Trades & Contractors
Telephone Answering Service for Trades & Contractors
Never miss an important customer call while you’re busy on the job.
Set up online | No credit card required | UK based
WHEN YOU'RE BUSY ON THE JOB...
When you’re working on a job, answering the phone isn’t always possible.
You might be underneath a sink, halfway up a ladder, driving between customers or simply trying to get a job finished without stopping every five minutes.
You focus on the job.
We’ll handle the calls.
Connect can answer those calls for you.
Our UK-based receptionists answer in your business name, find out why the customer is calling and follow the instructions you’ve given us. We can take a message, collect the details you need or, where required, try to transfer the caller to you or another member of your team.
We provide telephone answering for plumbers, electricians, heating engineers, builders, contractors and other trades throughout the UK.
You can’t always stop work to answer the phone
For many tradespeople, there’s a simple problem with answering every call: you’re busy doing the work people are paying you to do.
If you’re with a customer, driving between jobs, using tools or working somewhere noisy, answering the phone might be inconvenient, unprofessional or simply impossible.
But until you return a missed call, you don’t know what it was about.
It could have been a supplier. It could have been someone checking tomorrow’s appointment. Or it could have been a new customer looking for someone to carry out a job.
And while some callers will leave a voicemail or wait for you to call back, others will simply try the next business they find.
A telephone answering service gives you another option. You carry on with the job; we answer the phone.
How does telephone answering work for tradespeople?
A telephone answering service handles calls when you or your team can’t answer them. Your calls are diverted to Connect, where one of our UK-based receptionists answers in your business name, finds out why the customer is calling and follows your agreed call-handling instructions.
Depending on the call, we can take a message, collect job or customer details, or try to transfer the caller to you or another member of your team.
The basic process is simple:
01
Your customer calls
They continue to call your normal business number.
02
Connect answers
One of our receptionists answers using your chosen greeting and business name.
03
We find out what the caller needs
We ask the questions you’ve asked us to ask.
04
We follow your instructions
Whether that’s taking a message, gathering further information or transferring the call.
05
You receive the call or message
Messages can be sent by email, WhatsApp or SMS, so you have the information you need to respond.
More than just a name and telephone number
Sometimes a name and telephone number is all you need. Other times, it isn’t much use at all.
If you’re going to return a call between jobs, it can be far more useful to know that Mrs Smith in EH12 has a leaking radiator than simply knowing that “Mrs Smith called”.
That’s why your call handling can be tailored around the information that matters most to your business.
You decide what information you need us to collect.
We build the call handling around your business rather than expecting your business to fit around a generic script.
Depending on the type of work you do, we can ask callers for details such as:
- their name and telephone number;
- postcode or property address;
- whether they’re a new or existing customer;
- the type of work they’re enquiring about;
- a brief description of the problem;
- whether they already have an appointment or job booked;
- who they normally deal with; and
- whether the enquiry is urgent.
Let’s take a plumbing business as an example
What happens when a customer calls?
A new customer calls and says they have water coming through the ceiling and need someone to come out.
Rather than simply taking their name and number, you may want us to establish their postcode, the property address, a brief description of what has happened and whether the problem is ongoing.
What happens next is up to you.
If your instructions tell us that certain urgent calls should be transferred, we can try to put the caller through to you or another member of your team. If you’d rather not be interrupted while working, we can take the details and send the message to you instead.
We don’t pretend to be plumbers, electricians or heating engineers.
Our job is to answer professionally in your business name, gather the information you’ve asked us to collect and follow your instructions.
You remain in control of what happens next.
Tailored to your trade
Telephone answering for different trades
No two trades businesses receive exactly the same calls. Even two plumbers may want their phones answered very differently.
That’s why we don’t try to squeeze every trades business into the same call-handling template.
Telephone answering for plumbers
When a customer needs a plumber, there’s often a reason they’re picking up the phone rather than filling in a contact form.
They might have a leak, a problem with a toilet or shower, an issue at a rental property or simply want a quote for planned work.
