Housecall Pro already texts missed callers. Some of them.
You run your jobs in Housecall Pro and you're wondering why a missed call doesn't turn into a text by itself. It can. As of September 2026, the Voice add-on has a Missed Call Automation, described in HCP's Voice settings article. The catch is in one line of that article: it sends to your existing customers. A number that has never booked with you gets nothing. Here is what HCP offers for a missed or unanswered call, from its own help center and pricing page.
| Option | Who it reaches | What it does | Cost, Sept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voice: Missed Call Automation | Callers already saved as customers | One text you write, sent during business hours, outside them, any time, or over a date range. Your company name is required in it; your Online Booking link can go in. | Part of the Voice add-on: call tracking from $45/mo, VoIP plus call tracking from $65/mo, each plus overages |
| CSR AI | Any caller whose call you forward to it | An AI voice answers the call, introduces itself as AI, and can book the job. Answering texts is listed as coming soon in the help center and in alpha on the feature page. | Not published on the pricing page |
| This agent | Any mobile caller who rang out, after screening, 8 am to 8 pm | Texts after the call is missed, answers replies in the thread, and sends your booking link. It does not answer the call. | $249/mo + $850 setup, plus AI and phone usage, typically $20–40 a month |
Sources: Voice package prices are from the Voice FAQs. CSR AI's behavior is from the CSR AI overview and the CSR AI feature page. The plans themselves list at $59, $149, and $299 a month billed annually, or $79, $189, and $329 if you pay monthly. HCP offers a 14-day free trial.
The caller you most need is the one it skips.
A repeat customer already knows you and has a reason to try again. The stranger who found you on Google has the next electrician one tap away. HCP's automation texts existing customers, and that stranger isn't one yet. The Voice FAQs describe the matching the same way: the system identifies whether a calling number belongs to an existing customer.
Two more limits. The automation runs on calls that come through HCP Voice, so it needs Voice and your number routed through it. And it sends the message you wrote, variables filled in, so a reply asking about price or timing waits in your inbox for you. CSR AI closes the new-caller gap differently: it answers the phone. That suits callers who want a voice. It is a different product from a text after the call.
What a first-time caller gets from the agent
237 characters, first text in the thread
Stay inside Housecall Pro, or put a text agent in front of it.
Inside Housecall Pro
Turn on the automation for existing customers: Settings, Inbox, the Voice tab, then the missed call automation section. Pick the hours, customize the message, add your Online Booking link. For new callers, forward calls to CSR AI through the forwarding number HCP gives you, or to HCP Assist, its answering service. Both answer by voice.
With this agent
Nothing plugs into Housecall Pro. On Voice, the call flow's Forward Call widget can roll an unanswered call to an outside number; point it at the agent's toll-free line; the texts go out from that same line. Not on Voice? Forward your cell with a carrier code instead. The text carries your HCP Online Booking link, so a caller who books lands on your schedule the way any online booking does.
Know what the caller hears in the second setup. After HCP rings your team, the call rolls to the agent's number, which rings your cell for 20 more seconds before a short apology plays. That apology says a text is coming, and for a landline caller or a call after 8 pm none does. A caller who gives up and hangs up before that apology gets no text either, and the agent keeps no record of the call; your phone's own list of missed calls is the only trace. Keep HCP's own ring short so the total wait stays reasonable. If the Missed Call Automation stays on too, a saved customer may get two texts, so make a test call from a customer's number and turn one off. Call and text logs land in HubSpot natively, or in another tool by webhook, and your alerts arrive in Slack. Nothing is written into the HCP customer record directly; a booking made through your Online Booking link arrives in HCP like any other online booking.
Count the strangers in your call log first.
Pull up last month's missed calls and split them: numbers already in Housecall Pro, and numbers that aren't. If nearly all of them are customers (maintenance plans, service agreements, repeat work), turn on the automation you already pay for with Voice and stop reading. If you want new callers answered by a voice, try CSR AI.
If the strangers are a real share, do the sum with your own counts. Example numbers, not yours: 12 missed calls a month from new numbers, one in 6 books if someone replies fast, $350 per job. That's 2 jobs, $700 a month, against $289 for the agent at the top of its usage range. If your count is two or three new callers a month, the numbers don't clear it. Skip it.
How the agent screens, drafts, and hands off is on the main missed-call text back page. Trade-specific wording is on the HVAC and contractors pages. Weighing a voice answer against a text? The AI receptionist comparison lays it out.