Building a missed-call tool for HVAC shops — what would you actually use?

I’ve been building Answeriot for home-service shops (HVAC first, plumbing / electrical same problem).

The product is simple on purpose: if the business misses a call, the caller gets a text, we try to qualify the job, and it lands in an inbox so someone can take over. Not an “AI receptionist that runs your company.” Just the miss → text → lead → job path.

I’m launching here in a bit. The site and video are up. Live SMS is the last piece I’m turning on.

I keep getting stuck on the same two things and I’d rather hear it from people who’ve sat in a shop, or sold to one:

1. After a missed call, how fast is too slow for that first text? Immediate feels pushy. 2 minutes feels late if the next company already replied.

2. How much should the AI say before a human jumps in? I blocked it from quoting prices and from pretending it’s a person. Some owners still want it to book. That makes me nervous.

If you run a shop, or you’ve tried Smith.ai / a VA / one of those AI voice things: what did you keep, and what did you turn off after a week?

Happy to show the product to anyone who wants to poke holes in it. That’s more useful than “looks great.”

answeriot.netlify.app
(soon on answeriot.com)