# Answering Service for Plumbers: Live vs AI Costs, Burst-Pipe Intake Questions, and How to Stop Losing Jobs to Voicemail

Source: https://insertchat.com/blog/answering-service-for-plumbers

> Compare an answering service for plumbers: live vs AI costs at 60, 120 and 250 calls, burst-pipe and gas-smell intake questions, and keeping your number.

Author: InsertChat Team

Published: 2026-10-30

The right answering service for a plumber is the one that gets a burst-pipe call to someone who can send a truck, and a gas-smell call to 911, with no voicemail in between. At 120 calls a month, published AI plans cost about $90 to $200, while live services cost about $723 to $1,725. The gap comes mostly from one feature: a live operator can patch a caller through to your on-call plumber, and many AI plans either cannot or charge more for it.

This guide puts a number on what a missed plumbing call costs, compares live and AI services on published October 2026 prices at 60, 120 and 250 calls a month, and gives you intake questions for the calls plumbers actually get: gas smells, burst pipes, sewage backups, and dead water heaters. It also covers how to keep your existing business number, and it says plainly where AI falls short, including the AI receptionist we sell.

## How often do plumbers miss calls?

Nobody has published a verified plumbing-only miss rate, but the best evidence for home services as a whole says roughly a quarter to a third of calls never reach a person, and almost nobody leaves a voicemail. Treat every figure here as a range, because the data comes from call-tracking and lead-generation vendors.

- **Invoca's Home Services Lead Conversion Benchmarks Report (July 2026)** found that a live person answered 52% of inbound home-services calls. The [report](https://www.invoca.com/reports/the-invoca-home-services-lead-conversion-benchmarks-report-2026) covers customers who already pay for call tracking, so it likely flatters the average shop.
- **Invoca's May 2024 analysis** reported that 27% of home-services calls go unanswered and that [fewer than 3% of callers sent to voicemail leave a message](https://www.invoca.com/blog/how-much-missed-sales-calls-cost-home-services-businesses). It does not publish a sample size.
- **Service Direct's 2019 report** compared what owners believed with what recordings showed. Owners estimated they answered 97% of calls, and [1,000 recorded calls to 94 home-service businesses](https://blog.servicedirect.com/home-service-call-performance-report) showed 66%. The sample came from the company's own pay-per-call campaigns and is old, so use it for the gap between belief and reality, not the exact rate.

Nights are only part of the problem. [ServiceTitan's call-trends guide](https://www.servicetitan.com/guides/call-trends-in-the-trades) says trades businesses received 10.7% to 12.1% of calls outside normal hours between May 2025 and July 2026, about one in eight. ServiceTitan notes its customers are not representative of the whole industry, and it publishes no plumbing split. The practical reading is that most missed calls land during the day, while your plumbers are under a sink and your office line is busy. A service that only switches on at 5pm covers the smaller share.

One more caution before you spend money. In a plumber forum thread, one owner counted 47 missed calls in a month and, by their own sort, [about 40 were telemarketers](https://www.plumbingzone.com/threads/anyone-else-losing-jobs-to-missed-calls.91027/), five were past customers, and two were price shoppers. That is one shop and an old thread, but it is a good reason to read last month's call log before you buy anything. Count how many missed calls were real prospects.

## What a missed plumbing call costs: a worked example

A missed plumbing call costs the number of real missed prospects, times the share that would have booked, times your average ticket. Plumbing books about 43% of the calls it answers, according to [ServiceTitan's call booking data](https://www.servicetitan.com/blog/data-call-booking-rates) (June 2022 data from more than 3,000 US and Canadian customers). The same data shows shops with fewer than five technicians booking 24%, so a small shop should run the math at both rates.

