AI receptionist for Billings service businesses
An AI receptionist that picks up Billings calls at any hour.
“plumber billings” draws about 1,000 searches a month in Billings, and Lithium's AI receptionist answers the calls that follow at any hour, for $179 a month.
- Picks up around the clock
- Books the job on the call
- Hands urgent calls to your team
Calls start with a search
Searches for local trades in Billings each month
2,540
searches a month
- plumber billings1,000
- landscaping billings480
- electrician billings390
- pest control billings390
- garage door repair billings210
- roofing company billings40
Source: Google Ads keyword data, average monthly U.S. searches. "Under 10" = below Google’s reporting floor.
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Businesses
we’ve worked with
Businesses we’ve worked with
- Willard Power Vac
- Sarkinen Plumbing
- Robinson Restoration
- Town & Country Glass
- Dixie Glass
- Byers Septic Service
- F&W Fence Co.
- Drake’s 7 Dees
- Rickabaugh Construction
- Hillsview Building
- Dozer Dave
- Mt. Hood Pro Painting
- On-Target Landscape
- Atiyeh Bros Carpet
- Lovett
- Westmore Construction
- Northwest New Homes
- Porter Sealcoating & Paving
- RescueHero Restoration
- Panda Plumbing
- Biermann Plumbing & Heating
- Ballistic Junk Removal
- Smart Doors LLC
- Peak Performance Roofing
- Deluxe Heating & Cooling
- Lifetime Exteriors
- Bruce Johnson Construction
- Madrone Painting
- Smart Tree Service
- Premier Gutter Cover
- NW Pacific Electric
- Universal HVAC
- Lenny Martin Painting
- Next Level Decks & Exteriors
- Prodan Construction
- Smooth Rollin’ Sealcoating and Paving
- Lovett Restoration
- Greenlight Titles
- G.W. Hartley IV
- Advanced Coatings
- Thomson Equipment
- MyADU
The phone at 9 p.m. or 9 a.m.
What a Billings business wants from a phone line
A missed call is the quietest loss in a service business. Lithium Marketing runs a managed AI receptionist for Billings service businesses: it answers every call 24/7 in your brand voice, qualifies the caller, books jobs, answers the questions you approve and sends a follow-up text. When a caller needs a person, it transfers the call.
The cost of a missed call is set by the trade. An average click on “plumber billings” runs $9.33, so a call that goes unanswered has been paid for and then thrown away. The receptionist is $179 a month, no contract and no setup fee, and it answers the 9 p.m. caller the same way it answers the 9 a.m. one.
Calls behind the searches
Where a Billings call starts
Searches for landscaping in Billings run about 480 a month, and electrical about 390. Behind each one is a customer with a phone in hand, and the receptionist answers whether the crew is on a roof or already home.
The map is one place those calls start. For “plumber billings”, the Map Pack was the first thing on the page when we checked, and a tap on one of those listings is a call waiting for an answer.
| Search | Cost per click |
|---|---|
| electrician billings | $19.93 |
| garage door repair billings | $12.55 |
| plumber billings | $9.33 |
| roofing company billings | $8.43 |
| pest control billings | $8.34 |
| landscaping billings | $4.82 |
Source: Google Ads keyword data, average monthly U.S. searches. "Under 10" = below Google’s reporting floor.
- Map Pack
- The first thing on the page
- Search ads
- None recorded
- Local listing reviews
- 78 to 699 Google reviews each
- Directories in the top 10
- Angi, Facebook, Yelp
- AI Overview
- Not shown
- People also ask
- Shown
Source: one Google results page for “plumber billings”, as Google showed it to a searcher located in Billings. Search ad counts exclude sponsored local listings. Results shift by searcher and day.
The phone at any hour
Calls that arrive while the crew is out
Billings has cold, dry winters, and a call can arrive at any hour, including when the crew is already home. The receptionist answers it, books the visit, texts the caller and sends the urgent ones to the on-call tech.
Calls come from across the city. Billings has 10 sections within its city limits, and the Rimrocks separate the Heights from Downtown, so the address matters before the truck moves. The receptionist takes the address and the cross street so the crew knows where to go.
- residents (2025 estimate)
- 121,239
- residents (2025 estimate)
- population change, 2020 to 2025
- +3.5%
- population change, 2020 to 2025
- housing units
- 54,346
- housing units
- of occupied homes owner-occupied
- 64.8%
- of occupied homes owner-occupied
- of homes built before 1980
- 50.3%
- of homes built before 1980
- median home value
- $343,400
- median home value
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau 2025 population estimates, ACS 2020–2024 and 2023 County Business Patterns.
