When an AI calls for a price on a homeowner's behalf, give it what you'd give the homeowner: the trip or diagnostic fee, a range, what moves it and an opening to confirm. Invoca, a call-tracking company, reported on Dec. 10, 2025 that most of the Google AI price calls it tracked to plumbing and pest control businesses got no price. "We don't quote over the phone" leaves the homeowner nothing from you to compare.
Last verified: November 1, 2026.
An owner asked us this in late October: if you'd quote the homeowner, do you quote the AI calling for them? Yes, and the question now goes past Google Search, because Google's Gemini help page lists "service quotes" among the things Gemini Call for Me phones a business to get.
The script, line by line
Start this week. For the five jobs your CSRs get asked about most, write down each market's trip or diagnostic fee (and whether it's credited to the repair), a low-to-high range and the two or three things that move the price. Put that sheet at every CSR seat so the answer doesn't depend on who picks up, and name one person at each location to change it when prices do. In a franchise system each location fills in its own fee and ranges; the card sets the format, not the prices.
There's no special greeting for AI callers: your CSR answers the way they answer every call and runs the same five steps, and only the close depends on who's calling.
CSR card, Nov. 1, 2026
Five steps for any caller pricing a job for a homeowner
- 01Listen
Confirm the job and ZIP
Ask what's going on and where, then run the same service-area check you'd run for the homeowner.
- 02Say
Give the fee
The trip or diagnostic fee, and whether it's credited to the repair.
- 03Say
Give the range and what moves it
Low to high for this job in this market, the two or three things that move it, and that the technician confirms the exact price before any work starts.
- 04Book
Offer an opening to confirm
Pencil in a window under the homeowner's name and get a number to confirm with them, or give the booking page address.
- 05Count
Log the call
The fee and range you gave and the next step, plus the caller and its phrase if it said it's an AI.
Cheers CSR card, Nov. 1, 2026; caller behavior from Google Search Help, Gemini Help and Business Profile Help, read Nov. 1, 2026
- CSR steps for a price call placed on a homeowner's behalf
- 1. Confirm the job and ZIP: Ask what's going on and where, then run the same service-area check you'd run for the homeowner.
- 2. Give the fee: The trip or diagnostic fee, and whether it's credited to the repair.
- 3. Give the range and what moves it: Low to high for this job in this market, the two or three things that move it, and that the technician confirms the exact price before any work starts.
- 4. Offer an opening to confirm: Pencil in a window under the homeowner's name and get a number to confirm with them, or give the booking page address.
- 5. Log the call: The fee and range you gave and the next step, plus the caller and its phrase if it said it's an AI.
Brackets are fields your location fills in.
Confirm the job and the ZIP. "What's the address or ZIP, and what's going on?" Run the same service-area check you'd run for anyone.
Give the fee. "Our [diagnostic visit] is [$fee], and it's [credited to the repair if you go ahead]."
Give the range and what moves it. "A [job] with us in [market] usually runs [$low] to [$high]. What moves it is [driver] and [driver]. The technician confirms the exact price before any work starts." If the caller hasn't said enough to pick a range, ask what you need first.
Offer an opening the homeowner confirms. "Our next opening is [day, window]; I can pencil that in for [homeowner's name]. What's the best number to confirm with them? Or they can book at [booking page]." Then ask, "Want me to text the booking link to the number you're calling from?" and on a yes, send one text with the link and keep that number out of marketing texts unless the homeowner signs up later.
Log the call. Note the fee and range you gave and the next step, so whoever talks to the homeowner next knows what you said. If the caller said it's an AI, or you aren't sure, also note the caller and the phrase it used; the counting section below lists the columns.
A CSR on this script doesn't take card numbers by voice, promise a total, share staff schedules or another customer's details, or give an AI a lower number than the homeowner would get, and they don't hang up on a caller for being an AI.
This is the workflow we recommend: give the assistant enough useful information to bring the homeowner back to you, using the same pricing and booking standards as any other customer call.
For telling a real Google call from a fake one, and the profile settings behind those calls, see How service businesses should handle Google AI phone calls. The window your CSR offers also has to match the arrival times the location publishes; see what response times each location should publish.