![Equation showing 20 real missed calls times a 43% booking rate times a $350 job equals about $3,010 a month](https://api-v3.trafficwins.com/media/articles/4db1ae84-2e52-4457-b169-ac816ca6d58c/40d48bc1021ca3d06473bb9224d055cf6db4a6da0e8f92ccfc0536dcba9c09f6.png)

*A hypothetical shop: 20 real missed prospects a month, ServiceTitan's 43% plumbing booking rate, and a $350 ticket.*

The example below is hypothetical. It assumes a shop that gets 150 calls a month. If 27% go unanswered, that is about 40 missed calls. If half of those are real prospects, that is 20. The table shows what 10, 20, and 40 real missed calls are worth at a 43% booking rate.

| Real missed calls a month | Jobs lost at 43% | At a $350 repair ticket | At a $1,400 water heater ticket |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 4.3 | $1,505 | $6,020 |
| 20 | 8.6 | $3,010 | $12,040 |
| 40 | 17.2 | $6,020 | $24,080 |

The $1,400 ticket is the average water heater installation cost on [Fixr's January 2026 cost guide](https://www.fixr.com/costs/install-water-heater), where most jobs run $900 to $3,000. The $350 repair ticket is a round planning number, not a measured average, so swap in your own. At the small-shop booking rate of 24%, 20 real missed calls at $350 is about $1,680 a month. Use the [missed call calculator](https://insertchat.com/tools/missed-call-calculator) to run your own inputs.

Plumbing emergencies also pay more at night, and callers are not patient. [PipelineOn's June 2026 pricing guide](https://pipelineon.com/blog/plumbing-emergency-service-pricing/), a software vendor's blog, lists overnight (10pm to 7am) dispatch fees of $200 to $350 and hourly rates of $175 to $400, roughly double the daytime rate. Prices vary by city, and the same guide says the most common customer complaint is a premium that was not disclosed up front. Quote the premium on the call.

The caller also has a reason to hurry. Triple-I, using ISO data, reports that [homeowners water damage and freezing claims averaged $15,400 each from 2019 to 2023](https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance). State Farm said in January 2026 that its frozen-pipe claims from January 2024 to June 2025 totaled more than $628 million, with an [average payment above $30,000](https://newsroom.statefarm.com/frozen-pipes-not-so-nice-beat-winter-water-woes-before-they-strike/). Someone watching water spread across a floor calls the next name on the list.

## Live answering service, AI, or an on-call phone: what happens to a sewer backup at 11pm

At 11pm the difference between options is not who picks up but how your on-call plumber finds out and what the caller is told while they wait. This table covers the four setups most plumbing shops consider, based on each vendor's official pages, accessed October 29, 2026.

| Option | Who picks up | How the on-call plumber hears | Main limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-call phone | Whichever plumber holds it this week | The call rings that plumber's cell | Voicemail if they are asleep or mid-job; burns out your crew |
| Live answering service | A trained operator reading your script | Page, text, or call patched through. [PATLive](https://www.patlive.com/pricing/) lists emergency dispatch and transfers on every plan; [Smith.ai](https://smith.ai/pricing) charges $0.50 per call for a text or Slack notification | Per-minute and per-call bills climb in a freeze; operators follow a script, not a diagnosis |
| AI receptionist that can transfer | AI | Rings a number you set. [Rosie](https://www.heyrosie.com/pricing) includes live transfer on its Scale plan and above; [Goodcall](https://www.goodcall.com/pricing) lets you choose who receives transfers | Transfer is often a higher plan tier, and a missed transfer needs a fallback |
| AI receptionist without live transfer (InsertChat) | AI | Reads the caller your safety steps, saves the details, marks the conversation urgent, and emails the teammates you chose | No ring on the plumber's phone; the alert is an email, so push notifications must be on |

Plumbers who run the numbers tend to land on the same split. If a person must be on the line with a flooding caller within a minute, pay for a live service or an AI plan with transfer. If the on-call plumber just needs a complete written alert and will call back, an AI receptionist without transfer costs far less. For the full cross-industry price comparison, see our [guide to the best answering service for small business](https://insertchat.com/blog/best-answering-service-small-business), and for the same triage approach applied to furnaces, see the [HVAC answering service guide](https://insertchat.com/blog/hvac-answering-service).

One reader-reality note from plumber forums, which skew old: after-hours callers often ask whether they have reached an answering service, and some want a booked time right now rather than a promised callback. If your option can only take a message, say so in the greeting and give a callback window you will actually meet.

