You are with a customer, on a job site, or finally off the clock. The phone rings, goes to voicemail, and the caller dials your competitor. Ascend Answer picks up instead: a friendly AI receptionist that answers, qualifies the inquiry, and gets the lead to you while it is still hot.
No borrowed statistics, just your calls, your job values, your close rate. Slide and see.
Most owners guess low on missed calls. Check your phone log for last week before you answer honestly.
This is an actual transcript from a live call for Alterra Landscape Design. Their receptionist, Daisy, was custom built for them: her name, her personality, her intake questions, and even her opening line all came from Alterra's specs and our design sessions. Introducing herself as AI was Alterra's choice: some owners want that, some do not, and the decision always belongs to you. Judging by the review below, it served them well. Only the caller's contact details are redacted, in brackets; everything else is word for word.
Five minutes. Every detail captured and confirmed, one error caught and fixed, and the appropriate contacts were notified immediately after the call. The owner called back twenty minutes later fully briefed. And none of it is a template: every Ascend Answer receptionist is designed with the owner. You set the opening line, the questions it asks, the services it represents, and the rules of the call before it ever answers for your company. Keep reading for what the caller did next.
"I will admit it: I am a bit old school. I prefer talking to a real person on the phone. But then I met Daisy. To her credit, she clearly said right away that she was AI. Still, she sounded so warm and friendly that I thought I would give her a shot... I noticed my email was wrong. She responded kindly, saying, 'Thank you for letting me know. Let's get that fixed, please.' Twenty minutes later, Geoffrey gave me a call. He was completely in the loop about my project... And if you happen to talk to Daisy, please say hello for me!"
"The system works exactly as promised: it creates a professional first impression, captures important details accurately, and makes our follow-up calls more efficient. We are very pleased with Daisy and with the team that created her."
Daisy is not a product off a shelf. She was designed around how Alterra works: their services, their questions, their handoff rules, their voice. Your receptionist will be built the same way, from your specs and our expertise, and it will be yours alone.
COMPARE YOUR OPTIONS
An employee, a remote human team, or your AI receptionist. Compare the monthly investment and the coverage behind it.
ON-SITE EMPLOYEE
About $3,813/mo
Illustrative $22/hour wage, before employer costs
40 hours per week
A person in your office for visitors, calls, and daily administration.
Also plan for: hiring, training, benefits, and time off.
REMOTE HUMAN TEAM
About $1,551/mo*
Jill Receptionist example, 750 billable minutes per month
24/7 human answering
Live receptionists answer calls and pass messages to your team.
Pricing: weekly base plus call usage; setup and other charges extra.
BUSINESS-SPECIFIC AI
$617/mo*
$497 subscription plus $120 usage at 750 minutes
24/7 AI answering
Captures caller details, flags urgency, and immediately notifies your team.
Usage: $0.16 per minute, without markup.
One full-time employee does not cover every hour. A week has 168 hours. Staffing every hour takes 4.2 full-time schedules before breaks or time off, or about $16,016 a month in wages at the same illustrative rate.
*The service examples use 750 minutes, but billing rules differ. They are estimates, not all-in quotes. Setup, taxes, and other applicable charges are excluded.
In-house bilingual skills depend on whom you hire. A human virtual service can follow custom call instructions; confirm language and specialist coverage with its provider. Ascend can be configured for English and Spanish during onboarding, with your intake questions and escalation rules. Calls needing human judgment still go to your team.
The employee estimate is $22 × 40 hours × 52 weeks ÷ 12 months; it is an illustration, not a local average. At Bellingham's 2026 minimum wage of $19.13, base wages would be about $3,316 per month. Jill Receptionist is based on its $39 weekly account fee plus progressive weekly minute rates, with 750 billable minutes distributed evenly across an average month. Its weekly plan lists a $599 setup fee. Jill also mentions transcription at $0.25 per minute; confirm whether that adds to your bill. Ascend Essentials is $497 plus 750 × $0.16, or $617.
Sources: City of Bellingham and Jill's Office pricing. Estimates reviewed September 2026.
CHOOSE THE SCOPE
24/7 ANSWER AND NOTIFY
$497/mo + usage
$497 one-time setup and onboarding. Initial subtotal: $994 before applicable taxes and separate usage.
OUR CORE OFFER
$997/mo + usage
$997 one-time setup and onboarding. Initial subtotal: $1,994 before applicable taxes and separate usage.
CUSTOM OPERATIONS
Starting at $2,497/month
Usage is $0.16 per minute, billed separately without markup. At 750 minutes, Revenue Engine would be $1,117 per month before setup and any separately billed phone or SMS charges. Essentials and Revenue Engine renew monthly until canceled; review the Customer Agreement during signup. Custom AI Front Office scope, setup, and commitment terms are confirmed during consultation.
Find the right fitJob sites, appointments, and after-hours do not mix with phone calls. Ascend Answer picks up every time, 24/7.
Name, address, details, urgency. You call back knowing exactly what the job is and what it is worth.
When your busy season hits and the phone will not stop, every caller gets answered and triaged, no lines busy, no jobs lost.
Enter your number and Ascend Answer will call you right now, so you can hear exactly what your customers would hear.