Why "we don't quote over the phone" loses this call
Invoca, the call-tracking company, looked at the price calls Google's AI placed to businesses on its platform from July through November 2025, before Gemini Call for Me or Muse called anyone.
Google AI price calls, 2025
About half the answered Google AI price calls got no price
49%
of answered Google AI pricing calls got no price, on average
Base: Calls on Invoca's platform, July to November 2025; Invoca didn't publish the sample size
26%
of Google AI pricing calls weren't answered, on average
Same Invoca calls
75%
of these calls to pest control businesses were answered
Same Invoca calls
66%
of these calls to plumbing businesses were answered
Same Invoca calls
Invoca, "Google's AI Is Calling," Blair Symes, Dec. 10, 2025
| Finding | Value | Base |
|---|---|---|
| of answered Google AI pricing calls got no price, on average | 49% | Calls on Invoca's platform, July to November 2025; Invoca didn't publish the sample size |
| of Google AI pricing calls weren't answered, on average | 26% | Same Invoca calls |
| of these calls to pest control businesses were answered | 75% | Same Invoca calls |
| of these calls to plumbing businesses were answered | 66% | Same Invoca calls |
On average, 26% of the calls weren't answered at all, and 49% of the answered ones gave Google's AI no pricing information. Invoca says no-price answers were most common at pest control and plumbing businesses, often after staff said they don't do estimates over the phone and need a home visit. Pest control businesses answered 75% of these calls and plumbing businesses 66%, and a call nobody picks up leaves the homeowner with no number from you either.
Then the homeowner gets a summary. Google's price-check help page says Google "will call multiple service providers near you" and emails what it found in about 30 minutes; its Business Profile help page says the customer's email or text includes the service quote of each business that shared a price. Google can't send a number you didn't give.
Invoca's own advice is to give Google's AI what it asks for, "ideally, your lowest possible price." I'd give the low end and the high end together, because the homeowner holds you to whatever number the AI brings back. If that's only the low end, it's the one they'll remember when the invoice arrives.
A range isn't a promise
The rule behind "we don't quote over the phone" is a good one: nobody should promise a total for a job they haven't seen. The script doesn't, since every number it gives comes with "the technician confirms the exact price before any work starts." Keep the policy and retire the line as a complete answer.
The fee goes first because it's the only number that doesn't depend on what the technician finds.
Price is already what one-star reviews talk about. On Cheers-connected home-trade Google Business Profiles, price words show up in 61% of one-star reviews and 7% of five-star ones. Our full study of price in one-star reviews matched reviews by length, and the one-star ones still mentioned price more often in every length band. That's why I'd rather a CSR give a range the technician can stand behind than a low number the technician has to explain at the door.
Who's calling, and how each call should end
The close depends on what each caller can do with your price, as Google, Meta and the press describe each one:
Google Search price check. Google says its automated calls state that they're from Google and why they're calling, come from "a set of designated numbers" and may share request details, including the homeowner's name. The call can't book, and it comes from Google rather than the homeowner's phone, so end with your next opening and say the booking page address out loud.
Google booking call. Google says it may also call for a customer "to book the appointment." Treat it like any booking request and confirm the window.
Gemini Call for Me. TechCrunch reported Google's test of Gemini Call for Me on Sept. 24, 2026; Google says Gemini starts every call by disclosing that it's an AI assistant from Google calling on a recorded line, and the call comes from the customer's own number. It names the person it's calling for and can book, confirm and manage appointments, and the homeowner can follow a live transcript, listen in and take over, so talk as if they're on the line. Gemini can't make payments, so any deposit step goes back to the homeowner; if it takes the opening, book it the way you'd book the homeowner and confirm on the number it called from. Reach is small for now: US Pixel 11 owners with a Google AI subscription in the Phone by Google beta, in English.
Meta's Muse. Its beta for calls to US businesses expanded on Sept. 16, in an X post by Ryan Fox that TechCrunch reported the next day. We found no Meta page that says how Muse introduces itself on a call, whether it books by phone or how a business opts out, and 404 Media reported on Sept. 22 that Meta tested, internally and before launch, routing some Muse call requests to human agents. Meta's launch post says Muse can "negotiate on their behalf" without saying whether that happens on calls, so if any caller pushes for a better price, repeat the range and any offer already posted on your site.
