Virtual Assistant for Service Businesses: 6 Options (2026)
A new enquiry lands at 10:40am. You are under a sink until 1pm. By the time you reply, the homeowner has booked the company that answered first.
That is the whole case for a virtual assistant for service businesses. The quote nobody followed up, the invoice that is 45 days old, the review you never asked for: none of it is hard work. It just arrives while your hands are full.
The quick answer: for most service businesses with 2 to 20 people in the field, start with Carly. It answers new enquiries from your own Gmail or Outlook, chases quotes and unpaid invoices, books and rebooks visits, and keeps Jobber, Housecall Pro or ServiceTitan up to date, all while you are on a job. Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. A human virtual assistant is still the right call when the work is judgment: calming an angry customer, calling a supplier, reconciling messy books.
The six options side by side
| Option | Type | What it takes off you | Works while you are on a job | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | AI assistant | Enquiries, quote follow-up, booking, reviews, invoice chasing, job software updates | Yes, it runs on events | Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month |
| Time Etc | Human, US-based, hourly plans | Inbox, scheduling, data entry, customer emails | During the hours you buy | $390/month for 10 hours |
| Belay | Human, US-based, plus bookkeeping | Admin and accounting support | During contracted hours | Quote only |
| Magic | Human, dedicated part-time or full-time | General admin, 20 or 40 hours a week | During their shift | $270/week for 20 hours |
| Jobber and Housecall Pro built-in AI | AI inside your job software | Tasks inside that one app | Partly | Depends on your plan |
| ChatGPT | AI chat | Drafting quotes, emails, job descriptions | When you open it and ask | Free and paid plans |
1. Carly
Carly is an AI assistant that does the admin instead of helping you do it. You set it up by describing what you want in plain words, the way you would brief a new office hire: “When a new enquiry comes in, reply within five minutes, ask for the address and a photo, and offer my next two open slots.” Then it runs, with your laptop shut and your phone in the truck.
New enquiries get an answer in minutes. Carly reads the inbox and replies from your own Gmail or Outlook address, in your tone. Emily Parker at Parker Heating and Air gets a website form at 10:40am. By 10:43 the homeowner has a reply with two appointment slots, and Emily has a Slack note telling her a furnace job is likely.
Quotes stop going cold. A quote goes out Monday. Carly follows up on day three and day seven with the quote attached, flags any reply that raises a concern, and stops the moment the customer accepts or declines.
Booking and rebooking happen without you. CC Carly on a thread and it finds a time that works against your Google Calendar, then sends the confirmation. For customers who would rather pick a slot themselves, set up a booking page for estimates or annual services. When a homeowner replies asking to move to Thursday, the visit moves and the confirmation goes back.
Unpaid invoices get chased politely and on time. Carly watches QuickBooks for invoices past the age you choose, sends the reminder, and escalates on your schedule. It stops when the payment lands.
Review requests go out after every finished job. A few days after a job closes, the customer gets a thank you and a link.
Your job software stays current. Carly connects to thousands of apps, including Jobber, Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan, QuickBooks, Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar and Slack. New clients, requests and notes land in the right record, so nobody retypes anything at 9pm. Browse the full list on the integrations page.
Two things make it work for owners who are rarely at a desk. First, it runs on events: an email arrives, a job closes, an invoice ages, and Carly acts. Nothing waits for you to open an app. Second, the predictable steps, like logging a callback or sending that review request, can run as free Zapier-style workflows, while the work that needs reading and judgment goes to an AI agent.
This trade lives on the phone, so one more point. Carly Phone is available for businesses that want calls covered too. It is set up with the team, so book a time here and tell them how calls reach you today.
Best for: Owners of plumbing, HVAC, electrical, cleaning, landscaping and pest control businesses who need enquiries, quotes, bookings and invoices handled while they work.
Pricing: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month.
Get started: connect your inbox and calendar at carlyassistant.com, then describe the first job you want off your plate.
More detail for your software: Jobber and AI and the best AI automation tools for Housecall Pro.
2. Time Etc
Time Etc matches you with a US-based human assistant on a monthly block of hours. It is a sensible first step into human help: someone to tidy the inbox, send customer emails and keep the calendar straight.
Best for: Owners who want a person for a few hours a week and have clear tasks to hand over.
Pricing: $390/month for 10 hours, which works out to $39 an hour. Larger plans bring the hourly rate down a little.
Limitations: Ten hours is about 30 minutes a working day. An enquiry that arrives outside those minutes still waits.
3. Belay
Belay is a US-based staffing service for virtual assistants, and it also offers bookkeeping, payroll and accounting. It lists construction among the industries it serves. If the books are three months behind, an assistant and bookkeeper from one provider is a real fix. Our Belay review covers the experience in detail.
Best for: Established service businesses that want a vetted US assistant and accounting help from one provider.
