An AI receptionist for septic and drain companies that prices the pump-out and sends the backup to your truck
A septic company gets two kinds of calls: the one where sewage is coming up in the basement right now, and the one where a homeowner finally remembers the tank hasn't been pumped since they moved in. Unlike an answering service that takes a message, this is an AI receptionist that gives a pumping price by tank size, books the visit, and gets the emergency to your on-call truck. Here's how it handles both, and what it won't do.
Ballpark prices by phone and text, and the Quick Quote page, work when you turn on the estimator in Settings (included on Elite, a $20/month add-on on Basic and Pro). With it off, Alex books the visit instead of giving a price.
Where septic and drain companies actually lose the job
Half the calls to a septic company come from people who haven't thought about their tank in four years, and the other half come from people thinking about nothing else because it's backing up into the tub. Both call while you're standing at a tank with the hose in. The routine caller wants a price and a day. The emergency caller wants a truck, and calls the next company if the first one rings out.
The money is in the route. HomeGuide, "How Much Does Septic Tank Pumping Cost? (2026 Data)" puts pumping at $300 to $700 for a 1,000-gallon tank and up to $1,225 for the big ones, and the EPA says household tanks are typically pumped every three to five years. Every customer you pump is a customer who should call you again in 2029, if they remember you. The ones who went to voicemail won't.
The drain side is the same story faster: a clogged kitchen line, a main line backing up, a camera to find the root. Those callers are comparing you to the plumber down the street, and the plumber has an office.
What the AI does on a septic company call
The AI answers as your company, in about two rings, on every call at once, day or night. It asks what a good dispatcher asks: what's going on (pumping that's due, slow drains, a backup, an odor, wet spots in the yard, a home sale that needs an inspection), the address, and for pumping, the tank size if they know it and whether the lid is at ground level or buried. If they don't know the size, it prices the common 1,000-gallon tank and says the technician confirms on site. If they don't know where the lid is, there's no phone price; it books a visit.
Then it gives the ballpark, from your sheet, the way a dispatcher would: "Pumping a tank up to a thousand gallons usually runs about three hundred to seven hundred. The technician confirms the exact price on site before starting." A buried lid prices higher, after-hours prices higher, and the sheet says so. The sheet covers pumping by tank size, filter cleaning, routine and home-sale inspections, single drains, main line cabling, hydro jetting and camera inspections. It never gives a firm total.
A backup follows your emergency rules. The first on-call phone gets a text briefing (caller, address, what's backing up and where), then rings; the technician hears the briefing and presses 1 to take the call. No answer, Alex rings the next phone, up to three. If nobody picks up, the caller leaves a message and the transcript reaches every on-call phone by text within about a minute. You decide what counts as urgent (a backup, an alarm going off, a commercial system) and what Alex tells the caller to do in the meantime. It never gives repair advice.
Routine work books into open arrival windows on your Google Calendar, with jobs per window matched to your trucks. With auto-assign on, each booking goes to a free technician with a calendar invite and a briefing text. Some jobs never get a phone price, and the AI knows which: drainfield repair or replacement, new systems, pump and alarm repairs, risers, and locating a tank with no records. Those get a visit booked instead. On your website, the Quick Quote asks the same questions (tank size, lid access, when) and lets the customer pick a day.
What happens after the call
The customer gets a confirmation text with the window and, the day before, a reminder they can reply to (once you turn on appointment confirmation texts). The technician's morning prep card has the address, what the caller said about the tank and the symptom, whether the lid needs digging, and a checklist for the visit (tank size, last pumped, baffles, risers, the drainfield), so the truck arrives with the right hose and a shovel.
A quote that didn't book, say a home-sale inspection the agent said she'd call back about, goes into a follow-up text sequence at 24 hours, 3, 5 and 10 days, which stops when they reply. Missed calls get a text back within seconds. On Elite, outbound campaigns work your past-customer list: everyone you pumped three years ago gets a text asking to get on this year's schedule, which is the whole route business in one feature. Every number you publish is tracked as its own lead source.