Anyone else. That covers concierge services that make calls, a relative calling for a parent and an AI that never says it's an AI. Ask who the appointment is for and how to reach that person to confirm. A CSR can't always tell these callers apart, which is why they all get the same script.
Every agent's current status lives in our AI agent tracker. ChatGPT's own quote request isn't a phone call; it's a beta with approved partners that sends the provider a quote request, covered in ChatGPT Get Quote.
Google says its automated calls for bookings, wait times and price checks aren't available in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana or Nebraska (Business Profile Help, read Nov. 1, 2026). Gemini's help page lists no such state limit, but Google has not clarified whether the same restriction applies to Gemini. Availability in those states remains uncertain.
Count the AI calls you get
The public counts of AI callers we found all come from vendors. NextPhone, which sells AI receptionists, counted about 4 disclosed AI callers per 10,000 calls in September 2026; on phones it tracked all year, the rate went from 1.2 to 1.8. Treat those as floors, since an AI that doesn't say so never gets counted. We expect delegated calls to grow as personal assistants become part of everyday buying. Establish your branch's baseline now so you can see that growth and coach the team around real enquiries.
If your call recordings or call-tracking transcripts are searchable, you can count your own. Each week, search them for "AI assistant," "virtual assistant," "Google AI," "Gemini," "Muse," "on behalf of," "calling for [first name]" and "recorded line" (drop that last one if your own greeting uses it). Listen to each match before you count it, because a homeowner who mentions Gemini isn't an AI caller.
Log each disclosed AI call per location by adding columns to the six-field call record in the Google calls guide linked above: week, location and number dialed; the caller (Google, Gemini, Muse, other AI or not sure); the phrase heard and what it asked for (price, availability, booking or hours); fee given and range given; and the next step offered, with the outcome if you know it. Keep "not sure," since a phrase match can find a call without proving who placed it.
After a month you'll have your own count instead of a vendor's.
The search uses recordings you're already making, so keep whatever recording notice your lines use now. If each profile and page carries its own tracking number, run the phrase search across all of them; call tracking for AI search explains which number should sit where.
Put the same ranges on your service pages
The fee and ranges on the CSR card belong on each service page too, so the website and the phone give the same answer; our guide to publishing prices walks through fees, drivers and exclusions.
On Nov. 1, Cheers read the homepages of US home-service contractor websites from Google's local map results. About 3 in 4 contractor homepages (76.5% of 976) showed no dollar amount anywhere in their raw HTML, and 3 put a real price in schema, the structured data a page carries for search engines.
Keep prices out of the profile's name and description: Google's Business Profile guidelines say descriptions must not "focus on special promotions, prices, and offer sales," and a business name can't carry service or product information. Google's Oct. 6, 2026 "For merchants" clause bars "pricing" in "the listing" without saying what that covers. For the services price field inside the profile, see the price guide above.
Keep one customer policy as the agents improve
The reason to prepare is straightforward: the assistant represents someone who needs your service. We expect that delegation to become a normal part of choosing a contractor. The caller's software will change; the need for a useful price, a clear next step and a reliable business will stay.
Keep customer calls enabled in each profile's settings and keep customer-facing numbers available to Gemini. Use the current caller details above for booking and payment limits, and review them when your team encounters a new agent. Our Gemini Call for Me guide covers the two sets of controls.
CSR card
Print this part for every seat. The caller-by-caller details stay on this page, since they change faster than a laminated card can.
Any caller asking a price for a homeowner, person or AI. Checked Nov. 1, 2026.
- Confirm the job and ZIP. Same service-area check as any caller.
- Give the fee: "Our [diagnostic visit] is [$fee], and it's [credited to the repair if you go ahead]."
- Give the range: "A [job] with us in [market] usually runs [$low] to [$high]. What moves it is [driver] and [driver]. The technician confirms the exact price before any work starts."
- Offer an opening: pencil in [day, window] for [homeowner's name] and get a number to confirm with them, or give [booking page]. Text the booking link only if the caller says yes, only to the number it called from, and never into marketing texts. On a Google price check, say the booking page address aloud.
