How to stop missing plumbing calls while you are on a job
You can't answer the phone with your arm in a cistern. Here are the practical options, from free routines to full call answering, and what each costs you in time.
By JobsAnswered team · Published · 2 min read
The short answer
Use your phone's conditional call forwarding so missed calls go somewhere useful: a colleague, an office, or an answering service. Back that up with a simple callback routine and a text-back for missed callers. The fewer calls that end in silence, the fewer customers ring someone else.
Option 1: Free routines that help straight away
- Block out two callback slots a day, for example late morning and mid-afternoon, rather than leaving it all until evening.
- Return urgent-sounding calls first. A voicemail mentioning water coming through a ceiling beats a quote request.
- Text missed callers. "On a job, will call you back by 3pm" stops many people moving on.
- Improve your voicemail greeting to ask for name, postcode and the problem. See our voicemail guide.
Option 2: Share the phone
If someone else in the business is often free, forward calls to them when you don't answer. Most UK mobile networks support "forward when unanswered" and "forward when busy" in the phone's call settings or with a network code. It works well until they're on a job too.
Option 3: A call answering service
Forward unanswered and busy calls to an answering service. Your number stays the same; only calls you miss are answered by someone else. What you get back varies widely: from "please call Sarah" to a full job summary with urgency and photos.
Option 4: Answer everything first
Some businesses go further and have every call answered first, with the right ones put through. That cuts interruptions but changes how your customers reach you, so it's a bigger decision.
Set up conditional forwarding properly
- Decide where missed calls should go.
- Set forward when unanswered with a delay that gives you a fair chance to pick up (often around 15 to 20 seconds).
- Set forward when busy so calls aren't lost while you're on another call.
- Decide about forward when unreachable, for no-signal spots like lofts and basements.
- Test it by ringing from another phone and letting it ring out.
Checklist
- Missed calls never end in silence
- Urgent jobs reach me the same day
- I know what a job is before I call back
- Sales calls don't interrupt me
- My number hasn't changed
If you'd like calls you miss answered properly, see missed call answering or how JobsAnswered works.