Connect can answer in your plumbing business name and collect the information you need before you return the call. That might include the customer’s postcode, property address, a description of the problem and whether they’re an existing customer.
For businesses carrying out both reactive and planned work, we can also distinguish between urgent enquiries, quote requests, existing jobs and routine calls.
Telephone answering for electricians
Electrical businesses can receive everything from straightforward quote enquiries to customers reporting faults or loss of power.
We can establish whether the caller is a new or existing customer, where the property is located and what they’re calling about. For planned work, that could be an installation, inspection or EICR enquiry; for existing customers, it might relate to a job already underway or an appointment.
You choose which calls should simply become messages and whether particular types of call should be transferred.
Telephone answering for heating engineers
Heating enquiries can become particularly difficult to manage during the colder months, when the phone suddenly gets considerably busier at exactly the same time as your engineers do.
We can help separate new enquiries, boiler servicing, existing appointments, installation enquiries and customers reporting heating or hot-water problems.
If there are particular questions you want us to ask before sending the message, we can build those into your call handling.
Telephone answering for builders and contractors
For builders and contractors, not every incoming call is necessarily a new customer.
Calls may come from existing clients, prospective customers, suppliers, subcontractors or people involved with jobs already underway.
Connect can establish who is calling, which project or property the call relates to and who they need to speak to before either taking a message or attempting a transfer.
We can also provide an outsourced switchboard service for larger businesses where calls need to be directed to different people or departments.
And other trades...
We’re certainly not limited to the trades listed above.
If you run a roofing company, property maintenance business, joinery firm, landscaping company or another type of trade or contracting business, tell us how you currently handle your calls.
We’ll tell you what we can do and, just as importantly, if there’s anything we can’t.
“Different trades.
Different calls.
A service that works
for you.”
Busy on the job?
Let Connect answer.
Set up online | No credit card required | UK based
Take a message or transfer the call
Not every caller needs to speak to you immediately.
One of the benefits of using a telephone answering service is being able to decide which calls are worth interrupting a job for.
Message taking
For routine enquiries, we can take the information you’ve asked us to collect and send the message to you by email, WhatsApp or SMS.
You can then respond when it suits you, rather than stopping what you’re doing every time the phone rings.
Call transfers
For calls you do want to receive, we can attempt to transfer the caller to you, another engineer, your office or another member of your team.
Your instructions might be as simple as transferring all new enquiries, or they can be more specific.
For example, you may want urgent existing-customer calls transferred but quote enquiries sent as messages.
Still want to answer your own phone? You can
Using Connect doesn’t have to mean giving up control of your telephone.
Plenty of businesses still want to answer their own calls whenever they can.
Your telephone service can normally be configured so that calls divert to Connect only when you don’t answer them yourself. That means you can pick up when you’re free, while Connect acts as a safety net when you’re busy.
Alternatively, you can divert all of your calls to us when you know you don’t want to be disturbed – perhaps while you’re on a particularly awkward job, in a meeting, short-staffed or taking some time off.
We can help you decide which arrangement is likely to work best.
- Answer your own calls when you’re free
- Calls handled by UK-based receptionists when you’re busy
- A setup that works around your day
Customer calls
↓
You answer if you’re free
↓
No answer? Connect answers
How a trades business can use Connect
A typical trades client doesn’t necessarily need a complicated setup.
They may simply want their customers to hear a friendly human voice when they can’t answer the phone themselves.
We agree how the phone should be answered, what information our receptionists should collect and what should happen to different types of call.
New Enquiry
A new enquiry might result in a message containing the caller’s name, telephone number, postcode and details of the work required.
↓
MESSAGE
Urgent Customer
An existing customer calling about an urgent problem might be transferred.
↓
TRANSFER
Supplier
A supplier could simply leave a message.
↓
MESSAGE
The important part is that you aren’t repeatedly stopping work to deal with calls that could easily have been handled for you.
And because the call-handling instructions are agreed with you, they can reflect the way your business actually operates.
A telephone answering service built around your business
Calls answered in your business name
UK based receptionists
Your call handling instructions
Messages sent straight to you
Call transfers when required
Appointment and diary management
If your business works from appointments, we can also provide diary management and appointment booking where suitable.
