Blog · HVAC
The Hidden Cost of Missed Calls in HVAC:
How AI Recovers $10k+ Monthly
February 8, 2026 · 5 min read
47% of home service calls happen outside business hours. For HVAC companies, those aren't just missed calls—they're missed emergency jobs worth $350–$800 each. When a furnace dies at 11 PM in January, the homeowner calls until someone answers. If that someone isn't you, it's your competitor.
The Real Cost of an Unanswered HVAC Call
Let's do the math for a typical 3–5 truck HVAC company:
- 200 inbound calls/month (ads, referrals, Google Business Profile)
- ~94 calls (47%) arrive after 5 PM, on weekends, or holidays
- 62% of after-hours callers won't leave a voicemail (BrightLocal, 2025)
- ~58 callers hang up and try the next company
- Average emergency job value: $575
- If just 20% would have booked: 11.6 jobs/month lost
- Lost revenue: $6,670/month from after-hours alone
Now add the peak-hour overflow problem. During heat waves and cold snaps, your dispatcher handles 3x normal volume. Even 10% of daytime calls going to voicemail during a February cold snap adds another $3,000–$5,000/month in lost jobs.
Total hidden cost: $10,000–$12,000/month. That's $120,000+ per year, invisible on your P&L because you never see the jobs you didn't get.
Why the Standard Fixes Don't Work
Voicemail
A homeowner with no heat at midnight is not calmly leaving a voicemail. They're scrolling to the next result on Google.
Traditional Answering Services
At $1.50–$2.50/min, a 500-call month costs $3,000–$5,000. They still drop calls during volume spikes. And they can't check your service area or schedule.
Hiring Night Dispatchers
$40,000–$55,000/year in salary, plus benefits, training, and turnover. And they can only handle one call at a time.
How AI Dispatch Recovers the Revenue
Vox for HVAC Companies answers every call in under 1 second and handles the entire dispatch workflow:
Urgency Detection: Vox determines from the conversation whether it's an emergency (no heat, gas smell, water leak) or a routine appointment (tune-up, filter change). Emergencies escalate to your on-call tech immediately.
Service Area Check: Vox verifies the caller's zip code against your coverage area in real time. No more dispatching a tech 45 minutes outside your zone.
Job Ticket Creation: Every call produces a structured ticket—name, address, issue, urgency, preferred time—pushed directly into ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, or Jobber.
Unlimited Simultaneous Calls: February cold snap? 10 calls at once? Vox handles all of them. No hold queues. No dropped calls.
The ROI Breakdown
Answering Service (500 calls/mo)
$3,000–$5,000/month
Still drops calls during spikes
No dispatch logic
Vox AI ($250–$500/month)
0 dropped calls
Smart dispatch + service area
1 saved emergency/week = $2,300/month recovered
Vox pays for itself before your first monthly invoice. One emergency call recovered per week at $575 average = $2,300/month. That's a 5x–9x return.
What to Do Next
If you're running Google Ads but sending after-hours calls to voicemail, you're paying to generate leads and then letting them walk. See exactly how Vox works for HVAC companies →
Stop Losing Emergency Jobs
Set up in 20 minutes. Predictable pricing with included minutes. Every call answered 24/7.