[Home](/) / [Industries](/industries/) / HVAC # AI receptionist for HVAC companies: every call answered, emergencies sorted, visits booked An AI receptionist for an HVAC company is a 24/7 voice and text agent that answers every call, asks the safety questions, sorts emergencies from routine work, and books the visit into your schedule. It sends a no-heat or gas-smell call to your on-call technician and gives your dispatcher the call details in writing. This page is for the owner or the dispatcher of a heating and cooling company. It shows what the receptionist does on a call, which calls go to a person, how the job reaches your software, and how the price is set. *Example call. This is an example, not a recording.* > **Caller:** The heat stopped this morning, and the house is cooling down. > **Receptionist:** Before we arrange a visit, is there a gas smell or an unusual noise? > **Caller:** There is no gas smell. The furnace clicks but will not start. > **Receptionist:** Our next service window is tomorrow, 8 to 10. What address should the technician visit, and which number can they call? > **Caller:** 456 Sample Avenue, 555-0120. I can be home then. > **Receptionist:** Your visit is scheduled for tomorrow, 8 to 10, at 456 Sample Avenue. I will send those details by text. ## What an AI receptionist for HVAC does - **24/7 coverage:** It answers when every technician is on a job, and at night, on weekends and on holidays. Several callers can be on the line at the same moment. - **Emergency triage:** Safety comes first: a gas smell, no heat in a freeze, no cooling with an elderly person or an infant in the home. The receptionist then applies the rule you wrote for that case. - **Lead qualification:** It asks what a dispatcher asks: the kind of system, its age, what it is doing and since when, the address and a callback number. - **Booking:** It offers the service windows that are on your schedule and books the visit. The customer gets a confirmation by text. - **Field service software:** It works with ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro and Jobber. Booked jobs and caller details land where your team already works. ## What happens on a no-heat call at 2 am The steps below show the order of a night emergency call. The rule in step 4 is an example. You write your own rules at setup. | Step | What happens | |---|---| | 1. The call arrives | The receptionist answers. There is no voicemail and no hold. | | 2. Safety first | It asks if the caller smells gas, and if anyone in the home is elderly, an infant or unwell. If the caller smells gas, it asks them to get out of the home and contact the gas utility. It then notifies your on-call person. | | 3. The details | The kind of system, what it is doing, since when, the address and a callback number. | | 4. Your rule | Example rule: no heat with a freeze forecast is urgent. The receptionist alerts the on-call technician by call, by text or by both. You choose at setup. | | 5. The handoff | The technician gets one message: name, number, address, system, symptoms and the answers to the safety questions. The technician does not call the customer cold. | | 6. If nobody answers | The receptionist follows the on-call order you set at setup. It tries the next person after the number of minutes you set. | | 7. The caller | The caller is told that a person is being alerted. The receptionist does not promise an arrival time unless you set one. | | 8. The morning | The call is on your list with its outcome: who was alerted, and what the caller was told. | *The same call, word for word. This is an example, not a recording.* > **Caller:** Our furnace stopped and it is 58 degrees in the house. > **Receptionist:** I can help. First, do you smell gas? > **Caller:** No. > **Receptionist:** Is anyone in the home elderly, an infant or unwell? > **Caller:** My mother is 81. > **Receptionist:** Thank you. What kind of system is it, and what is it doing? > **Caller:** A gas furnace. It clicks, and then nothing. > **Receptionist:** I have that. What is the address, and the best number for the technician? > **Caller:** 123 Example Lane, 555-0100. > **Receptionist:** I am alerting our on-call technician now with these details. ## Example rules for urgent and routine HVAC calls You draw the line between an emergency and a routine call. You can start with a list like this one, then adjust it after the first weeks. | Situation | Question the receptionist asks | Example rule you might set | |---|---|---| | Gas smell | Do you smell gas now? | Ask the caller to get out of the home and contact the gas utility. Notify the technician on call. | | No heat with a freeze forecast | Is anyone in the home elderly, an infant or unwell? | Urgent: alert the on-call technician. | | No cooling, elderly or infant resident | Who is in the home? | Urgent: alert the on-call technician. | | No cooling, healthy adults, mild weather | Is the outdoor unit running? | Routine: book the next window. | | Water on the floor near the unit | Is water near an outlet? Can you switch the unit off? | Urgent if the caller cannot stop it. If not, book the next window. | | Noisy equipment, nothing else wrong | What does it sound like, and since when? | Routine: book the visit and note the sound. | ## Which calls go to a person, and what it does not do These calls go to your team, with the details taken: - A call that fits none of your rules. - A complaint, a refund request or a billing dispute. - A replacement quote. The receptionist collects what your estimator needs and books the visit. It does not quote a price for a system nobody has looked at. - Commercial or landlord work, if you want that work on a separate route. - A caller who asks for a person. The receptionist can transfer to your office line during the hours you set. And these are the things it does not do: - **It does not diagnose.** It writes down what the caller describes and hands it to your team. A licensed technician decides what is wrong. - **It does not talk anyone through a repair.** It reads the safety steps you approved and nothing more. Gas, electrical and pressurized work stays with your technicians. - **It does not invent a price.** It quotes only the fees you supplied. If a job needs inspection, it books a visit. - **It does not promise an arrival time you did not set.** It reads the open windows from your schedule and offers only those. - **It does not override your rules.