Smart Numbers
Need a separate business telephone number? We can also supply UK local, 03 and other Smart Numbers that can be answered as part of your Connect service.
What happens to my calls in the evenings and at weekends?
Our UK-based receptionists answer live calls from 8am until 6pm, Monday to Friday.
But customers don’t necessarily stop calling because you’ve finished for the day – particularly if something has gone wrong at their property.
Outside our live answering hours, Connect can provide an interactive evening and weekend receptionist rather than sending callers to a traditional voicemail.
It can interact with the caller, establish why they’re calling and collect information according to the service you’ve set up.
So there is an important distinction:
During our opening hours, your calls are answered by our human receptionists. Outside those hours, our interactive out-of-hours service can continue handling callers.
Talk to us about the hours you need covered and we’ll explain the options.
How much does telephone answering for a trades business cost?
You don’t need to employ a full-time receptionist just because you need somebody to answer the phone.
Connect has telephone answering packages designed for businesses receiving anything from a handful of messages each month to hundreds.
Your monthly package includes an agreed number of messages, with additional messages charged if you go over that allowance. This means a sole trader who only needs occasional help doesn’t have to pay for the same level of service as a busy company with several engineers on the road.
Not sure how many calls you’ll need us to answer? That’s normal!
It’s one of the reasons we offer a free trial. We can see how your customers actually use the service before recommending the most suitable tariff.
Try our telephone answering service free for 30 days
The easiest way to find out whether telephone answering works for your business is to try it.
Our free trial lasts for 30 days or 100 messages, whichever comes first.
During the trial we can see the types of calls you receive, how often you need us, what information is useful to collect and whether messages, call transfers or a combination of the two works best.
It also means that when the trial finishes, we can recommend a tariff based on how you’ve actually used the service rather than asking you to guess how many calls you might receive.
There’s no obligation to continue after your trial.
See your actual call volumes
Work out what information to collect
Find the best set-up for your business
Frequently asked questions
Here are some of the most common questions we’re asked by plumbers, electricians, builders and other trades. If you can’t see what you need, just get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.
Can I keep my existing business number?
Yes. In most cases, you continue using your existing business number and divert the calls you want Connect to answer to the answering number we provide. Depending on your telephone setup, you can divert all calls or only calls you don’t answer yourself.
Will callers know they're speaking to an answering service?
We answer using your chosen greeting and business name.
Our receptionists act as an extension of your business, although we won’t mislead callers or claim to be physically based in your office if we’re asked directly.
Can you take a customer's postcode and job details?
Yes. Your call-handling instructions can ask our receptionists to collect information such as the customer’s name, telephone number, postcode, property address and a brief description of the work or problem.
You decide which information you need.
Can you transfer urgent calls to my mobile?
Yes. Where call transfers form part of your service, we can attempt to transfer selected calls to a mobile or landline.
You can decide which types of call should be transferred and which should simply become messages.
Can I still answer my own calls?
Yes. You don’t necessarily have to divert every call to Connect.
Depending on your telephone setup, calls can usually be diverted to us only when you don’t answer, allowing you to continue taking your own calls whenever you’re available.
Can you book jobs or appointments into my diary?
Yes, where your requirements are suitable for our diary management service.
We can discuss the diary or booking system you use, the information we would need to collect and what our receptionists would be expected to do before confirming whether we can manage it for you.
What happens outside your opening hours?
Our live UK receptionist service operates from 8am until 6pm, Monday to Friday.
Outside these hours, our interactive evening and weekend receptionist can provide out-of-hours call handling instead of traditional voicemail.
How much does a telephone answering service for tradespeople cost?
The cost depends mainly on how many messages we handle and the level of service you need. Connect offers packages for businesses with very low call volumes through to companies receiving hundreds of messages each month.
Our free trial helps us establish your likely usage before recommending the most appropriate tariff.
Ready to stop missing calls?
Set up online | No credit card required | UK based
Page Last Updated: October 12th, 2026