What it doesn't do: plan the route, file the county pumping report, diagnose a drainfield over the phone, or take payment. Those stay with your office and your software.
A week on the phone, septic company edition
This is an example of how the system handles a week, not a customer's results.
Monday, 9:40 am. You're on stop three with the hose in the tank. A caller says it's been "a while" since the last pumping and doesn't know the tank size. Alex prices it as a 1,000-gallon tank at about three to seven hundred, asks whether the lid is at grade (it's got a riser), and books Thursday's 10 to 12 window. At 12:15 a caller's basement floor drain is bubbling and the toilets won't flush. That's on your urgent list: your on-call phone gets the briefing and rings, you press 1, and the truck goes there after the current stop.
Wednesday, 4:30 pm. A real estate agent needs a septic inspection before a closing next week. Alex gives the home-sale inspection range, says pumping is priced separately, and books Monday morning. Friday, a caller who got a hydro-jetting quote on Tuesday gets the day-3 follow-up text and replies, "Go ahead."
What AI Front Desk Helper does besides answer the phone
Answering the phone is the entry point, not the product. Here is the rest of what runs once a contractor is on AI Front Desk Helper:
- Booking that respects your calendar. Alex checks your own Google Calendar and offers real open times, so it never books a slot you're already on a job for. Jobs per time slot, arrival windows, appointment length, same-day booking and service days by ZIP code are all settings. Reschedules and cancellations move or remove the event.
- Crews, not just one calendar. Optional auto-assign books each job to a free crew member in turn, using their own calendar and work days, and adds them to the event. Repeating visits (weekly, every two weeks, monthly) can be paused for one customer or for the season.
- After-hours emergencies. You write what counts as an emergency and list up to three on-call phones. Alex rings them in order with a text briefing, and the tech presses 1 to take the call. Emergency texts and website chats alert the same phones, and a tech can reply CALL to be connected.
- Photos by text. Customers can text a photo to your number. Alex saves it to their card, forwards an emergency photo to the on-call phones, sends your Quick Quote link for a job it can price, and offers a visit for anything else.
- Straight answers on price. With the estimator turned on, for junk removal, window cleaning, pressure washing, house cleaning, pest control, garage doors, pool service, flooring, concrete, window installation, stump grinding and lawn care, Alex gives a ballpark from your own price sheet and says the crew confirms on site. Trades that price on site can set a service call fee, and Alex answers financing and insurance questions from what you set. No number you didn't give it.
- Instant online quotes. A branded quote-and-book page for your business (yours looks like quote.yourcompany.com) where customers get a ballpark and pick a time, day or night. Built in for painting, roofing, siding, fencing, gutters and the twelve trades above, and switched on with the estimator (included on Elite, a $20/month add-on on Basic and Pro).
- Estimate follow-up that doesn't quit. Text sequences at 24 hours, 3, 5 and 10 days on every quote that hasn't closed, written like a contractor, stopping the moment the customer replies.
- Objection detection. "Too expensive" or "need to think about it" triggers a recovery script instead of a polite goodbye.
- Outbound campaigns. AI calls and texts to your past-customer list for seasonal reactivation, win-backs and referral asks. You set the campaign; it dials.
- Google Business Profile, handled. Every new review gets an owner reply drafted for you; profile posts can be drafted, approved and scheduled weeks ahead; a profile health audit shows how you stack up against nearby competitors.
- Revenue coaching by lead source. Every phone number is tied to where it came from (Angi, LSA, Facebook, referral, yard sign), so the dashboard shows which marketing produces booked revenue and which to cut.
- Customer DISC profiles. Every caller and texter gets a buying-style read (D, I, S or C) from what they actually said, with a confidence flag, so you walk into the estimate knowing how to sell to them.
- Franchise HQ. One rollup across every location for multi-unit operators.
- Reseller program. Agencies can offer the whole system under their own brand. How it works.
