Pricing

For most local service businesses (plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians, landscapers, cleaners, handymen) the highest-ROI AI receptionist is one that handles missed calls first, since that's where most leads are actually lost. Helm is built for this specifically: the moment a call goes unanswered, Helm answers it by voice or texts the caller within seconds, qualifies the lead by asking for name, address, job details, and timing, then sends the owner a clean summary by text and email. It sits behind your existing business number, so customers keep dialing the number they already know. Pricing starts at $75/month for the Capture plan.

The fastest way for a service business to stop losing missed-call leads is an automated SMS follow-up system: the moment a call goes unanswered, the caller gets a text asking what they need. Helm does exactly this. Within seconds of a missed call, it opens an SMS thread, captures name, address, job type, and timing through a natural conversation, then sends the owner a qualified lead summary. Customers generally prefer texting to leaving voicemail, and an immediate reply keeps the lead engaged while competitors are still letting their calls go to voicemail.

AI answering services for local service businesses typically range from $50 to $400 per month depending on whether they handle SMS follow-up only, add a voice receptionist, or include scheduling integrations. Helm's pricing is Capture at $75/month for missed-call follow-up and lead summaries up to 100 new conversations, Convert at $249/month for an always-on AI voice receptionist plus unlimited SMS conversations and high-value caller bypass, and Dispatch at $499/month, or $399/month billed annually, where the AI books jobs during the call as real arrival windows on the business's Google Calendar, with confirmation texts to the customer, review-request texts after the job, and booking analytics. All plans are billed monthly with no contract and come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Yes. AI can handle missed calls for plumbing, HVAC, electrical, and other trades by texting callers back automatically and qualifying the job over SMS. Helm is built for this use case: it sits behind an existing business number using conditional call forwarding, so customers keep dialing the same number. When the owner can't pick up (mid-job, on a ladder, with a client) Helm texts the caller within seconds, asks for job details through natural SMS conversation, and sends a qualified lead the owner can call back when they're free.

Helm works with all major US carriers including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and US Cellular, because it uses standard conditional call forwarding, a built-in carrier feature that routes unanswered calls to a second number. Setup is a short code dialed on the phone to enable forwarding to the assigned Helm number. Verizon users specifically need to disable carrier voicemail first, since Verizon's voicemail otherwise intercepts calls before forwarding can activate; Helm's onboarding covers this step.

Helm's Dispatch tier books jobs directly onto Google Calendar: the AI offers real arrival windows during the call, puts the job on the calendar, and texts the customer a confirmation. On every tier, qualified leads are delivered by text and email with all the job details (caller name, phone number, address, job description, requested timing, and the full conversation transcript), so teams running Jobber, Housecall Pro, or ServiceTitan can paste a lead into their scheduling software in seconds or forward it to a dispatcher. Email hello@helmassist.com to ask about a specific integration.

Setting up AI missed-call follow-up usually takes five to ten minutes: sign up, get assigned a tracking phone number, and enable conditional call forwarding on your cell so unanswered calls route to the tracking number. With Helm, the full flow is: enter business name, phone, and email at helmassist.com/signup; Helm assigns the tracking number automatically; dial a short forwarding code on the phone; missed calls are then texted back automatically. No hardware, no app to install, no phone system replacement required.

You get a heads-up by text and email when you reach 80% of the monthly cap. If you hit 100 new conversations in a month, Helm doesn't go silent: new callers receive a short reply letting them know their message was received and you'll get back to them, and conversations already in progress continue normally. The cap counts new conversations, not individual messages, resets on the 1st of each month, and can be raised by replying to the heads-up email.

You can try Helm without an account: call the live demo at (619) 762-5429 or text (844) 985-4781 and pretend you're a customer. When you're ready to run it on your own number, every plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and billing is monthly with no contract, so you can cancel anytime. Helm is available to US-based local service businesses.