** Your urgency rules and your service area are set by you, in writing. ## Works with ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro and Jobber Vidhani AI works with ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro and Jobber. We connect the receptionist to your system during setup, so booked jobs and caller details land where your team already works. Your dispatcher does not retype the call. | Your software | What the receptionist captures on a call | |---|---| | ServiceTitan | Customer name and phone, service address, job type, system, symptoms, urgency, and the window the customer chose | | Housecall Pro | The same details | | Jobber | The same details | If you use a different tool or a shared calendar, tell us on the first call. The written quote says what we can connect. Before your line goes live, you phone the receptionist yourself and book a test job. You see where it lands. Ask any vendor for the same test. ## What an AI receptionist costs an HVAC company AI receptionists are sold in four ways. The model matters as much as the number. | Pricing model | What you pay for | What to check | |---|---|---| | Per minute | The time the agent is on calls | The bill rises in a heat wave, when you can least watch it. | | Per call, or a plan with a call limit | The number of calls answered | What happens to the calls above the limit. | | Flat monthly | A fixed fee | What is included: hours, text and chat, locations. | | Priced per front desk. Quoted on a call. | A written quote for your call volume | Scope, how changes are priced, term and cancellation. | Priced per front desk. Quoted on a call. Four things move it: your call volume across the year, how sharply it spikes, whether you want text and chat as well as calls, and how many locations or trade lines share one number. Your quote states the setup fee, the term and how to cancel. Read [how pricing works](/pricing/). Then use the [AI receptionist cost guide](/guides/ai-receptionist-cost/) to put a dollar value on one lost service call. ## Setup: from the first call to a live line 1. **A 30-minute call.** We learn your phone: when it rings, why, and what must happen next. 2. **A written quote.** It states what is covered and what each part costs. 3. **Your rules.** You give us your trades, your service area, your urgency rules, your on-call order, your fees and plans, and the windows you offer. 4. **We build it.** The receptionist learns your version of each call. 5. **You test it.** You phone it yourself and try to trip it up. 6. **You approve.** Calls on your existing line are routed to the receptionist. Customers still dial the number on your trucks. Setup is a short project: we collect your rules, connect your system, and you test the line before it goes live. The timeline is written down after the first call. The full path is on [how it works](/how-it-works/). ## Build it yourself, use an app, or have it done for you There are three routes to an AI receptionist. None is wrong. They differ in who does the work. | Route | What it is | Your work | Who keeps it running | |---|---|---|---| | Build it yourself | A voice platform joined to a workflow tool. Public guides name tools such as Vapi and n8n. | You write the prompts, the rules and the connections, and you test them. | You. | | Self-serve app | You sign up, choose an HVAC template and forward your line. | You enter your rules in the app. | The app company runs the platform. You keep the rules current. | | Done for you | A provider builds the receptionist to your rules. | One setup call, your rules, and a test. | The provider. This is what Vidhani AI does. | ## Questions HVAC owners ask ### How is this different from an HVAC answering service? A message service leaves your dispatcher with a callback. This receptionist can complete a booking while the customer is still on the line, explain the fees you supplied, or contact the technician assigned to urgent calls. ### How does it decide what is an emergency? Your written rules decide the route. A gas smell or heating failure during freezing weather can trigger an on-call alert; a tune-up can go on the schedule. An unmatched situation goes to your team with the caller’s details. ### What does my on-call technician receive? The handoff identifies the customer and service address, gives a callback number, and records the equipment, reported fault and safety responses. You choose the message format before the line goes live. ### Does it work with ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or Jobber? Yes. It works with ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro and Jobber. We connect the receptionist to your system during setup, so booked jobs and caller details land where your team already works. ### What happens in a heat wave when ten people call at once? It can answer concurrent calls during a hot spell. You can change the routing for the surge, reserving on-call alerts for the cases you choose and offering later service windows for routine requests. ### Do customers keep the number on the trucks? You keep the public number your customers already have. Calls from your truck signage and listings reach the receptionist through that line. ### Does it tell callers it is an AI, and are calls recorded? The receptionist says it is an AI assistant when asked, and it can be set to say so at the start of every call. We set the opening line with you to follow the rules where you operate. You choose whether calls are recorded and how long recordings are kept. Both choices are written down before your line goes live. ### Does it speak Spanish? Ask us about Spanish and other languages for your line. ### Is there a setup fee or a contract? Your quote states the setup fee, the term and how to cancel. You read all of it before you agree to anything. ### How long until the line is live? Setup is a short project: we collect your rules, connect your system, and you test the line before it goes live. We write the timeline down after the first call. It depends on the number of trades on the line and how much detail your urgency rules need. ### Do you cover plumbing too? Yes. One company can run heating, cooling and plumbing on a single number with different routing for each. See the [HVAC and plumbing page](/industries/home-services/). ## Related pages - [After-hours answering service](/after-hours-answering-service/): how nights and weekends differ. - [Missed-call text-back](/missed-call-text-back/): for callers who hang up before anyone answers. - [HVAC and plumbing](/industries/home-services/): the page for shops that run more than one trade. - [AI receptionist](/ai-receptionist/): how the rules sit outside the AI model. ## Hear it answer for your shop. [Book a demo](https://cal.com/vidhaniai/30min)