## How much does an answering service for plumbers cost?

An answering service for plumbers costs about $90 to $200 a month for AI plans and about $720 to $1,725 a month for live services at 120 calls, with the gap widening as volume grows. The table prices three volumes: 60 calls (a quiet shop), 120 calls (a mid-sized shop), and 250 calls (a busy or storm-season shop). It assumes every call lasts four minutes, so 240, 480, and 1,000 minutes. That four-minute figure is an assumption, not a measured average: triage questions run longer than message-taking, and other published plumbing comparisons use 2.5 minutes. Rescale for your own calls.

![Bar chart of monthly answering service cost at 120 calls: Upfirst $90, InsertChat $198, AnswerConnect $723, PATLive $759, Smith.ai live $1,125, Ruby $1,725](https://api-v3.trafficwins.com/media/articles/4db1ae84-2e52-4457-b169-ac816ca6d58c/4a7526280f8feb4266041899b5c5e8523f8677391ce762fb3726dac23c59a98f.png)

*At 120 four-minute calls a month, live services cost several times more than AI plans.*

Prices are list prices from each vendor's page, accessed October 29, 2026, before taxes and add-ons. Each cell uses the cheapest published plan that covers the volume, plus overage.

| Service | Billing | 60 calls (240 min) | 120 calls (480 min) | 250 calls (1,000 min) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Upfirst](https://upfirst.ai/pricing) (AI) | Per call; spam not billed | $59.95 | $89.95 | $159.95 |
| [Goodcall](https://www.goodcall.com/pricing) (AI) | Per unique caller | $79 | $79 to $129 | $129 |
| [Rosie](https://www.heyrosie.com/pricing) (AI) | Minute bundle; transfers from Scale | $149 | $149 | $149 |
| [InsertChat](https://insertchat.com/pricing) (AI) | Shared monthly credits | $98 (Pro) | $198 (Growth) | $498 (Scale) |
| [AnswerConnect](https://www.answerconnect.com/plans-direct) (live) | Minute bundle; $1.85/min over | $395 | $723 | $1,512.50 |
| [PATLive](https://www.patlive.com/pricing/) (live) | Minute bundle; $1.69 to $2.99/min over | $428.60 | $759 | $1,499 |
| [Smith.ai](https://smith.ai/pricing) live receptionists | Per call; $8.50 to $11.50 over | $645 | $1,125 | $2,100 |
| [Ruby](https://www.ruby.com/pricing/) (live) | Minute bundle; overage unpublished | $720 plus overage | $1,725 | Quote |

How to read the table:

- **Per-minute plans punish a freeze.** A shop on PATLive's $759 plan for 480 minutes pays $1,499 at double the volume. Check how a service bills in a surge before you sign, and ask whether it upgrades your plan automatically.
- **Smith.ai bills per call, not per minute.** That helps when calls run long, and add-ons raise the bill: $1.50 per booked appointment and $1.00 for a Spanish line on its human plans.
- **Ruby does not publish its overage rate.** Its pricing page lists $250 for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200, and $1,725 for 500, and its FAQ says calls bill in 60-second increments rounded up. Ask for the overage in writing.
- **Goodcall's range depends on repeat callers.** It counts each phone number once a month, so a shop with 120 calls from 100 or fewer callers pays the $79 tier.
- **Rosie's $49 plan covers 250 minutes but does not list live transfer.** The table uses its $149 Scale plan, which does.
- **InsertChat's tier depends on call length.** At the pricing page's example rate of 12 credits per billable minute, Pro's 5,000 credits cover about 416 minutes, Growth's 10,000 cover about 833, and Scale's 25,000 cover about 2,083. Calls round up to whole minutes with a one-minute minimum, and the same credits also cover website chat and texts. Covering only after-hours calls fits a smaller tier.
- **AnswerConnect's Entry and Standard plans carry a $49.99 setup fee**, which the table leaves out.

For comparison, a full-time receptionist earns a median $18.27 an hour, according to [Bureau of Labor Statistics data (May 2025)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/office-and-administrative-support/receptionists.htm), or about $3,168 a month before benefits and payroll taxes, and one person answers one line at a time. The [AI receptionist vs answering service cost breakdown](https://insertchat.com/blog/ai-receptionist-vs-answering-service) goes deeper on the live-versus-AI math.

## Burst-pipe, gas-smell, and sewage intake questions

A good plumbing script does three things in order: it protects the caller, it collects what your on-call plumber needs, and it sorts the call. Hand the same script to a live service, an AI receptionist, or a new office hire. This is general information drawn from utility and public-health guidance, not a safety certification, so follow your own gas utility's instructions where they differ.