- Log it: fee given, range given, next step. If it said it's an AI, or you aren't sure, add week, location, number dialed, caller, phrase heard, what it asked and outcome.
- Never: card numbers by voice, a promised total, staff schedules or another customer's details, a lower number than the homeowner would get, hanging up on an AI.
- Phrases that point to an AI caller: "AI assistant," "virtual assistant," "Google AI," "Gemini," "Muse," "on behalf of," "calling for [first name]," "recorded line" (skip that one if your greeting says it).
- Each location fills in its own fee and ranges. Cheers' recommended caller workflow; current product details: cheers.tech/geo-academy/what-to-say-when-ai-calls-for-price
For calls from a customer's own number, the Gemini Call for Me guide covers Google's documented introduction and appointment controls.
Method
Reviews. Google reviews with text and one or five stars, created Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2026, on home-trade Business Profiles connected to Cheers (many Cheers-managed, mostly US, skewed toward established, mostly multi-location operators): 1,463 one-star reviews (80 locations, 17 companies) and 43,658 five-star reviews (114 locations, 19 companies).
The price pattern matched price, prices, pricing, priced, cost, costs, costly, expensive, charge, charged, charges, fee, fees, bill, billed, invoice, or a $ followed by a digit. Matches count "not expensive" too and show what reviews say, not whether a complaint was fair. One-star reviews run much longer, so raw shares overstate the gap.
A few large companies supply most of these reviews, so we checked each: price words were more common in one-star reviews at all 11 companies with five or more one-star text reviews, and with the largest set aside the rates are 59.1% and 7.9%. Counts re-run Nov. 1, 2026; we don't quote review text.
Crawl. On Nov. 1, 2026, Cheers read the homepages of 1,096 US home-service contractor websites drawn from Google's local map results, with Cheers customers removed; 976 homepages were readable as served. We read raw HTML on the homepage only, so presence rates are floors; a coupon or fee counts as a dollar amount. Our contractor-website census describes how the sample was drawn.
Neither count measures AI calls.
Vendor data. Invoca's figures cover Google AI price calls on its platform, July to November 2025, with no published sample size. NextPhone's cover small-business lines (mainly law firms, home and local services) and personal phones on its app. It counts only callers that disclosed they were AI, doesn't state total calls, gives no home-services rate and says an August 2026 transcription upgrade makes later counts not fully comparable.
We read every page cited here on Nov. 1, 2026; Google's help pages are undated.
Sources
- Ask Gemini to handle your everyday phone calls, Google Gemini Help, undated. Call for Me features, "service quotes," booking, disclosure and no payments.
- Google's AI Is Calling, Invoca, Dec. 10, 2025. The 26% and 49% figures, trade answer rates and Invoca's advice.
- How to check pricing for local businesses with AI in Google Search, Google Search Help, undated. How the price check calls, its example categories and the 30-minute email.
- About automated calls and texts from Google to your business, Google Business Profile Help, undated. Booking and price calls, the five states and the quote in the customer's email or text.
- Identify fraudulent calls, emails, and messages, Google Business Profile Help, undated. How Google's own automated calls open and the designated numbers.
- Google tests letting Gemini call businesses for you, TechCrunch, Sept. 24, 2026. The date of the Gemini Call for Me test.
- Meta tests Muse AI agent calls that are actually made by humans in a call center, 404 Media, Sept. 22, 2026. Meta's internal human-caller test.
- Introducing Muse, Meta Newsroom, Sept. 8, 2026, updated Sept. 30, 2026. What Muse does, including negotiating for its users.
- AI Receptionist Call Report 2026, NextPhone, Oct. 27, 2026. Disclosed AI caller rates and the disclosed-only method.
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help, undated. The name and description rules on prices.
- Google I/O 2026 Search post, Google, May 19, 2026. Home repair listed in May.
- Elon Musk Says Grok Bot Will Phone Businesses and Report Back to You, TeslaNorth, Oct. 25, 2026. Grok calling as announced, not documented.
Sources read November 1, 2026.
Dylan Allen-Arnegård is the CEO & Co-Founder of Cheers, the done-for-you local visibility partner for established home-service companies and PE-backed portfolios.