For contractors

Guides and data for contractors

Plain answers for plumbers, HVAC companies, electricians, roofers and other home-service trades: what to do about missed calls, how to get more reviews and work, and what websites, local SEO and the rest actually cost. The data pages are numbers we collected ourselves.

Original data

Numbers we collected ourselves, with the method on each page.

We checked 2,407 contractor websites on a phoneWe loaded 2,407 US contractor homepages on an iPhone in October 2026. 77% had no booking and no chat or text, so after hours a call is the only way in.Which booking and chat tools do contractor websites use?We checked 2,407 contractor homepages for booking and chat tools. ServiceTitan led, GoHighLevel was second, and 90% showed no field-service software.What plumbers, HVAC companies, and electricians actually charge for a service callWe read the pricing pages of 45 plumbing, HVAC and electrical companies. Service-call fees ran from $25 to $399, and three contradicted themselves.How much do contractor bids actually vary? We pulled 20 real public bid records to find outWe pulled 20 public bid tabulations across roofing, HVAC, electrical and plumbing to measure how much contractor bids actually vary.Phone answer rate statistics for home services (2026), including our ownMost people no longer answer an unrecognized number. Verified 2026 answer-rate and caller-ID stats, plus our own 56 cold calls and 100 cold messages, in full.

Missed calls and phones

What to do about the calls you cannot take on a job or after hours.

Can't answer the phone on the job? 6 options for contractorsSix ways contractors handle calls while their hands are full, from a better voicemail to an AI receptionist, with what each costs and what it misses.Missed call text back for contractors: templates and setupFive auto-reply templates to copy, three ways to set up missed-call text-back, and what each costs, including Nova's done-for-you version at $99 a month.Missed call text back software: three ways to buy itMissed call text back software comes three ways: built into a phone platform, a texting app you set up, or a done-for-you service. Each one's price.Your missed-call text-back is not firing: six things that break itA text-back that tests fine but never reaches a real customer is usually one of six things, and only one of them is the automation itself.The weekend HVAC job you lose, and how to catch itAfter-hours HVAC calls often end at voicemail. Four ways to catch them: an AI receptionist, web chat, call notes and missed-call text-back.HVAC answering service cost, live and AIWhat an HVAC answering service costs in 2026: live and AI services from their own pricing pages, and what a 200-call month comes to on each.AI receptionist for plumbers: what it costsA plumber cannot answer with both hands in a crawlspace. What an AI receptionist actually does on a plumbing line, what it does not do, and what it costs.Lead and booking automation for contractors, explainedContractors lose jobs to missed calls every week. A lead-capture automation recovers the call by text, qualifies the lead, and books the job.

Getting more work

Leads, reviews and follow-up, by trade and by problem.

How to get more HVAC customers in 2026Seven ways HVAC companies win more customers, starting with the leads they already get, plus what 635 HVAC websites we checked on a phone actually offer.How to get more plumbing work in 2026 (without renting leads)Pay-per-call plumbing leads cost you every time. Every channel that brings in plumbing jobs, free and paid, ranked by cost, speed, and lead quality.How to get more roofing leads in 2026Roofing demand follows the weather. Where roofing leads come from, ranked by cost and speed, plus the storm-damage page to build before the next storm.Contractors Not Getting Enough Google Reviews? Here's the FixContractors not getting enough Google reviews? Here is why most under-collect, and the automated after-every-job system that fixes it without a single awkward ask.Google review request texts for contractors: 8 templatesEight word-for-word review request texts and emails for contractors, when to send each one, and the two things the FTC and Google say you cannot do.How to follow up on a contractor estimate: texts to sendA simple follow-up schedule for contractor estimates, with the exact texts to send on day one, three, seven and fourteen, and when to stop.How much do plumbing and HVAC leads cost?What a plumbing or HVAC lead costs in 2026 on Google Local Services Ads, Google Ads, pay-per-call networks, Angi and Thumbtack, with each source's sample.

Websites and what things cost

Sites, local SEO, ads and bookkeeping, with real prices.

How much does a contractor website cost in 2026?Contractor website pricing packages: DIY $0 to $500, done-for-you $600 to $1,997 plus $149 to $349 a month, agency $3,000 to $10,000+. What each includes.Do contractors need a website in 2026?Do contractors need a website if work comes by word of mouth? What a site does for a referral, and what one costs in 2026.Best website builder for plumbers in 2026How five website builders compare for plumbers on SEO, speed, lead capture and how much of your time each one takes.What the best roofing company websites get rightMost roofing contractor websites lose the job before the phone rings. Here is the checklist the best roofing company websites all pass, and where the rest fall down.How much does local SEO cost?What local SEO costs in 2026: surveys that state a sample, the prices agencies and tools actually print, Google Business Profile management, and Nova's price.Google Ads management fees: flat rate vs percentage of spendMost agencies charge a percentage of spend, so the fee grows automatically whether results improve or not. Here is how the alternatives work.Bookkeeping for contractors: what it costsWhat bookkeeping costs a plumbing, HVAC, electrical or cleaning business in 2026: published monthly prices, an in-house bookkeeper's wage, and DIY software.

Texting laws by state

Before you text customers: what each state's own law says, read from the statute. See the state-by-state guide.

What Nova sells contractors.

Each one has a flat monthly price, works on its own, and is month to month.