### Start with the safety screen

Ask two yes/no questions before anything else: Do you smell gas or rotten eggs? Is there standing water near outlets, the panel, or an appliance? A yes to the first ends the booking.

Gas utilities agree on the core response, with small differences. National Grid says that if you smell gas anywhere, including in your home, [go outside and report it immediately to 911 or the utility](https://www.nationalgridus.com/Report-Gas-Emergency), and not to touch switches, doorbells, or anything that could cause a spark. The [Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission](https://www.in.gov/iurc/pipeline-safety-division/safegas/) adds that you should call 911 only after you are away from the leak and should not return until emergency personnel say it is safe. Sources disagree on windows: [Ready.gov](https://www.ready.gov/safety-skills) says to open a window and get out, while National Grid says to leave windows and doors as they are. The safest script drops both: "get out."

Suggested wording:

> "I'm going to stop the questions because this could be a safety problem. Please get everyone out of the house now. Don't flip any switches. From outside, call 911 or your gas company. Once everyone is safe, our team will follow up with you."

The service should never book a visit for a gas-smell call, and it should flag the owner and the on-call plumber immediately. For water near electrical equipment, the CDC says never to [turn power on or off while standing in water](https://www.cdc.gov/natural-disasters/response/what-to-do-protect-yourself-from-electrical-hazards.html) and to have an electrician do it instead. The script should tell callers to stay out of the water and away from the panel.

### Collect the same details on every call

Capture these in the same order so the plumber can decide tonight versus morning from the alert alone:

1. Name, callback number, and service address, read back to the caller for confirmation.
2. What is happening: water running now, a slow leak, a backup, no water, or no hot water.
3. Where it is: which room or floor, and whether the area is finished (carpet, drywall, a basement apartment).
4. Whether the main shutoff has been closed, and whether the caller knows where it is.
5. Home or business, owner or tenant, and the property manager's name if there is one.
6. For a water heater: gas or electric, tank or tankless, roughly how old, and leaking or just cold.
7. Who is home: infants, older adults, anyone depending on powered medical equipment.

### Sort every call into one of four bins

Every plumbing call lands in one of four bins, and the bin decides who gets woken up.

![Four cards showing how a plumbing call is sorted: get out, plumber tonight, book tomorrow, estimate lead](https://api-v3.trafficwins.com/media/articles/4db1ae84-2e52-4457-b169-ac816ca6d58c/31fbc0a5aa4d11c6af0ce725b96e39f5d6292cf1aed5250bc08b419374dcaf7a.png)

*The bin decides who gets woken up, and bin 1 never ends in a booking.*

| Scenario | First words to the caller | Then ask | Bin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gas or rotten-egg smell | Safety wording above; no booking | Nothing more; flag the team | 1. Get out |
| Burst pipe or water running now | "Close the main water valve if you can reach it without stepping in water." | Address, what is wet, whether it is off | 2. Plumber tonight |
| Sewage backing up a drain | "Stop flushing and don't run any water." Keep children and pets away and avoid touching it | Which fixtures, how far it has spread | 2. Plumber tonight |
| Water heater leaking | "Close the cold-water valve on top of the tank." Stay clear if the floor is wet near power | Gas or electric, age, how much water | 2. Plumber tonight |
| No water to the whole house | Confirm neighbors and the meter are not the cause | Address, any known shutoff work nearby | 2 or 3, by your policy |
| No hot water, no leak | Reassure; no safety steps needed | Gas or electric, any pilot or error code | 3. Book tomorrow |
| Slow drain, running toilet, dripping tap | Offer the next open slot | Address and preferred window | 3. Book tomorrow |
| Water heater replacement, repipe, sewer line quote | Offer an estimate visit | Job type, age, access | 4. Estimate lead |

The water-shutoff and sewage instructions follow public guidance. State Farm tells homeowners to [shut off the main water valve and know where it is before an emergency](https://newsroom.statefarm.com/frozen-pipes-not-so-nice-beat-winter-water-woes-before-they-strike/), and a county health department's sewage backup page says [do not flush toilets, never touch raw sewage with bare hands, and keep children and pets away](https://health.frederickcountymd.gov/572/Sewage-Backup). Do not coach callers to relight a pilot light or work on gas lines by phone. A water heater leak with no gas smell can wait for the plumber, and a call from a tenant or property manager should stay inside the spending limit that account has already approved.