- Optional add-on: AI Rep Coach. Records in-home estimates and coaches the people who sell, with manager review and team analytics. Sold separately, per seat.
Setup for a septic company
In Settings, pick Septic & Drain as your trade. That loads the septic price sheet. Turn on the estimator in Settings, and Alex uses it on calls and texts and the Quick Quote goes on your website. Click See the prices the AI quotes to read the exact sheet. It starts from 2026 national prices (higher in high-cost states, lower in low-cost ones), and you move each service up or down by percentage until it matches what you charge; the buried-lid and after-hours bumps are percentages too, so set them to yours. Apply the recommended scheduling (two-hour arrival windows, same-day with two hours' notice), add your technicians in Crew Management and turn on auto-assign, or set jobs per window to your number of trucks. Add up to three on-call phones in order and write what counts as urgent in your own words. Forward your existing number or port it.
A straight answer about where this comes from: AI Front Desk Helper was built and tested inside my painting company. The septic price sheet and Quick Quote were added in October 2026, with starting prices from HomeGuide's 2026 guides. Everything on this page is what the system does today; we don't have results from septic companies to publish yet, and we won't make them up.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $297/mo | 24/7 AI call answering, Google Calendar booking with free/busy checks by phone and text, missed-call text-back, lead capture and CRM sync, call transcripts. |
| Pro | $497/mo | Everything in Basic plus SMS follow-up sequences (24h / 3d / 5d / 10d), website AI chat widget, appointment reminders, Facebook Messenger. |
| Elite | $997/mo | Everything in Pro plus outbound AI campaigns (win-backs, seasonal reactivation, referral asks), AI revenue coaching by lead source, Google review response writer, objection detection, referral autopilot, franchise HQ rollup. |
Annual billing is two months free. Call minutes included every month: 500 on Basic, 1,200 on Pro, 3,000 on Elite (extra minutes $0.30). No setup fee, month to month.
Which plan for a septic company
Most septic and drain companies belong on Pro. A route business runs on booking, and every plan answers, quotes from your sheet and books into arrival windows; Pro adds the reminders that cut no-shows and the follow-up on inspection and jetting quotes. Basic answers every call, gives the price, books the job and captures the lead, without reminders or follow-up. Elite is worth it the day you have a list of past pump-outs: the pump-again campaign alone fills the route, plus review replies and revenue by lead source.
Questions septic and drain companies ask
Will it quote pumping over the phone?
Yes, by tank size, from your price sheet: up to 1,000 gallons, 1,250 to 1,500, or 1,750 and up. If the caller doesn't know, it prices the 1,000-gallon tank and says the technician confirms on site. A buried lid and after-hours calls price higher, and the sheet says so.
What if they don't know where the tank is?
No phone price. Locating a tank is booked as a visit, and the technician prices it on site.
What happens on a backup at night?
Your emergency rules: a text briefing to the first on-call phone, then a call the technician takes by pressing 1, then the next phone, up to three. If nobody answers, the caller leaves a message and the transcript reaches every on-call phone by text.
Does it quote drainfield work?
No. Drainfield repair or replacement, new systems, pump and alarm repairs and risers are always booked as a visit first.
Can it handle the drain-cleaning side?
Yes. Single drains, main line cabling, hydro jetting and camera inspections are on the sheet with after-hours rates, and it books them the same way.
Can it remind customers to pump again in three years?
On Elite, outbound campaigns text or call your past-customer list on a schedule you set, and book them into open time. On Pro and Basic, it books every caller who reaches you.
Does it file the pumping report with the county?
No. It captures the tank size, the address and what was done; the report stays with your office.
Fifteen minutes. We call your business line, run a real septic company call, and show you what happens after it. You decide.
Book a demoComparing options? See how we stack up against Housecall Pro CSR AI, ServiceTitan Virtual Agent, Jobber's AI Receptionist, Goodcall and seventeen others. Related: what to say when a caller asks for a price and how to answer the phone on a job site.