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KaiCalls

24/7 answering for General Contractors

Contractor Answering Service
for When You Are on the Job Site

An answering service for contractors who cannot stop work to pick up. Your cell rings first. If you miss it, Kai answers, asks about the project, budget and timeline, flags water damage and other urgent calls, and texts you a summary.

  • Project scope qualification (remodel, addition, new build, restoration)
  • Budget range assessment ($15K bath to $1M+ custom home)
  • Water and fire damage triage (urgent restoration routing)
Try Free DemoCall 1 (802) 232-8873

Free browser demo; payment required for live phone service. No contracts. No setup fees.

A contractor on site taking a call.

Every call, answered

Your calls list, each one with who called and what they wanted.

Contractor answering service

The calls a contractor gets when nobody can pick up

Contractors miss calls because they are working, not because they do not care. The homeowner on the other end usually has two or three other names to try. These are the calls Kai is set up to sort.

A homeowner ready to talk about a remodel

Kai asks what they want done, the address, a rough budget, when they want to start and whether they have plans or a designer. You call back knowing if it is a kitchen gut or a vanity swap.

Water or storm damage

Kai asks if water is still coming in, which rooms are affected, and whether insurance is involved. If it meets your urgent rule, the call goes to your cell instead of waiting for the morning.

A current client with a question

Existing clients get a real answer instead of voicemail. Kai takes the job name, the question and how soon they need you, and you get the text.

Subs and suppliers

Trades calling about a bid, a delivery or a schedule change are noted separately from new leads, so they do not get lost in the same pile.

Estimate and site-visit requests

Kai books the walk-through on your Google Calendar inside the hours you allow, or takes the preferred window so you can confirm.

Calls outside your area or scope

Kai checks the address against your service area and the job against the work you take, so you are not calling back on jobs you would turn down.

What happens to a call at 9pm

  1. 1

    Your cell rings first

    Calls ring your phone, or up to five phones in order. Pick up and it is a normal call.

  2. 2

    Kai answers the ones you miss

    If nobody picks up, or it is after hours, Kai answers in the name of your business. Callers reach a contractor that answers, not a voicemail beep.

  3. 3

    He asks your questions

    Name, callback number, address, what is wrong and how urgent it is. You decide what counts as urgent and who gets the call.

  4. 4

    Urgent calls reach you

    When a call meets your urgent rules, Kai can transfer it to your on-call number. Everything else waits for the morning with notes attached.

  5. 5

    You get a text

    Seconds after the call ends, you get a text summary: who called, what they need, and how to reach them. The recording and transcript are in the app.

What it costs

Plans start at $10/mo on Kai Backup (~20 Kai-answered calls/mo). Every plan, flat monthly: Kai Backup $10/mo, Kai Line $79/mo and Kai Office $349/mo.

There are no per-minute overage charges. Your plan includes an expected monthly call allowance. If your call volume stays higher, we recommend the next plan and notify you before anything changes. You can choose to keep your current plan, and we move you back down if volume drops.

Every plan includes a business phone number, so you can keep it as your main line or forward only the calls you miss from the number you have now.

See every plan
FIELD GUIDE

How Kai Handles Calls for General Contractors

Kai is trained around the actual calls that reach general contractors teams: urgency, qualification, routing, booking, and follow-up.

Project Scope

Kai Separates Remodels, Additions, New Builds, and Restoration Calls

01

General contractor calls need scope and budget early. Kai captures both before the site visit is booked.

Kai asks for project type, property address, rough budget, desired timeline, design status, permits, financing status, and whether insurance is involved.

The summary helps you decide whether the lead is a serious remodel, a restoration emergency, a sub-contractor inquiry, or a poor fit.

Scope first
project type, budget and timeline on every lead
Qualification

Budget, Timeline, and Decision Stage Get Captured First

02

A $15K bathroom and a $1M custom home should not enter the same generic callback queue.

Kai captures who owns the property, who makes decisions, what work is needed, whether plans exist, and when the homeowner wants work to start.

Water damage, fire damage, structural issues, and active job-site problems can be marked urgent.

High-fit lead

Clear project scope, property ownership, realistic budget, and decision-maker availability.

Needs review

Insurance claim, undefined scope, urgent damage, permit questions, or timeline pressure.

CRM Handoff

Kai Sends Site-Visit Notes Into the Systems Contractors Already Use

03

Contractors need fewer scattered voicemails and more complete opportunity records.

Kai can hand off leads to Google Calendar, GoHighLevel, Jobber, HubSpot, Zapier, or a webhook into the system you already use.

The handoff includes scope, budget range, address, urgency, contact details, and the scheduled consultation or follow-up request.

Every call
answered and summarized while you run the job
24/7
Kai asks about the project and books site visits
Try Free Demo
Setup Pack // GENERAL CONTRACTORS

Open the General Contractors pack and inspect how Kai works.

The pack shows the working configuration behind Kai: the intake fields it asks, the prompt rules it follows, the routing logic it uses, the SMS and owner handoff it produces, and the eval calls it must pass. You can read the parts before you trust the phone line.

Intake Structure

7 required fields and 5 optional fields map the caller into a clean job summary.

Prompt System

12 guardrails control pricing, scheduling, escalation, tone, and what Kai must never promise.

Failure Modes

7 known mistakes are turned into operating rules before Kai ever answers a real call.

