How much does an answering service for a solar company cost? About $100 to $1,725 a month, or Sharrk from $99
By Sharrk Team · October 17, 2026
An answering service for a solar company costs about $100 to $1,725 a month at the big live-answering services, depending on how many minutes or calls you need, based on their own pricing pages checked October 17, 2026. Sharrk answers every solar call 24/7 with an AI voice agent starting at $99 a month on Sharrk Core, which includes about 316 AI call minutes, and you can build and test your agent free first.
Solar calls are long and detailed. A homeowner wants to know if their roof works, what their utility bill means, and when someone can come out. That makes per-minute pricing add up fast, so it pays to compare plans by the minutes your calls actually use.
What do solar answering services charge per month?
Here are the published plans as of October 17, 2026, with Sharrk first.
| Service | Starting plan | Mid plan | Larger plan | How you're billed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sharrk Core | $99/mo, about 316 AI call minutes | Credit packs to top up | Sharrk Complete $449/mo, 185,000 credits | Credits: 150 per AI call minute, texts and emails too |
| PATLive | $99/mo, 50 min | $349/mo, 200 min | $1,499/mo, 1,000 min | Per minute (PATLive) |
| Ruby | $250/mo, 50 min | $720/mo, 200 min | $1,725/mo, 500 min | Per minute (Ruby) |
| AnswerConnect | $350/mo, 200 min | $575/mo, 400 min | $1,325/mo, 950 min | Per minute (AnswerConnect) |
| Smith.ai receptionists | $300/mo, 30 calls | $810/mo, 90 calls | $2,100/mo, 300 calls | Per call (Smith.ai) |
| Goodcall (AI) | From $79/mo | Not listed | Not listed | By customers helped (Goodcall) |
A few details from those pages: PATLive charges $2.29 a minute over its 50-minute plan and $1.99 over its 200-minute plan. AnswerConnect lists a $49.99 setup fee on its Entry and Standard plans and $1.85 a minute over most plans. Ruby says larger plans are available by contacting sales.
How many minutes does a solar company actually use?
Solar conversations run longer than a quick "what time do you open" call. A new homeowner inquiry covers the roof, the utility bill, ownership, and a consultation time. Existing customers call about monitoring apps, inverter alerts, permits, and install dates.
A simple way to estimate: multiply your monthly calls by your average call length. Sixty calls a month at four minutes each is 240 minutes. On a 200-minute live plan, those extra 40 minutes are billed at overage rates. On Sharrk Core, 240 AI call minutes uses 36,000 of the 47,500 monthly credits, leaving room for follow-up texts and emails.
| Monthly calls | Avg. length | Minutes | Sharrk Core credits used |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 4 min | 160 | 24,000 |
| 60 | 4 min | 240 | 36,000 |
| 75 | 4 min | 300 | 45,000 |
Busier teams can add credit packs or move to Sharrk Complete, which includes 185,000 credits a month and a done-for-you build every month.
What do solar callers need from an answering service?
Solar callers fall into three groups, and your answering service should handle all three.
1. New homeowners who want a consultation. The goal is a booked appointment, not a message. Sharrk books straight onto Sharrk's calendar, Calendly or Cal.com, so the homeowner leaves the call with a time on the calendar.
2. Qualifying questions before anyone drives out. Your team needs to know whether the caller owns the home, what the roof is like, which utility they use, and roughly what their monthly bill is. A good answering service asks these every time, in the same order, and saves the answers.
3. Existing customers with service calls. System owners call about production drops, error codes, or monitoring. Those calls should be logged clearly and, when it matters, transferred live to your service team.
Speed matters just as much as the questions. Web and ad leads go cold quickly, which is why we covered timing in solar lead response time. Sharrk replies to new leads in under 30 seconds by text, call or email, and the same agent answers inbound calls around the clock.
What should a solar qualifying script sound like?
Here is a short example script. Replace the bracketed placeholders with your own details.
