Sourced, and re-checked

Answering Service and Missed Call Statistics

Every figure below was taken from a named source while writing the article it links to, and checked against that source before it was published. Where a number could not be traced, it is in the last section instead of this one. Use any of it — a link back is welcome and not required.

62 sourced figures · 4 that do not hold up · updated 2026-09-20

After hours

Answering options

  • $18.45

    Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, receptionists working for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earn an average base wage of $18.45 per hour.

    Answering Service vs In-House Receptionist Cost
  • 1.40 times

    Small Business Administration (SBA) calculates that the fully loaded cost of an employee sits between 1.25 and 1.40 times base salary once you add taxes and mandatory benefits.

    Answering Service vs In-House Receptionist Cost
  • $2.16

    Paid leave: BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation releases confirm paid leave adds $2.16 to $2.82 per hour worked in small private establishments.

    Answering Service vs In-House Receptionist Cost
  • $38,370

    Multiply a $38,370 base receptionist wage by the standard 1.35 SBA burden multiplier and you get $51,799 in direct personnel expenses.

    Answering Service vs In-House Receptionist Cost
  • 3%

    Lead conversion telemetry from Invoca tracking more than 70 million inbound calls shows that fewer than 3% of callers routed to a business voicemail leave a message.

    Answering Service vs In-House Receptionist Cost
  • $20.76

    According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data for NAICS 238220 (Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors), customer service representatives earn an average of $20.76 per hour, which equals $43,180 per year across 2,080 paid hours.

    The Real Cost of a Trade Receptionist
  • $6,250

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that small-employer health insurance contributions average $6,250 annually for single coverage.

    The Real Cost of a Trade Receptionist
  • $150

    Adding an office user seat on ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, or Jobber costs $150 a month, or $1,800 every single year.

    The Real Cost of a Trade Receptionist
  • $38.99

    Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employer Costs for Employee Compensation shows total private industry compensation averaging $38.99 per hour in the South, compared to $53.15 per hour in the Northeast and $46.47 in the West.

    The Real Cost of a Trade Receptionist
  • $19.09

    National Trade Median Profile: An average contractor paying the BLS median trade wage of $19.09 per hour faces a loaded annual cost of $60,037, representing a 1.51x burden multiplier.

    The Real Cost of a Trade Receptionist
  • 3.0%

    Primary platform analytics from Invoca, tracking millions of sales interactions across consumer service businesses, show that fewer than 3.0% of callers leave a voicemail when calling to buy.

    What an Answering Service Does for Trade Contractors
  • 79.9%

    However, 79.9% of the sampled businesses were solo operators with no staff at all—mobile handymen and solo cleaners who could not answer while working.

    What an Answering Service Does for Trade Contractors
  • $22.25

    According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2023 OEWS report for NAICS 238220 (Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors), an in-house dispatcher (SOC 43-5032) earns a mean hourly wage of $22.25, or $46,280 gross per year.

    What an Answering Service Does for Trade Contractors
  • 30.0%

    Under BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation data, statutory taxes and employee benefits average 30.0% of total compensation across specialty trade contractors.

    What an Answering Service Does for Trade Contractors

Booking

Lead response

Marketing ROI

Missed calls

Numbers everyone repeats that do not hold up

These are the figures this industry quotes most often. Each one was checked against its supposed source while writing the articles below, and each one failed — no sample size, no method, or a source that does not say what it is cited as saying. They are here because nobody else publishes them.