Repair calls and project calls
Two kinds of caller, two sets of rules
Yellowstone County is home to 89 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors. For a trade like that, the receptionist's rules decide three things: what rings the on-call tech, what takes the next open slot, and what gets a text with the address.
For remodelers and landscapers, the work usually starts with a visit. The receptionist takes the project, the address and the timing the customer wants, then books the estimator's visit. Custom AI automation can take over what happens after that call, and it is scoped separately from the managed receptionist.
County Business Patterns
Trade and home service businesses in Yellowstone County
Establishments by industry, 2023
- Residential remodelers114
- Landscaping services106
- New home builders93
- Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors89
- Electrical contractors66
- Excavation and site preparation contractors41
- Painting contractors33
- Roofing contractors28
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 County Business Patterns (NAICS establishment counts).
Phone setup
How the receptionist learns your business
The receptionist only sounds like your business if the rules come from your team, so the setup starts with a conversation about the calls you take.
Sort the calls into three piles
Your team names the calls that need a person now, the calls that can be booked, and the calls a text can close out.
Write the answers in your words
Hours, services, service area and the questions that come up most get loaded into the knowledge base, in the phrasing your staff uses.
Connect the booking and the transfer
Booked jobs land on the calendar your team gives it access to, and any call that needs a person rings the number you nominate.
Rehearse before the first customer
You phone the line and play the difficult caller yourself, then change any answer that sends someone the wrong way.
What the AI receptionist does on every call
The same eight parts go into every AI receptionist setup, wherever the business is.
- Answers every call, 24/7
- Qualifies the lead
- Books the appointment
- Answers common questions
- Sends follow-up texts
- Captures every detail
- Transfers to a real person when needed
- Connects to your CRM and calendar
Phones in use
An AI receptionist and a custom phone build
A plumbing company's after-hours emergency calls were reaching voicemail, so Lithium built a custom AI phone system that sorts the urgent from the routine. The card covers that build. The garage door company Smart Doors LLC came to Lithium for a website first and added the AI receptionist to its phone line later.
AI phone project, plumbing company
3x
more leads
Towns you cover
The towns a Billings phone line covers
One receptionist covers every town a Billings business serves, so a caller in Bozeman or Gillette, WY gets the same answers as one in Billings. The AI pages below carry those towns' figures, and the Montana page lists the rest.
Published price
The monthly price for a Billings AI receptionist
$179
per month, fully managed
No contract and no setup fee, so you can cancel anytime. The voice, knowledge base, call rules and calendar and CRM hooks are all set up by Lithium. Custom AI automation is scoped after a free discovery call.
FAQ
Before an AI answers a Billings call
Still curious?
Call (503) 766-5964 or email [email protected].
What happens when someone asks for a human?
The caller gets a person. Transfers go to whichever number you nominate, and the rule can be as broad as every caller who asks or as narrow as emergencies only. Calls that stay with the receptionist are answered and booked, or followed up by text.
What does the receptionist cost compared with a hire?
A human receptionist costs $3,500 or more a month for set hours. The receptionist is $179 a month with no contract and no setup fee, and it answers at any hour.
How long does setup take?
Days, not weeks. The long part is your side: naming the call rules, listing the services and granting calendar access. Once those are in, Lithium builds the voice and the answers, and the line goes live.
Who gets the urgent calls?
It depends on the rule you set for that trade. An emergency can go straight to the on-call tech, a non-emergency can take the next opening, and anything in between can leave a text for the team. The plumbing project in the card above was built for that gap.
Is custom automation included in the receptionist price?
Custom automation is a separate scope, quoted after a free discovery call, and a typical build takes one to two weeks. That work usually covers the follow-up: the CRM update, the text after the call, the review request, and the links between your calendar, phone line and spreadsheets. The receptionist is priced on its own.
Free action plan
Call the demo, then map your own phone plan
Ring the demo line below and put the receptionist through a real service call. Then tell us the calls your team takes now, and on a short video call a co-founder sets the rules and the transfer numbers with you.
What we’ll cover
- What’s working (and what isn’t) in your current marketing
- Site and funnel gaps that are costing you leads
- Local SEO and paid traffic opportunities
- Simple tracking and KPIs to measure success
2000 NE 42nd Ave Ste D Unit 2370, Portland, OR 97213
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