AI receptionist vs hiring a receptionist
Hiring an in-house receptionist costs roughly $37,232 a year in base wages before payroll tax and benefits, based on the median US receptionist wage of $17.90 an hour (May 2024, Bureau of Labor Statistics). An AI receptionist costs $6,500 for year one. But cost is the easy part of this comparison and not the useful part: a receptionist covers about 40 hours a week and does a great deal besides answering the phone, while an AI receptionist covers all 168 and does one job.
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What a person does that this does not.
A receptionist is not a phone answerer with a salary attached. They chase unpaid invoices, order parts, talk to suppliers, handle the walk-in, keep the paperwork straight and notice when something is off. None of that is on this page’s side of the table, and if that is the job you are hiring for, hire.
They also carry your customer relationships. A regular who has spoken to the same person for three years is a different kind of customer, and there is no software answer to that.
And they hold context across time. They remember that the Hendersons had the same problem in March, that a particular landlord always disputes the invoice, and that a certain caller is worth interrupting you for. This starts every call fresh.
The two side by side.
Wage figures are from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The annual number is the median hourly wage over a 2,080-hour year, base pay only — no payroll tax, no benefits, no cover for holidays or sick days.
| Capability | In-house receptionist | Riley |
|---|---|---|
| Cost, year one | ~$37,232 base wages, before tax and benefits | $6,500 all in |
| Cost, monthly | ~$3,103 in base wages | $500 flat |
| Hours covered | No:About 40 a week | Yes:All 168, including holidays |
| Nights and weekends | No:Overtime, a second hire, or it rings out | Yes:Same as any other hour |
| Holidays and sick days | No:You need cover | Yes:No gaps |
| Two callers at the same time | No:The second one waits or rings out | Yes:Both, immediately |
| Invoicing, parts, suppliers, walk-ins | Yes:Yes — usually most of the job | No:No. It answers the phone |
| Knows your regulars | Yes:Builds real relationships over time | No:Starts every call fresh |
| Time to get going | Hiring, then weeks of training | 2 business days |
These are not really the same purchase.
If the office work is piling up — invoices going out late, parts not ordered, nobody to hand the paperwork to — you have an admin problem and you should hire someone. This will not touch any of it.
If the office is fine and the problem is specifically the phone, hiring is an expensive way to fix it, and it only fixes the hours you are paying for. Most plumbing calls that turn into money arrive outside those hours.
Plenty of shops end up with both: a person doing the office work through the day, and this catching overflow when the line is busy and everything after five. That combination costs about $3,603 a month and nothing rings out.
Also worth reading: what it all costs, how it compares to an answering service, and why voicemail loses these calls.
The things people ask.
The median wage is $17.90 an hour as of May 2024, which is about $37,232 a year full time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The lowest tenth earn under $13.60 an hour and the highest tenth over $23.49. Those are base wages — payroll taxes, benefits and cover for holidays sit on top.
On cost, yes and by a wide margin — about $6,500 for year one against roughly $37,232 in base wages alone. But they are not equivalent purchases. A receptionist does the office work too and builds relationships with your regulars; this answers the phone and books jobs, and that is the whole of it.
Not if your office person does the invoicing, the ordering and the paperwork, which is usually most of the job. What it reliably takes off them is the phone — the interruptions during the day, the overflow when two calls land at once, and everything after they go home.
That is the part hiring struggles with. Covering nights and weekends properly means overtime or a second person, and most plumbing shops with two to twenty trucks cannot justify either. An AI receptionist treats 2 AM on a Sunday exactly like 2 PM on a Tuesday.
Most shops do, and we would not tell you otherwise. The question worth asking is whether that person should be spending their day being interrupted by the phone, or doing the work only a person can do while something else catches the calls.
Don’t take our word for it. Call it.
Ring the demo line and ask it something awkward. Sixty seconds will tell you more than any sales call.