Eval Coverage

7 vertical evals test hard callers, edge cases, and setup-specific behavior for this pack.

Sample fields Kai collects
Full name
Best callback number
Project address (street + zip)
addition / remodel / kitchen / bath / basement / deck / new-construction / repair / other
Example rules loaded into Kai

NEVER QUOTE A PRICE — NOT EVEN A BALLPARK — ON THE CALL. General contracting projects are bespoke; quoting blindly is the fastest way to anchor a customer on a wrong number. If the caller pushes ('just give me a ballpark', 'rough range'), say: 'Every projec...

PROJECT SCOPE IS A WALKTHROUGH, NOT A PHONE CALL: the GC needs to see the property before any meaningful conversation about cost, timeline, or feasibility. The agent's job is to qualify the lead enough that the GC knows whether to drive out, not to design t...

TIMELINE QUALIFIES THE LEAD: capture timeline (ready-to-start / 3mo / 6mo / 12mo+ / browsing). Ready-to-start callers go to the front of the GC's outreach list; 12mo+ and browsing go into the nurture queue. The owner cares most about who is ready now.

Inspect setup packSee evalsSee handoffHome services answering serviceGeneral contractor industry page
Who Kai works for

Fix the calls that make customers call someone else

Kai is built for the messy, high-intent moments where speed, context, and calm follow-through decide who gets the job.

You're on a Job Site All Day, Every Day

What breaks

You're walking a framing crew through changes, meeting the inspector, or troubleshooting a plumbing rough-in. Your phone rings — it's a homeowner ready to spend $80,000 on a kitchen remodel. You can't answer. They call the next contractor on their list.

What Kai does

Kai answers every call instantly while you run the job site. He captures the project scope, timeline, and budget — then books the consultation so you show up prepared.

Big Jobs Require Big Communication — And You're Drowning

What breaks

Homeowners spending real money on a remodel expect you to pick up. But you're managing subs, pulling permits, and solving problems all day. Calls pile up, voicemails go unreturned, and your reviews take the hit.

What Kai does

Every call you miss gets answered. Kai takes the project details and texts them to you, so you can call back prepared instead of playing phone tag.

You're Losing $50K+ Jobs to Contractors Who Simply Answer

What breaks

A homeowner planning a $150,000 addition calls three GCs from Google. You're the most qualified, but you miss the call. Contractor #2 answers, books a site visit, and closes the deal before you even check your voicemail.

What Kai does

Kai qualifies every lead by project type, budget range, and timeline. He books the site visit on your calendar. You never lose a high-value job to a slower competitor again.

What Kai does

Everything your general contractors line needs

The first version is not a blank slate. It starts with the call handling, routing, and follow-up patterns this vertical already needs.

Project scope qualification (remodel, addition, new build, restoration)
Budget range assessment ($15K bath to $1M+ custom home)
Water and fire damage triage (urgent restoration routing)
Timeline and move-in date capture for project planning
Service area verification before booking consultations
Sub-contractor inquiry routing (trades calling about bids)
Permit and inspection question handling
After-hours call capture with next-day follow-up
Residential vs. commercial project routing
Existing client check-in and project update requests
Compatible systems

Works with the tools you already use

Choose where appointments and caller details go. Check the connection requirements for your calendar, CRM, or field-service system before setup.

Google Calendar
Books site visits in real time
Jobber
Sends the caller and job details
GoHighLevel
Triggers follow-up automations
HubSpot
Creates or updates the contact
Zapier
Connects to your other apps
Webhooks
Sends structured call records
Explore connections and setup
FAQs

Common questions

01What does an answering service for contractors do?

It answers the calls you cannot take while you are on a roof, in a crawl space or meeting an inspector. With KaiCalls, your cell rings first. If you do not pick up, Kai answers in your company name, asks about the project, and texts you a summary when the call ends.

02What does Kai ask a new lead?

The questions you set. Most contractors want the type of project, the address, a rough budget, the start date and whether plans exist. Kai writes the answers up so you can decide which leads to call back first.

03Can Kai book site visits?

Yes. With Google Calendar connected, Kai books walk-throughs into the hours you allow. Without a calendar, he takes the caller details and preferred times so you can confirm.

04What happens with an urgent call, like a roof leak during a storm?

You decide what counts as urgent. Those calls can be transferred to your cell or an on-call number. Everything else is written up and waiting for you after the job.

05Do I have to forward my business number?

No. Every plan includes a business phone number you can use as your main line. If customers already call an old number, forward only the calls you do not pick up. Forwarding all calls would stop your own phone from ringing.

06How much does a contractor answering service cost?

Plans start at $10/mo on Kai Backup (~20 Kai-answered calls/mo). The full list, flat monthly: Kai Backup $10/mo, Kai Line $79/mo and Kai Office $349/mo. There are no per-minute overage charges. Your plan includes an expected monthly call allowance. If your call volume stays higher, we recommend the next plan and notify you before anything changes. You can choose to keep your current plan, and we move you back down if volume drops.

Try the line

Stop missing the call that was ready to book

Call Kai now or try the free browser demo. The fastest way to understand it is to hear the handoff yourself.

Call 1 (802) 232-8873Get my line for $2

$2 for your first week, then from $10/mo. Cancel anytime. See plans