Pricing: Not published. You get a quote after a consultation. See what virtual assistants cost for typical ranges.
Limitations: It is the premium end of the market, and it is contracted hours, so after-hours enquiries still wait until morning.
4. Magic
Magic gives you a dedicated remote assistant for 20 or 40 hours a week, billed every four weeks with no long contract. It suits an owner who wants one person learning the business on a regular shift.
Best for: Businesses with enough steady admin to fill 20 hours a week: data entry, customer messages, supplier emails, scheduling.
Pricing: $270/week for a part-time assistant (20 hours), $540/week for full-time (40 hours).
Limitations: You still have to train them on your job software and your pricing, and cover the hours they are off. Expect a few weeks before it runs smoothly.
For a wider field of human services, see the best virtual assistant companies.
5. The AI built into Jobber and Housecall Pro
Both platforms have added AI features of their own. Housecall Pro includes a set of AI tools, among them CSR AI for customer contact, and Jobber has shipped AI around quoting and client communication. Turn them on. If you are still choosing a platform, read Jobber vs Housecall Pro.
Best for: Anything that starts and ends inside your job software.
Pricing: Depends on your plan. Some features are included and some are add-ons.
Limitations: Owners report that these tools stop at the edge of the app. They do not read the property manager’s email in your Gmail, check your personal calendar, or chase an invoice that lives in QuickBooks. That is the gap Carly fills, working across all of them.
6. ChatGPT
ChatGPT is very good at the writing part of the job: a clear quote description, a firm but polite late-payment email, a reply to a bad review.
Best for: Drafting and rewording when you have ten minutes to sit down.
Pricing: Free and paid plans.
Limitations: ChatGPT’s plugin list has no Jobber, Housecall Pro or ServiceTitan entry, so it cannot tell you what you quoted a customer in March. Owners also report that drafting was never the bottleneck. Being on a roof when the email arrived was. You can add Carly to ChatGPT and bring your job software with it: see ChatGPT with Jobber and ChatGPT with Housecall Pro.
AI, human, or both
Split the admin into two piles.
The repeatable pile: reply to the enquiry, send the quote follow-up, confirm the visit, ask for the review, chase the invoice, update the client record. Same steps every time. This is AI work. Carly does it in minutes, at night and on weekends, and its agents start below the price of one hour of a US human assistant.
The judgment pile: the customer who is furious about a callback, the supplier who shorted your order, the books that do not reconcile, the permit office. This is human work.
Many owners end up with both. Michael Turner runs a six-person landscaping crew. Carly handles his enquiries, quote follow-ups and invoice reminders. A part-time assistant works ten hours a week on supplier calls and the customer conversations that need a voice. Ten hours is enough because none of them go on repeatable admin.
How to pick
- Go with Carly if the admin that hurts is speed and follow-through: slow replies, cold quotes, late invoices, missed review requests. That describes most service businesses under 20 people, and it is the cheapest problem on this page to fix.
- Pick Time Etc or Magic if you need a person for customer conversations and odd jobs, and you can write down what you want done.
- Pick Belay if bookkeeping is part of the mess.
- Turn on your job software’s own AI either way.
FAQ
What does a virtual assistant do for a service business?
Answering new enquiries, following up on quotes, booking and rebooking visits, sending review requests, chasing unpaid invoices, and keeping your job software accurate. Carly handles all of these from your own email and calendar. A human assistant adds phone conversations and judgment calls.
How much does a virtual assistant for contractors cost?
Human services on this page run from $390/month for 10 hours (Time Etc) to $270/week for 20 hours (Magic), with Belay priced by quote. Carly is priced as software: free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Our virtual assistant pricing guide breaks down hourly rates by region.
Can an AI assistant for a service business work with Jobber or Housecall Pro?
Yes. Carly connects to thousands of apps, including Jobber, Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan and QuickBooks. Connect yours on the integrations page, then tell Carly what should happen when a request comes in, a job closes or an invoice ages.
Can it answer my phones?
Carly Phone is available. It is set up with the team, so book a time and they will walk you through it. For a wider look at phone coverage, see the best AI receptionists.
Will customers know they are talking to an AI?
Replies go out from your own Gmail or Outlook address, written in your tone. Carly can draft replies for you to approve or send routine ones itself, so you can start with drafts and loosen up once you trust the wording.
Do I need to be technical to set it up?
No. You describe the job in plain words and Carly builds it. If you can brief a new office hire, you can brief Carly. Most owners start with new-enquiry replies, then add quote follow-up and invoice chasing.
More: Best AI tools for contractors · Best AI virtual assistants for small business · AI personal assistant for business owners · AI assistant for small business · Virtual assistant statistics · Virtual secretary for small business · AI-trained virtual assistants · AI marketing assistant for small business
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"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
