After-hours answering service for HVAC, plumbing and other trades
Voxlivo is an after-hours answering service: a virtual assistant that picks up your business calls at night, on weekends and on holidays, in about two seconds. Plans start at $49 a month for 100 minutes, about 40 calls, month to month.
It takes each caller's details, books the job into your Google Calendar and emails you a summary, so your morning starts with a list of booked work instead of a pile of voicemails.
Who it's for
Contractors and home-service trades
You're on jobs all day and calls keep coming after you've finished. Burst pipes and broken AC don't wait for office hours. Built for plumbers, HVAC companies, electricians and roofers.
Shops between dispatchers
Hiring a dispatcher takes weeks, and even a good one goes home at five. Your line covers the hours nobody is in that seat. It doesn't replace anyone. Property managers use it the same way for evening tenant calls.
Owners who are the whole team
If the business phone is your own cell, after hours is also family time. Let your line take the evening calls and read the summaries when you're ready. See how it works with a cell phone.
What happens to a 9 PM call
Here's an illustrative call to a plumbing company that closed at 5.
- 9:02 PMA homeowner calls the number on your truck. Your forwarding sends the call to your Voxlivo line.
- 2 seconds laterYour line answers with your business name, says it's a virtual assistant and that the call may be recorded.
- The next 2 minutesIt asks what the problem is and takes the caller's name, phone number and address. It reads the number back digit by digit so it's right.
- BookingIt checks your Google Calendar and books a time that suits the caller, such as tomorrow morning's first arrival window. If you'd rather not take bookings at night, it takes a message instead.
- About a minute after the callYou get an email with the caller's details, what they need, whether it's urgent and what was booked. On Growth and above you get a text too. The recording and transcript are in your portal.
Real emergencies get a safety answer first
If a caller mentions a gas smell, fire, smoke, sparks or flooding that's actively spreading, your line tells them to hang up and call 911 first. It doesn't try to book an appointment for a fire.
Urgent jobs follow your rules
You tell us what counts as urgent for you, such as no heat in winter, an active leak or a lockout. Your line flags those calls so they stand out in your summary. On Growth ($99 a month) and above it offers to transfer them live to your on-call number. Everything else waits for the morning.
How to forward calls only after hours
You keep your business number. Your line only answers calls that are forwarded to the Voxlivo number we give you, so you choose when that happens. There are three common ways to do it.
1. Forward the calls you don't answer
This is called conditional forwarding. Your phone rings first, and only calls you don't pick up, or that come in while you're on another call, go to your Voxlivo line. During the day you answer as usual. After hours you simply don't, and every call is still handled. For example, Verizon's *71 code forwards calls that are busy or unanswered after 3 to 6 rings, and T-Mobile has separate codes for no answer, busy and unreachable. Our page on using it with a cell phone lists the codes.
2. Switch forwarding on when you close
Forward all calls when you lock up and turn forwarding off in the morning. On Verizon that's *72 plus the number to start and *73 to stop. T-Mobile uses **21*, then 1 and the number, then #, and ##21# to stop. On an iPhone you can also flip the switch under Settings, Apps, Phone, Call Forwarding, on carriers that support it. It takes a few seconds, but you have to remember it every day.
3. Use a schedule on your business phone system
If your number runs on a business phone system or VoIP app rather than a mobile plan, look for business-hours or schedule rules in its settings. Many let you send calls to a different number outside the hours you set. Point the after-hours rule at your Voxlivo number and it switches on and off by itself.
Whichever you pick, we send you the exact steps for your carrier during setup. Our call forwarding guides cover carriers and phone systems one by one, and how to forward business calls to an answering service explains ring times and testing.
Carrier and Apple steps from their support pages, checked October 29, 2026: Verizon: Call forwarding FAQs · Verizon: Turn call forwarding on from your device · T-Mobile: Self-service and short codes · Apple Support: Set up call forwarding on iPhone. Codes can vary by plan, so check with your carrier if one doesn't work.
What it costs compared with a live after-hours service
Live answering services charge for operator time, and nights and weekends are when you need them most. Here's how published prices compare.
Ruby (live receptionists)
$250 a month for 50 minutes
Real people answer. Hours: 24/7, including after hours, weekends and holidays. Their plan listed as most popular is $720 a month for 200 minutes.
Smith.ai (AI, priced per call)
$150 a month for 75 calls
Billed per call: $2.00 a call on Pro (75 calls). A wrong number at midnight costs the same as a booked job.
Voxlivo (virtual assistant, not a person)
From $49/mo for 100 minutes
About 40 calls on Starter, which suits owners who mostly need after-hours and missed calls answered. Growth is $99/mo for 200 minutes, about 80 calls, and adds text summaries and live transfer of urgent calls. Extra minutes are $0.25.
Competitor prices from their public pricing pages, checked October 29, 2026: Ruby pricing · Smith.ai AI Receptionist pricing and FAQ. Side by side: Voxlivo vs Ruby, Voxlivo vs Smith.ai. Wondering what missed evening calls cost you? Try the missed call calculator.
Good to know before you sign up
- It answers in English only.
- It books into one Google Calendar and doesn't connect to other software.
- It doesn't text your callers. You get the summary by email, and by text on Growth and above.
- It's a virtual assistant, not a person, and it says so at the start of every call.
- It's month to month, so you can try it through a busy season and cancel any time.
Want the full picture first? Read how it works or compare answering service options for small businesses.
After-hours answering questions
What is an after-hours answering service?
A service that picks up your business calls when you're closed: evenings, weekends and holidays. Traditional ones use live operators who take a message. Voxlivo uses a virtual assistant instead: it answers in about two seconds, takes the caller's details, books the job into your Google Calendar and emails you a summary.
Can it answer only after hours, so I still take daytime calls?
Yes. Your line answers whatever calls reach its number, so you decide which calls go there. You can forward only the calls you don't answer, switch forwarding on when you close and off when you open, or use the business-hours schedule in your phone system if it has one.
What happens if someone calls at night with an emergency?
If a caller mentions a gas smell, fire, smoke, sparks or flooding that's actively spreading, your line tells them to hang up and call 911 first. For the urgent problems you tell us about, such as no heat in winter or an active leak, it flags the call and, on Growth and above, offers to transfer it to the on-call number you choose. If nobody picks up, it takes a message and you get the summary.
How much does an after-hours answering service cost?
Live services charge for operator time. Ruby's entry plan is $250 a month for 50 minutes, and Smith.ai's AI receptionist starts at $150 a month for 75 calls (public pricing, checked October 29, 2026). Voxlivo starts at $49 a month for 100 minutes, about 40 calls, with extra minutes at $0.25.
Will callers know they're not talking to a person?
Yes. It introduces itself as a virtual assistant for your business and says the call may be recorded, and if a caller asks whether it's a real person, it says plainly that it isn't. Late-night callers mostly want to know their details got through and when you'll get back to them, and that's what it tells them.
Does it work on weekends and holidays?
Yes. It answers 24/7, including holidays, and the price doesn't change on nights or weekends. You pay for the minutes used on your plan.
Do I need a new phone number?
No. You keep your number and forward it to the Voxlivo line we give you. We send the forwarding steps for your carrier during setup.
Hear how it handles an after-hours call.
Call the two-minute demo and play a customer, or tell us about your business. A person sets it up, and you can be live in about a day.