A no-hot-water call on a January morning can go either way. Write down what moves it up a bin, such as an infant in the house, and keep it in the script.

### Close without over-promising

The script should end with what happens next, not a guess. For bin 2, suggested wording: "I've marked this urgent and sent the details to our on-call plumber. They will call you at [number]. If the water gets worse or anyone feels unwell, call us again right away." Never let an operator or an AI quote a price it has not been given, promise an arrival time, or diagnose a failure from a description. If you charge an after-hours premium, state it before dispatch.

## A greeting for a plumbing line

A good plumbing greeting names the business, says if the caller is talking to an AI, and tells emergency callers to speak up first. Keep it short enough to hear in under ten seconds. A hypothetical example, written for a business called Example Plumbing:

> "Thanks for calling Example Plumbing. I'm the AI assistant. If water is flooding or you smell gas, tell me now. How can I help?"

That is about 125 characters, inside InsertChat's 200-character greeting limit. Say it is an AI in the greeting. In Gartner's 2026 survey of 3,566 customers, [87% said companies using generative AI for service must provide access to a human](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-08-04-gartner-survey-finds-87-percent-of-customers-say-companies-using-genai-for-customer-service-must-provide-access-to-a-human-agent0), and a Five9 and Hanover Research survey found [71% say knowing it is AI is very or extremely important](https://www.five9.com/news/news-releases/new-five9-research-ai-adoption-cx-hits-92-consumer-trust-still-depends-human). Whatever the greeting says, urgent calls must reach your team fast.

## How to keep your business number with conditional forwarding

You keep your published number by telling your carrier to forward calls to the service, and conditional forwarding sends only the calls you do not answer, so regular customers still reach your phone first. Codes vary by carrier, plan, and area, so confirm with your carrier before you rely on them. This table lists what the carriers' own pages say, accessed October 29, 2026.

| Line type | Forward when busy or unanswered | Turn off | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Verizon wireless](https://www.verizon.com/articles/verizon-unlimited-plans/call-forwarding-everything-you-need-to-know/) | `*71` plus the 10-digit number | `*73` | Rings three or four times first; you cannot set that. Page last reviewed in 2023 |
| [Verizon home phone](https://www.verizon.com/support/residential/homephone/calling-features/star-codes-other-features) | `*92` (busy or no answer) | `*93` | Not available in all areas |
| [AT&T Phone for Business](https://www.att.com/support/smallbusiness/article/smb-local-long-distance/KM1181691/) | `*92`, the number, then `#` | `*93#` | Busy-only is `*90` and `*91#` |
| AT&T wireless | Phone app > Settings > Calling accounts > Call forwarding, then pick when unanswered | Same menu | [Google's help page](https://support.google.com/voice/answer/165656?hl=en) lists `*61*` plus the number and `#` for no answer and `##61#` to turn it off |
| T-Mobile | Phone settings > Call forwarding > when unanswered | Same menu | [T-Mobile's help page](https://www.t-mobile.com/support/devices/device-troubleshooting/cant-call-dropped-calls-and-other-calling-issues) says `##004#` resets busy, unreachable, and no-reply forwarding |

Four things go wrong most often:

- **Carrier voicemail answers first.** If your carrier's voicemail picks up before the forward fires, the call never reaches the service. Shorten the forward delay where your carrier allows it, or turn off carrier voicemail.
- **A forwarding loop.** Never forward to a number that forwards back to yours.
- **Resellers.** Google warns that some resellers do not support conditional forwarding.
- **Untested lines.** Call your number from another phone, let it ring out, and confirm what you hear.

With InsertChat, setup gives you a private routing number and confirms forwarding with a verification call. Its forwarding guides cover AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, RingCentral, Rogers, Bell, and Telus. Number porting is not offered, and outside the US and Canada you use a local or toll-free InsertChat number. Our [call forwarding glossary page](https://insertchat.com/glossary/call-forwarding) explains the types in more detail.

