answers their questions, and relays everything to you. A traditional service stops there. It takes a message and you do the calling back. Mercateer does the part that wins the job: it quotes the work from your price book and books it on your calendar while the caller is still on the line.
Answered 24/7, holidays included
No voicemail, no hold queue: every call picked up on the first ring, nights, weekends, and Christmas morning.
Quotes priceable work live on the call
Standard, unit-priced jobs are quoted from your price book while the caller is on the line; custom bids get a booked estimate visit instead.
Your customer’s language on every call
The same agent answers, quotes, and books in 30+ languages (the caller’s language, whichever one that is) at every hour, in every tier; no transfer, no extra cost.
Flat plans from $99/mo
Versus $300–500 a month plus per-minute fees for a human service that only takes a message.
Answering services take a message. Mercateer quotes the job.
A missed call at a contracting business is a bid you never got to make: a deck, a re-roof, a kitchen that went to whoever picked up. And when the caller asks the only question they actually have (what’s this going to cost?), every other service is built to dodge it. Mercateer answers it.
“I need a bid on a kitchen remodel.”
Estimate visit booked for Thu 4:00 p.m.
Four calls, walked start to finish
The calls every contracting shop gets, and how each one ends with a job on the board instead of a voicemail.
Tuesday, 7:40 a.m.: the fence section
You’re loading the truck when a homeowner calls: a storm leaned a fence section over and she wants it replaced. Answered on the first ring. The AI scopes it against your price book (footage, material, tear-out), quotes it live, and books it for Thursday at 8 a.m., with a confirmation texted to both of you before you’re out of the driveway.
Saturday, 9:12 p.m.: storm tarp and board-up
A property manager calls: storm-damaged roof, water coming into a unit, needs emergency board-up tonight. The AI scopes it against your unit-priced emergency line items, quotes your after-hours rate live, and puts the job on the board. Then your escalation rules fire. Your on-call lead is woken with the address, callback number, scope, and the quoted figure. The caller never hears voicemail.
Friday, 11:47 p.m.: burst-pipe dry-out
A burst pipe has flooded a finished basement, and what the homeowner needs is emergency dry-out and tear-out. The AI quotes the emergency call-out fee plus the unit-priced water-mitigation rate from your book and books it for first thing. Your on-call lead gets the wake-up; the caller gets a text asking for photos.
Wednesday, 2:15 p.m.: the kitchen remodel
You’re on a walkthrough across town. The AI runs your intake script (scope, square footage, finish level, timeline, budget range, photos by text) and books the estimate visit. The full transcript is in your inbox before you’re back in the truck. No price quoted: custom work gets a booked walkthrough, not a sight-unseen number. That’s the rule, and the AI keeps it.
Up and running in three steps
Keep your number
Forward your line when you want coverage: after-hours only, overflow when you’re on a job, or 24/7. No new phone system, nothing to install.
Load your price book and rules
What’s quotable and what isn’t. Your greeting and script. Your dispatch-fee handling, escalation order, and calendar access. Then test it with your own calls. It doesn’t talk to a customer until you’ve heard it yourself.
Go live
Every call answered, quoted where you’ve allowed it, booked on your calendar, and summarized to you by text and email.
Everything the front office does, on every call
7:40 a.m. · Incoming call
“Storm leaned my fence over. Can you replace the section?”
Answers every call, 24/7/365
Nights, weekends, holidays. Instant pickup, no hold queue, and simultaneous calls handled: two callers at 9 p.m. both get answered, not one answered and one lost.
Jobs land on your calendar
It books against your real availability and sends confirmations and reminders. The outcome is a booked job on your board, not a message in your inbox.
Last night
Kitchen remodel
BookedStorm board-up
DispatchedHang-up
TextedMessages, summaries, transcripts
A text and email summary after every call, plus the full transcript and recording for anything you want to audit.
Every language on every call
The caller’s language, whichever one that is, 30+ in all, natively, every hour, no transfer, no extra cost, in every tier.
Spam and robocall filtering
Junk never reaches you and never burns your minutes.
Works with what you already run
No platform required. It works with the tools that run your schedule, or no software at all, even a paper calendar.
Who gets woken, when, and with what info
Keyword and situation triggers (“leaking,” “flooded,” “tree through the roof”) mark a call urgent and follow your escalation order and on-call rotation. The wake-up carries the caller’s name, address, callback number, the scope, and the quoted figure, so whoever answers knows what was promised. If nobody picks up, nothing is dropped: the details, recording, and summary land with you immediately.
One AI front office, not a stack of tools
One agent brain on phone, web chat, SMS, and email, with the same price book, the same calendar, and the same rules everywhere, replacing the answering service, the chat widget, and the missed-call text-back app. One front office, one bill.
Mercateer vs. a traditional answering service
| Mercateer | Traditional answering service | Answering it yourself | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pickup speed | First ring, every time | Hold queue at peak | First ring in the truck. On a roof, voicemail |
| After-hours coverage | 24/7/365 in every plan | Often an upcharge | Full coverage: storm nights included, sleep isn’t |
| Quotes the job | Live on the call, from your price book | Takes a message instead | Honestly, nobody quotes it better than you |
| Books the job | On your calendar, while the caller is on the line | Sometimes books a callback | Yes, if they haven’t called the next guy |
| Caller’s language | 30+ languages, every call, every tier | Depends who’s on shift | Exactly as many as you speak |
| Price model | Flat from $99/mo, or per booked call | $300–500/mo plus per-minute and setup fees | Free, minus the calls you couldn’t get to |
| Next morning you have | Quoted, booked jobs on the board | A stack of messages | Callbacks to return before the first job |
Comparison reflects typical pricing and service models for traditional human answering services, which vary by provider. Confirm current details with any vendor you evaluate.
Contractor answering service FAQs
Every call answered. Every bid quoted and booked.
Forward your line tonight; read the booked jobs over coffee tomorrow. Start free: no new phone system, no contract, cancel anytime.
No credit card required