What a missed call costs a Wellington tradie
You’re under a house in Karori, hands full, and the phone goes. By the time you’re out, it’s stopped. Here’s how to work out what that call was worth, with your own numbers, not ours.
The short answer: it depends on four numbers
There’s no honest one-size figure for “the cost of a missed call”. It comes down to four things you already know better than anyone:
- Missed calls a week. Check your phone’s call log for a normal week.
- How many of those were new work. Not suppliers, not your mum. People who wanted a job done.
- How many of those you lose because they rang the next tradie instead of waiting for your call back.
- Your average job value. What a typical job is worth to you, before costs.
Lost jobs a week × your average job value = the work walking out the door each week.
A worked example
Example numbers only. Swap in your own in the calculator below.
Say you miss 6 calls a week. Going through the log, 3 were new jobs. You ring them all back within the hour, but 1 of the 3 has already booked someone else. Your average job is $400.
That’s 1 lost job a week, or $400 a week. Over a year with four weeks off, that’s 48 jobs and $19,200 of work that went to someone else.
Even if you think that’s too high and halve everything, it’s still thousands of dollars a year. That’s usually the moment the sum gets interesting.
Work out your own
$400 a week · $19,200 a year
Why the cost is often higher than the sum
The sum above only counts the first job. A few things push it up:
- Urgent jobs are the ones you miss most. Burst pipes and no hot water don’t wait, and they’re often worth more to you.
- A customer is more than one job. Someone who books you once tends to ring you next time, and tell the neighbours.
- Calling back costs time too. Ringing back three people who’ve already sorted it is time you don’t bill.
What you can do about it
- Voicemail. Free, and better than nothing. But plenty of people hang up rather than leave a message, especially when it’s urgent.
- A call-back rule. Ring every missed call back within 15 minutes. Works well, if your day lets you.
- Someone else answers. A partner, an office person or an answering service. Reliable, but it costs wages or per-call fees.
- An AI receptionist. Answers every call in your business’s name, takes the job (name, number, address, what’s wrong, how urgent) and writes it up for you. It should say it’s AI, never make up prices, and tell callers in danger to ring 111.
Where RingFoundry fits
RingFoundry is the last option, built in Wellington. Holly answers the calls you miss, knows your services and the suburbs you cover, and writes up every caller’s details. If she doesn’t catch you a job in the first month, we refund your first month.
From NZD 89 a month incl. GST. In the example above, one saved job pays for four months.