## Where an AI receptionist falls short for plumbers, and where InsertChat fits

An AI receptionist fits a plumbing shop when the goal is that every call is answered, triaged, and logged, and the on-call plumber calls back from a complete written alert. It is the wrong pick if a human must be on the line with every emergency caller within a minute.

The [InsertChat AI receptionist](https://insertchat.com/product/phone) answers your business number from the services, hours, prices, and service area you give it. It books visits on the built-in calendar, Google Calendar, Outlook, Calendly, or Cal.com, and it saves every call with a transcript, summary, and contact record to a shared inbox. For plumbers, the useful settings are:

- **"AI when unanswered."** Your office or on-call phone rings for 5 to 60 seconds first, then the AI answers, so daytime overflow stops going to voicemail.
- **"AI after hours."** Your team answers during the hours you set, and the AI covers the rest.
- **Safety steps you write.** Emergencies and safety risks are flagged urgent after the caller hears the steps you set, which is where the gas-smell and shutoff wording above goes.
- **Bilingual answering.** It answers in the language each caller speaks, with 58 business language options.

The limits matter for a trade where a flooded basement is a live emergency. It does not transfer live calls, take voicemail, record calls, or place outbound calls, and it cannot port your number. When a caller needs a person, it takes the details, marks the conversation as needing your team, emails the teammates you chose, and tells the caller someone will follow up. It will only quote prices that you have given it, so load a price list or tell it to book an estimate. Check every address against the transcript, because a misheard address is the costliest AI mistake in a dispatch business.

If you want the AI to also handle your website chat and texts from the same knowledge base, that is included. Our [plumbing setup page](https://insertchat.com/industries/plumbing) shows the plumbing configuration in more detail.

## How to choose an answering service for your plumbing shop

Pick by the rule your shop needs at 11pm, then price it at your busiest month, not your average one.

- **A person must talk to every emergency caller within a minute:** a live service with dispatch or an AI plan with live transfer. Budget for the freeze-week bill.
- **The on-call plumber should get a full written alert and call back:** an AI receptionist without transfer is the lowest-cost fit. Make sure alerts reach a phone that wakes the plumber.
- **You get fewer than 50 calls a month:** an on-call phone and a clear script may be enough, and a per-call AI plan is cheap.
- **You also want chat and texting answered:** a shared credit plan covers calls, chat, and texts from one allowance.

Whichever you pick, run test calls before the first hard freeze. Call after dark and play six callers: a gas smell, a sewage backup, a burst pipe with the main valve unknown, a landlord with a tenant's address, a price shopper, and a water heater replacement quote. Check what reached the on-call plumber's phone and how long it took.

To test the AI option on your own number, [start your 7-day free trial](https://insertchat.com/pricing) on Pro. It costs $98 a month after the trial, includes one phone number and 500 trial credits (about 41 call minutes at the example rate), and a card is required at checkout.

## Frequently asked questions

### How much does an emergency plumber charge per hour?

PipelineOn's June 2026 pricing guide, a software vendor's blog, lists weeknight (6pm to 10pm) hourly rates of $120 to $300 and overnight rates of $175 to $400, plus dispatch fees of $150 to $250 on weeknights and $200 to $350 overnight. Daytime rates are lower and prices vary by city. Quote any after-hours premium to the caller before you dispatch.

### Can an AI answering service handle plumbing emergencies?

It can recognize the emergency, read the caller your safety steps, collect the address and details, and alert your team. Whether it can ring your plumber live depends on the product. Some AI plans transfer calls, while InsertChat does not and sends a flagged email alert. For a gas smell, no service should book a job: the caller leaves and calls 911 or the gas company.

### Should an answering service tell callers it is an AI?

Yes, say so in the greeting. In Gartner's 2026 survey of 3,566 customers, 87% said companies using generative AI for service must offer access to a human, and a Five9 and Hanover Research survey found 71% say knowing it is AI is very or extremely important. Make sure urgent calls reach your team quickly.

### Do answering services charge for spam calls?

It varies, and it matters because many missed plumbing calls are telemarketers. Upfirst says it does not bill spam or calls under 15 seconds, Goodcall excludes spam and wrong numbers, and Smith.ai does not count spam or wrong numbers on its receptionist plans. PATLive bills only the time a receptionist is live on the call. Ask before you forward your line.