Example script (illustrative only) Agent: Thanks for calling [Company], this is [Agent name]. Are you calling about going solar, or about a system you already have? Caller: Going solar. Agent: Great. Do you own the home at [address], or are you renting? Caller: We own it. Agent: About how old is the roof, and is it shingle, tile or metal? Caller: Shingle, maybe ten years old. Agent: Thanks. Who's your electric utility, and roughly what's your average monthly bill? Caller: [Utility], around [amount] a month. Agent: That's helpful. [Consultant name] can review your roof and usage at a free consultation. I have [day] at [time] or [day] at [time]. Which works better? Caller: [Day] works. Agent: You're booked for [day] at [time]. You'll get a text confirmation, and please have a recent utility bill handy.
For existing customers, the script switches to service: system address, what the monitoring app shows, and whether they'd like to speak with the service team now. Sharrk can transfer that call live to a person.
Is an AI answering service or a live answering service better for solar?
Live services bill by the minute or call, and costs rise with every long consultation call. An AI voice agent answers at once, any hour, and runs the same qualifying questions every time. If you're weighing the two models, our guide to virtual receptionist vs answering service walks through the differences.
With Sharrk, one agent handles calls, texts and emails together. It answers 24/7, books consultations, transfers hot calls to your team, and follows up with Strikes, automated multi-step text, call and email sequences that keep working a lead after the first call. Leads from Angi, Thumbtack, Networx, web forms, webhooks and API connections come straight in, and Jobber clients come in as leads too.
How does Mako set up a solar answering agent?
Mako is the AI assistant inside Sharrk that builds everything from plain English. Tell Mako something like "answer calls for my solar company, ask if they own the home, the roof age and type, their utility and monthly bill, then book a consultation," and Mako builds the voice agent, the questions and the booking step. Before anything changes, Mako shows an Apply card so you can review it. You can ask Mako to add a Strike for leads who don't book, or a Hunt to reach back out to older solar leads who've given consent to be contacted.
How does Sharrk handle solar calls?
Sharrk gives solar companies a 24/7 AI receptionist that qualifies homeowners, books consultations and handles existing-customer calls, with transfer to a person when needed. Sharrk Core is $99 a month (or $990 a year) with 47,500 credits, one phone number and every feature. There are no contracts and no setup fees, and the first payment has a 30-day money-back guarantee minus what you've used. See how it works on the AI receptionist for solar page.
Start free and build your solar agent with Mako, no card needed, or book a demo to see it answer a solar call.
Sources
- Ruby plans and pricing (checked October 17, 2026)
- PATLive pricing (checked October 17, 2026)
- AnswerConnect plans (checked October 17, 2026)
- Smith.ai virtual receptionist plans (checked October 17, 2026)
- Goodcall home page, starting price (checked October 17, 2026)
Related on Sharrk: AI receptionist for solar · AI answering service · Pricing
Frequently asked questions
How much does an answering service for a solar company cost?
Most live answering services for solar companies cost about $100 to $1,725 a month, based on PATLive, Ruby and AnswerConnect pricing pages checked October 17, 2026. Sharrk Core costs $99 a month and includes about 316 AI call minutes.
What is the cheapest answering service plan for solar installers?
Sharrk Core at $99 a month includes about 316 AI call minutes, more than six times the 50 minutes in PATLive's $99 plan. Goodcall starts at $79 a month, per its home page on October 17, 2026.
Can an answering service book solar consultations?
Yes, Sharrk books solar consultations during the call. It books onto Sharrk's calendar, Calendly or Cal.com while the homeowner is still on the line.
What questions should a solar answering service ask?
A solar answering service should ask whether the caller owns the home, the roof's age and type, their electric utility and their average monthly bill. Then it should offer consultation times and book one.
Can Sharrk handle calls from existing solar customers?
Yes, Sharrk answers existing-customer service calls 24/7, logs the details and can transfer the call live to your service team.