Every missed no-heat call gets a text back

It is 7:40 on a January morning. Your techs are on their first calls, the office line is busy, and a homeowner with no heat lets it ring six times before hanging up. They do not leave a voicemail. They call the next HVAC company on the list, and that company picks up. Missed-call text-back closes that gap: when the call rings out, the caller gets a text from your business asking what is going on and how you can help.

What is missed-call text-back for an HVAC company?

It is a simple rule. When a call is not answered, a text goes back to the caller's number. The text names your company, says you saw the call, and asks one question, such as "What is going on with the system?" The homeowner can reply at their own pace, and your office picks up the thread.

Speed is the whole point. In a study of more than a million sales leads, firms that tried to reach a lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to have a real conversation with the decision maker as firms that tried an hour later, and more than 60 times as likely as firms that waited a day or more⁠^[1]. An automatic text is the fastest reply your company can give when nobody can pick up.

What does a good HVAC text-back say?

Short, plain and in your voice. Three parts work for most companies:

• Who and why: "Hi, this is Sam at [your company]. Sorry we missed your call."
• One question: "Is this about no heat, a repair or a quote?"
• The safety line: "If you smell gas or a CO alarm is going off, leave the house now and call 911 or your gas utility from outside."

The safety line matters. Enbridge Gas in Ontario and FortisBC in BC both tell people who smell gas to leave first and call from outside⁠^[2]⁠^[3], and Ontario tells anyone whose carbon monoxide alarm sounds to get out and call 911 from outside⁠^[4]. A text-back should never invite someone to wait in a house with a gas smell for a booking.

We write the message with you, set separate wording for business hours and after hours, and nothing goes out that you have not read.

Does my job software already do this?

Often, in part. Each of the big three documents a version of it, and each works differently. Jobber's text-back sits inside its AI Receptionist and needs a Jobber phone number. Housecall Pro's missed call automation runs on its Voice add-on and its docs say it texts existing customers. ServiceTitan's lives in Marketing Pro as a Missed Calls campaign and only sends between 8 in the morning and 9 at night. The side-by-side guide walks through each one from the vendor's own docs, with links.

Our rule is simple: if your plan already includes a text-back that fits, we switch it on and tune it. If it does not, we connect a texting tool in your name. Either way your phone number stays in your name, the text goes out in your company's name, and we check how your software sends before the free Estimate Sweep starts.

Is a text-back allowed under Canada's anti-spam law?

Yes, when it is set up properly. Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation covers commercial texts as well as email, and it expects your business name in the message⁠^[5]. A homeowner who phoned you has made an inquiry, which the Act treats as implied consent for six months⁠^[6]. We keep the text-back to the call at hand, name your business in every message, and honour every STOP.

What happens after the text?

The reply goes to your office, and someone there books the service call. In Next Truck, your one-page count each month shows what got booked.

Where this fits, and the investment

Missed-call text-back runs for the 14 days of the free Estimate Sweep, so no reply gets lost, and it stays on in Next Truck. We do not offer it free on its own.

• The free Estimate Sweep: for 14 days we text your unsold estimates and the customers due for a tune-up, in your company's name. Every reply goes to your office to book, and you see the jobs land in your own software. At day 14 we take 20 minutes to go through what got booked. Free, no contract, no card. Four shops a month. Start the free Estimate Sweep.
• Next Truck: $2,499 to set up, half to start and half when you sign off, then $1,199 a month, +HST. Every missed call gets a text back, every estimate gets followed up until you hear yes or no, a review request goes out after every job, new unsold estimates get swept every month, past customers get tune-up reminders, and you get a one-page count every month of what got booked. Month to month, 30 days' notice, no minimum term.

See the packages page.

For a plain-English overview that works for any local business, read stop losing customers to missed calls.

Common questions

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against these sources on November 3, 2026.

1. Harvard Business Review, The Short Life of Online Sales Leads (Oldroyd, McElheran and Elkington, March 2011), accessed November 3, 2026.
2. Enbridge Gas, Smell natural gas? What to do right away, accessed November 3, 2026.
3. FortisBC, Gas leaks and odours, accessed November 3, 2026.
4. Government of Ontario, Carbon monoxide safety, accessed November 3, 2026.
5. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Texting for good client relations, accessed November 3, 2026.
6. Justice Laws Website, Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (S.C. 2010, c. 23), section 10(10), accessed November 3, 2026.